Louis stays cool in the land of the far-Right hairy troll man-babies
Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America ★★★★☆ The Promise ★★☆☆☆
Approaching the door of a far-right U.S. internet troll, Louis Theroux pledged to keep his cool. ‘i will be attempting to maintain my composure,’ he murmured.
Well, yes. he’s Louis Theroux. perfect composure comes as standard. That’s like Billy connolly assuring us he’ll tell a few funny stories, or Mary Whitehouse promising to keep her clothes on.
The troll, an infantile man called Tim whose online name is Baked alaska, makes money by broadcasting live video of himself on the streets of Tampa, Florida. Viewers donate a dollar or two to see him hurl insults at passers-by or play nazi marching songs from a speaker round his neck.
Moments after Louis joined him, in the first of a three-part documentary, Forbidden America (BBc2), a fan called Doomersquidward stumped up $100.
That seemed such a fortuitous coincidence, you might almost wonder if Mr alaska had set it up. Louis didn’t ask, and he didn’t need to. nothing he could do or say would make the troll look any more pathetic than he already did.
This flabby, desperate show-off was one of a growing tribe of ineffectual young men with no social life who meet through online video games. ‘it’s the new golf course,’ says their 22-year-old selfstyled leader.
his name is nicholas J. Fuentes and he hosts a nightly online chat show that, at first glance, looks almost professional. With a city nightscape behind him, he leans on a desk and inveighs against Jews, Muslims, gays and journalists.
he demands an end to all immigration and wants to take the vote away from women. ‘i’m not a hatemonger,’ he says with a leer. ‘i’m a lovemonger.’
Fuentes is glib but if brain cells were gunpowder, he wouldn’t have enough for a party popper. he invited Louis to watch him record a show — revealing that the twinkling skyscrapers are just a computer image. in reality, Fuentes films his rants in his parents’ basement in front of a green screen... wearing comfy carpet slippers under his newsreader’s desk.
Louis can be an incisive interviewer, but he barely needed to open his mouth before these gibbering man-babies lost their tempers and revealed themselves as spoilt fiveyear-olds with facial hair.
one who calls himself ‘Beardson Beardly’ ripped off his microphone and ran shrieking indoors, after Louis asked him why he gave nazi salutes to camera.
Minutes later, Mr Beardly was ‘live streaming’ on his internet channel: ‘guess what, Louis?’ he bleated. ‘My country’s better than yours, my friends are cooler than you, i’m cooler than you, i’m tougher than you, i’m smarter, i’m stronger and you’re weak and you suck.’
he forgot to add ‘my dad’s bigger than yours’.
Detective Sarah castaing’s dad was her inspiration to catch a child killer, as she tackled the case that destroyed his police career 20 years earlier, in The Promise (BBc4).
This subtitled French thriller tried to evoke fairytale themes, starting with the kidnap of a girl in a red coat by a wolfish predator in the woods. Then heroine Sarah (Sofia Essaidi) was called to the window of her office tower block by her lover, who asked her to untie her hair. The echoes of Little red riding hood and rapunzel were unmistakable.
But this six-part crime serial relies too heavily on lazy cliches — such as the maverick policeman punching the furniture when his suspect walks free.
When Sarah’s car refuses to start first time, you just know that in a future episode it will stall again and put her life in danger. as police serials go, this one’s a plod.