YMMV / THEM (2021)

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• Alternative Character Interpretation: Either the reveal that Clarke has been stealing his and Betty's savings was to show a darker side to Clarke, who is otherwise sympathetic for the rest of the show, or as some viewers interpreted it, was a last-minute decision he did to screw Betty out of buying anything to use against the Emorys, such as weapons or hiring people.
• Anvilicious: Nearly every single white character in the show is racist, even the ones who are close to being "good guys", emphasizing the prevalence of racism with every one of their appearances. The repetitive and obvious nature of the message is probably intentional, as black people such as those depicted in the show have had to face such discrimination for their entire lives.
• Awesome Music:
  • The intensely creepy use of "Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) in the trailer.
  • James Brown's "Payback" plays after Lucky socks Betty in her smug face at last, as Lucky and Gracie-Jean saunter up to the house and walk back indoors.
  • "Who Will Survive America?" by Amira Baraka in Episode. 10 which plays as Lucky makes her escape and smashes Dr. Moynihan's face in.
  • "Young, Gifted and Black" by Nina Simone, playing at the end after the Emorys step out to proudly and defiantly confront their neighbours and the police after triumphing over their ghostly antagonists. It plays over the ending credits as well.
• Catharsis Factor: Essentially any time a racist gets what's coming to them.
  • Lucky slapping Betty while Gracie watches, all while "Payback" plays. It's as glorious as it sounds.
  • Depending whether you sympathized with her or not, Betty thinking George let her run free, only to be suddenly shot by him, and no one will ever know what happened to her.
  • Ruby killing Earl, followed by Henry beating the absolute crap out of Marty.
  • Clarke stomping on Marty's injured leg and spitting on him.
  • Lucky also beating up Dr. Moynihan during her escape from the asylum, in addition to the black security guard letting her go without hesitation.
  • Lucky and her family finally killing their annoyingly smug personal demons.
    • First Gracie-Jean is being punished in a metaphysical classroom by Miss Vera. Lucky goes in and grapples with Mrs. Vera, a wannabe-surrogate-mother figure for Gracie (another moment of awesome for Lucky here) while Gracie goes into her room and tears the Mrs. Vera book to shreds, telling her “You’ll never be my mummy!” The book is basically Mrs. Vera’s Soul Jar and she herself is torn to shreds.
    • Henry has the worst torture out of all of them as a result of his guilt and grief. He’s sat in a metaphysical movie theatre identical to the one he was sat in with his daughters when his wife was raped at home and their son was murdered in front of her. The screen is showing the whole incident taking place whilst Da Tap-Dance Man taunts him over the fact that all white people have ever done is take things from him and other blacks and encourages him to give the white neighbours rioting outside “what they came to see” and go out there acting violently like “a beast to fear”. Then a soft hand simply places itself over Henry’s fist. It’s Lucky. She forgives him for not being there at the house when the incident happened and his rage and pain dissipate. It doubles as a Heartwarming Moment. The awesome part comes next however. After Lucky and Henry have returned to the physical world, now sat on the bed in their room, Da Tap-Dance Man reappears, continuing to taunt Henry with his Character Catchphrase: “Whatcha gonna do?” Henry answers his question by unloading his last bullet into Da Tap-Dance Man’s head, finally shutting him up.
    • Then having helped her family, Lucky goes by herself into the basement to face her own personal demon, the Big Bad himself, one-on-one, firmly establishing herself as the main protagonist. At first Brother Epps is as smug as ever but Lucky just sees through him and tears him to shreds, reducing him to what he’s always been at heart; just a sad, frightened old man. Epps let his despair over the death of his son turn him against the world but Lucky didn’t, proving that she is stronger than him. Then she leaves him to his Eternal Damnation.
• Complete Monster: Satan himself is the source behind the Black Hat Man. A chaos-lover who despises black people, Satan poses as a small child in the 1800s to get the attention of the kindhearted Reverend Hiram Epps. Satan strands a black couple in the town of Eidolon, and proceeds to cause Epps's eyesight to deteriorate until he can only see black people as monsters. Driving Epps into such paranoiac insanity that he subjects the black couple to torture, lynching, and burning, Satan forges a deal with the dying Epps to make black people suffer, or else his soul will be condemned to Hell. Now a ghoulish spirit under the service of Satan, Epps spends centuries driving black mothers into killing their families and sending them to insane asylums.
• Diagnosed by the Audience:
  • Livia Emory's behaviour at times suggests she may be suffering from PTSD as a result of the home invasion. Some examples are when she waves a gun around and starts screaming at the neighbours to leave her family alone because she feels threatened or becomes very frightened at the sound of the song "Old Black Joe," both of which could arguably be interpreted as a PTSD flashback.
  • Between Betty Wendell's awkward smiles, stuttering, and irrational fear of black people, viewers can be left thinking that even beyond her racism, there are a few screws loose in her head, most likely a case of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
• Funny Moments: They're few and far between, but the ones there definitely stand out in such an otherwise unrelentingly grim show.
  • Da Tap-Dance Man in general, being a very comedic villain bordering on Plucky Comic Relief. He becomes even funnier with the revelation that he’s not actually the ghost of a black slave as he claims, but probably an avatar of Epps. It’s hilariously random that such a serious villain as Epps would assume such the form of such a bombastic and goofy character.
    • Da Tap-Dance Man inexplicably appearing next to Henry on the sofa in the Emorys Sitting Room, laughing manically and eating popcorn whilst Henry is watching television. What makes it funny instead of just scary is Henry not jumping or screaming but simply saying flatly, “Where’d you come from?”
    • His death is similarly amusing. Having shed his status as Plucky Comic Relief and joined the other ghosts and villains in being a straight-up Hate Sink of Nightmare Fuel, it’s hilarious to see Da Tap-Dance Man get killed off in such an abrupt, almost slapstick manner: Henry just pulls out his gun and shoots the annoying bastard in the face, to which he lets out a shocked, girly squeal and hits the wall. Made even funnier by the fact that he’s just been ominously repeating his Character Catchphrase, “Whatcha gonna do?” Does that answer your question?
    • You’re almost expecting Henry to say "Oh, man, I shot Da Tap-Dance Man in the face."
    • It also kind of reminds you of when Jim Moriarty tells Sherlock that if he shoots him, he’ll be able to cherish the look of surprise on his face. One can almost imagine Jim letting out a similarly shocked shriek.
  • The fact that it comes straight out of nowhere in addition to being deliciously satisfying makes Lucky punching Betty straight in the face very funny.
  • When Henry grabs his gun and shoots at Marty who is running away, Marty yells "You crazy coon!" Bear in mind, Marty just literally tried to lynch Henry, so let's not talk about who's really crazy.
• Memetic Mutation: "First Us, now Them? We need to Get Out!"
• Tear Jerker: It has its own page here.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: One of the most recurring criticisms of the show. The main characters, particularly Lucky, are made to go through so much suffering without any respite or break, that many find it hard to actually continue watching. Many have described it as trauma porn because of this.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: While Betty is mostly depicted as a Hate Sink, there are a few moments where the show tries to invoke sympathy for her character, such as revealing she has Abusive Parents, and that her husband has been stealing money from her. The problem though is none of that excuses her Lack of Empathy, or her racism/bigotry towards the Emory family (who have been experiencing severe psychological, social, and racial torment because of Betty's behavior and her attempts to rally the neighborhood against them). This even extends to when she is kidnapped by George, kept locked up in a bunker, and tries to escape, only to get murdered by him, which is all treated as an Alas, Poor Villain moment. While it doesn't in any way excuse what George did to her, some audience members may have a hard time feeling bad for Betty because of how hateful and cruel she's been up to that point, or the fact that she went to George in the first place to try and use him to get rid of the Emory's.

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