An episodic drama set in the 1960s hardly sounds like the sort of project that would need to brace itself for an army of trolls, haters, and review-bombers to descend upon it, but it makes a great deal more sense when you consider Apple TV’s Lessons in Chemistry stars Brie Larson in the lead role.
In a development that’s virtually unheard of for any TV series, the first trailer for the literary adaptation premiered on YouTube with comments disabled from the outset, and although it hasn’t been explicitly confirmed why that decision was made, the vitriol that tends to follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe stalwart everywhere she goes on the internet is surely at least partially to blame.
After all, The Marvels is the single most-disliked trailer in MCU history that racked up almost 3000% more thumbs down than Morbius, which gives off the distinct impression that the downvotes have nothing to do with the quality of the footage. Either way, we can’t forget that Larson is an Academy Award-winning actress who plays a superhero in her spare time, so it’s no surprise to discover that Lessons in Chemistry has been warmly received by critics thus far.
Will it end up being review-bombed upon its premiere on Oct. 13? It would be nice to say “no,” but a solid “maybe” is as far as we’re willing to go. Lessons in Chemistry lands less than a month before The Marvels, too, so those pitchforks are going to be plenty sharpened and then used so often they become blunt all over again after the star’s most vociferous critics get a double dose in short order.