I’ll start off by coming clean that this show starts off as a mess and slowly comes together to be a fantastic musical set in the Bronx in the 1970s. If you have no idea who or what The Get Down is, check out this trailer, and if that doesn’t convince you that this show has some potential then stop reading this right now.
That pilot is an hour and 40 minutes and there is a lot going on in it, perhaps too much at some points. However it doesn't set the tone for the six episodes which does finally mold together in the end to become something truly wonderful. The pilot suffers from way too many train shots (we get it, there are trains in the Bronx covered in graffiti), and way too many cuts, hopping from one character to another. There’s also a sequence that occurs in what is easily identifiable as a studio that has been converted to look like the Bronx in the 70s. Come on. This isn't what I expect to see with a budget of 120 million dollars.
That pilot was fairly terrible but it wasn’t enough to take me out of it. What kept me in the show was the performances of Shameik Moore (who I already adored in the film Dope), who plays Shaolin Fantastic, Justice Smith, who plays Ezekiel, Herizen Guardiola, who plays Mylene, Skylan Brooks, who plays Ra-Ra, Tremaine Brown Jr., who plays Boo-Boo, and Jaden Smith, who is nearly unrecognizable with a fantastic afro, and plays Dizzee, Stefanee Martin, who plays Yolanda, and Shyrley Rodriguez, who plays Regina. All these actors are fantastic and well worth the watch.
Some of the best moments within the show are those that are quiet and the child actors are acting like... well - kids. Goofy, upset, furious, sweet, any number of things, their interactions are what make this show great, especially when the plot can be a little too convoluted. Akin to Stranger Things, this show benefits from the performances of its younger cast members and I just wish they had more moments like those, where they weren’t moving the plot forward of given on the nose lines, rather, they were just hanging out, being kids.
The cast also includes great performances by Jimmy Smits playing Fransisco Papa Fuerte Cruz, whose Spanglish I could listen to all day. Giancarlo Espositio is also in this playing Mylene’s father as Pastor Ramon Cruz. I can’t really say if he’s good or not in this role as he’s not given a lot of screen time and we only really see one side to him. Kevin Corrigan as Jackie Moreno a down on his luck record producer is quite good, although, again, he’s really only playing a single aspect of his character. But he plays it well!
The only issues I have with this show is that the beginning of the episodes, which often involve Daveed Diggs playing old Ezekiel as he raps to Madison Square Garden and the blatant lip syncing that occurs whenever Mylene sings. First and foremost, apparently that’s not even Daveed rapping, which is insane because he can rap quite well and has done so as Thomas Jeffereson and Marquis de Layfayette in Hamilton, but rather it’s Naz rapping. Naz also wrote the lyrics. So my question is, why not have Naz actually rap? Those sequences are also poorly executed and take me right out of the show. Secondly, Myelene’s songs are fantastic but there needs to be some work done as to how to best sync her mouth up with what is being said because it is fairly obvious it’s not her singing.
But, as I stated, those are the only two problems I have this with this. I cannot wait for the next bunch of episodes and to spend more time with these characters.
Written by cwm on Sep 7, 2016
I found this first part very good too, if messy as you said. It is not a subject of my interest, but there were great acting performances, music is fun, and there was something original in the way of telling the story that was very welcome for me. I look forward to the second part as well, i hope they manage to make it as good as the first.