Who is America? episode 3 review: Sacha Baron Cohen is expertly humiliating the GOP, but pulling punches on the Democrats
Unveiling Republicans’ hidden racism always makes for entertaining moments, but its bit like shooting fish in a barrel
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Your support makes all the difference.Dress one middle-aged white man as a 15-year-old Hispanic girl celebrating Quinceanera, conceal another in a piñata with a hidden camera, lure "bad hombres" in with the promise of 'free drugs' and 'young pussy', then incapacitate them with guacamole laced with Rohypnol.
That was the illegal immigrant countermeasure Sacha Baron Cohen's Erran Morad managed to sell to a couple of MAGA hat-wearing Trump voters in the third episode of Who is America?, proving that while Trump voters may be distrustful of legitimate news organisations, they'll go along with the most ridiculous charade in the name of 'keeping America America'.
This segment was probably the best of this week's instalment due to its sheer absurdity, which slowly dawned on the two men when the police arrived to the 'Quinceanera' and systematically assessed the bizarre props, from lube to fake vaginas.
Episode 3 also saw the eagerly-anticipated Roy Moore cameo, though it was a little anti-climactic. The 'paedophile detector' gag was fun, but caused the jig to be up too quickly, and I feel like Baron Cohen could have gotten more out of the disgraced politician if he'd used more subtle tactics.
Dr Nira Cain-N'Degeocello put in another good performance this week, bringing his fastidious political correctness to a rap battle and asserting that it's not okay to refer to people as black. He's about the only way the Left is satirised in the show though, which feels like an oversight given how insanely ripe for comedy this new form of perma-outraged, retweet hungry liberalism is.
Unveiling Republicans' hidden racism always makes for entertaining moments, but it's a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. Effective as the show is at laying bare the bigotry of the Republican party, it would be wise have a stab at showing how utterly lost and pandering the Democratic party is right now. The show claims to be examining a divided America, but for the most part is only interested in side of this divide.
Who is America? airs Sunday nights on Showtime in the US, and follows Monday night on Channel 4 in the UK.
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