This article was published on 6/30 and republished on 7/1.
I am always on board for a new surprise hit on Netflix, as some of the highest profile projects often don’t pan out how you wish they would. So my attention has definitely been grabbed by Supacell, a new UK series that has arrived with a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, a rarity, though there are not that many reviews in yet.
Here’s the official synopsis for the show:
“In South London, a group of normal people suddenly develop superpowers, and the only apparent connection between them is that they are all Black; as they deal with the impact of their powers on their daily lives, one man must bring them together.”
Supacell didn’t debut all that high on the list, I think it was #5, but now it’s already #2, and it may soon be #1 if the current True Crime doc on top slips down. And if word of mouth spreads (maybe in part through posts like this?) we may indeed see that surge. Honestly, we are heading into a pretty barren July on Netflix, so the opportunity for a surprise show to shine is there.
Like many UK shows, it’s only six episodes so there isn’t a ton you’ll need to get through. Among the powers featured are pretty traditional ones including telekinesis, invisibility and super speed. I’m not sure what the other ones are. I always thought that invisibility was one of the worst powers unless you want to be an assassin or just a creepy spying on people. I’d pick telekinesis every day.
I am going to watch the series shortly, and I wonder what sort of social commentary it will bring if the supes (I’ve been watching too much The Boys) are all black, as no doubt that’s a key factor in the story.
The last time I can remember reporting on a show arriving with a 100% on Netflix was Baby Reindeer, which turned into the services biggest breakout of the year. Though as more and more reviews come in, that 100% is almost impossible to maintain and only a few shows have done so in Netflix history. Though Baby Reindeer still has a 98% with 63 reviews in to this day.
It is certainly hard to innovate in the superhero space these days, as we have Marvel, DC and the “graphic” new-era super-shows like Invincible and The Boys. So I’m certainly wondering what Supacell is doing differently here.
Update (7/1): As an update to this, I have watched the first episode of Supacell, and while there were aspects of it I liked, I am somewhat skeptical of how the rest is going to go by the end here.
I really enjoyed the set-up of all the characters which did a lot to flesh them out before they received their powers. I was also interested to see that there was no sort of “mass event” that gave them all their powers together in a patch, but there was some sort of trauma or stress that preceded their getting the powers.
However, by the end things were a bit…odd. We get a flash-forward of the “team” assembled (no one is doing full comic costumes here, they’re just wearing black) and the effects are a bit rough. I can overlook that, but it’s also clear they’re now doing a time-travel based storyline to prevent an apocalyptic future which seems like something we’ve seen a lot before, and I would really, really need to see them be creative with how they take it on. Right now it feels a bit like The Umbrella Academy but with less style.
But that’s just episode one and I will give the rest of the series a chance. Have you watched it? What do you think?
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
