Netflix’s gory ‘Faculty Tales the Collection’ has a grim episode about on-line shaming

“Howdy, I am Kong, or Click on, the Hardcore Fact-Seeker.”

The aptly-titled “Lunch” episode of Netflix‘s comic-inspired horror anthology sequence, Faculty Tales the Collection, begins with a close-up of a pupil’s face, mid-livestream from his faculty’s cafeteria whereas adoring feedback rain in.

Kong (Tonhon Tantivejakul), it seems, is a social media influencer who specialises in exposing individuals for perceived wrongdoings. Within the opening sequence he wastes no time in barging behind the meals stall of Aunty Jong (Srida Pauvimol), a cafeteria employee whose spicy pork soup has all of the sudden turn into suspiciously in style, and exposing what seems to be one thing aside from pork in her cooking pot.

What follows is a gory, twisty story wherein every part is not fairly what it appears, and screenwriter Saniphong Suddhiphan performs with the idea of on-line shaming by making Kong go from adored hero to public villain (“clout chaser,” as on-line commenters model him) after Aunty Jong is revealed to be nothing greater than an obvious sufferer.

Reasonably than apologising, Kong digs his heels in, determined to not again down from his unique place — and in doing so he feels the net wrath he beforehand harnessed in opposition to others.

“These fucking assholes,” Kong rants to his associates at one level. “This morning they supported me. You noticed that proper? And now they’ve switched to bashing me? Fuck them. I am going to expose all these trolls on my web page.”

“Actually, Kong,” responds one among his associates. “You are simply utilizing social media to bully individuals.”

This troublesome line between bullying and calling out wrongdoing, which John Oliver has beforehand mentioned on Final Week Tonight and which performs out in web dramas on an nearly day by day foundation, is the driving narrative of Songsak Mongkolthong’s episode. It is well-acted (Tantivejakul particularly is great), and the narrative is filled with the form of twists and turns you’d anticipate from a Goosebumps episode (albeit a reasonably grownup one). General Faculty Tales the Collection is a patchy anthology — the tales are fairly hit and miss — however “Lunch” stands out.

In a world the place an increasing number of youngsters are getting smartphones, TikTok creators are a rising supply of reports, and some research have highlighted the unfavorable impacts of social media on psychological well being, the questions posed by “Lunch” appear extra related than ever.

Is shaming somebody on social media ever justified? What are the aspect impacts of getting a big on-line platform? And what occurs when somebody goes from hero to hated in a single day?

“Lunch” tackles these questions, and it does so with a wholesome aspect portion of bounce scares, twists and gore.

Faculty Tales the Collection(opens in a brand new tab) is out there to stream now on Netflix.