Last week I looked at Instagram in a moment of desperation to get away from thinking about politics – as we know, Instagram and Threads actively stifle political content. I saw a post by Michael Chakraverty, one of the handful of Great British Bake Off contestants I have followed over the years, and decided to rewatch the season of the show he appeared on. (It's 2019 – on Netflix it shows up as C7.)
I highly recommend you do the same in this extremely dark week.
While the early GBBO seasons with Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc and Mary Berry are overall better than the subsequent ones, the 2019 season stands out for its sheer joy and kindness. Unlike so many American reality shows, GBBO is basically always kind, the competitors supportive of each other. But this season is above and beyond on that front.
These bakers cross their fingers for their competitors, beam when another baker is named as the winner of a technical challenge or as star baker, visibly cringe when someone else has a baking disaster or dive in to help avert one, and look aghast when the person being sent home is announced. In the early episodes, one of the bakers, David, rarely offers a full smile – he smiles with pursed lips, and while he's unfailingly kind onscreen, you maybe wonder if he's too much of a competitor to really embrace the others. By the end of his time on the show, David's smiles are wide-open and beaming and his affection for his fellow bakers shines through. In one brief moment, a woman who's just been eliminated is surrounded in a group hug by all the other women still in the competition, while the remaining men – who at one point dub themselves the "least-laddy lads club" – stand just in the background, closely side by side, looking sad and loving and somehow radiating the impression of a hug even as they don't dive in.
The amount of pure, uncut kindness and sweetness on display throughout the season was a healing experience as I contemplated American voters choosing hate.
Even Noel Fielding, usually dedicated to serving as a distraction and irritant to the bakers, on several occasions helped someone pull it together in a moment of crisis, showing real kindness. It wasn't the creative sensitivity previous hosts Sue and Mel famously offered at such times, when they would stand by a crying contestant and use language that guaranteed the footage wouldn't be aired, but there's also something to be said for allowing people's emotion to show in a non-manipulative way. Similarly, even judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith display concern for Steph, a talented but fragile baker, pulling back on their criticism of her stumbles before she falls apart entirely.
Nothing will heal the injuries of this week – injuries to vulnerable people in this country, to the future of the planet, to any conception that Americans will reject racism and hate. But if you need a break from actively thinking about all that, this is a good option. What else would you recommend to give yourself a break from the darkness?
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