The Big Picture
In HBO’s
Ren Faire
, George Coulam is a ruthless ruler at the Texas Renaissance Fest, playing mind games with his potential successors.
The series highlights Coulam’s predatory behavior and portrays sexism and toxic masculinity in the workplace.
Ren Faire
is visually stunning, with a fantastic score, elevating drama at the Texas Renaissance Festival.
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Words spoken by the laureate William Shakespeare could not be more true, as a lively, out-of-this-world Renaissance Fair in Texas thrives in the sweltering heat. Playing the strings of every player, from popcorn makers to court jesters, George Coulam is the puppet master, and there’s nothing he loves more than playing with people’s hopes and dreams. For those who miss the rush of Succession, and crave to know whether real-life Logan Roys are slithering through the grass, you’ll get the royal treatment with the new hit Max docuseries, Ren Faire.
Set at the Texas Renaissance Festival, directed by Lance Oppenheim and executive produced by John Safdie and Benny Safdie, Ren Faire is a visually stunning story that heightens the docuseries format to new theatrics. At many times, it both feels like a thriller and a Shakespearean tragedy, similar to the whirlwind drama going down at Waystar Royco. In Ren Faire, everyone wants to be king, and for three employees in particular, their lives become a living hell as they search for their ultimate heaven in succeeding a cruel King George on the throne.
Ren Faire
When the ailing king of America’s largest renaissance festival declares his retirement, an epic power struggle ensues between an actor, a former elephant trainer, and a kettle-corn kingpin to claim his throne.
Genre Documentary
Debut Date June 2, 2024
What is ‘Ren Faire’ About?
The Texas Renaissance Festival is the biggest in America, and Coulam serves as the founding father behind it, even going so far as to create an entire town in Texas for the location of the fest, Todd Mayor, for which he also serves as mayor. The Max docuseries follows the 2021 pre-season as Coulam’s health is deteriorating, leaving him to reckon with who he’ll hand the festival over to. An odd, socially cold man, Coulam is calculative in his business relationships, disregarding friendship as a useless tool. Hailed as a self-made king who came from nothing, George passionately refutes nepotism in his search for a new ruler, but it also seems like he can’t truly relinquish his hold on the title.
The series focuses on three “players,” all possible contenders in George’s eyes, to take over the fest: general manager, Jeff Baldwin, the Lord of Corn, Louie Migliaccio, and former elephant trainer turned vendor associate, Darla Smith. Each has their own separate relationship with Coulam, and it’s disturbing at times to see both the terror and awe he inflicts on each one of them. Having been in the game for over five decades, the one person with the most experience is Jeff, who becomes George’s biggest punching bag. In many scenes, Jeff quite literally worships George, which is disconcerting, and the depths of emotion and intimate moments Oppenheim captures elevate the series to soap opera levels, surpassing even Succession’s wild moments at times.
‘Ren Faire’ Revolves Around a Grapple for Succession
As portrayed in Ren Faire, George Coulam is an odd duck, and a ruthless ruler. The series introduces us to him in his office during a particularly memorable conversation where, in his own words, he admits he’d like his last moments to involve “getting screwed to death by a woman.” He then informs the camera that he is on various sugar daddy sites, shamelessly seeking companionship and ready to spend his money, viewing women as a commodity. While his personal assistant implores him not to share that information with the documentary crew, he throws caution to the wind. What we see is what we get with Coulam. As Oppenheim himself said to The Hollywood Reporter, “I think he likes when people fail, so he can punish them.”
It first becomes clear how little Coulam considers the feelings of others during the first episode, where Louis and Jeff are neck-and-neck about being Coulam’s first choice. Jeff so desperately wants to be the next king, but it becomes clear he is meant to be a follower, pointed out by his blossoming competition, Darla, who happily waits in the wings for him to mess up. He does eventually, as various newspapers report on opening day, that the well water at the festival is unsafe to drink. George toys with both men like a lion about to pounce on its food, and it becomes clear his only real friends are those who are paid to work for him.
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‘Ren Faire’ Reveals the Dark Side Behind Its Leader
While Coulam may initially seem like a harmless man who cares about old art and keeping a festival to entertain the masses alive, that view sharply changes, especially when the series reveals him as someone unashamed of paying younger women for company. The second episode accompanies Coulam on one of these dates, as he shares a bowl of soup with a 24-year-old. He maintains throughout that he wants a woman to make him feel good and treat him well, like the king he views himself to be. He’s so desperate for love, and to be loved, but he doesn’t know how to love himself. The series explores this in all avenues of his life, and after an unsuccessful date, Ren Faire delves deeper into Coulam’s past, illustrating how he has successfully isolated himself from any friends or family as a result of his own greed.
Everyone in the series calls Coulam the king, and while he is just as much a shark as Logan Roy was in Succession, he is most brutal with Jeff — humiliating him, blaming the entire water scandal on him, and ultimately hiring Darla to become co-general manager. What’s even more shocking is how Jeff is willing to take the disrespect, like a toad continuously riding the back of a scorpion, surprised every time he is stung. He goes so far as to force his wife, Brandi, to call Coulam the king. It’s uncomfortable to watch, as Jeff orders her to say it, demanding: “I serve George, and by proxy you serve George.”
While Coulam is an emotionally abusive boss, it becomes clear he isn’t the only problematic man in the joint. As Ren Faire follows Jeff’s wife Brandi, who is head of entertainment, as she coaches the entertainers, Jeff keeps inserting himself and ultimately takes over. If you want a masterclass in mansplaining, look no further. Later on, Coulam delivers yet another cruel maneuver, demanding Jeff fire his wife from the position while claiming nepotism. Jeff then delivers some particularly shocking statements to Brandi at a restaurant, while his obsession with George becomes more clear: “I’ve been truer to him than I was my own mother… My mother, I could push away to a home and not have to deal with the situation.” Brandi and Darla eventually become the most level-headed people in the series by extension, while Ren Faire doesn’t shy away from the fact that in any industry — whether it’s the media world or a renaissance fair — the patriarchal system is very much at large.
‘Ren Faire’ Is Visually Stunning, With a Fantastic Score that Elevates Drama
Image via HBO
Oppenheim knows exactly what he’s doing in Ren Faire, and is aware that all his subjects are based in the world of theater. He uses their experience, and flare for being over-the-top, to create imaginative, visually stunning sequences that the various contenders participate in to elevate drama. Across the three episodes, Jeff hallucinates a particular dragon-like creature that works at the park, letting him know he’s losing his chance at becoming king. Jeff revels in the moment to shine as a performer. It is just another layer of Ren Faire’s darkly humorous tone, as the subjects take themselves very seriously, unaware that they’re the punchline of the joke. The dramatic, horn-based score also announces the darkness George brings everywhere he goes like a somber funeral march, as his subjects enter his office to inform him about fog machines, corn, or the pirate tavern.
Ren Faire is a wild ride from top to bottom and makes you feel like you’ve physically been dropped into an unpredictable circus full of outcasts. To witness just how intense and stressful succession decisions are in real life, this series spares no detail, while creating a fascinating character study of an unhinged millionaire with nothing to lose, except life. Pay attention to the series closely, and it’s obvious how it will end, hinting at who George will choose as his successor in a bleak finale. He’s summed up by two former family friends, Paul and Honey, who, after decades of working with George, are inexplicably fired by him one day: “The only thing that George cares about now, he cares about power over the people. Power and control.”
Ren Faire is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
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