Sweet/Vicious Review: An Innocent Man and Pure Heroine (Season 1 Episode 9 and 10)

Sweet/Vicious’ Season 1 Finale, “An Innocent Man” & “Pure Heroine,” sets the stage for bigger adventures in the future while closing off the first leg of their journey as vagilantes. Jules and Ophelia are empowered women that have started something bigger than themselves, a movement in Darlington, and a conversation about sexual assault in our homes.

As expected, because this show prides itself in surprising us, things are going in Jules favor in the first hour of the finale. They lure us into a false sense of security, making us all question where our heroes go next, before dropping the other shoe and letting a faceless man make decisions in the life of Jules and Nate.

The casual aloofness of Jules case being overthrown feels insulting, demoralizing, and a slap in the face of everything she’s been through for about two seconds, until we realize who we’re dealing with here.

This is Jules. Badass, crusader of the night, who took her pain and transformed it into something more.

Jules does not go gently into the night after speaking her truth, an essential part in anyone’s recovery. She ignores what is a common tragic occurrence when it comes to university reported assaults, and takes matters into her own hands.

She plans, schemes, and sets off a devious plan to get past what Nate did to her because she’s stronger than him. And even when things falter, when it all looks like it will crash down around her, she rises because of the power inside and of those around her.

For months she’s been alone in her recovery. Her thoughts were spiralling with no stop in sight because she had no one to give her perspective, a shoulder to lean on, or the support she needed.

Now she has that and more.

She’s has turned a corner in her recovery and has Ophelia, Kennedy, Tyler, Harris, and her sorority sisters at her side. And while it might make it harder to go out and kick ass, she’s not alone in her pain, anger, sadness, or guilt anymore.

Her truth has set her free.

The world knows what Nate did and the weight of her assault has been lifted enough from her mind and heart to enable her to look to the future of her vigilante mission/purpose.

That’s why she starts the Sweet/Vicious website with Ophelia. She wants to show other victims of sexual assault that they have a voice after their assault, during their recovery, and after the authorities deem it not worth their time or money.

At the end of the day, Sweet/Vicious isn’t just a show viewers want to see renewed.

Sweet/Vicious is the kind of life affirming, educational, thought-provoking, and much-needed television we deserve as daughters, sisters, friends, and mothers of this world. It shows that survivors of sexual assault aren’t as broken/fragile/rare as you may think or should be cast aside without a second thought.

If given another season, Sweet/Vicious won’t stop the great work they’re doing or important conversations they’re starting. It’ll continue to shine a light on the places we’re failing the women of our country, of our world, in hopes of doing better.

What did you think of this episode of Sweet/Vicious? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Sweet/Vicious airs on MTV.

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