WASHINGTON BLACK
Starring: Sterling K. Brown, Rupert Graves, Tom Ellis, Ernest Kingsley Junior, Eddie Karanja, Iola Evans, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, and Billy Boyd
Creator: Selwyn Seyfu Hinds
AMARÚ
Washington Black is a tonal whiplash of a series, with a stacked cast of dedicated actors (I especially enjoyed a villainous turn from Billy Boyd) who kept me engaged even through a key plot line that played more like an after-school special. The sincerity and maturity in which it tackles very serious topics often surprised me given that those violent conflicts are usually juxtaposed to Amblin-like interactions the title character would have throughout his adventures. Each of these new players is just as flawed and contradictory, but kept me on the hook throughout a tale that’s constantly inconsistent, yet consistently interesting.
ROBERT
For a Disney-fied version of a runaway slave story, Washington Black tackles some heady questions: What does it truly mean to be free, and do we ever really own anything? However, it felt stunted by the producing studio in answering those questions and exploring the true nature of the world, harkening back to family adventure films of the mid-to-late 20th century. I was mostly engaged with the father-son relationships, mainly because the actors who took on the roles of “father” were the most intriguing. If you like Around the World in 80 Days, this miniseries flies in that sky.
