Do you ever think about how babies are actually murderers? No? Well, that must just be because you haven’t yet watched the trailer for The Baby because infants cannot be trusted and this proves it. In the upcoming HBO series, Natasha is suddenly thrust into “motherhood” by a baby literally falling into her arms, and she soon realizes that this baby isn’t safe for anyone. Mainly because the baby keeps killing people.
For any millennial who is feeling confronted by the idea of having a family and babies because all of their friends are having babies and families, this seems like a pretty on-the-nose example of how that feels. The murderous baby being the on-the-nose part, of course.
But really (from what I can tell from the trailer), it’s a representation of the death of life as you know it when you have a kid—and while I do, someday, want a family, The Baby seems incredibly poignant in exploring that feeling with a literal murderous baby.
The press release for the show describes The Baby as follows: “Michelle De Swarte (“The Duchess”) stars as 38-year-old Natasha, who is furious that her closest friends are all having babies. But when she is unexpectedly landed with a baby of her own, her life dramatically implodes. Controlling, manipulative, but incredibly cute, the baby twists Natasha’s life into a surreal horror show. As she discovers the true extent of the baby’s deadly nature, Natasha makes increasingly desperate attempts to get rid of it. She doesn’t want a baby. But the baby definitely wants her.”
The series also includes Amira Ghazalla (The Rhythm Section) as Mrs. Eaves, “the 70-year-old enigma who has spent the last fifty years living out of her car and seems to be everywhere the Baby is, and Amber Grappy as Bobbi, Natasha’s younger sister, a children’s magician who would love nothing more than to be a parent, to give love and to receive it.”
And that’s not all—the series’ cast is absolutely stacked with talent, including Patrice Naiambana (Spectre) as Natasha’s father Lyle, Sinéad Cusack (Marcella) as her mother Barbara. Shvorne Marks (Endeavour) as Mags, Isy Suttie (Peep Show) as Rita, Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) as Helen, Seyan Sarvan (HBO Max’s It’s a Sin) as Nour, Karl Davies (The Tower) as Jack, and Divian Ladwa (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Fooze.
Which makes sense. Since it takes a village to raise a baby, imagine how many people it would take to raise a serial killer infant?
Babies kill
The trailer shows a lot of dead bodies wherever this kid goes, including a gruesome swing set image with a body dead on a swing. But that’s what happens when you literally catch a baby falling from the sky, right? Isn’t that how the storks work? They drop murdering babies from mid-air?
From creators Siân Robins-Grace and Lucy Gaymer, the series is set to premiere on HBO later this month and honestly, I am ready and willing to laugh at a baby just murdering people. It’s what we all deserve this far into 2022.
(image: HBO)
