YMMV / The Politician

• Alternative Character Interpretation: In the second season, Payton claims he wasn't sexually attracted to River, he just wanted to be close to him. Given that they had a sexual relationship and Payton is clearly deeply affected by his death, to the point of still seeing and talking to him years later, the resounding fan response to this has been, "Bullshit." Many believe Payton was either lying to Astrid to cover up how he really felt, or he was still in denial, because admitting he loved River would be too much for him to deal with.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Payton/River is by far the biggest ship in the fandom, eclipsing Payton/Alice in popularity. Many fans ship Alice and Astrid together as well.
• Informed Ability: Many people on the show claim that Payton is a great politician. While it is established that Payton has good political instincts along with a talent for both strategy and microtargeting, he leaves much to be desired as the face of a campaign: he seems unfamiliar with many aspects of campaigning (he makes what is apparently his first barn-burner speech to a crowd only halfway through the second season), he relies heavily on cheap shots and dirty tricks, and Payton himself tends to spend his campaigns lurching from one political or personal disaster to the next.
• Just Here for Godzilla: The general consensus is that one of the only reasons to watch this show is to see Ben Platt play the lead role.
• Spiritual Adaptation: A show about a calculating, nakedly ambitious teenage overachiever running for Student Council President as a first step towards advancing a political career? Its first season can be easily described as Election: The Series, with Payton as a gender-flipped Tracy Flick, while later seasons promise to be the sequels that Election never got.

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