The Audacity Season 1 Tackled Mental Health — With Mixed Results

Don’t be fooled by The Audacity’s brand as a show about power-hungry tech CEOs.

This AMC series also spotlights mental health through several storylines.

The most prominent is JoAnne’s. She is the main character, Duncan’s therapist, who has to balance her own desires with her obligations to her clients.

The Audacity also brings in questions around whether AI can support veterans with PTSD and what to do about high school students struggling with their mental health.

While all these questions are undoubtedly fascinating to explore, how well the show handles these sensitive discussions is a little more questionable.

Therapists and Ethical Dilemmas

At a glance, I was super excited that The Audacity featured a therapist as a central character. 

In recent years, more and more shows, such as Shrinking, have started to humanize therapists and their work in mental health care.

But I don’t know if this series necessarily offers a positive representation of therapy; “nuanced” might be a better way to describe it. 

The show does a great job of pointing out how JoAnne and Gary both have to deal with self-obsessed people in tech because mental health resources are usually only offered to those who can afford them.

This framing also sets up the Tom and Xander storyline in the latter half of the season.

However, I didn’t love how the show tackled discussions of mental health diagnoses.

The discussion of Jamison’s ADHD diagnosis as a “leg up” in college admissions and Duncan’s self-proclamation of “being on the spectrum” factor into harmful stereotypes.

The Audacity ends up echoing the stigma around having ADHD and autism as a “helpful” label rather than being disorders that millions of people struggle with.

At least the show successfully sends a clear message on how leaning on stereotypes about autism backfires on Duncan, who can’t fathom that he’s clinically considered normal. 

Still, there’s plenty of room for the show to improve in its empathizing with neurodivergent people.

Can AI Solve PTSD?

I was initially confused about why Tom was included in the story, but his role leading the Veterans Association’s collaboration with Hypergnosis was a surprisingly compelling inclusion.

In particular, the scene when Tom connected with Xander, the AI created by Martin, raised the question of whether AI can create support systems for veterans.

While The Audacity offers a satirical approach to clarifying the limits of AI, it also demonstrates ways in which technology might be used for good.

The best commentary The Audacity offers is when it points out that mental health isn’t something that can be solved but requires consistent support.

Where the show loses me is with Carl’s obsession with warfare and recreating the battlefield.

Obviously, his ignorance indicates that Silicon Valley CEOs fundamentally cannot understand the trauma of veterans who live with PTSD.

But the show is so concerned with satirizing Carl’s fantasies of war to really dig into Tom’s own experiences with PTSD and his past.

Understanding Tom’s struggles with mental health and accessing support is the crucial missing part to make his story click.

The Pressure to Succeed

As the actors themselves have said, the children are the hope on the show.

But the kids themselves are also under enormous amounts of pressure at their high-achieving private high school.

I thought Orson’s storyline was fascinating, especially his slow but steady spiral into incel culture due to his difficulty adjusting to a new environment.

However, I do wish more time were spent on Tess and Jamison.

While we get to understand Orson well, these two characters’ perspectives are shared less, even though both have significant struggles.

It would have been nice to see more of Tess resisting Gary’s attempts to get her to open up, as well as Jamison’s fears around college admission.

The show has only barely scratched the surface of how stressful high school can be, particularly for kids at competitive schools.

There is so much more it could have explored, especially given how the finale centers on Jamison.

The Final Verdict

Overall, The Audacity handled mental health discussions decently, but there’s certainly room for improvement.

I won’t dive too deep into the finale, but it’s also worth mentioning that the show seems to be setting up grief as a theme for the upcoming season.

The series briefly touched on grief, especially in relation to Hamish’s suicide, but there seems to be plenty of potential for digging into that past even further.

However, going forward, the show will consider how it can provide more empathetic approaches to handling PTSD and discuss the importance of mental health support.

What did you think of how The Audacity Season 1 handled the mental health issues discussed above?

How would you like to see them further the discussion for Season 2?

Comment your thoughts below!