The Audacity

What’s it about?

In this dark comedy set in the bubble of Silicon Valley, a larger-than-life tech CEO and his ethically dubious therapist are involved in a series of dodgy dealings relating to the exploitation of personal data and insider trading – while trying to keep their families together.

The facts 

• Created by Jonathan Glatzer (Succession)
• Starring Billy Magnussen (Maniac), Sarah Goldberg (Barry), Lucy Punch (Animal Control), Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), Paul Adelstein (Private Practice), and Meaghan Rath (Hawaii Five-0)
• English language 
• Runtime: Eight episodes that are between 51 and 62 minutes each

Why did it get this rating? 

This series was self-rated by Neon. You can find out more about self-rating by streaming providers here.

Drug use

A character is shown taking ayahuasca, a hallucinogen. The effects are shown as comical rather than beneficial or fun: they vomit, say strange things, then sleep a lot.

A young teenage character is depicted growing a dependency to a mysterious oral “tincture”, which is revealed to contain steroids. 

Offensive language

There is occasional use of offensive language, including “f*ck”, when characters are under pressure.

Sexual references

Characters talk about having sexual affairs and doing “anal”. Characters are implied to have sex, but this is not shown beyond the first stages of kissing and undressing.

Violence

There is a scene at a fight club, where characters hit each other with office equipment, including computer keyboards. Some end up injured and on the ground. The injuries include facial grazes and bruises.

One character is interested in staging war reenactments, and these are quite realistic, with gunfire and explosions. Fake casualties are shown.

Suicide themes

There are multiple references to characters that have suicided before the timeline of the show:

• We learn that one character has hung themself and are shown the place this happened. 
• We learn that the community has had multiple teenage deaths on a set of train tracks. We are shown the disconnect between the grief of the students at the school and the unhelpful unwillingness of the adults to “dwell” on this.

In the final episode, there are two non-graphic suicide aspects depicted: one character goes to the train tracks in a moment of desperation but is stopped from harm. We learn shortly after this that another character has, however, suicided on the same train tracks further along – but we don’t see it happen.

Content that may disturb 

A young male teenage character is depicted watching “looksmaxxing” content on his devices. The influence of this content leads him to begin to treat people in his life with disrespect.

When content stays with you

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.  

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information 

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?
• What is looksmaxxing?