Unprisoned

Like most, I tuned in to watch because of the caliber of leading actors including Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo. I so wanted to like this, but after binge watching all episodes, I was left wondering what the point of it all was. Unfortunately, the storytelling does not live up to the hype. The main character is a middle aged, social media obsessed therapist who like many in her profession, has a wreck of a personal life of her own. Kerry Washington is a really good actress with the right content. In this show, she comes across as a very childish graying woman who can't figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. Of course, the storyline tells us that's because she was in foster care and her father was in the criminal justice system. Those things can be true. But one must wonder if the character learned anything about herself while she was studying to become a therapist. The storylines are messy, including one around her love life. While the show makes light of her dating her father's parole officer, there's nothing advisable about that. It's predatory no matter how handsome he is. In the real world, that situation could be easily, and dangerously manipulated or even weaponized by the parole officer against her father in the event things didn't work out. There are also some interesting messages about the criminal justice system, indeed, sometimes they are literally post-its on screen. There's no doubt that this show was written with a particular message that it wanted to share. It's unfortunate that there wasn't a better caliber of storytelling to make us really care about that story and who these characters were as people. I left indifferent. One thing in particular that truly bothered me was her inner child, played by a very young black female actress. It was offensive to have that little girl cursing that way. NOT cute or funny. The same story could have been told without this child being the most profane on the show. I missed the "comedy" in this one. If there's a season 2, hopefully someone else will write it and helm it.

"Unprisoned" (S01, 8 eps, 30-min, Hulu) stars cute Kerry Washington as an instagramming therapist raising her 16yo boy in Minneapolis when her father (played by cool cat Delroy Lindo) comes to see her after being released after serving a 17yr prison sentence for crime(s) unknown, maybe that'll be a season two reveal. The show is a dramedy and though it's a racially diverse cast, the writers don't beat you up with divisive social messaging. At its core it's really about a broken family and how prison release isn't as freeing as it would seem. There's an interesting plot device they use when Kerry's character talks to her inner child and that features young Jordyn McIntosh who's a firecracker and actually uses hard-swears in her dialogue which I thought was a Hollywood no-no. In any case, it's a really good show that we were disappointed in its short 8-ep run, having to wait another year for a second season if it even happens. These streamers' 8-10 ep seasons are plain $@#% at this point. We need solid 22-ep commitments that made tv entertainment great.

I swear this movie is so real and hit home! It was truly written by someone that has had to deal with people that have been locked up and the post treatment! Both my mother and father were in prison when I was little and I remember the terrible feeling I had when I would go visit and see them behind bars and not being able to get to close to them and being told visiting hours are over!! And when my mom got out she couldn't get jobs at descent places because she was a felon even though she wasn't on parole and had served her time!! Every time she went right and tried to do right she was reminded of all the wrong she did even though she never went back to the streets and separated herself from the old life. Thank God a friend gave her a job and let her take home leftovers and I was 16 and able to work!! But I cried because I felt his pained and lived through it!! It's made me a ver compassionate and caring individual!! GREAT SERIES!!!

I'll admit at the beginning you get a whole bunch of characters who have a lot of flaws, that might feel annoying. But keep watching! By the end of the show you really get a chance to watch these people grow.

These people make a lot of mistakes that many of us do in the real world but the show does a great job of showing the behavior without encouraging it. Even exemplifies the harm of dare I say, "too much therapy," or overthinking to the point you self sabotage.

It's more than just a comedy. It has a lot of heart in touches on the inter-generational trauma that Black Americans go through on a daily basis. Once you've entered the cycle of the system, how do you get out?

Also the performances, are amazing!

Finally, a show with black folks that's not just stupid comedy and gag jokes, or living a hard life growing up in the ghetto in poverty, or people suffering inhuman treatment in slavery, or drug gangsters. A show that shows the beauty in blackness. I love it. I am so tired of the stereotypical portrayals of black folks, because all black folks are not poor, all black folks are not gangsters, all black folks are not into drugs. Kerry Washington is a bright light and Delroy Lindo is a treasure. No formulaic gag jokes here. Kudos to the creatives on this project. Love and family is always messy and this shows we should never give up on either.