Let’s Talk About Blindspotting … | TV Review
I can finally stop refreshing the STARZ twitter feed to check when the new season of Blindspotting is going to drop.
You should have all had the good sense to watch not only the first season of this show, but also the 2018 film that started this journey for us. Season 1 of Blindspotting felt refreshing and exhilarating; it told the story of a family impacted by the incarceration system, that is unfortunately relatable to so many of us. Now with the second season, this show continues to explore the toll that mass incarceration has, not only on convicts, but on the community that surrounds them. They use dance and spoken word to amplify the many feelings that runs through a family when they get tossed into the system; the show feels like magic.
They made us wait almost two years since the show first premiered, but you can now start watching Season 2 of Blindspotting on the Starz app.
The highly-anticipated second season starts nine months after Ashley (Jasmine Cephas-Jones) and Miles (Rafael Casal) marry each other in the prison that Miles is being held in. We find Ashley short-tempered and at times erratic, the stress of having to raise Sean (Atticus Woodward) on her own is clearly getting to her. She’s so overwhelmed that she can’t quite see the community that is doing everything to support her through the difficult time. The community includes Miles’ mom Rainey (Helen Hunt), his sister Trish (Jaylen Barron) and Ashley’s best friend Janelle (Candace Nicole -Lippman).
The show has a strong ensemble cast and the writers do their best to give enough context to each character. Though the episodes are only thirty minutes long, it does feel like they pack as much story as they can. Though the heartaches of incarceration are at the forefront of this show, the many layers of close relationships weave through each episode seamlessly. Ashley and Rainey struggle to find their balance as they both want the little time that Miles can offer the family. Earl (Benjamin Earl Turner) navigates a new relationship, his parole guidelines and his tense relationship with his father. Trish may or may not have fallen in love. Ashley and Janelle are in two very different phases of their life and they try to hold on to their friendship as they work through that. The magic of this show is that the writing feels so personal that you can’t help but to find a character that you relate to.
I was in High School when I discovered spoken word. At the time, I was full of devastating emotions, childhood trauma and anger I didn’t know what to do with. Once I found the outlet, I spent many sleepless nights watching every spoken word poem I could find on YouTube. That’s how I discovered Rafael Casal, and his words have been giving me comfort throughout my life ever since. This show is just a continuation of that, this show feels like being seen. Sometimes when you’re stuck in the realities of the incarceration system, it feels like if you stop moving you’ll drown so you busy your brain and you run all the errands and you try to forget the system that’s hurting your family. Blindspotting is a reminder of the love that crosses the plexiglass, the celebrations that get you through the tough times and the anger that you must feel in order to grow.
The subject matter is heavy, (look out for Episode 3 because it absolutely wrecked me)but the laughs also feel guttural. It’s the kind of laugh that feels out of place and happens amidst the chaos (we can thank Jaylen Barron, who plays Trish, for most of the comedic relief). The show beautifully walks the line between absolutely hilarious and utterly devastating. The dances and spoken word verses sprinkled throughout the season feel perfectly placed within each episode. Rafael Casal explained it best on his Instagram, “Some people think we just yell “dance break!” And it happens, but our in-house rule is really about when language fails, and when the effects of prison land heavy on those outside of the prison walls, and it’s overwhelming, dance is a representation of the physical toll it takes on us. How it is present when having to tell your kid where his dad is, or an anxiety attack about the fear of being sent back, or having to move into your mother in laws. And so we decided to do that with movement, using a style of dance that originated in the Bay Area, created by the communities most effected my the prison industrial complex.”
Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs (both creators of the show) have ensured that their work is often a love letter to the Bay Area. The love story continues with this season of the show. It’s in the Grand Lake Theater marquee at the beginning of each episode, or the glimpse of Tacos Sinaloa’s vibrant orange truck in one of the scenes. Their love of Oakland is not just shown on screen, they also hold writer’s workshops in the area, they give seminars about the business, they reach back out to the community and make their dreams tangible. In a recent interview with sfgate.com, Rafael Casal said, “Because we came up in the Bay’s art scene, I feel a debt”, he continues, “I want to grow the scene because the scene grew us. This show is fertilizing that soil.”
The second season has just premiered and I already need a third! The future of this show is still up in the air; if you’re a pessimist I guess you could gather that we leave Miles and Ashley in a hopeful place by the end of the second season and that could very well be the last we see of their story. I refuse to accept that.
I’ll be tweeting Starz until they announce the third season.
If you ever listen to anything I have ever said, please watch this show! Spend the money on the app (you can add it to your Hulu) and invest in this story. Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs are telling the kind of stories everyone keeps claiming that they want; it is real, innovative, hilarious, full of heart and NECESSARY.
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