Brief Story Line
Michael Lasaki (Tosin Cole - Bob Marley: One Love, Unlocked etc) was living happily with his girlfriend Dionne Ofori (Adelayo Adedayo - Some Girls, Timewasters TV series etc) in London and had great plan for the future. But his life suddenly changed when he somehow developed a unique ability seemingly from the sickle cell he inherited genetically. And with the knowledge he acquired, Michael did not have a choice but to find other people who had similar abilities. They included a nurse named Sabrina Clarke (Nadine Mills - The Pay Day etc), an ex criminal Andre Simpson (Eric Kofi-Abrefa - BMF TV series etc) who just wanted to live a normal life and provide for his son, a drug dealer Rodney (Calvin Demba - The Rig TV series etc) and Tazer (Josh Tedeku - Boarders TV series etc), the young leader of a small gang.
But due to the lack of information, it was very difficult for Michael to find all of them. And things became more complicated when a mysterious organization led by Ray (Eddie Marsan - Choose or Die, Atomic Blonde etc) were trying to capture all of them. With time running out, Michael had to convince the rest to work together and fight against the organization and to fulfill his personal mission.
So what would happen to them all? You could find out in the first season of this series.
End of Brief Story Line
Wow that was just amazing! I really did not expect to enjoy this series so much. To be frank, I only gave it a try due to reasons I mentioned above. But ended up I could not stop watching and finished it very quickly. Of course having only 6 episodes with duration between 45-59 minutes helped in completing it early. Anyway at first I was not clear of where the story was heading as we were introduced to the main characters. But almost half way through the first episode when the power started to be shown, things became exciting for me. The best thing though was the ending as it made me curious of what would come next.
As I continued watching the subsequent episodes with high anticipation, I felt the series was moving in a bit of inconsistent pace. The series mainly focused on the struggle of each individual person in dealing with their day to day lives and personal problems and only showed the powers occasionally (usually before the end of an episode). Good thing that the power each had was very cool and the reaction of every one who had it for the first time was spot on considering their characters. For example Rodney who used it for his drug selling, or Tazer during his gang activities. But of all the powers shown here, I think what Michael and Sabrina had were the best.
I saw that every episode was titled the name of the characters, except for the sixth titled Supacell. It was a wonderful finale to me, a great culmination of what was built up from previous episodes and with a surprising twist that made the climax truly worth the wait (not the twist related to the organization, that one could be smelled miles away). With such ending, I hope Netflix would renew it so we can get a proper conclusion. The series was created, written and directed by famous British record producer/rapper called Rapman which did not seem to be based on anything. Btw, this series actually reminded me of one of my favorite American series titled Heroes created by Tim Kring which also focused on ordinary people gaining powers and with large story arc. It's probably the reason why I like this one a lot cause of the similarities.
The majority of the cast were unknown to me as they mostly played in British series that I did not watch frequently or films that I had not seen. But in general they performed their roles adequately. Apart from the main cast I mentioned above, there were few support characters like Sabrina's sister Sharlene (Rayxia Ojo), Rodney's friend Spud (Giacomo Mancini) and few others. But the most impressive to me was definitely the rapper Ghetts who played Craig "Krazy", the leader of a gang and Tazer's ex mentor. He was truly convincing in his characterization.
Overall this is an entertaining series about ordinary people who somehow gained powers. With a large story arc that culminated to a grand finale, it was an enjoyable experience for me. It also has decent special effects and some nice hip hop music too (should not be a surprise considering Rapman's background). Some of the main characters have interesting background story but sometimes the pace became inconsistent as it focused on them. I also liked the realistic ending instead of just to please audience. No wonder the series got a lot of hype and praised by critics which I am in agreement. So if you are interested in a series with such attributes and looking for something different in the superhero genre (not the standard origin story from comic books), then this would be a great option.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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