Washington Black

It’s definitely a story that’s worth following, even as it goes back and forth in time, thanks to the fine performances by Kingsley and Karanja as the older and younger Washington Black. It’s surprising how much continuity there is between the two performances.

A series that’s earnest, hopeful, and thrilling, but with just enough weight to keep one foot grounded in reality.

Washington Black occasionally takes on the dutiful feel of an educational video. Still, for a fictionalized history lesson, it’s fun one, full of surprising twists and charming turns.

“Washington Black” is the story of a boy genius in a world that is parallel to ours and yet just different enough to make us feel like anything is possible, even in a past we already know the outcome of. And that makes it well worth the ride around a treacherous but spectacular world.

Carefully blending a sense of adventure with more interpersonal drama, "Washington Black" is a thought-provoking and engaging production that lives up to the appeal of its source novel from Canadian author Esi Edugyan.

“Washington Black” is a thoughtful and well-acted adaptation that carries the weight of its historical setting without ever feeling inert or overburdened. It’s shaping up to be one of the most ambitious and affecting limited series of the year.

It is a production that presents a challenge to the cast and crew to show the viewpoints and emotions of both sides well. And they do, for the most part.

Sterling K. Brown is an intriguing mystery as he balances a benevolent, supportive side with a darker nature under the surface of Medwin, and Iola Evans is truly captivating as Tanna. While part of me wishes they were offered better material to work with in parts of the show, they still ultimately succeed in livening it up and making it a worthwhile venture.

Unsurprisingly, it plays more like a miniseries than a novel, amplifying the action, the drama and the romance; beefing up lesser characters; drawing lines under, after all, valid points about prejudice, inequality and injustice; and dressing it up with Hollywood musical cues. Taking the show as a sometimes fantastic historical adventure, those aren’t bad things, but, unlike the book, subtlety is not the series’ strong suit.

Far more fun is to be had with the kid version of Washington Black, thanks largely to the performance by the young Eddie Karanja, who hits precisely the right notes as he’s confronted by hostile elements, intimidating men and an unpromising future.

While the show eventually finds its stride once Wash and Titch embark on their adventure, it does take the narrative a beat or two to get there, which may prove too slow for viewers eager for more swashbuckling and visually striking locales.

What “Washington Black” lacks in originality and finesse, it mostly makes up for with resourceful craft work, solid performances, and uplifting messaging.

More pressing, for me, was the question of who Wash is, in terms of his personality. As written and performed, we don’t get much sense of what his own particular internal monologue might be, and this becomes underscored in any scene he shares with Brown’s Medwin, who is such a clearly defined presence by comparison. Brown’s an actor working on a different level than most, and he’s very effective in his few appearances.

This show has a salient point to make, but can’t quite seem to get there organically. Maybe those last four episodes will get us there — or maybe we have to dream up a different world ourselves.

Washington Black comes with plenty of potential and, as an exercise in world-building, it is rich and appealing. But, unlike the Cloud Cutter, this is a creation that never takes flight. The hats really are lovely, but they are just not enough.

Washington Black underestimates younger viewers. Its hero is too heroic when the story demands it (he is stoical, a genius and even a dab hand with watercolours) and then suddenly too fallible when it doesn’t.

While the sequences and scenes in Halifax and Barbados are fascinating and detailed, Wash and Titch’s adventures don’t quite hold the same allure.

In the end, Wash comes to realize that it’s up to him to create the life and world he wants for himself. It’s just a shame that the one he inhabits onscreen cannot entirely live up to the one on the page.