- Network: HULU
- Series Premiere Date: Nov 1, 2023
Critic Reviews
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Black Cake works best when it concentrates on how Covey became Eleanor and managed to make a life for herself despite the secrets she kept. The impact of those secrets on the present day feel like more of a punctuation on the story instead of part of the story itself.
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Its characters are easy to sympathize with, its ideas unimpeachably well-meaning, its settings and costumes painstakingly curated. But the impression it leaves is of a home that, pretty though it might be, feels like no one’s actually lived in it for a day.
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Attempts at contemporary resonance are clumsy. Police racism is crowbarred in. Cultural appropriation and cancel culture are earnestly discussed at dinner parties. Characters use phrases such as “internet discourse” with a straight face.