In the opening episode of The Politician, Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series, Payton (played by Ben Platt) bursts into the home of his friend and chief rival, River. A spectacularly ambitious overachiever, Payton is on a singular mission to become president of the United States. His first step? Becoming student body president at Saint Sebastian High School. River (David Corenswet) has just announced his candidacy for the same post; to Payton, it’s a profound betrayal (this is Ryan Murphy, so remember, emotions are turned up to 11). River is better looking and more popular, according to Payton, co-captain of the lacrosse team, and less uncomfortably… high-strung. He’s Payton’s first big Political Crisis.
The Politician, streaming on Netflix September 27, is wry, soapy, and as camp as you’d expect, with a supporting cast that includes Jessica Lange, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Bette Middler. Politics is serious business for Santa Barbara’s young scions of absurd wealth, who hold strategy meetings around school desks and restaurant tables but rarely study or eat at them. Think House of Cards meets Popular, the mega showrunner’s first series back in 1999, also chock-full of very intense teens.
But The Politician is also a sideways kind of love story. Payton’s blond-bobbed girlfriend Alice (Julia Schlaepfer) has already committed to becoming his first lady. Her pearls and cardigans are junior versions of the tasteful Chanel suits it’s impossible not to picture her growing into. Like most relationships in Payton’s life, theirs is optimized to achieve his future success. Payton understands that being married to his high school sweetheart will be the best story for voters when his name is on the presidential ticket. Payton and Alice do love each other, for what it’s worth, but his heart belongs to someone else.
Desperate to prevail at all costs, Payton has a threat for his opponent: If River wins the race, Payton will tell the whole school they’ve had sex and that River (who also has a girlfriend) is living a lie. Both men seem to be fluid or bi-sexual, but only Payton appears to be open about it. And yes, the two have a history of romance that began when Payton’s mom (played by Paltrow) hired River to tutor him in Mandarin. Drudging up their past together isn’t about revealing that River slept with another guy, which is the kind of gossip that may have been considered dirt to another generation. (Payton was involved too, after all.) Rather, it’s about exposing River for being less than candid about his sexual preferences.
