freevee's jury duty is an ode to community

and it is gorgeous

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Every day of the last week I have found myself asking someone, "have you seen that show Jury Duty [ashamed, sotto voce] ... on Freevee?" These are words I never expected to utter, both because jury duty is not a concept one would expect to translate well to entertainment and because "Freevee" is an embarrassing name for a network. But it is 2023, and here we are.  

I don’t care these are my Avengers.

This show, about a man named Ronald who unknowingly takes part in a mock trial experience wherein he is the only non-actor participant, has given me more than I thought was possible. James Marsden as a self-absorbed but still charming asshole playing James Marsden. A mockumentary that's actually funny without trying to be cutesy (apologies). Strange little characters who find community in each other. A relatively accurate portrayal of the justice system. Influencers being influencers. I laughed. I cried, a number of times ... I had many epiphanies. 

Some vague spoilers ahead for the mockumentary Jury Duty, but like ... ask yourself if that is important to you.

Freevee dared to ask: what if the Stanford prison experiment was fun, and not set in prison, and also what if we skipped the staggering lack of ethics and didn’t give our participants PTSD? What if it took place in a Los Angeles courtroom, and everyone was in on the experiment except for one very tall, very nice man named Ronald bringing only-decent-man-in-his-college-frat vibes? What if it was filmed in 2021 when society was barely rising from the depths of a global pandemic? What if we got James Marsden, America’s sweetheart, to play the most obnoxious version of himself? What then, asked Freevee.