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- Certification
- Sex & Nudity (16)
- Violence & Gore (20)
- Profanity (12)
- Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (8)
- Frightening & Intense Scenes (14)
- Spoilers (5)
Certification
Sex & Nudity
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- A young man is ordered to strip naked when being admitted into jail. He is seen naked from the side, covering his genitals with his hands (his genitals aren't visible), and from the back, with his butt clearly seen. He is told to bend over and spread his cheeks, but the camera cuts to him from the front from the waist up, so only his expression of humiliation as he does this is seen. This is nonsexual as it is just simply a routine cavity search
- Male butt nudity is shown during prison sequence. Although mature themes are common throughout, Sex scenes are never shown, and female nudity is almost never shown.
- Mature themes such as pornography, sexual assault etc are occasional topics of discussion but are never shown.
- Two scenes of male butt nudity in prison are shown. This is non sexual and not graphic.
- Sex scenes arent explicit, and usually cut away quickly or show the end of the act.
- Brief gay sex scene, but it is the most explicit scene in the series.
- S1E1 a man and woman lay in bed together after doing ecstasy. She is nude, laying on her side, but her bare bottom is visible and some side breast.
- S1E3 A husband ties up his pregnant wife in a bed to be kinky. She is in lingerie. He wraps a gag around her mouth. No nudity is shown here. No sex either.
- S2E10 Around 5-7 min into the show, a woman is changing in her closet. It shows full back side and side breast.
- The sexual content is overall moderate.
- 6 direct onscreen sexual acts in the show but there is no explicit nudity in any. There is a gay sex scene in S1 EP3 that is a bit graphic, a scene of a man running a knife down a woman's nude body and then beating her for her sexual pleasure (sensitive areas of her body are hidden by the items she wears), There scene of a woman masturbating in S2 EP3, a brief sex scene in S2 EP4 and another scene of a woman masturbating in S4 EP4.
- Many scenes where men's and women's buttocks are shown sometimes in a sexual context and a non-sexual context. The sides of women's breasts are also seen sometimes but there is no graphic nudity in the show.
- The sexual content is minimal compared to the high levels of violence and other adult content. The earlier seasons have more sexuality than seasons 3 and 4.
- A handful of sex scenes and explicit dialogue in seasons 1 and 2, pretty much no sexual content at all in season 3 and some brief sexual scenes in season 4.
- Compared to the copious scenes of strong violence the sexual stuff is really nothing. Most (but not all) of it isn't even unsuitable for a PG-13 rated movie aside from a handful of more raunchy scenes in the first two seasons.
- There is a brief non-explicit discussion of pornography. A man describes how he's going to take a "pornography ring" down.
Violence & Gore
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- Violence isn't frequent early on but becomes very present later. Many scenes are pretty graphic, intense and bloody but what makes the show's violence have a higher impact is its realism and upsetting nature. Suicide and implications of sexual violence are also depicted throughout the show. Most of the violence is very sudden, unexpected and shocking rather than gory, but there is a particularly gory and graphic scene at the end of season 3.
- The violence becomes increasingly more intense as the show progresses. Almost every scene of violence in the show is unexpected and shocking.
- Season 1 has a few violent scenes while seasons 2, 3 and 4 have lots of violent and bloody scenes.
- In season 2, a man is about to be gang raped when he is saved by his friend who kills the men with a knife blurred in the background (we see spurting blood when their throats are slashed) and then after blood stains the walls. Then we see a man (the rapist) having a knife rammed in between his bare buttocks with blood shown.
- A man is killed with an axe in brutal gory detail. Blood splashes in heavy amounts and his lifeless body and head is hacked into onscreen from a distance.
- Canonically, Dark Army operatives are trained to commit suicide after carrying out their mission, and as a way to prevent capture by law enforcement agencies. Several of them are depicted shooting themselves in the head (often suddenly) with splattering and gushing blood.
- The violence is infrequent but usually very shocking. Blood is often shown and many of the violent scenes are unexpected albeit not as intense as other shows visually.
- Season 1 has a handful of shootings with visible blood, a graphic suicide and a few other violent scenes. The first three episodes of the show are completely clean in this regard.
- Season 2 takes a large step up in violence from the first season which, while bloody, only had around 5 scenes of violence. In season 2 violent scenes occur more frequently and are more bloody.
- Moderate violence in season 1 and occasional graphic violence in seasons 2-4. Shootings, beatings, stabbings and suicides included.
- The violence is overall severe as the level of brutality increases with each season.
- The violence in some episodes can be very brutal and jarring while the majority of episodes have mild to moderate violence.
- The violence becomes much stronger in the second season and continues to be like this throughout the rest of the show.
- There is a sudden and disturbing scene where a woman is shot in the head in front of her infant baby. Blood splatters all over the babies face who starts screaming and crying and a bloody bullet hole is shown in the woman's head. The next scene is a graphic sequence where her skull is chipped open in autopsy revealing her brain and folded scalp.
- A graphic suicide in season 1 shows a man shoot himself in the mouth on live TV. Blood and brain splatter all over the window and then start gushing out of his mouth realistically. This is one of the most shocking and bloody scenes in a mostly non-violent season.
- In the early segments of season 2 there is a sight of a throat slicing with squirting blood, multiple images of people being shot in the head and throat with splattering blood along with self harm in the form of purposeful drug overdose.
- Brutal violence in all seasons but season one.
- Out of all seasons, season 3 has the most graphic and disturbing violence despite the violent scenes being spread out.
- Moderate violence in the first half of the series and lots of graphic violence in the second half.
- Viewer discretion is advised due to their being a great number of explicit scenes of suicide by gunshot throughout the show with varying amounts of detail. Most notably graphic scenes take place in S1 E10 (the most explicit scene), S2 E5, S2 E10, S3 E10, S4 E3, S4 E4 and S4 E11.
Profanity
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- Fuck is heard a lot more frequently throughout season 2, 3 and 4. There are 5 uses of the word cunt; 2 each in season 2 and 4 and 1 use in season 3. All the uses of fuck and cunt are completely uncensored.
- 5 uses of the word 'cunt' in this show.
- Season one contains infrequent strong language having 1-7 uses of fuck per episode and seasons 2-4 have 5-20 uses of fuck per episode. There are also occasional uses of cunt and cocksucker.
- Some episodes contain as few as 1 or 2 uses of the word "fuck" and others contains upwards of 15 to 20 in an episode.
- The "N-word" is used a few times throughout the series uncensored.
- Frequent uses of shit, bitch, ass, asshole, damn, dick, God, Christ and pussy throughout. A few uses of cunt and several uses of fuck and a few homophobic and racist slurs though never frequent.
- Around 30 uses of "fuck" in season 1 and 85+ uses of "fuck" each in seasons 2, 3 and 4. "Cunt" is used 5 times starting in season 2 and "shit" is used hundreds of times throughout the series. Somewhere around 300 uses of "fuck" in the series.
- The language is pretty moderate in this show. While there are lots of uses of "fuck" and "shit", the amount of language used is tame in comparison to most streaming TV-MA rated series (The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Succession) and would be more on-par with Breaking Bad or The Walking Dead which are cable TV shows.
- In season one the language is pretty mild with there being only a small handful of F-bombs per episode (and sometimes none) but in season 2 onward the language is moderate with F-bombs and several other swears being used more in episodes but never to the point where it's really bad.
- The profanity is overall moderate to severe (dependent on the episode/season)
- The word "n*gga" is heard a many of times throughout the series. At one point a white man refers to a black man as a "n*gger" in a racist context and a particular character uses the word in a majority of scenes he's in.
- About 300-350 instances of fuck (mostly in seasons 2-4), 5 uses of cunt (in seasons 2 and 4), around 15 uses of n**ga, 1 use of n**ger, countless uses of bitch, asshole and other milder swears.
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking
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- The protagonist is a morphine addict and is seen frequently snorting it (powdered version) throughout season 1. Season 2 onward it is referenced but we hardly see him using however one episode revolves around him with a big bag of it in season 3.
- As well as powdered morphine, the protagonist takes tablets to counteract with the morphine.
- The first half of season one contains strong and graphic drug use which includes abuse of morphine, meth and ecstasy. The drug use becomes less explicit after episode 5 and stays relatively moderate throughout the rest of the series but does appear now and again.
- An aberrant and disturbing sequence in season 2 where a man overdoses on extreme amounts of adderall. He stays up for 6 days, his eyes become bloodshot and he starts to go insane in the process of this. At one point he vomits up the pills but then digs through his vomit and eats them off the floor because of his level of obsession with staying up.
- Drug use is probably the most explicit area of the show. While most of the scenes of this appear in the first half of season 1, it stays throughout the rest of the show occasionally and is always extreme and realistic in its depiction of addiction and abuse.
- The level of drug use is severe due to certain episodes being explicit and unflinching in this regard.
- Season 3 has the least scenes of drug use and season 1 has the most. Seasons 2 and 4 have many scenes as well but not as much as the first.
- People are seen drinking and smoking. Many scenes of drug use and abuse by various characters. Morphine is used throughout season one and less frequently throughout the rest of the show, however is still referenced as the main character is a morphine addict. People smoke weed throughout. People smoking from joints, bongs and pipes. Meth, MDMA, heroin and cocaine use is also depicted briefly.
Frightening & Intense Scenes
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- The show is very graphic and tackles heavy themes of control, hacking, mental health, consumerism, corruption, trauma, capitalism, loneliness and many more. Season 3 and 4 are notably intense with very high stakes and tension.
- Throughout the series the main character deals with various mental illness that are related to child trauma such as autism spectrum, paranoia, schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder, this makes the series very difficult to follow sometimes, so we see the things from the character's perspective and we feel as lost as him
- The show gets increasingly more intense as it goes on and even though the violence never becomes too much it is still a very dark and brooding show.
- The first season of the show is likely suitable for 13+ as it has occasional scenes of moderate violence, a suicide and some adult content/language. Season 2 onward would more appropriately be suitable for 16+ due to graphic violence and overall heavier themes including language, sexuality, etc.
- The intensity is overall severe with the entire series being unshakenly dark, tense, nihilistic and occasionally violent.
- Recommended rating: R for strong violence, bloody images, some sexual content, drug use and language.
- Season 2 may be frightening for some viewers due to unexpected and jump scare-like scenes of violence, suicide and lots of creepy images in correlation with uncontrollable mental illness. The rest of the series is less intense in this aspect but is still quite strong.
- There is a graphic and frightening sequence where a man forces himself to overdose on adderall. He vomits up the pills but then digs through his vomit to eat them again and stays up for many nights. He psychologically and physically degrades throughout the sequence. This is one of the most brutally frightening scenes in the show.
- While this is not a show for kids, if your kid has seen Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul or Daredevil then this show is likely appropriate. Expect dark and mature themes, violence, profanity, some sexual content and episodes with graphic drug use.
- Season 2 is the scariest season with the most elements of psychological horror, jump scares in the form of unexpected violence amongst other things.
- The episodes midway through season 3 are overwhelmingly intense, nerve racking and scary. There is constant tension and overstimulating sequences of brutal chaos. There is one episode that is 45 minutes of completely uninterrupted havoc and emergency.
- While season 3 is very intense and violent, season 4 is overwhelmingly emotional and upsetting.
- Season 1 is the mildest season in every regard except for drug use where it is the most extreme.
- Many scary and suspenseful episodes that may be too much for some viewers. These episodes include S1E4, S2E3, S3E5, S3E7, S3E10, S4E8 and S4E13. These episodes have either aspects of horror, extreme suspense or lots of disturbing content. The most tense season is probably season 3.
Spoilers
Violence & Gore
- Whiterose kills herself by shooting herself in the head.
- Elliot walks through a building and sees several dead bodies with some blood shown.
- Tyrell shoots Elliot in the stomach when the latter believes he isn't real. Large amount of blood soaks through his hoodie and in the beginning of the Season 3 premiere, he is unconscious.
Frightening & Intense Scenes
- Elliot suffocates a man to death. Elliot looks away while doing it and says "I think you should look away too", and the camera cuts away from the scene. This ends up not being real and all in his head.
- In Season 3 Episode 8, Elliot buys a bag full of drugs and it is heavily implied that he is about to commit suicide but in the episode, a young boy distracts him from this and Elliot does not end up committing suicide
