When I first read about the Central Park Five story, I was in shock at how these 5 innocent teens were accused and thrown into jail for a crime they knew nothing about. I was angry and sad at the same time and this was exactly how I felt while watching the Ava DuVernay Limited Series. The series is based on the Central Park Jogger case where a 28 year old female jogger was attacked and raped on April 19th, 1989 in Central Park, New York. The attack left her in coma for 12 days and unable to remember the events before or during the attack. Detectives rounded up over 30 young black and hispanic boys and five of them (Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise) were convicted of the crime and spent 6-13 years in prison. In 2002, more than a decade after their conviction, Matias Reyes, a serial rapist serving a life sentence for other crimes confessed to the rape and said he acted alone. At the time of Reyes' confession, the statute of limitation had passed so he was not convicted of the crime. DNA evidence corraborated Reyes' confession and the convictions of Richardson, McCray, Salaam, Santana and Wise were vacated.
I wish I could see Ava DuVernay and personally thank her for shedding more light on this story. This is one of the best shows I've seen on Netflix. The acting from the cast was mind-blowing and really moving. The character development was something I never expected from a 4-episode series but DuVernay came through in every way possible. Her directing was flawless and the soundtrack only made me more emotional. We got to see events and situations that led the five boys to the park and how they ended up getting arrested. I loved the fact that we saw a bit of how the convictions affected their families and how most of them dealt with it or ran away from in, like Antron's father. All the performances in this show were amazing especially the young cast. "When They See Us" is going to bring up a lot of emotions especially that of sadness and anger. Anger for the horrible system that failed this innocent boys and others like them we know nothing about and sadness for how much of their youth was wasted serving time for a crime they knew nothing about. All their stories made me extremely sad and I thought it couldn't get any worse until episode 4. I completely forgot Jharrel Jerome was the same actor I watched on Audience Network's "Mr. Mercedes".
He was the only actor that played the young and old versions of the character "Korey Wise" and he did a phenomenal job with it. His acting in episode 4 left me in tears from beginning to the end. He was taken to Rikers, one of the deadliest prison's in the world, as a 17 year old boy and he had to do anything to survive. It made me think about Kalief Browder and I let out more tears because it was just a lot to watch. Jerome's portrayal of Wise is really something that needs more recognition and I hope it would open more doors for him in Hollywood because he did a stellar job. I'll be pissed if he doesn't get nominated for "Best Actor in a Limited Series" but I won't be surprised. We also need to take a moment to commend Niecy Nash. She has come such a long way from her days as the host of "Clean House" and it makes me so happy to see her playing such an important role. During the Hollywood Reporter Round Table she featured in with Emilia Clarke, Christine Baranski and a host of other actresses, she mentioned how she didn't want to play the sassy black woman and after watching her in "When They See Us", I only want to see her play serious roles. It's ironic how Donald Trump is the current President of the US and he took an $85, 000 ad in 1989 to ask for the death penalty for these innocent boys. The atmosphere is still the same in terms of race relations.
"When They See Us" is a masterpiece that conveys great emotion and sheds light on a very powerful message which sadly, a lot of people can relate to even 30 years later. It was really hard to watch and I had the same gut wrenching feeling I had when I saw the 2017 film "Detroit".
"When They See Us" is a must watch for everyone. All four episodes are available for streaming on Netflix.
"When They See Us" is a must watch for everyone. All four episodes are available for streaming on Netflix.
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| Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson |
GENRE Drama
ORIGINAL NETWORK Netflix
CREATED BY Ava DuVernay
STARRING Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Ethan Herisse, Jharrel Jerome, Marquis Rodriguez, Felicity Huffman, Kylie Bunbury, Niecy Nash, Michael K. Williams, John Leguizamo
NO OF EPISODES 4
RELEASE DATE May 31, 2019
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