Washington Black

Washington Black is visually spectacular - Barbados, Victorian London, Moroccan deserts, icy Antarctica - the show looks like a globe-trotting epic with a massive budget. But the writing doesn't rise to the same level. The tone is oddly childish for a story about slavery and identity, and the logic often stretches belief (a child from Barbados tracked across continents in the 1800s?).

Eddie Karanja is fantastic as young Wash, and McGee adds rare complexity. It's also refreshing to see free Black characters portrayed as artists and leaders, not just victims. The love story is simple but sincere. Titch feels like a caricature, and Willard has Chuck Norris plot armor.

Gorgeous to watch. Frustrating to follow.

This isn't just another slave series but naturally it takes place in the 1800s so there are moments where slavery comes into play. The series is about George Washington Black and his journey as a young adult learning advanced technology. He's an inspired black inventor. Lola Evan's is the co star. Her acting is excellent and she's very pretty. Sterling browns character is charismatic but he doesn't really have an accent and talks in modern day slang which can ruin the immersion.

Overall this show is kind of boring. The protagonist looks like Ed Sheeran. The plot is slow and predictable. I'd be surprised if this gets renewed for a 2nd season.

A period piece with fantasy and Hope without ignoring the facts of our history. The story draws you in with beautiful places beautiful people. It left me looking forward to the next episode and wondering how it would all tell his story. I would recommend it to everyone. I'm looking forward to an audiobook so that I can enjoy it even more. Thank you for this series.

Intriguing yarn about a boy and his destiny, although I found the adventures of young Washington Black the better of the two narratives.

I appreciate what the writers tried to do but the pacing of the older Washington storyline is uneven, and the leads have an immiscible chemistry.

On a technical level, the cinematography and special effects are movie quality, where it's really difficult to spot the seams. All-in-all, a remarkable achievement in today's tv industry where technical quality takes a backseat.

I was looking forward to this series. I didn't read the whole novel but informed myself about the plot and it seemed like great material for a series.

Watching the series just feels weird...I can't really pin it down to one thing...it feels slow, often boring, the acting feels strange and although it must have a significant budget if feels kind of cheap most of the time (if you decide to develop the plot in a slow, boring manner you could at least put more details into the atmosphere and aesthetics by showing more of the beautiful places where the series take place; a good example of this could be the new Netflix series Untamed which takes place in Yosemite national park and really integrated this into the whole vibe).

It just doesn't draw me in...maybe it's just not for me but the other negative reviews overlap in some points of criticism, so it's probably not just me.