Godfather of Harlem

Fast-paced and captivating. ... Its depiction of a racially divided, corrupt and often venal world rings just as true today.

It is an ambitious, layered period piece about Harlem in the mid-‘60s that seeks to dramatize the often intersecting movements of the mafia and the battle for civil rights. The Oscar-winning star of “The Last King of Scotland” holds it all together, but this is definitely an ensemble piece, and it’s smart, engaging television that only occasionally falters under the weight of its ambition to tell a few too many stories at once.

Godfather dissects these complicated relationships even as it examines how white supremacy operates within the criminal underworld. Between this thoughtfulness and scenes of intense violence, Brancato and Eckstein sometimes struggle to maintain a consistent tone. Add subplots about Bumpy’s family, crooked cops, the Italians (Paul Sorvino, Vincent D’Onofrio, Chazz Palminteri) and star-crossed love, and episodes can get crowded. Still, the show’s ambition pays off in the rare gangster epic we haven’t seen before.

Whitaker and the rest of the cast are first-rate, but what's most compelling about "Godfather" are its apparent ambitions.

Whitaker is excellent, D'Onofrio's wilder side meshes with Sorvino's quiet one, and Thatch, who has already played Malcolm X before in Selma, is excellent playing off both Whitaker and Esposito. ... By the end of the third episode, the series has leaned in hard to more soap-box and/or convenient moments to tie these massive storylines into something cohesive, but it's too rushed and manipulative, with the episode's ending looking like a music video.