On My Block

Season One: 5.5/10

Themes: Drama, Crime, Gangs, Friendship, High School, Treasure Hunt, Rough Neighborhood, Coming-of-Age, Latin Culture, Drugs, Violence, Guns, Humour & Relationships.

Top five characters: 1) Ruby Martinez, 2) Olivia, 3) Monse Finnie, 4) Jamal Turner and 5) Oscar 'Spooky' Diaz.

After the first episode and getting use to the flow, loved it! I watched the entire season in less than 24 hours. The show beings up some serious and modern topics, but more lite. The show focuses more on friendships.

This is a great show from a writing standpoint, but elevating it further is the talent of the cast. These kids give an acting lesson, with each totally committed to their respective characters, which results in perfect storytelling. The comedy is sensational, and a throwback to witty funny, long before the crude, slapstick comedy thrown at us these days took over. Recommend it to anyone. Brilliant.

I watched On My Block in one go, which is always a good sign. Overall, I liked the story. Four teenagers have been friends for years and are now facing numerous challenges that come with first love and growing up which threaten their friendship. The main characters are all people of color who live in a poor neighborhood which is a nice change to your usually very white middle class coming of age setting. There have been quite a few more diverse TV shows lately which I think is really great.

However, there are some problems with this show (hence the seven star rating). The acting is mediocre at times. Especially the actor who plays Cesar (a teenage boy who follows in his brother's footsteps and joins the local gang) was not convincing to me. He didn't really portray much emotions which is a bad thing if you play a character who has such a serious storyline. Some scenes, especially in the first few episodes, felt awkward. I can't exactly point out why that was. I blame it on the acting and maybe also the camera work. I also haven't made up my mind about wether or not I like the characters. Sometimes they are real assholes and/or don't feel like realistic, complex human beings. Other times I really liked them. I'd say that the girl,Monse, is my favourite and gives the most consistent (good) performance. There were some sexist tropes that bothered me but I won't go into it here. It would have been cool if the creators had realized this and deconstrucetd it in the same way the deconstructed other elements / tropes but you can't have everything and it's probably only a minor detail for most viewers.

In conclusion, I enjoyed the show and might even watch it a second time. It made me laugh out loud on several occasions even if the humour wasn't always my taste. It's not a master piece, it doesn't stand out but it's also better (I feel) than your average TV show and offers an original take on an old concept.

I love this show so much! The characters, the plot, the acting, the humour and the whole journey which this show took us around, the roller world subplots and the perfect couples getting together, to the plot twist at the very end, this show deserves all the perfect ratings and praise, as well as a second season.