Supacell premieres on Netflix Thursday, June 27.
In the past decade and a half, the sci-fi genre has produced a slew of TV shows and films rich with social commentary that get to the heart of the longstanding anxieties and tribulations of the Black experience. Netflix’s gritty new drama Supacell initially seems like the latest addition to this pantheon, but after four of its six episodes, the series buckles under the weight of its own ambition.
Created by British MC Rapman, Supacell follows South Londoners Michael, Tazer, Sabrina, Andre, and Rodney, who suddenly gain superpowers. Getting a handle on their newfound powers isn’t a fix-it-by-morning problem: Looming in the background of Supacell is both a conspiracy to imprison the Black people who’ve acquired these extraordinary abilities and a time-travel plot involving a portal-hopping villain and the prevention of a pending catastrophe. Despite its fantastical subject matter, Supacell wisely depicts its protagonists as everyday folks struggling to make ends meet. This isn’t just an origin story about how the quintet’s newfound gifts can come in handy. It also underscores how super strength, speed, or telekinesis can be just another thing to worry about while being Black.
If this sounds like a lot for a show to undertake in six hour-long episodes, it is. What’s worse is that the climactic battle the series is building toward isn't as alluring as the groundwork the show lays with its low-stakes character writing. In a vacuum, each character’s journey is like a mini-anthology unto itself. Witnessing their hardships improve or worsen due to their powers gives the show’s commentary on systemic racism's impact on Black folks – superpowered or otherwise – legs to walk on. But its steps become wobbly with the incessant reminder that, sometime in the future, Michael and crew will be shrouded in matching black outfits, fighting an equally cartoonish-looking villain in a kaleidoscope of rough special effects.
It’s an earnest show that's overly ambitious in its scope. The ways the characters adjust to their powers are weirdly authentic and matter-of-fact: Weed dealer Rodney using his speedster skills to outsell the competition is so galaxy-brained that it's inspired. It also doesn’t hurt that the initial glimpses of powers are brief enough that they can’t be dissected for their visual shortcomings. The same can’t be said for how Supacell’s flashforward embarrassingly presents its characters acting out their heroic feats in front of a green screen. While cliché at first blush, the interpersonal drama of its heroes – which sees them struggle with a pending engagement, gang violence, infidelity, drug trafficking, and job security – is engrossing, especially when superpowers get thrown into the mix. Turns out telekinesis pays dividends when you need to throw your cheating partner to the curb. When the characters’ storylines intersect, it’s like watching puzzle pieces tuck neatly into place.
The same can’t be said about how Supacell’s sprint toward the future immediately makes the tensions of those storylines feel moot. While these sequences serve as a tease for things to come, they’re so starkly divorced from the story at hand that it spoils the catharsis of characters overcoming their individual hardships. This is made all the more grating by the show’s decision to have Michael – the group’s Professor Xavier – undermine his fellow heroes to serve his own aims. The result is a show where the journey is more worthwhile than its destination.
Supacell doesn’t help itself by routinely drawing parallels to other superhero stories. We don’t have to point out that the flashforward material is a hybrid of Avengers: Endgame and Flashpoint – the characters could do it for you, considering how often they compare their own dilemmas to those of DC and Marvel heroes. There’s room for comparison when it comes to production values, though: Supacell’s special effects oscillate between CW quality and visuals straight out of an early season of The Witcher.
Underneath these grandiose moving pieces is a decent story that encourages viewers to contemplate the insidious, widespread nature of institutionalized racism in the real world. Unfortunately, Supacell’s thematic throughline gives way part way through its fourth episode, becoming mere flavor text for a middling superhero series that relinquishes its focus for the promise of a grand spectacle with no teeth or purpose.
