Within the concept of America are The War of Seedlings (2021) Full Movie Onlinea series of myths that have grown and changed throughout the country’s history but largely remained the same. These myths encompass what America is and is not, what it can do for its people, and what it means to be an American. Chief among these is the prosperity myth, the idea that anyone in America can be rich and prosperous under the free market and anyone who is not fabulously wealthy is lazy or deficient; second comes the myth of the ideal American family, a working husband propped up by a loving wife who stays home with their 2.5 children.

These myths work symbiotically to create an image of America built by strong-willed, capitalist men whose choices are always right and of women who softly and sweetly exist to buoy them on their way to greatness.

On Becoming a God in Central Florida, which premiered Sunday night on Showtime,is preoccupied with dismantling literally everything written in the first two paragraphs of this review. Starring Kirsten Dunst in her first TV appearance since 2015’s Fargo, OBAGtells the story of an American family poised at the edge of destruction at the hands of those American myths — and of what happens to them when reality comes snapping at their heels like so many hungry, hungry alligators.

Dunst’s character is Krystal Stubbs, whose gullible and ambitious husband Travis (Alexander Skarsgård) is convinced he can make his family rich by following the tenets of FAM, a pyramid scheme run by the mysterious millionaire Obie Garbeau II. From the first shot of Episode 1, OBAGperforms something of a magic trick with these two characters. Travis’ dunderheaded faith in FAM could easily be the central plot of the show, following television’s time-honored comedy tradition of pitting a funny, well-intentioned husband against his more grounded, realistic wife. The pilot is even set up to suggest this, beginning with slow pans over all of the things Travis has (his wife and daughter) and what he wants (a yacht, maybe a helicopter if he’s lucky).

Without spoiling the rest of the excellent first episode, suffice to say that OBAGis not Travis’ story at all, but rather the less-told story of the TV wife whose husband’s big dreams are revealed to be less than comedy gold. Dunst performs Krystal Stubbs as a woman who has no interest in extreme prosperity because it’s hard enough to just be normal, and who is only willing to support her husband up to the point when it will mess with her status quo. There are few sitcom hijinks in On Becoming a God in Central Florida, and the ones that exist are immediately exposed as terrible ideas — the comedy comes instead from watching its characters expose themselves as dupes in thrall to the various myths that fuel the dream of FAM’s invisible millionaires.

There are some fantastic performances in OBAG, starting with Dunst and continuing with Théodore Pellerin as Cody, the true believer who first recruited the Stubbs for the pyramid scheme. Pellerin’s wild-eyed (and actively pathetic) devotion to to Obie Garbeau II’s money-making method gives him some of the season’s funniest lines and most disturbing plotlines. There’s also Beth Ditto as Bets, an unbearably kind woman married to Krystal’s manager Ernie whose outside view of FAM lends her a far clearer view of what’s actually happening to her friends.

On Becoming a God in Central Floridais a revenge comedy without the revenge. It seethes with anger about how the false promise of prosperity leads people away from their lives and relationships, but turns that anger into a series of bizarre, funny episodes that each strip a layer of varnish from the American Dream’s shiny exterior. By the time the first season ends, it’s hard to tell if any of the characters believe in anything at all. The true currency of America, myths and all, has always been hope, and On Becoming A God in Central Floridaexpects you to abandon it.