Queenie review – so mature it could have been made by AI

The Queenie heroine is called a lot of things in the TV show based on the 2019 hit novel. She’s been labeled as “angry,” “weird” and just “too much,” but unfortunately this is a case of telling and not showing , because we’re actually being asked to invest in a bland protagonist who overcomes pedestrian obstacles that make him wish the show was run by the OTT girl he alludes to.

We meet Queen at the hospital for a gynecological appointment, where she learns she’s had a miscarriage. Things get worse and worse as she fights with her aunt (inexplicably attending her pre-work meeting), is late for her job as a social media assistant, and has an endless row about her family. her white boyfriend Tom who gets together. .

We spend the series watching Queenie try to get her life together, mend her broken heart, start writing articles, not just post them on social media, and fit in with housemates who they don’t take off their shoes inside.

Apart from the countless micro-aggressions she faces – from being called a “chocolate” on dating apps, to her ex-grandmother’s assumption of what it would be like to have “half-caste” family members. Queenie feels like a half-baked AI drama.

The breakup, the queer friend who encourages her to date again, even the dreams of making it as a writer in the big city are painful clichés. Because Queenie feels so imprecise, it’s hard to invest in any of these lines.

When it comes to her professional development, the show suggests that she is being undervalued and that her brilliant article ideas are overlooked. In fact, she seems pretty bad at her job, constantly flustered, ill-prepared, and delivering pitches that are mere puns.

The relationship with her ex is a dusty void of chemistry, and the only relationship that doesn’t seem like it’s between two actors who haven’t been given enough rehearsal time is Queenie and her grandfather Wilfred, played by the charming Fresh Prince . of Bel-Air star Joseph Marcell.

Actor Dionne Brown has her moments: she’s excellent at selling Queenie’s heartbreak, even if she and Tom (played by Jon Pointing) are far from convincing as a couple. Other than that, she feels like a character created by committee.

Queenie, whose first incarnation was in the novel by presenter Candice Carty-Williams, has been described and marketed as a “Black Bridget Jones”. However, the show is not that fun or funny. Scenes for potentially silly comedy — parties where people feel good on the dance floor, awkward family dinners — slide by without turning into anything really funny. It looks like an overzealous editor came in and decided to cut out all the punch lines to make the drama heavy with animation, but the dramatic stakes aren’t high enough to pull this off.

Queenie’s wilder relationships would make for good dinner conversation, but they don’t make for good television.

It also becomes increasingly unclear who this show is trying to appeal to. His depictions of black women are so basic that it’s hard to imagine black female audiences being impressed by his insights. Instead, it seems like it’s trying to bring in viewers who don’t know their salted fish from their akea. In a television landscape that has seen I May Destroy You, Insecure, Abbott Elementary, A Black Lady Sketch Show, Pose, Mood, Black Cake, Domino Day and more explore black womanhood with such specificity, this broad approach it feels like a huge step back. .

When Queenie’s aunt jokes that people shouldn’t date Geminis, and Queenie replies, “When you say Gemini guy you mean the white guy, right?” This is indicative of this strange approach: Black characters spend most of their time discussing white people. What you end up with is a show named after its black protagonist who is strangely preoccupied with whiteness.

Aside from the painful words of the articles, there is nothing unpleasant about spending time with Queenie as she tries to figure out how to live her best life. But living your best life and watching something truly exciting and enriching on television would involve changing the channel.