Emmys spotlight: ‘Blindspotting’ blends art forms and social commentary to provide a stirring look at real life

It started with a movie that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018, examining the delicate balance navigated by a Black man almost at the end of his parole. It came two and a half years before the explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement but managed to capture that social sentiment in an accessible way laced with humor and heart. A spin-off TV series made sense, but opting to make it without the onscreen star power of Daveed Diggs was certainly a brave choice. Fortunately, Starz’s “Blindspotting” has been a wonder to behold, and season two only continues to show what audiences likely didn’t even realize was missing from everything else they’ve been watching.

At the heart of “Blindspotting” is Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones), who is shocked by the unexpectedly lengthy prison sentence her boyfriend Miles (Rafael Casal) receives and is forced to move in with his family in order to take care of their son Sean (Atticus Woodward). Ashley’s life is complicated, as is the dynamic she has with Miles’ mother Rainey (Helen Hunt) and his sister Trish (Jaylen Barron), her new housemates. The antics Ashley endures are often hilarious and absurd, but they can also be heart-wrenching as the physical and emotional space between her and the man she loves, who is also her son’s father, overwhelms her.

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SEE Helen Hunt (‘Blindspotting’) reveals tackling ‘excruciating circumstances’ of incarceration and playing a ‘bright-colored’ matriarch [Exclusive Video Interview]

As a traditional narrative exploration of a modern-day interracial relationship, “Blindspotting” would be more than sufficiently interesting, but it doesn’t stop there. It weaves in performance art, spoken word, and other visual styles to add tremendous depth to the pain and joy it depicts on-screen. A standout moment of season two finds Ashley and Sean with Miles on an overnight conjugal visit and the two parents pivoting to explain why Sean’s sudden use of the n-word just isn’t okay. After some initial humor about how Miles, who is white, may not be the best choice (or is the perfect choice?) to convey the history behind that word, an entranced Sean is treated to a several-minute reenactment of the history of Black people in America expressed through movement.

This show is bursting with creativity, and there isn’t any predictability or consistency to that format. A Western-themed episode communicates how a child perceives a distinctly adult situation, while another rollercoaster-centric episode features the characters drinking a giant drink made of cheese that feels distinctly larger-than-life. Season two has moved away from centering its episodes on moments that take audiences clearly out of the real, instead offering teases where it’s not entirely clear whether conversations and interactions should be taken literally. Critics have been impressed with the show’s consistency and improvement in season two.

Quinci LeGardye (The A.V. Club) proclaims that “this new season improves in toeing the line between reality and imaginative, trippy asides.” She describes the show as a “powerful look at the impact of the U.S. prison system” and declares that it “pulls off an uproarious and insightful sophomore season. Fans of the series won’t be disappointed, as the show continues to shine a light on the ludicrous, beautiful, and often harsh realities of life, while celebrating the power of music and dance and The Bay as an iconic cultural hub. By the final two episodes (maybe the best of the series as a whole so far), it’s clear that there’s just nothing like it on TV.”

Rendy Jones (RogerEbert.com) attests that “season two continues its winning streak of supplying bold social commentary through sharp humor and surrealist imagination. It retains the source material’s brilliant blend of expressionism and absurdist humor, which can rattle your soul in either chills or well-earned gut-busting laughs. Its signature multiple performance art form inclusion for each episode rarely comes across as stale or gimmicky. Most sequences that signify the rush of emotions the characters experience or elaborate on a central social topic it boldly tackles are bone-chilling. The writers and episode directors—notably Rafael Casal and Jessica Wu Calder—find fresh ways to make each spoken word, interpretive dance, and movement performance sequence symbolic and mesmerizing.”

Aaron Neuwirth (We Live Entertainment) has high praise for the ensemble: “Jones is excellent here, even as the series pushes her to straddle the line of being unlikable to create a more complex state of affairs. Casal is bumped up to a series regular this season, and his increased presence is quite welcome, further deepening how rough of a situation it is for him to be locked away. Turner (who’s also a writer for the series), Nicholas-Lippman, and Barron have comparatively less to do this season, on the whole, but still make the most of their time whenever the episodes provide more for them.”

SEE Jess Wu Calder (‘Blindspotting’) on directing ‘artistic, grand, epic’ second season episode [Exclusive Video Interview]

Cephas Jones, who is already an Emmy winner for her performance in the short form series “#Freerayshawn,” leads a phenomenal cast that, in season two, truly gets to shine. Highlights from the ensemble include Benjamin Earl Turner as Earl and Candace Nicholas-Lippman as Janelle, both of whom are navigating new and old relationships at the same time, and Barron, who reserves a special viciousness for her brother’s girlfriend while pining at the same time for her own best friend, Jacque (April Absynth), who views their relationship as purely platonic.

Diggs, who serves as a writer and producer on the series in addition to several guest appearances, is a previous Emmy nominee for his performance in the filmed version of “Hamilton” in 2021. The most Emmy-friendly person associated with the show is Hunt, who won four consecutive awards for her starring role in “Mad About You” between 1996 and 1999. “Blindspotting” sits in an unremarkable 55^th place in our Emmy odds for Best Comedy Series, while Cephas Jones is at 36^th and Hunt is at 53^rd for Best Comedy Actress and Best Comedy Supporting Actress, respectively.

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