Overview

“Them”, produced by Lena Waithe, is an American tv show following the story of an African American family moving to an all white LA neighborhood in the 1950s, where they encounter racial prejudice, violence, and the threat of the otherworldly.

Amazing Acting

First and foremost, the acting is absolutely amazing. It is probably some of the best I’ve ever seen, and the characters genuinely feel like they are living in the situations they display. Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas especially did an incredible job, their roles as main characters were done astoundingly well. The second and third most impressive parts come from the soundtrack and cinematography, which flow together well with the times the show takes place in. Mark Koven was truly incredible with producing music accurate to the times. 

Inconsistent Writing

Now onto the writing, which in all honesty, is pretty mediocre. The plot essentially follows a family living in a neighborhood that is planning to evict (or worse) them, while dealing with a supernatural phenomenon. The problem is, sometimes it doesn’t make sense, and doesn’t really serve to improve the show. Heck, the show itself takes about an hour to actually get to anything mysterious. I was genuinely under the impression that “Them” was only about racism in the 1950s, until something remotely magical happened. 

Sometimes the characters make no sense with how they’re written. As an example, Livia Emory, one of the primary characters, runs outside and threatens the neighborhood with a gun, which is a complete opposite of her normally calm demeanor. There isn’t even any explanation given, like mental illness, which was used for her husband, she just went crazy momentarily and went outside to threaten the neighborhood out of fear of her family safety. 

Now last, but not least comes the civil rights commentary, which is focused on how hard the times were for minorities, such as African Americans. And honestly, it’s rather on the nose. It feels like the writer wrote a show without magic at first, but decided to include it in the end, because otherwise it’s just another boring political commentary with bland characters. Making a point about 1950s racism is straightforward, however, the setting can be incredible, because it helps the characters overcome hard objectives.

Verdict

Overall, this show is a good 7/10. The writing wasn’t great, but it was not terrible either. The cinematography and acting improved it by an extreme amount, because looking and listening to the show itself is a pleasure. Especially with how well designed the OST is.