[ad_1]
TV ratingAll our TV reports in one place. With regard to layered subjects like race and identity, Blackish has a habit of skillfully introducing nuances into these conversations without alleviating their difficult nature. The Season 3 episode, "Being Bow-Racial", is an ideal example, as Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) is exploiting her own complex relationship with the breed in order to materialize her eldest son's choice to date inter-racially. There's that truly gripping moment that Bow has with his father, Paul (Beau Bridges), where he shares an anecdote about when he realized that the world would always see Bow as a black woman, despite his mixed heritage. "I knew then, long before you had the chance to decide for yourself, that the world had already made that choice for you." The revelations that follow – how Bow struggled to assert his own identity, how she treated Junior's choice of white partner as a form of rejection – added to a conversation so refreshing, reflective and, above all, real.
It's this kind of thoughtful thinking that would deserve an enthusiasm for a show like Mixed, BlackishSecond series derived after Freeform Grown-ish, centered on Bow's childhood and how she and her siblings manage their biracial identity. The pilot even opens with a certain promise: a scene with the modern Johnsons. Look, there is Bow and the kids! And there's Dre, defying Bow's Darkness after mentioning that she did not indulge in grind'Franchise (which does not have to blush). But once the usual accoutrements have merged into the story of the new series, presented in the 80s, this is where most of the resemblance ends. MixedThe detriment.
On the one hand, it is a bit unfair to compare the two: even though they are inextricably linked to the same canon, they are still very different stories fueled by totally different experiences. On the other hand, if you wish to use this link at the very top of the series, you indicate to the public the expectation of a certain level of dialogue. Everything about the pilot screams "editing", up to the predictable and easy plot. Well, maybe "easy" is not quite right in this context – after all, Mixed sets itself the task of creating a utopian commune which, by a miracle, escapes for 15 years in the race, thus forming part of its background. Admittedly, I do not quite understand the "color-blind, it's better" implications, but I understand: the race is too easily armed and any opportunity to get away from it for a while might appeal to some. But when the community is demolished by the federal government (a moment symbolizing how blissfully ignored the race is not sustainable), the Johnsons – Paul (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Alicia (Tika Sumpter), the young Bow (Arica Himmel), Johan (Ethan William Childress) and Santamonica (Mykal-Michelle Harris) now have to take refuge in the suburbs, where they begin to meet "wonders plumbing and prejudices.
The bohemian idealism of the family is decimated from every angle. For children, their brutal awakening is accompanied by the strong and lively horror that is the public school. For Paul and Alicia, it's Harrison Johnson III (his father, curator and caricaturist and owner of a law firm, (Gary Cole, conservative prized beautiful disgusting characters.) Harrison exists largely as a dispensing clinic which is equivalent to "hippies and poor, amiriens?" That's good, it's quite usable … it's just unimaginable, I mean, it comes to the house bearing sticks of lacrosse for kids. All that's missing is a silver burlap bag with dollar signs and a slight whirlwind of mustache for the camera. However, it offers an opposite perspective, which is not totally useless (even if it is myopic and deeply rooted in classism, but hey, it's the 80s!). Adults are just as much in need of a reality check as kids.
What they probably do not need is another caricature charged with tropes, tracing a posture already well anchored in the places. And yet, here is Alicia's sister, Denise (Christina Anthony), who mixes with many stereotypes, hot combs and seemingly late sightings on the world "striking them in the face" and forcing them to choose a camp . In fact, much of Denise's introduction seems unfair. Like Harrison, she is there to administer a dose of reality – this time, from the point of view of a black woman who has no choice but to move around the world as a black woman. Unlike Harrison, she already has the impression of positioning herself as the person to laugh at, while Paul's father – whose presentation is just as exaggerated – is the one we are supposed to laugh at with. There is a lot of room for this to change, but the first impression leaves me a bad taste in the mouth, without the fault of Denise or Anthony.
To Denise's credit, the Johnson family succumbs to internalized pressures of assertion of a specific identity, with Johan and Santamonica respectively relying on their perception of blackness and whiteness (leaving Bow stuck at middle, what we can add to the stack of moments that feels super literal). For Alicia, it also means getting rid of her hippie image and holding a job in the Harrison law firm, in a combination of power, etc. Paul and Bow are beginning to feel like they are losing their family and their old way of life. Alicia then has to deliver her own nugget of truth to Paul, in the middle of the battle: "You do not have to change, because you can be like you're anywhere in the world … I'm a woman black. It's different for me and for our children. Assimilation in the service of survival is an integral part of American life as a person of color, and these moments within the pilot are certainly relatable. But the episode as a whole never digs as deeply and as brilliantly as BlackishIt's "Being a racial bow".
It is difficult to predict the trajectory of Mixed based on a single episode. The series has plenty of time to develop and many of the shortcomings of the episode could well be related to the fact that it is a pilot. But for a first glimpse of this new world, it is at best fun and a huge waste of incredible potential at worst. Like Bow, I'm stuck in the middle, waiting to see how all this will happen.
Observations lost
- One thing that Mixed share with his predecessor: the kids are clearly the best part of the series, especially the young comedy prodigy Mykal-Michelle Harris: "Oh, so you know when and Where was all are you going to die ?! "
- Himmel's precious, wide-eyed, "close Waco commune" performance almost made me forget how terrifying this idea was.
- Almost anything can be radically improved with Tracee Ellis Ross's narration.
- Tika Sumpter and Mark-Paul Gosselaar both deserve a production vehicle that will transport them beyond a season. That's why we hope that Mixed It turns out to be a constantly evolving and constantly improving home for them. Plus, they have an adorable chemistry.
- Speaking of Gosselaar, there will never come a moment when I look at his face without feeling bitter at the end of Notso that's it.
- Denise is described (with love, I guess) as a "woman with the personality of a TSA agent," a description I'm still trying to deal with.
- A sincere cry in the service of hair is in order: the hair of everyone is fantastic.
- A note: The A.V. club Just arrive on the first and some other moments of the season.
[ad_2]
Source link