Parents' Guide to Test Pattern

This drama takes razor-sharp aim at the health care system and the police by putting their penchant for bureaucracy in full relief. Test Pattern doesn't shy away from showing how sexual assault can take its toll on even the strongest of relationships. It also doesn't mind telling the powers that be that their overreliance on red tape can cause further damage to already suffering victims. With beautiful acting, scenes filled with silent tension, and then slowly escalating depression and hopelessness, Test Pattern shows how much America's infrastructure must change to put victims first -- and perpetrators on notice.

Hall and Brill expertly play Renesha and Evan, two people who meet by chance at a bar and end up falling in love. Their wonderful relationship gives viewers an anchor for what true love and consensual sex look like. And when Renesha is drugged by a stranger, Mike (Drew Fuller), at another bar, it makes the contrast even starker. Mike's pushiness, couched in "nice guy" behavior, plus Renesha's feeling pressured to say yes to his requests -- such as dancing, drinking, and eating a piece of weed gummy candy -- feels like it could have come straight out of Promising Young Woman, which also took aim at how toxic masculinity weaves its way into overt and subtle actions. Nurse Peg (Amani Starnes) shows how many people who work in the health care system do mean well and can be bright spots in an industry that still struggles with medical racism and sexism, in addition to crippling bureaucracy. But Nurse Peg's empathy for her patients sadly isn't enough to change the outcome of Renesha and Evan's predicament -- proving that good nurses and doctors also need a good support system to be able to better care for their patients, especially those victimized by sexual assault. The overarching lesson of Test Pattern is that a society that favors administrative nonsense over actual care is a society that's designed to let attackers escape justice.