Unprisoned

I swear this movie is so real and hit home! It was truly written by someone that has had to deal with people that have been locked up and the post treatment! Both my mother and father were in prison when I was little and I remember the terrible feeling I had when I would go visit and see them behind bars and not being able to get to close to them and being told visiting hours are over!! And when my mom got out she couldn't get jobs at descent places because she was a felon even though she wasn't on parole and had served her time!! Every time she went right and tried to do right she was reminded of all the wrong she did even though she never went back to the streets and separated herself from the old life. Thank God a friend gave her a job and let her take home leftovers and I was 16 and able to work!! But I cried because I felt his pained and lived through it!! It's made me a ver compassionate and caring individual!! GREAT SERIES!!!

A totally unique show deserves to stay on the air! I'm so bummed to learn Hulu canceled this gem, and with THAT cliffhanger??! Hulu, do you hate us?!

The two seasons are still worth the watch. First season may start slow but it sure picks up steam. The second season is even better. I love the way the show was about facing and healing past traumas without being a constant train wreck.

My wife and I will miss this family. And I hate not knowing how that final storyline plays out. I guess we will just have to focus on the way they ended the other storylines. I'm glad those were positive.

Someone convince Netflix to pick this show up!

Finally, a show with black folks that's not just stupid comedy and gag jokes, or living a hard life growing up in the ghetto in poverty, or people suffering inhuman treatment in slavery, or drug gangsters. A show that shows the beauty in blackness. I love it. I am so tired of the stereotypical portrayals of black folks, because all black folks are not poor, all black folks are not gangsters, all black folks are not into drugs. Kerry Washington is a bright light and Delroy Lindo is a treasure. No formulaic gag jokes here. Kudos to the creatives on this project. Love and family is always messy and this shows we should never give up on either.

So far, I'm a few episodes in and I'm falling in love hard with Unprisoned.

There's quite a bit of one liners and a bit of comedic situational set up, however ther is a strong drama through line, especially if you've experienced a distanced/estranged relationship with a parent. The comedy is there to lighten it, which is paced well and fitting in a cultural aspect.

Kerri Washington & Delroy Lindo do a fantastic job at making this father-daughter dynamic feel believable and there is a suspense on how it will resolve for all characters. I know these characters, these personalities are people I've known in my life, so the writing is on point. A special shout out to Jordyn McIntosh as Little Paige, the inner child whose monologues are an insight to Paige's issues in her dynamic with her father, delivered with such sass and comedic timing...I can't wait to see more of her!

Based off of the life of Terry McMillan. I do see work and vulnerability to put this out there. The realness of struggles piking on all at once, microagressions, the love and humor to get you through. This is no laugh track Chuck Lorre, and I for one am glad for the reprieve. It feels like a modern mix of The Cosby Show and Everybody Hates Chris: smart, silly, heartfelt, and most of all real.

9* because I'm in the middle of the season.

Like most, I tuned in to watch because of the caliber of leading actors including Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo. I so wanted to like this, but after binge watching all episodes, I was left wondering what the point of it all was. Unfortunately, the storytelling does not live up to the hype. The main character is a middle aged, social media obsessed therapist who like many in her profession, has a wreck of a personal life of her own. Kerry Washington is a really good actress with the right content. In this show, she comes across as a very childish graying woman who can't figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. Of course, the storyline tells us that's because she was in foster care and her father was in the criminal justice system. Those things can be true. But one must wonder if the character learned anything about herself while she was studying to become a therapist. The storylines are messy, including one around her love life. While the show makes light of her dating her father's parole officer, there's nothing advisable about that. It's predatory no matter how handsome he is. In the real world, that situation could be easily, and dangerously manipulated or even weaponized by the parole officer against her father in the event things didn't work out. There are also some interesting messages about the criminal justice system, indeed, sometimes they are literally post-its on screen. There's no doubt that this show was written with a particular message that it wanted to share. It's unfortunate that there wasn't a better caliber of storytelling to make us really care about that story and who these characters were as people. I left indifferent. One thing in particular that truly bothered me was her inner child, played by a very young black female actress. It was offensive to have that little girl cursing that way. NOT cute or funny. The same story could have been told without this child being the most profane on the show. I missed the "comedy" in this one. If there's a season 2, hopefully someone else will write it and helm it.