David Makes Man

One of the most transcendent stories on television this year.

In the end, this show may wind up going the way of Rectify, an almost pure form of character drama in which storylines take a backseat to the sheer pleasure of watching a human being evolve before one’s eyes, as David Young does on David Makes Man. Either way, I know I'll be watching.

Patterson is so astonishingly good at channeling the specific energy, tics, and speech patterns McDowell spent Season 1 developing for David—as are Arlen Escarpeta as Adult JG (originated by Cayden K. Williams) and Erica Luttrell as Adult Marissa (originated by Lindsey Blackwell)—that I’m willing to be convinced. If you were a fan of David Makes Man when it first premiered, I hope you’re willing to be convinced, too.

The show endows its hero with a complex internal life. ... It’s impossible to predict, based on the five languidly paced episodes sent to critics, where the show will end up–but McCraney seems too invested in the people around David to leave them behind. Even as it immerses us in his subjectivity, David Makes Man builds vivid, sympathetic supporting characters.

This viewer, at least, remains curious and eager to see more of David’s story, one that is told with élan and confidence and played with preternatural skill.

The early episodes don’t feel quite as immersive and powerful as the respective stage of Season One. But the new actors are terrific.

It is disappointing to report that the first three episodes of Season 2, which premièred in June, denature much of what made Season 1 a non-normative surprise. I’m not bothered by the “This Is Us” time jump, to a couple of decades into the future—it’s the general decline in quality. The dialogue, which had been so poetic and fascinatingly oblique, now seems insecure and utilitarian.