In The Act this week, Nicholas Godejohn introduces Gypsy Rose Blanchard to BDSM.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard's boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn made his first appearance in Hulu's The Act yesterday (Apr 3).
Fans of The Act will already know that it's based on the true story of Gypsy Rose and Dee Dee Blanchard and Nick plays a huge part in it. Gypsy met Nick online via a Christian dating site in 2012 and they quickly struck up a romantic relationship. Gypsy later asked Nick to kill Dee Dee so that she could escape her abusive ways and he did. Nick is currently in prison charged with first degree murder. He is also autistic and The Act seeks to portray that accurately.
This week's episode of The Act showed Gypsy and Nick flirting online, masturbating and exploring BDSM.
Nick Godejohn is played by Disney star Calum Worthy who is best known for playing Dez in Austin & Ally. Speaking about the part with Vanity Fair, Calum said: "I just decided that I really had to fully commit myself to the research leading up to it, and I had to ask as many people that are specialists all the questions that I had because I knew that if I didn’t get it right, I would be disappointing myself, and the autistic community as well.”
Calum also spoke about filming Nick and Gypsy's sex scenes and the one awkward moment he had on set. Nick and Gypsy regularly masturbated with each other online and, while they were normally in separate places literally, Calum and Joey King, who plays Gypsy, filmed them on different stages on the same set. Calum revealed that rehearsing a masturbation scene is as embarrassing as it sounds.
While Joey was filming one of her masturbation scenes, Calum began to prepare for his: “I had my eyes closed going over it, and I opened my eyes, and a bunch of the crew had walked in, started prepping and I realised I had just been practicing this in front of everybody, without any context”. Yes that's definitely mortifying. Still, given how believable Calum's performance is, it was clearly worth it.
There is one sexual moment in episode 4 that's caught viewers off guard though. While Gypsy is tearing up and telling Nick about how Dee Dee abuses her, Nick tells Gypsy that he can make her feel better. However, instead of consoling Gypsy, he introduces her to BDSM animé. Gypsy later begins fantasising about being tied up and BDSM but like the audience she's initially taken off guard.
Gypsy: *reveals her whole life’s secret*
— ☙ valerie ❧ (@VeeHeartrush_ox) April 3, 2019
Nick: *sends pic of BDSM to make her feel better*#TheAct pic.twitter.com/g7IknuTfzd
Nick: I’m gonna send you something that will make you feel better.
Breaks my heart not only did her mom take advantage of her Nick did too. Like Bruh I JUST TOLD YOU I FEEL TRAPPED AND THE TRUTH AND YOU WANT TO HIT ME WITH "do you like bdsm" lmao I swear #theact
— ☯️Vivian☯️ (@Kitten_Vivian) April 3, 2019
As jarring as the scene is, it's just one example of how great The Act is at exploring Gypsy's sexuality as a young woman in the midst of her incredibly unique situation. She is discovering herself but is also in a very vulnerable position. It's clear that she is attracted to Nick but, given her circumstances, she is also being taken advantage of to a certain extent.
Both Calum and Joey convey this extremely well. It will be interesting to see how they develop this in the rest of the series.
