This was exceptionally, exceptionally, exceptionally well put together. This is a tearjerker.
I don’t mean to take away from the rape victim but it should be acknowledged that the fact there is a social construct that convinces us that a white well-to-do single female jogging in the park who’s allegedly assaulted by people of colour is somehow more important in terms of a crime than any other is at the heart of this misfortunate miscarriage of justice. Ava Duvernay makes viewers see Black and Latino teens in a way a lot of people don’t today and certainly didn’t at the time: Children.
There was this scene where one of the character, Kevin, was crying to his sister, pleading with her to sign so he can go home after the police was bullying him, beating him and interrogating him.
It’s one of those things that makes you think, what if that was my son? What would I do? It’s a chilling thing to think that people can be so evil, so racist, so prejudice, and so corrupt. The dehumanization those kids faced is extremely terrifying, disturbing, and sickening. It’s a heartbreaking series because it holds a mirror to America and the world in general.
DuVernay is such a great storyteller. Her ability to tell a story so vividly is remarkable. I love that she uses her platform to give a voice to the neglected and shed light on an issue that has been overlooked. This may be her crowning achievement.
The cast was great all around but Jharrel Jerome NEEDS to win every award when award season rolls around. I’ve never seen someone take on a character like that. Episode 4 is a masterpiece in storytelling. That episode… is just devastating. All of the boys experienced a level of hell that nobody should go through but what Korey Wise had to deal with was hard to watch.
this is by far the best thing duvernay's ever done
-Vader
After watching this I probably agree. I really liked 13th a lot but the performances in this and the overall story telling and how it was so well constructed has me saying this probably is the best thing she's ever done up to this point. This was just fantastic.
it's interesting watching this so close to Chernobyl, since it's easy to snub your nose at the Soviet Union's "The State Cannot Make Mistakes" evil mantra while you watch it and think they're a backwards country. But When They See Us reminds you we're not as different we lead ourselves to believe.