Hulu's "The Act" brings the story of Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee Blanchard to life, highlighting the devastating effects of Munchausen by proxy.

The first episode of The Act opens inside the bubble-gum pink, wheelchair proofed house of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard, camera panning through a deserted hallway littered with an eerie collection of soft toys, princess dresses and prescription medications. The mother-daughter duo -- Gypsy with her clunky wheelchair, exclusively pink attire and goofy glasses along with her mother, Dee Dee, who always keeps a protective hand on her handicapped daughter’s shoulder, are nowhere to be found – until a skin-crawling 911 call from their faithful neighbours reveals a horrifying revelation to the audience: “That b*tch is dead!”

As a true crime enthusiast, any television show that opens with the words “based on real events” gets my heart racing – and this is true for The Act, the Hulu original web drama adapted by Michelle Dean and Nick Antosca from Dean’s 2016 BuzzFeed feature, based on the real life tale of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. The series is not secretive about the fact that it dramatizes some of the events depicted in the 8 parter, but otherwise accurately adapts the story of a mother who tricked the nation – and her own daughter – into believing her child was suffering from numerous medical conditions as a direct result of Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

One of the show’s best assets is its incredible cast that brings the story to life in a way that makes the audience feel as if they are watching the real thing unfold. The Act stars Joey King as Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a young bald-headed girl with a list of medical issues as long as her arm, propped up by a wheelchair she doesn’t need and charitable donations from Make-A-Wish and her doting mother who never seems to let her out of her sight.

 A far cry from her previous roles as a late blooming teenager in The Kissing Booth film series, it is no wonder King was nominated for both a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for her role in The Act – the 21 year old actress embodies the real life Gypsy Rose in an eerily perfect fashion, nailing the squeaky helium-esque voice and innocent acceptance of her mother’s authority that she is iconic for. It is this, paired with a gripping script that delves into the double life of Gypsy Rose -- infantilized, Disney princess-dress wearing girl with the cognitive abilities of a seven-year-old by day and rainbow-wig-wearing BDSM loving woman with an online boyfriend at night -- that King perfectly executes.

Patricia Arquette who plays Dee Dee adds depth, her performance as over-protective mother intent on keeping her daughter all to herself creating a palpable tension in every scene that builds until Gypsy finally has enough of sneaking out to get the sugar fixes her mother denies her of (claiming she is allergic) and the physical abuse that leaves Gypsy disfigured and toothless much to Arquette’s Dee Dee’s unnervingly calm satisfaction, and Gypsy’s plan to escape her mother’s grasp once and for all begins to unravel manically across the eight-episode series.

Although the pacing tends to lag at times, and moments of inaccuracy such as the close relationship between the Blanchard’s and their neighbours seemingly added for drama factor threaten the austerity of the show at times, “The Act” really does live up to its name, portraying the true “act” a young woman was forced to live by her mother for 23 years that no Wikipedia article or real-life-murder trial could ever capture with such a gripping and moral-tearing realism.