Hulu's NO EXIT is an okay thriller but it has a great Popcorn Moment (Spoilers)

   I know you know what Popcorn Moments are, I don't think I'm informing you, but I do wanna state it for posterity (deal with it). A Popcorn Moment is when a movie forfeits 'realism' and embraces magic... Movie Magic. That magic has been shamefully and unnecessarily demystified in the past few years. Popular YouTube channels like Cinema Sins with their Mythbusters-y 'deconstructions' ruin the fun of giving into a movie's own logic and minutiae. I hate this shit and you should too, especially since it's seeped into film criticism: 'certified' bluecheck Critics lob around words like 'silly,' 'absurd,' 'unrealistic' when talking about fantastical, larger-than-life shit. Example: a review calling Malignant "pseudo-scientific gobbledygook" which, hahaha, yeah! They're not wrong. But what about the amazing jail sequence?? Silly! Could never happen!!

  Before getting into the scene itself, I need to talk about where my mind was when I saw it:

  After weeks of watching Rue Bennett's harrowing, heartbreaking deterioration from addiction on Euphoria, I've had it thoroughly hammered into my head: Drugs Bad. I've never done drugs and Euphoria did nothing but reaffirm my lifelong fear of--and disdain for--them.

  1) I have an addictive personality and 2) family history of abuse/absentee Father and 3) two of my friends died from overdoses. That said, Euphoria isn't a finger-wagging after-school special, which is probably why D.A.R.E. senselessly alleged that it 'glorifies' drug use (fucking eyeroll).

 Take a look at this glorious shot of Rue going through withdrawals:

 
 This comes after an entire episode of her burning every bridge in her path and nearly being sold into sex trafficking - it's anxious, grueling, ugly shit. Sam Levinson was an addict so I trust he wrote what he knows and it isn't glorified despite what D.A.R.E. would have you believe.

 So this is where my mind was when I watched No Exit.
I had no fucking clue where it would take me.

   No Exit starts with our heroine, Darby Thorne, in a rehab center, 11 days sober. After blahblahblah plot stuff she finds a baggie of coke and tucks it away. It remains a symbol of temptation but also a token of resistance, her push-and-pull conflict since she wants to blow up her life but also keep it together to spite her estranged Sister. Where I Thought It Was Gonna Go: Obviously she's gonna throw it out at the end, maybe even triumphantly empty it into the snowstorm (an in-the-nose metaphor for her turbulent addiction). Her arc being: if she can overcome this thriller then she has the strength to beat her addiction. Since Rue has been living in my head for 8 weeks I was primed for this kind of story.
 

   NO, I'M STUPID! HER HAND IS NAILED TO A WALL AND SHE'S HELPLESS. SO SHE TAKES THE COKE OUT, SNORTS IT, AND IT WORKS LIKE AN ADRENALINE SHOT. Suddenly she's Popeye and Cocaine is her Spinach; she's ready to fuckin' GO!

  The lights go out, red security lights kick on and she's prying out the nail in her wrist, then she whacks the sweaty longhair with the hammer in her good hand and trades the hammer for his gun. To the best of my knowledge a moment of Relapse has never been a scene of Triumph outside the realm of drug comedies but No Exit gives D.A.R.E. some real shit to complain about and critics something absurd to nitpick...but it gives me intense fucking joy because it's glorious.