back to top

Supacell Review Part 1

Y. M. Nelson: Hello, Nerdy Romantics! We are here today to talk about the newest, most wonderful episodes of Supacell Season 1. Did I not say that with enough gangster, y’all? Supacell. Season 1. How about

Staci: He also has the same with the English accent.

Y. M. Nelson: right.exactly. Yeah, I’m not going to even attempt that one. But, we are going to talk about that. We’re going to chop it up, and we are going to spoil a lot of stuff.

​

Y. M. Nelson: So, if you have seen Supacell, then come back and discuss with us.​

This is the Nerdy Romantics Podcast and I’m your host, YM Nelson.

Okay, howdy ladies, how are we doing today?

Marcie: Thanks for having us.

Staci: Fine. It’s

So good to be here today again.

back to top

[00:01:33] How did you found out about Supacell?

Y. M. Nelson: All right. Great! So today we have with us Staci and Marcie my bestie cohosts here to talk about Supacell. So first off Before we really get into the discussion, I’d like to know from each one of you if you can remember The How you found out about this show and what did somebody say to you to make you say, Hey, I want to watch this show. I think for Marcie, we already know, but Marcie,

Marcie: so I, I heard about it from YouTube and talking about whether or not we want to do a podcast around it. And up until that point, I actually hadn’t heard about it. And then I just needed, I wanted a synopsis, and I somehow stumbled upon an article with about, with Rapman, and talking about the premise of him taking the concept of something like sickle cell that only black people have, or majority black people have, people of color and flipping that.

And what if he made it a superpower? And, and that, that being the kind of seed that became Supacell. And at that point, I was hooked.

Y. M. Nelson: right. Staci, what about you?

Staci: Yeah, I wasn’t hooked like that. I was, you know, I’m on Netflix and, you know, when Netflix. Well, I, you know, looks at the algorithm of what you watch and what you like. And I tend to watch more action. Then I also like, you know, superheroes, that kind of thing, secret powers that, and then you throw in English in there and, you know, I was like, Oh, okay, I’m going to watch this, you know, and, you know, especially with it being superheroes. That were of color, so black people that were superheroes, because I used to like, you know, black lightning that was on the CW and stuff like that. And so, and I always thought, and Luke, you know, Luke Cage, I was like, Oh, superheroes, black people, we know there’s gonna be some problems.

So they’re gonna have to overcome something. So I really wanted to see it just for that. So when it came out. You know, as soon as it pretty much almost the weekend, you know, the weekend of the week, it came out, I pretty much watched it that week. Not the whole thing, but that’s when I started watching it, but you got me hooked when you say, you know, black superheroes in today’s work, you know, in this environment, not like an. I mean, it is an alternate universe, but it isn’t an alternate universe. It wasn’t like some fantasy world. It was like, yeah, here now I can see everything happening that, that they have. So it was like, oh, I’m hooked. I’m ready to read. I’m ready to read this. Ready to watch it.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. I feel like that was kind of the, a little bit of the same for me. As far as wanting to watch it or the, the whole premise of watching it is, you know, you got superheroes, you got black people in, in these days and times. I did not know it was British until I started

watching. But but I’m down for that.

So when I first heard about it, it was from a fellow author who writes sci fi romance. And she posted it that she had watched it, and she posted a picture of the Netflix ad for it. And You know, she basically just kind of asked people about it. And so a few people were like, I don’t know if I want to watch that.

Because, of course, the Netflix poster is just Michael with his glowing eyes. So you’re not sure, at that moment, if it’s a superhero thing, Or, if it’s maybe a horror thing, or,

Staci: have me in either way. Okay. Okay.

Y. M. Nelson: it’s not like that, it’s sci fi, it’s And the fact that it had Super in front of Cell, I was like, okay, this is a superhero thing. So, I think I’m gonna check this out.

And so, as I actually started, you know, getting into it, I was like, Oh, okay. This sounds like something on our nerdy side that we would love. And I think I’m gonna try it out. And from that first episode I, after the first First episode, maybe in the second episode, I knew I was going to be hooked. And I said something about it on Threads. I said, I’m hooked on this officially. And we will have a podcast episode about it. Even if I’m the

only one to say something about it. Because I am totally hooked on this on this show. from only an episode and a half at that point. So what did y’all think in general about, about this particular show as a superhero show?

Stacey, what about you? What did you think in general after you came away from watching it.

Staci: it. I mean, I can’t wait for the next season to come out of it. I think they have been renewed for another season.

But I really, I mean, I enjoyed it. And part of the reason that I enjoyed it. It’s because I guess it’s also English when they, when they do, when you see TV shows and over there, the cast is, I guess more diverse for black people.

Cause a lot of times when we have, I mean, I, I know it’s like right away, like, dude, all the, all the women were were brown skin, not necessarily light skin. And here you would have had a whole lot more. I mean, I’m not saying that we’re, well, we are up to a point. If you go to, in the U S there’s usually going to be a lot of times is lighter and it was just a variation of different skin tones for the whole cast, which you don’t always see over our side of it over here. And, and so that was one of the first things I noticed was that the diversity cast that kind of diversity of the of the black actors and actresses there. And then when you’re watching it, I mean, you see, is the buildup of, you know, who’s going to have these, what powers and, and you had the startup of a guy in love with a girl and he’s in love, you know, with his, His girlfriend and you know, none of these other chicks, he ain’t even seeing them.

It’s just, just him and that, you know, that girl. And I mean, when I first saw him, I was like, Oh, this girl’s coming. You know, you see that first when he meets that I cannot tell you the names now anymore, but when he meet, when he’s delivering the package and is the sister of one of the other lady of one of the other soon to be superheroes.

And she’s like, Oh, so, so, so I was like, he didn’t pick up on none of that. It was like, I’m here to deliver the package, here’s your package. And this, and the box package, not my package, it’s the box

Y. M. Nelson: ha, right?

Staci: I’m gone. And he’s out the door and you see the love he has for his girlfriend and it’s, and how much she supports him and loves him, but also that she understands the danger he’s in.

I mean, I know we’re kind of going a little bit beyond that, but, You see, and they all have, are different walks of life. So that was the good thing. You had this straight, this guy straight up and coming, like I’m trying to, you know, I want to be married and I want to do this. And then you have this hardworking, you know, I’m trying to become, you know, hire, was it a nursing, this manager, whatever, and her, and her She had a flaky sister, but she was trying to do right and all that kind of stuff.

And then have this guy kind of, you know, own his who is it? He’s crossing the line. Could he be a villain? Could he not? He, he’s on the line there, but it’s, but you also see his struggles and what he’s going through. And it’s just, Seeing all of that, they weren’t all from cookie cutter kind of environments. It was just different environments and how, also how does people randomly are touching each other in different ways, but not really being apart. How, you know, it was like, Oh, you know you know, seven, seven degrees of separation or was it six degrees of separation, something like of that,

Y. M. Nelson: Mm hmm.

Staci: it’s like how we’re all kind of linked, And you don’t know how you’re linked because he’s because you have you as you go to the store He met this person.

He met that person. He met the person who knew that person They were all connected. He just didn’t realize it at that time.

And I mean how Small the world is but how large it is. So I mean I like that and Overall, I mean, I just I really enjoyed it. I mean

I mean, it was just really a good a good show and it had You Really in depth about the characters, which a lot of times we don’t see, oh, you know, a lot of times you don’t have really good character development. There’ll be like, I mean, I love Superman, but you know, he’s also kind of, I say in one dimension, but a lot of times in the past, it’s been like, you know, he’s the writer of rights, good and good. And it’s like, don’t tell me you was tempted at some point Superman to do, to do wrong. And in this, when you see how the world, Is affecting how they’re going to be, are they good, bad and different, but it’s all those environments and how other people are, could possibly change them. And I don’t want to go into detail on other, some of the other stuff, but I did enjoy it. I mean, I love seeing a, you know, a superhero, and especially with people of color and, you know, especially Black people because I’m Black, but, but really with, a cast of people that I typically don’t see. I mean, really, unless except for Black Lightning, I mean, I can’t recall really a superhero that was just, you know, Black people.

And I mean, but it

Marcie: Meteor Man, let’s not, let us not,

Staci: I mean, I’m just saying like,

Marcie: skipping over Robert Townsend. and the Meteor Man, because that was Black superhero.

Staci: talking about like a TV show that

Marcie: Okay, I’ll give you that. Okay.

Y. M. Nelson: TV

Staci: but

you know, like a TV, like a TV show, a series. I mean, I meet her man. And there’s two, what’s the other one?

Y. M. Nelson: Spawn. There’s,

Staci: there’s a lot of

Y. M. Nelson: yeah. There’s a lot of movies,

Staci: really like that.

I mean, you can say Luke Cage up to a point, but you know, and then you see how many Black female characters that are the, the superheroes too there. So like, you don’t really see that, see that as much as like, the only thing I really can see is Black Lightning. That’s all a family, it seems.

Y. M. Nelson: Mm hmm.

Staci: And I mean the storyline, if you think about the storyline, it’s nothing new.

I mean, I kind of knew what some of the stuff was going to happen. You know, I’m not going to go into detail right now, but I mean, some of the stuff is like, that’s, but every story is almost the same. If you really take a look at it, but does it make you keep wanting to watch it? And that is what it made me keep wanting to watch. Like, I know that, you know, Spoiler alert, that he goes to the future and finds out someone he loves is going to die. I gotta stop this. Cause we all want to stop somebody we love from dying and everything. So you’re gonna go back. And you know, every story we hear about somebody going back in the past, going back to fix something, it never works out.

It never.

Y. M. Nelson: goes right!

Staci: never

works

Marcie: you’re spoiling really

Staci: not gonna work out.

Marcie: spoiling really early really broadly.

Staci: but I mean, I mean, but just, you know, everything we see, I gotta come back and do this. It’s like, something will happen. You don’t mess up something, but at the same time, you want to see what? What happened? Does he actually beat it? Does he, you know, will he change the whole timeline? Will he do that? And, and he, I wanted to see if he did, if he could. If he could bring all those misfits together, and that’s, you know, Also why I like English stuff is because I used to watch The Misfits, which is another English TV show about superheroes. And they were truly misfits, but I liked this one a lot better.

back to top

[00:14:21] Overall review, Diversity, similarity to other Superhero movies and shows

Y. M. Nelson: Okay, yeah, I was gonna we’re gonna talk two about some other You know, superhero TV shows kind of that are sort of, in this, is in this realm. So, Yeah, more to come on that, and more to come on kind of the, The superhero aspect and the superhero character arcs. But Marcie, what about you overall?

What did you think overall of the show?

And will you be coming back for season

Marcie: I will be coming back for season two. I, I enjoyed it. I think to me, it was atypical superhero in that I feel like all of these people are evolving into their, And some of them aren’t committed yet to being superheroes. And so I think that it’s, to me, it is more than that. I think I think at the beginning, you really only see one person who might be committed to any act of heroism.

And one of the things I think is different about this is that these superheroes are, are not. Avengers Unite type superheroes, in that there’s not that air of altruism that you, you generally think of when you think of what a superhero is. These people are truly in it for themselves, and the, the, the reasons they happen to band together are still driven by some sort of personal gain, as opposed to what you think of in the superhero realm of, of wanting to save quote unquote the world and wanting to be a hero of mankind.

This, this not them. They not that. They’re not, they’re not that. They don’t, they barely, they don’t. I do like that the characters are like Stacey said, diverse in that they do come from a whole, a lot of different backgrounds. I did think it was interesting, Stacey, to your point about the six degrees of separation.

I liked that he had the situations where they were close to each other and didn’t, you know, And didn’t recognize the, like we did, by then we did, because we were counting. Oh, that’s two together. Oh, that’s three together. Oh, that’s two together. Like we were looking at it, but they didn’t recognize it in the moments, the momentous, but how many times the cross, the paths did cross.

And I think for me, the most poignant one was when he had located everybody but one, and he was sitting on the on the booth seat right behind them and he didn’t he didn’t realize it. They didn’t realize it and they and they were both seeking the same thing in some ways. Because I think that’s another thing that underlying theme of wanting to understand what’s happening to them and.

I think looking for a connection to somebody else who might be able to explain it, but then realizing that almost every time you do, that person ends up looking more like your adversary than your friend. I think that’s probably kind of a hard place to be, right? Because you start to realize that not everybody is.

Most everybody isn’t viewing this as a gift, right?

Y. M. Nelson: Mm hmm.

Marcie: sometimes a gimmick sometimes a cool thing you can do But nobody is really looking at it as a as oh, I got superpowers now go me. No, everybody’s like What I gotta do to be normal again, right? Or Let me use this gift for my personal gain and I have never seen more enterprising people in my life than then how to I mean how to how to peddle a gift you hear me.

I was impressed by and I think that kind of shows it too because there was a level of maturity I think in the older characters versus the younger ones like you see andre spoiler you see andre fighting Not to use his gift for his personal game, right? Not to use his gift for or his superpower for the thing That would be the quickest, right?

You see him trying everything but then you see Rodney and Rodney is like putting on two for one specials like he’s dominoes he is like

Y. M. Nelson: Yes! Ha ha

Marcie: get it right. And I think that it was an interesting dynamic to see across the generations, across the ages, across their, like Staci said, their circumstances.

Like, you see how Sabrina, because she is trying to be a nurse manager, she’s a very straight up kind of law abiding and, and she fights so hard to stay in that place. And so you see all these different versions of what having. Powers would be and I think to me that was interesting because I don’t you see somebody struggle with it by and large when you look at the avengers once they realized they had powers They were like go like cool.

I mean, but this was not that kind of group and I think that was interesting and these were real characters like Staci said these were real characters with With families with people that they loved and that was I think another thing. Is that in some way they were all? all driven by love for someone or something, right?

That that is the thing that usually tips the scale for them about how they choose to proceed. It’s, it’s, it’s that is the moment. I think that that makes me really want to stay connected to them. Cause I’m not gonna lie to you a couple of times. I’m like, these people are trash. Like, I mean, you look at, honestly, you look at taser and sometimes I’m like, do you have a soul?

I mean, Sir, what are you doing? But then you see him sitting beside you know, then you see him at the hospital and you’re like, oh, okay So so okay, I get it. But so I think that was interesting. It was cool to see a different culture and to see What, what British life is like and to see and to be able to get that view into what it’s like in different places and for different types of people.

I think that was also pretty cool to see because I think a lot of times we don’t, and it was It was interesting to see the comparisons to how certain communities are the same regardless of what continent you put them on, you know? Whether you call it the projects or in the state, very much the same experience if you ask the people who live there.

And so I think that that was interesting to me. I do think, Stacey, that they broke the streak we talk about when we talk about British characters because I will say that darn near everybody was attractive in this one. Like, I, They were all

Staci: They did break that. Cause I mean, usually sometimes there’s like somebody

Marcie: on it.

Staci: you know, you know, that would be fine for British TV, but over here, that’s like

the angle sale here, you know, you’ll be a character actor

Marcie: Exactly. Doing, doing,

doing little theater in the summer. But

yeah.

but no, this was, this cast was, was top tier. Like, they were, everybody was, was interesting. It was pretty, you know, I think that I laughed when I saw that and thought, oh, wow, no, this, this group right here is, They’re all generally attractive from the, from the, from the main characters to the supporting characters.

I think, but I did enjoy the diversity. And I actually think I appreciated that a little bit. Because they could’ve, they could’ve given us the low budget version of every one of these characters. Like we could’ve gotten, and, and I don’t, I don’t know. I think, I think that I was kind of impressed by that.

Because I think sometimes, when it’s an all Black cast especially, or a majority Black cast, that sometimes we do, we do get, A different level of of a combination like we get two high characters like Super professional and then we get just got their sad card. So this I felt like was a a different kind of cast and they were all I think the level of acting And the level and I think it really helped you to to really follow that character development to really want to see And know more about these characters and then to get to, like Staci said, those moments to be able to drill down and see, The majority of one character’s arc, and then watch it intersect with another one.

I think that was that isn’t something you get to see as often. And I did appreciate that they took the time, even though things were going really quickly, that they took the time to slow it down when it was necessary, and to give you the pieces you were going to need to connect. Because I think that sometimes we don’t always get that and then at the end there’s a big scene and you’re like, what’s happening?

But this one, it helped understand why you needed these people, these times, these places. And I think that was, so, yeah, I’m not normally a sci fi person. And at the first episode, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be a Supacell person. But, It was a lot. One thing I will say to viewers is that this is, it is almost always intense.

Like, this was not,

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah.

Marcie: I didn’t, this was not Robert Downey Jr. throwing a one liner to lighten the room. This was not a comedic hulk who could make you laugh at his unfortunate. No, this was intense and dramatic from the, from the first minute to the last minute. And you got to be ready for that, like adrenaline push, but I started to appreciate it more as the story moved on.

But that first episode, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle that level of intensity for five more. But. By the end, I was so invested. I was like, you just got to suck it up, sis. You got to, you got to keep going because to Staci’s point, now I’m invested. Now, I need to know what’s going to happen.

Now, I need to see who he’s going to find next. Now, I need to see if they’re going to say yes. So, but that’s the thing I would say is if someone asked me to describe it in a singular word, it would be intense.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah. I, I would have to agree with that. It, it definitely was intense. It, there, it didn’t seem to really even be a down moment. Even when there was a down moment, that down moment was one that you had to sit and listen because they were giving you information for the next up moments. And that’s kind of where, I think people actually missed the whole sickle cell thing for a few that did, that have, that missed that part.

It’s because they’re explaining that in the down moments. And they’re talking about the connection, the sickle cell connection in the down

moment. But but we’ll talk a little bit more about the sickle cell thing in a minute. What I really wanna talk about that Marci kinda touched on is You know, these character arcs, and the whole motivation for these characters, and why they’re not the Avengers. The first thing that I noticed when they actually started to come together, or what made them come together is everybody That is part of the Supacell, we’re gonna say the Supacell Avengers at this point. Everybody that’s part of this group had somebody that they were trying to save. And that was the whole reason, I think, that a lot of them even got together.

Because I think with Sabrina, she’s the nurse with superpowers. She, of course, as Marcie said, she didn’t even want to To have the superpowers. She’s trying to figure out how to get rid of them. And she even told Michael, which is the first guy that we meet, She even told him, I want to get rid of these powers.

I I I don’t I don’t want to be a part of this. I don’t want to be with you in this. And I think at that point too, that was when You know, they had the club scene, and what happened there at the club scene in that she thought, you know, somebody had died. So, she was like, I really don’t want to be a part of this. But then, when her sister, Charlene, went missing, that’s when she got invested. Right? And, you know, Rodney you know, he just wanted to exploit his powers, as Marcie says. He just wanted to exploit them, but when his best friend Spud got in trouble, and he, you know, needed to get him out of trouble, he went and sought Michael out. Because he’s like, okay, I need somebody else that also has these powers that can help me that, you know, whatever. And so that’s kind of how the gang got together is because they had somebody that they had somebody in their life that they felt like they had to save or they had to stand in for. And you know, even with Taser, I mean,

Marcie: It was tiny.

Y. M. Nelson: I just,

Marcie: It was tiny. Yep. He was doing it for tiny.

Y. M. Nelson: mm hmm.

Yeah.

and and the thing is is that if he had enough tried to beef with that other gang in the first place. But then that’s what, what, what do gangs do? What do rival gangs do? They beef with each other. I mean, this is what, what goes on. They beef with each other and, you know, they have, they have issues. So, you know, with the whole getting the gang together, to me that’s where like the character arc happens is they, they find, they have somebody that they have to save. Michael, of course, has this person at the beginning, so that’s why we kind of see, see that happen, but also I love the fact that we have these, not only diverse stories, but as we’ve all, as we’ve, all of us have said, diverse characters. And they’re diverse characters, but they’re mostly black characters. And it’s just, this, people, this is why We. Are striving, all of, are, all the BIPOC creators out there and every, and allies of, of BIPOC creators. This is why we strive for representation. This is why we want to see more than one person of color on a TV show. This is why, We love things like Bridgerton that may not actually be, this may not actually be what was happening in Regency England at the time, but we, we need to see people of color. Why? Because we need to see that diversity happen. And what happens is with with other TV shows that have majority white characters, we see that diversity.

We’ve always seen that diversity in America, maybe even in other places, you know, maybe even in England. It is, is As Stacey has said, you know, maybe we do see that in other places, but we don’t necessarily see it with black people or with people of color, you know, having a show with such diversity. I mean, and it’s, and it’s not just diversity of their shades, which I loved. You know, Queen Sugar does that, too, with different shades of, of Black people. But, they also have a diversity of socioeconomic condition. They have a diversity of what they’re going through. So, you know, obviously, Taser’s a gangster, right? Taser is what we would call a thug. But is everybody in here a thug?

No. But does, is everybody, almost everybody here a black person? Yes. And from what Rap Man has said you know, in a couple of interviews, this is basically what we’re seeing is we are seeing South London. So South London is not that big of a, of a place. I mean, if you look at it on the map, it’s not that big of a place that might have a lot of people, but it’s not that big of a place and you have all of this diversity happening. And he’s like, I want to show South London. I want to show what this looks like. It’s just people also have superpowers too, you know, but I want to show You know what what’s out there, you know, I want to show the world what south london is and I love that for him. I love that. He’s doing that and I love that.

He’s showing this diversity because In our lives, we already see it, the diversity, you know, we see it, but when we turn on our TVs and we go to the movies, we don’t always see that. And if other people are not seeing what we see, then they get a skewed vision of who we are, right? They get one picture of who we are. We are You know, whoever, you know, whoever they have as representation, whoever they’ve been seeing, you know, right now, as we are recording this, we just came off the Olympics and everybody is like all about Snoop Dogg, right? So what, you know, what if this is the only representation of a Black person that you see, right?

Staci: I mean, he’s a great

Marcie: I mean he did us, he did us a great

Staci: the did us proud.

I mean, I see what you’re saying, like, the diversity of Black people, like I said, socioeconomic backgrounds where, you know, where they are in life and that. And most of, if we’re black, we’ve, you know, go to a family reunion. We got from,

you know, All sorts of people, all same family, we all go to same church and we’re all in these different types of backgrounds and all that.

And we are still together in a common thing that we’re all Black, but we’re all have different backgrounds. Even on this call, you know, we all come from different parts, cities, states. You know, just families and you know, how our families are, how we see the world, it’s different, but when you go to the show, typically, if there’s only one black person and it’s the, I mean, until recently, it will always be the same kind of Black person.

Y. M. Nelson: Yes. That’s what I’m

Staci: still recently growing up, it was always the same Black person. It was just,

Marcie: The best friend, yes.

Staci: best friend, you know, athletic Black guy. Have y’all seen the little meme where they showed the, the cartoons of the, and it was the, the black character. He was the same with the high top fate and every last cartoon, the black kid was the same cat. He was drawn the same way, like all these cartoons, and it was just. That’s how it is. If you kind of look at a lot of our, a lot of shows, it’s the same kind of black character, you know, and they get into like these zones of that. But when we As Black people, you know, have this whole spectrum of what kind of, of what we are and how we act and you know, how we go through life.

We have a whole spectrum, but if you look a lot, if you look on TV and movies, you’re not going to see that. And I like the fact that they showed that, hey, you have, I said, the thug there, you have the hard working woman trying to make it. You have the man who yes, went to jail, but trying to get back on track. Yeah, the guy who seems to have it all, you know, and then you have this other guy who’s like the drug dealer I was like, so how has he not been arrested? I

Y. M. Nelson: Right?

Staci: When he

first

Y. M. Nelson: He’s just, and he’s like the flamboyant

Marcie: just barely,

Staci: he was like, how

Marcie: he’s just barely keeping it together.

Staci: he His best already? How has he not been jailed? Because he was just coming up, so hey, you

Marcie: right? I just knew the first the first time that first thing when we meet him I just knew that dude was a cop when he was sitting on the curb I just knew that dude was a cop because it just didn’t make sense that you would

Staci: You have to be.

Marcie: Yes, I just knew

Staci: he was,

Marcie: You couldn’t tell me different when he didn’t get arrested.

I was like wow because he was really

Staci: he’s a cop because he’s trying to get people. It’s like, and and other Black people like, try to be arrested. No, I want to weed.

Marcie: right we were it was very

Staci: he was, he was a drug. I was like, I mean, a bad one, but I

Marcie: If not for spud he

Staci: he not been arrested multiple times?

Marcie: of spud I really believe it’s because spud had at least a little bit of management experience And he was like, this is a good risk. This is a bad risk. But to your point, I thought A couple of times. It was a narc. I had to be because nobody would do that for real. I was like

Y. M. Nelson: mhm

Marcie: This is stressing me out, sir.

You’re going to jail before we even get started. Yes, I agree with you he he he was not but I think when we finally see his backstory I think it explains a lot too like it was it was interesting to see that and I was like wow, I mean I I think When we finally hear andre’s backstory and it and it reshapes our understanding of his story Situation and informs us differently about what how we thought he got there.

I think that was another poignant moment. I think and I think that that was a speech that that a million black men have wanted to make. I think in that moment.

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah.

Marcie: It was probably one of the most powerful scenes. It was quiet and it was, to your point, Yvonne, it was one of the calm moments because that’s when, when we, that’s when they give us something.

But, and it was so beautifully acted. Like, I think that’s the other thing is the quality of the performances throughout this whole thing. Nobody lagged. Nobody dropped. Nobody was, none of this was, I’m not gonna call any names, but none of this was was the mass media acting of, of, that we sometimes get packaged and presented to us.

This was, this was people embodying, embodying their characters in ways that, you know, I was refreshed to see, like, when he, when you see him in that moment, like, I, I was there, like, I was, I was like, I wish I could hire this man. He’s not even real. But, but in that moment, like, it was his connection to who his character was.

Was just so powerful that when, when you see all the rest of the decisions he makes, you understand them differently in that moment. Like, I think you understand him differently in that moment. And I was very moved by that in a lot of, in a lot of ways, because I think, it’s easy to be flippant about that.

And it’s easy to trivialize the choices he makes later. Inevitably, that was what he was going to have to do. But the truth is when you look at how hard he’s trying to do differently and what is driving to it, like it was just, I mean the person, the interpersonal relationships, I think was, was really to your point.

Rodney survived because of spud.

Y. M. Nelson: Yes.

Marcie: relationship was important. Michael was, was depending on, on Dion. We get to see that interpersonal dynamic. We get to see Teza and we get to see him with his homeboys, but we also get to see him when he’s by himself and trying to figure out who he’s going to be.

We get to see him with Tiny and see that different interpersonal relationship. We get to see Michael with his best friend, and we get to see that play out. We get to see Andre and his best friend, and their, how they interact. And I think that’s something we also don’t often get to see is fully formed interpersonal relationships, where

Y. M. Nelson: And,

Marcie: Where they’re symbiotic and they’re, and they’re real.

And, and the other person is, I mean honestly, when Spud was in Jeopardy, like I was concerned. I was like, Lord, we ain’t gonna make it, you know? I was, I was down to bad. Because I cared, in that moment, I was angry when Andre’s friend said, why don’t you just go? I, like, I felt something. In these moments for these people and for the characters that were surrounding them.

And I think that’s also a tribute to the writing and to the acting, is that the, the characters that were behind them and helping create those arcs were, were phenomenal in, in humanizing them. As we see them evolve into their superhero statuses and when you look at chanel charnel char Charlene

char when we look at charlene and

we see their relationship and And

Y. M. Nelson: Charlene and

Marcie: charlene and sabrina we see them and and and the How they interact and the dependency they have on one another like I think I mean it was a it was a testament to those supporting actors That they actually to became more than supporting actors like and there’s points where you can’t even tell Who’s supposed to be the lead because everybody is carrying this storyline forward?

And I think that’s a tribute to both the writing and the acting

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah, yeah, I totally agree with that. And I think, too, that’s what makes this different from Staci, what you were saying about other superhero movies, especially superhero movies from comic books. So this is not one from a comic book. So You know, Rapman and, you know, is creating, you know, has to create this world. He has to build this world, you know, writing has to happen. And then he has to get the actors that are gonna, like Marcie said, totally embody these characters. And so that’s why we don’t get that one side or we get the, the dual side kind of thing, like with, with Superman and Clark Kent. Superman is this one iconic symbol thing, Clark Kent is this one personality on the side. And part of it, part of it, as far as we see in these in these different movies, part of the reason why we get that is A, because part of it is they’re, they’re written that way, but also part of it is because A lot of their story is told in the comic books like they’re going through the drama in the comic books So they’re like we’re not gonna put all that on screen.

We’re just going to give you some good fight scenes We’re going to give you the iconic character Parts, you know the parts that you know, you’re coming to the movie for you know the easter egg parts and then to You know the people who are coming to these movies That the people who are coming to these movies just because they know these characters and don’t necessarily even read the comic books, they’re not gonna want all that either.

They’re gonna want a good action sequence too. But because this is in a, A, it’s in a TV show format you know, it kind of helps that it’s on Netflix, you know, so they can do whatever they want. And and and we can actually see more of the characters happening. And, and three, because this is not a comic book. You know, doesn’t have the comic book as canon or anything like that. The show is it. We have to make these characters as round as we possibly can. These characters have to be fully formed. And Marcie, I’m with you. That’s what is drawing me in for another season is I am invested in these characters and these characters relationships. And I like how they’re portrayed. I like the fact that Charlene is working on her doctorate, but she’s as ghetto fabulous.

Marcie: but she is just a ratchet as they

Y. M. Nelson: she can be. Yes. And, and, and, I mean, she has some, a few stereotypical things with being ghetto fabulous. I’m dating the, the leader of the gang, you know, I’m hanging out. You know, when he’s messing up, I’m going to go and I’m gonna, you know,

I’m going to go to his

Staci: him because he bought me this.

Y. M. Nelson: Yes, right, he brought me this, this, right, haha, right, haha, right. but then, you know, next day she’s talking about, you know, I gotta get to this, you know, doctoral

Marcie: Right. Ten more words and I’ll never have to hear thesis again. I was like, thesis? Girl, night, whew, you was in your freaking dress, but today we writing a thesis. Okay.

Y. M. Nelson: Right! But I love that, though. I love that,

that, you know, part of it, because that’s telling me this character is not a stereotype. This character is not gonna be what I, my preconceived notions want this character to be. And you know, I’m hoping everybody comes

in like that, you know, think Andre had a thing like that too, because after he makes the choice he made,

Marcie: after he accidentally discovers his powers the way he does, I think.

In his choice to then the next time we see him, he’s putting on a tie to go to a job interview. And I was like, that is not what I thought was going to happen.

After, after, after that, like, that’s not stereotypically what you would see happen after that. And so I think that that was another place where We didn’t see the stereotypical writing of who that character would be. This is, that’s not what anyone else, what most characters would have done once they had, once they were in his position.

They would have just been like, cool, I now got a way to make money. Let me, let me go do that. And instead he was like, let me put on this tie and try to go be this, This, this, this stocking clerk at the grocery store, like it’s very, another one of those places where it was super atypical of what you were, you know, what you would expect.

I mean, I’m gonna be honest. Dionne was probably the most atypical because I’m gonna be honest y’all. And we, and let’s be real. Your man comes home and says, look what I can do, honey. And, and transports himself to different areas of the room. And then tells you about what happened to him yesterday, and you just be like, oh, okay.

And then go to work like nothing happened. I’m I’m, sorry, what you say? You say that all that happened to you plus you got powers plus also your eyes can flash like that plus also You

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah.

Marcie: but you cool, but you’re good

Y. M. Nelson: not going to work and

Marcie: Right and she just keeps adding like that’s that’s normal conversation between you and your boo Then all of a sudden he almost died got superpowers and keeps Leaving unexpectedly and showing up unexpectedly.

But she took it all like a champ. Like I was like, That’s a well rounded character because most of the ones I know would have gone shell way before she did. And even when she did, she was very polite. She was the most polite and patient woman that I have ever seen because I questioned myself if I was ever going to be that good.

Because I was like, Oh, no

Staci: I muted myself so you wouldn’t hear because I wanted to say something before, before we kind of moved off about when he found out he had superpowers and he Andre and you know, he said he got, he was going to do the interview. And it’s like the one thing he was gonna do like use the superpowers to get money It wasn’t even his idea. It was his friend. Like well, you this is

Marcie: Right and I was mad about that

Staci: He didn’t even think to do that

was not what it you know, because of what his of his history, you know Like I ain’t trying to give him trouble again, you know, and it’s like his best friend. It’s like Well, you know, you brought up from the,

Marcie: right if you ride from criminals ain’t nobody really gonna say nothing

Staci: it. It ain’t going to be reported. It ain’t going to be the same. But I mean, it’s that kind of stuff that is, like I said, it’s atypical. Cause it’s not what you would expect. Cause I know if I suddenly had superpowers. There might be signs.

Y. M. Nelson: ha! I’m just you

Staci: know if you live around me, you, if you know me, there might be signs. Other than that, no one else would be knowing. But at the same time, you know, they, I liked the fact that they had real world problems. It wasn’t like, you know, like, I mean, I like Ironman and I like the Hulk, Incredible Hulk and all that, but Ironman was a, he had money to begin with. You know, and he was a genius. I mean, he wasn’t struggling for nothing. You know, that kind of thing. Oh, well, that should go evil or not. I mean, why should you, I mean, you had there, you know, you, it wasn’t a struggle. And I think when you’re in trouble, if there’s something going on, it’s a little bit hard to be on a straight narrow path.

If you, if this is going on over here and this is going over there, you know, I’m trying to make it and try to do right. But everything is pointing me to a different direction. And it’s a hot, long, hard one. When that tightrope is You know, I could, you know, if I don’t get this job, I might not be able to see my son or I’m gonna lose my house or I’m gonna lose, you know, lose my, you know, where I’m staying.

And if I don’t do this, you know, I’m trying to get it to my, me and my mom can be together and you find out, you know, geez, crap. But I mean, just, you know, Those things is like, if to me, if you, I’m not saying, you know, money’s the

Marcie: Is she crap?

Staci: things, but if you have money,

Marcie: I said, but technically is she crap? Oh,

Staci: well, no, the mom, she decided to stay. She knew what kind of man her, her, her husband was. And you know, with the,

Marcie: you’re talking about rodney I was thinking about Taser’s mom okay. okay. I was thinking about Taser’s mom because she got different. She, she’s struggling for a different reason, but you’re right, but Rodney’s, but Rodney’s mom, I was angry. I was mad at the whole exchange.

Staci: kind of man he is and I’m gonna abandon you and stay with

Marcie: Right, and I’m going, I’ma, I’ma keep living high on the

Staci: Yes.

Marcie: you, you go back to that hostel where you were and I hope that things are working out. I was like, they put him in a hostel when he was 16? Like, oh, I’m sorry. Spoilers everywhere.

Staci: But, but it’s that kind of stuff. I mean, but it’s that,

Y. M. Nelson: Did they

Staci: it’s that kind of real world.

Y. M. Nelson: Ha ha

ha ha!

Staci: What’s that on here?

Marcie: She said, did they even

Staci: But,

Y. M. Nelson: I said, did they even watch the movie Hostel? Ha ha ha ha!

Staci: and his, and his stepdad probably didn’t care if he, because I know that it was a horror. He probably didn’t care. Send him out. Send him out anyway. He ain’t staying in this house with us. And she was fine with that. But, I mean, the fact that he had that, and that was his, you know, that was, His struggle with and that’s what he was trying to get but he was trying to get money regardless for that even though He’s willing to do illegal stuff for it.

You know

Marcie: to rescue his just that because he thought he had to rescue them. Yup. Cause he was willing to do all that to rescue his mom and sister only to find out his mom was like, I’m not a hostage. I’m staying here. Yeah.

Staci: I’m willing here. I’m really i’m set here and I I know we haven’t talked about ever much We’re going to go into the sickle cell, but I really liked that part of it because when we are, you know, you study genetics and you talk about sickle cell and you’re saying how can sickle cell still exist when the people who have it are sick or can die, you know, if it wasn’t for some of this technology and the medical resources we have now, they did not live long. You know, as long as they can now. And, you know, in genetics, we always, that’s one of the things we studied was that. And it’s like, why did it keep, why is it still around? It’s because the people who carried that J for sickle cell were less likely to die or get malaria. And that’s why I kept, it would keep coming up because those people have kind of immunity.

I was like, Look at him putting that in,

you know, kind of in there to have that instead of it being a liability or prevent like, you know, malaria, stuff like that. It was actually, yes, you will get superpowers or you might have superpowers. And I mean, I just really like that part of it too, to bring that

Marcie: Yeah, again, that’s the thing that drew me in to see him, to see him flip that and use it in a, in a different way. And, and I agree with you. I think it’s interesting. And for me, because I know the background of it, I’m always like, but shit, but they said he didn’t carry the trait. So how come, like, so now I’m trying to figure out why everybody who has powers has powers and what the connection is between all of them.

Because I’m trying to figure out, because when you ask is when. When they were in the hospital and they asked his mom and we now know the hospital, but anyway, when they ask his mom and they say, you know, and he doesn’t have the trait and she says, no, we’re, we’re blessed. And I’m Michael. And so I couldn’t figure out why he.

Like I’m now I’m trying to and so I like that there’s that thread running underneath the other two sci fi like I’m truly trying to figure out what, what is happening, what is the common thread, what is I think we, And I don’t want to give a million spoilers, so I’m just gonna say I think we now all understand by that last episode what they’re trying to do with the people that have gotten quote unquote taken and what the ultimate goal there is, but I think it’s still Okay, and I can’t even say the ultimate goal.

I think we understand what they’re doing. Who those people, but I don’t think we know the end game yet, and I’m grateful for that.

And I’m still trying to understand who, who, why, like why some people have it and some don’t. Like now we know why Craze has it, but now I think we my question is given any other set of circumstances, would he still, or is it, is it because of.

The choices he made to get out of prison like there’s a lot. I mean the number of of threads That’s that rap man managed to put into These episodes but still have it feel cohesive enough that you that I appreciated the dangling thread because I know I get to look forward to that coming back, but that also so much of it was still together that you could follow it because you know sometimes you get and it’s so many different tangents you’re like I don’t even know what’s happening but in this even though there were These separate storylines going on and we were dedicating time to each of them and they were still these these hanging questions I didn’t feel like I I didn’t get it and sometimes when I watch sci fi I feel like I didn’t quite get it, but he he found the sweet spot of I get it And now I want to get more.

I get it, and now I want to know X, Y, and Z. I get it, and I’m hoping in season two, I get to see how, what, you know, I think he left enough questions on the table to make everybody want a season two, but enough that if there had only been a season one, we would have been disappointed. But I think I could have still said, I could have made enough of my own inferences to keep, to, to, figure out what I think happened at, at the end, right?

So I liked that. I liked that the sci fi was embedded in the story in a way that made it relatable, that made it consumable, because I think sometimes sci fi is so sci fi that I can’t, I can’t get in there, but because it is so intertwined in these interpersonal relationships and in, in these characters and in their journeys, it was easier to absorb it.

I think it’s because he introduced the people first. And I think sometimes that’s the difference. We didn’t see a lot of the science except in glimpses into like three, two and a half, three, instead of it being so forward in the first ones. We didn’t. So I wasn’t. You know, one like Soylent Green. But, but, so, I appreciated that.

I appreciate the way he weaved the sci fi into it and made me want to be engaged in also the questions about the sciency part, about the why, about the how, about the who because I think that’s an interesting level. I think at the end, My assumption about what was coming out of the portal changed about halfway through.

Because what I, who I originally thought was coming out of the portal, I realized wasn’t what was actually coming out of the portal. And then I was like, ah, dang. But now, what did I see? And where was that? So, yeah, so I,

Y. M. Nelson: Yeah.

Marcie: because I thought it was somebody else. But now I see, nope. And so I think that was also interesting the minute that last episode when the mask are removed and you see I mean, I think that might have been a commentary on America or on society in general that, you know, some people can’t operate without the mask, but but yeah, and by the mask, I mean, by, by the thing that keeps them hidden from society, like it’s easy to be in the background and it’s easy when you’re in that suit with the silver mask and everything, but the minute they had, they were coming off and the fighting was starting and people, you know, I think that was probably one of the most poignant things about that fight scene, was especially when you see the girl and you see her, and she’s like, and her anger is no longer this programmable thing, but it’s related to the person, you know, her person, and she regains her humanity for that moment, and she’s like, No!

And so I think in those moments, it’s I mean, it was just, I mean, he did an amazing job and because I’m, I’m nine times out of ten, I’m not going to be on the sci fi podcast, but this one, this one, I was like, Oh, this is

Y. M. Nelson: We’re glad to have you here, Marci!

Y. M. Nelson: We will continue this discussion on our next episode. Make sure you’re subscribed to Nerdy Romantics Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts and visit nerdyromanticspodcast. com to subscribe to our newsletter, where you can get show notes directly in your inbox. Thank you for listening.

back to top