Last week, Amazon Prime Video dropped a new thriller series called Swarm that sure has the internet hive mind talking.
From short short aficionado Donald Glover and Atlanta writer Janine Nabers, Swarm is the story of Dre (the incredible Domininque Fishback), a young woman who obsessively idolizes a pop star named Ni’Jah—a fandom so intense that consumes her life, taking her to some dark, horrifying places.
The fact that Ni’Jah’s fan base is known as “The Swarm” should be your first tip off that the series is not really hiding its inspirations: Beyonce and her devoted Bey Hive, but also the broader notion of modern stan culture and the often chilling behavior it can encourage in otherwise normal people.
Suffice it to say, Swarm has garnered a lot of attention online, with folks binging its addictive seven-episode season and registering their shock at each new twist and turn of the narrative.
But one of the series’ earliest gasp-inducing moments isn’t so much a twist as it is…. a curve, shall we say.
After Ni’Jah drops a fire new visual album about her cheating man (sound familiar?), Dre feels empowered and hits the clubs. There she meets a young man, and the two begin to dance.
With his long hair, striking eyes, and sharp bone structure, Rory Culkin—brother to Macauly, known for films like Scream 4 and Signs—is immediately clock-able in the role. But, given his penchant for characters that are either nerdy or scary (or both—hello Scream 4), what happens next is pretty shocking.
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We smash-cut from the club to the cold light of the next morning as Dre wakes up in a strange bed. She sees Rory’s unnamed hookup across the room, completely naked (and looking quite buff, we might add). He asks how she slept, and the bounds across the room with a bowl of strawberries in hand, offering her one.
It’s then that we make a quick jump to Dre’s line of site, and—surprise!—through the glass bowl, we see Rory’s flaccid penis smashed up against the other side of it. Talk about a bowl-full!
And, really, that’s all there is to it, merely meant to underline how awkward the morning-after situation is for Dre. In an interview with Insider, co-creator Nabors reveals this was pulled from a real story Glover had shared with her:
“Donald told this very funny story about a girl who he really liked, and how after they hooked, he was standing there with a bowl of cherries, just being like, ‘Hey,'” Nabors shared. “She was like, so not into it, because it’s so weird to hook up with a guy that you barely know and then wake up with him holding a bowl of cherries.”
“I was like, ‘I’m stealing that,'” she recalled. “And he was like, ‘All right.’ So I just ran with it.”
Anyway, the scene was already garnering a lot of buzz before the clip made its way to Twitter, san context, prompting thousands of views to sit up, pay attention, and ask, “Wait, what is this show about?”
Scroll below to read some of of favorite reactions to Culkin’s berries, which run the gamut from excitement to pure terror:
I was *not* expecting Rory Culkin to look like that underneath his clothes. #Swarm pic.twitter.com/OqMDKkx6vr
— Paul Lê (@AFinalBoy) March 19, 2023
The one that was pressed up on the bowl of strawberries 😖😖 jumpscare
— I miss Star (@coconuttoolit) March 18, 2023
All seven episodes of Swarm are streaming now, exclusive on Amazon Prime Video.
dbmcvey
So this isn’t a remake of the 1970s Patty Duke movie.
wade.l
“line of site” so funny the intelligence on this sight.
Kangol2
This show Swarm was…wild.
Of course Queerty’s focus is bizarrely skewed towards Culkin’s gherkin, when the show itself focuses on the young woman who’s obsessed with a Beyoncé-like character and grieving the death of her “sister,” and acts out accordingly. The actor, Dominique Fishback, deserves every award available for a performance for the ages. Also, it’s full of queer–including lesbian–content, with a twist at the end that really pushes the queer buttons.
I won’t give away any spoilers, but Donald Glover and his co-writer have come up with a perverse mini-masterpiece, a totally outrageous series that might keep you thinking and talking after you finish watching it.
Oh, and the actors Leon, singer Billie Eilish, Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris Jackson, etc. all impressively show off their acting chops! Eilish in particular is masterful.
PubisHairus
I wasn’t convinced by watching the trailer, but your comment actually persuaded me to give it a chance. So much content these days, and most of it is infuriatingly horrible.
eeebee333
Inasmuch as that’s all you see, I have to imagine it’s a penis double.
Rank Amateur
S3E8 of Succession, you can see his brother’s (Kieran) alleged dick pick which his character, Roman, accidentally sends to his own father. Nice dick, but there is no body or face in the photo so it could be anyone’s.
mateo
The whole binging-on-a-series thing was something that I did for a little while when we were on Covid lockdown, but it’s lost its appeal to me, now that I’m back in a work routine once more. But putting that fact aside, there’s virtually NOTHING in this preview to which I feel I can relate. So I won’t be watching.
Mr.Gavin Elster
Since all those Culkin boys are apparently uncircumcised, you might get a touch of retro-hippie cheese with your strawberries? Bon Appétit!
DarkZephyr
What’s with all of these older articles being reposted?
SFMike
Post holiday laziness.