‘Supacell’ Netflix Series Review - Needed More Flavor, More Imagination

Supacell, created, written, and directed by Rapman (Sebastian Thiel has also directed three episodes), opens on a mind-boggling note. It displays the confidence to throw in characters without a formal introduction: They enter and exit casually while doing their chores. The series is in no hurry to tell you their names, goals, and occupations. It merely observes everything with a restless momentum. Supacell sustains this cold, fidgety mood, which is why we feel disoriented. It also helps Rapman to make his twists more unpredictable. He lures us into a trap and then pulls the rug from beneath our feet so slyly that we laugh at ourselves. Take that scene where Michael (Tosin Cole) lovingly looks at the ring with which he will propose to his girlfriend, Dionne (Adelayo Adedayo). Since the happiness meter is extremely high, your senses tell you something horrible is about to happen to Michael. Well, he is stabbed and left to die on the road, and you shake your head and prepare yourself for what looks like another long and tedious Netflix show. However, it's here that Supacell reveals its secret to us. Michael unintentionally ends up rewinding time and finds himself just minutes before his murder, driving the delivery vehicle. This all occurs so suddenly that the viewer feels as shocked as Michael.

Some of the best moments in Supacell involve the characters' discovery of their powers. They encounter them by accident, under stressful or urgent situations, which creates a palpable atmosphere of realization. The revelation comes with a comical charge in Rodney's (Calvin Demba) case. He runs towards an officer in London and stops in Edinburgh. If Rodney is as fast as Flash, Sabrina (Nadine Mills) has telekinetic powers. Andre (Eric Kofi-Abrefa) is as strong as Hulk, and Tazer (Josh Tedeku) can become invisible. Only Michael possesses multiple abilities, as he can reverse as well as freeze time. He can also teleport from one location to another. Michael is the Nick Fury character who assembles the other four superheroes to form his Avengers. At one point in Supacell, Michael teleports into the future, where his future self tells him about Dionne's death and the enemy consisting of hood-wearing people who come out of a portal. In order to prevent Dionne's demise, Michael becomes obsessed with his mission of uniting other superheroes to tackle the enemy forces. Other characters, too, are provided with a personal thread. Andre wants to form a healthy bond with his son, Rodney attempts to reconnect with her mother, Sabrina tries to protect her sister (Rayxia Ojo) from an abusive boyfriend, and Tazer develops a vengeful feeling for Krazy (Ghetts), his brother.

Krazy turns out to be the abusive boyfriend who treats Sabrina's sister like a toy. Andre's son has a friend who works for Tazer's brother. Rodney's best friend, Spud (Giacomo Mancini), is tortured by Krazy's men and is admitted to a hospital where Sabrina works as a nurse. Rapman has created a world where every character, either intentionally or unintentionally, keeps bumping into each other. You feel as if they are confined within a box. They seem to be moving around in a limited space, which makes their (accidental) encounters more believable. This is all a part of Rapman's design, as he makes one of those productions where different threads collide with one another. That collision occurs towards the end of Episode 4. Before that moment, the story moves in circles. Every character tells about their powers to their friends or loved ones, who in turn ask them to prove their words through demonstration (of course, they fail and are met with teasing remarks). Later, when one character proves to his friend that he was not making things up, the other characters, too, end up proving the same to their friends. The superheroes seem to be synchronized with each other.

All this might have sounded interesting and exciting on the paper. On the screen, the results are not very appealing or special. After two or three episodes, the tone, which initially came across as daring and awesome, starts to feel monotonous. You try to latch on to a few good things, like that job interview where the narration of an emotional backstory leads you to believe that the person is about to get hired, but your expectations are subverted. Still, one can't ignore the clichés that pop out more clearly when Supacell's grip becomes poor. You notice that the show's fabric is unoriginal, given you once again have a comic book-reading best friend explaining sci-fi elements like the Butterfly Effect. Michael doesn't tell Dionne about her death, which generates friction between them. When she learns the truth, she says she understands why Michael chose to be so secretive with her. However, given how enervating Supacell begins to feel, you think that the only reason Michael didn't share the truth with Dionne is that Rapman wanted to extend the runtime of the episodes. He stretches a short story into a novel. The sole lesson you end up taking from the long length is that it takes time to find and convince people. This thought is linked to reality, but what should we do with it when the show feels so lethargic? We watch shows and movies not for "reality" but for entertainment.

Entertainment is something that becomes harder to find as Supacell progresses. The performances are tethered to the script's mood, so the actors make expressions as per the situation. There is no sense of discovery or invention. Who are those people who capture the superheroes? What do they want? Without a definite answer, we are made to come up with race-related solutions. You see, all the superheroes are black, and the people who are after them are white. The commentary is very obvious. Supacell could have used more flavor and more imagination.

Final Score- [5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times