There’s a lot to look forward to in the 2015-2016 television season. With more TV than ever comes even more female characters than ever; with more streaming platforms, tech companies and niche cable networks moving into programming, there’s more wannabe-prestige shows available. And based on what we know about the Golden Age of television—and the last few years of television, in particular—that means one thing is for certain: We will be watching sexual assault, again, for the next several months. It is not something I am exactly looking forward to, even if I’ve made my peace with it.
But for all that my job transforms, at times, from TV Critic to “Senior Rape Correspondent,” it does not quite compare to the immersion in sexual assault that the actors cast in these TV shows take on in order to play their parts. Performance in the era of prestige television, especially for women, often entails the possibility of acting extreme trauma. It might be hard to watch these scenes; to perform them is to attempt to inhabit the desolation and suffering of victims.