SummaryAva DuVernay's four-part limited series based on the Central Park Five case where five Harlem teenagers--Antron McCray (Caleel Harris/Jovan Adepo), Kevin Richardson (Asante Blackk/Justin Cunningham), Yusef Salaam (Ethan Herisse/Chris Chalk), Raymond Santana (Marquis Rodriguez/Freddy Miyares) and Korey Wise (Jharrel Jerome) were accused of raping ... Read More
❮ When They See Us
Season 1
Season Premiere:
May 31, 2019
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
86
User score
Generally Favorable
7.4
My Score
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Season Episodes
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
89% Positive
24 Reviews
24 Reviews
11% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jan 3, 2020
100
The emotional weight of Duvernay’s respect for the physical and emotional facts settled slowly in your stomach. You wanted to cheer when the wrongful convictions were vacated. But the sight of the now grown men returning to their childhood bedrooms hollowed the triumph.
May 23, 2019
100
The emotional roller coaster never lets up, careening from rage and sorrow to horror in director-cowriter Ava DuVernay's shattering four-part dramatization of the infamous Central Park Five case. ... A flawless cast. [27 May - 9 Jun 2019, p.13]
User score
Generally Favorable
78% Positive
88 Ratings
88 Ratings
4% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
19% Negative
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
Jan 11, 2023
10
Ignore the two idiots in the reviews the Central Park 5 are innocent and were failed by the justice system
Jun 30, 2019
10
I wish I could state in words what this show is but I really can't. The only way you'll understand if you really invest the time and watch these 4 episodes. It's not a show that suddenly hits you, it's a show that's a growing pang of hurt seeping up on you from behind. It makes you so uncomfortable watching it and that is the testament to how powerful this show is.
May 31, 2019
90
Perhaps because DuVernay, a co-writer here as well as the sole director, has experience both in documentary and drama, it works much better than such projects often do. A human story teased from history, it is personal and political, inextricably and in equal measure. ... All [of the actor playing the five] are exceptional.
May 23, 2019
90
Elegant, wrenching four-part reenactment of the Central Park Five saga. ... [Ava DuVernay] never reduces her subjects—five real, live, now-middle-aged men—to statistics or types. (The lawyers are generic by contrast.)
May 31, 2019
88
Each episode has its own most-valuable players either in front of or behind the camera, but the entire series is elevated by the two sets of actors who embody the Central Park Five. ... Taken as a whole, there’s a lot to recommend “When They See Us.” It does as much as it can to recast the gaze on Black and brown people, eliciting empathy and the desire for justice. It demonizes the right people and demands your fury over the events presented.
May 23, 2019
50
When They See Us is a handsomely mounted dramatization of the plight of these boys, of what was taken away from them due to their being targets of systemic racism. ... As a piece of narrative storytelling, though, the series hits its thematic targets with such repetition at such close range that you begin to question the point of dragging this exercise to over four hours.
Jun 24, 2019
10
DuVernay did it again! Following the excellent work when it comes to getting a message across the screen made in "Selma" and "13th", here she goes from micro to macro-realities as simultaneously meets the imagery of an wrongfully conviction with Trump's advocacy for death and horror. 13th had already mentioned this case, but the horrors of prison are coming across so vividly here that sometimes watching it as a black person myself gets tough and I had to take several breaks. Masterpiece and necessary.
Jun 19, 2019
10
I went in with very low expectations and ended up falling in love. The story is touching but that is just the tip of the iceberg. I felt like going on vacation inside an audiovisual piece of art. Particularly the photography and editing is breathtaking. They manage to create an atmosphere in the deepest sense of the word.
Nov 30, 2019
1
lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies
Nov 14, 2019
1
After I had finished watching the show, I was absolutely blown away. I immediately rated it a 10/10. I believed this injustice had really happened. Then I learned that the police questioning went completely different from how it was depicted in the show. Then I digged some more and I learned that a lot more things were fabricated in the show. Then I figured out what had really happened. The five kids are guilty. 'When They See Us' is textbook propaganda. I hope the truth will come out once more. The truth matters.
