When I first saw it on Netflix I found the title a bit corny, to be honest, especially as the series was about a team of ‘superheroes’. Supacell didn’t quite strike me as an ingenious title. But with some prodding, I gave it a try and when the story began to unravel, it all started to make sense to me. Answers to my questions were slowly unravelled. Like why the series had to have a virtually all-black cast in a UK setting? Why were all the mutants black? Was it just about ‘having our own’ set of ‘supes’ and racial exclusivity? Some sort of showbiz reciprocity? Well, my review speaks candidly about this trending series, my impressions, and answers to these questions.
Reality? Check!
Let me start by saying that Supacell is a captivating, grounded story of realistic, relatable, everyday people who find themselves with a mutated sickle-cell gene, or rather supacell, that gives them supernatural abilities. We are told that this trait is passed down from a ‘sickler’ parent and since the sickle cell gene is predominantly found in blacks, it explains the series’ and team’s significant black set-up in a multicultural society. Also, as the setting is in low-income South London where quality healthcare is expensive, it makes the idea of a secret organization offering premium healthcare to poor sickle cell patients (with residual supacell genes unknown to them) more plausible.
And that is exactly what the creator/writer, Andrew Onwubolu a.k.a. Rapman, was going for – plausibility. Reality. This is no popcorn, campy superhero flick like earlier ventures in the genre and like some of what we are seeing today. Supacell is more in line with the earlier Netflix Marvel series- Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Daredevil– which had ample time to flesh out main and supporting characters and their natural reactions to having or witnessing powers. Even if you are not interested in the superhero or sci-fi genre, you will find yourself fully invested in the personalities and their everyday lives. The superhero genre is mere candy wrapping to the main premise as one award-winning director once opined. You understand this clearly after watching this pilot season.
The Main Characters
Take the disturbed kid, Tazer (Josh Tedeku) for example. He leads a street gang in this series, painting a lucid picture of the horrors of knife crime in Britain- especially within the black community. A clearly disturbed and solemn teenager, Tayo “Tazer” Amusan, discovers he has the power of invisibility which goes well with his stealthy ‘hoodie’ appearance. Thanks to subtitles, I could get through his part of the series comfortably. Street parlance between him, his crew, and other rival gangs was almost unintelligible to me and would barely pass for English to an international viewer. Nevertheless, it added much-needed London street cred to the story and Tayo’s gangster persona. Something the creator was clearly out to achieve – with the judicious use of afrobeat and hip-hop soundtracks.
Then there’s the strong man, André (Eric Kofi-Abrefa), whose previous crime record doesn’t help him keep a job for too long. André finds himself in dire straits most times as he desperately struggles to retain custody of his son and shield him from the dregs of society. One can easily relate to and empathize with this father’s pain and Rapman doesn’t take it easy on us. He rubs it in. Here’s a good man in a desperate situation, with doors regularly slamming in his face and a son who can be taken away as a result. So what to do?
All interesting characters, but perhaps my favourite by a few inches is the wittiest and liveliest of them all: Rodney (Calvin Demba). He sticks out in this dark, gritty series with his sarcastic humour and banter with his best friend, Spud. It’s curious, you know: all speedsters I’ve seen in live-action have all been lively and funny- every iteration of Flash and Quicksilver- same. Perhaps it makes sense to have youthful exuberance along with superhuman speed, no? So Rodney is not different from the other two mentioned- just approached from a darker angle.
Sabrina (Nadine Mills) has telekinetic abilities and plays ‘mother hen’ (nurse?) to her errant sister. The sibling synergy between these two as well as their divergence in character is quite evident. Like the strong bond between the clairvoyant Michael (Tosin Cole) and his fiancee, Dionne Ofori (Adelayo Adedayo) which cements the entire season and brings together this dysfunctional and unlikely team of mutants.
Unlikely Heroes
Truly, these guys are not really the best of us. Our heroes are drug dealers, gang members, and ex-convicts. No playboy billionaire geniuses, no soldiers or super-spies here. Just a self-appointed leader/convener who is a regular delivery man desperately trying to save the love of his life and new fiancee from impending death and a nurse trying to protect her club-banging gal of a sister from the trouble she loves to court (literally). Nope, nobody here is interested in saving the world. No one here has selfless, altruist ideals. Maybe Spud but he doesn’t count. Perhaps this lack of ideals is due to the reality of their environment which makes survival the only thought on their minds.
Enemies within…
But what really is Supacell about? I just told you half of the story. Who are the villains? Well, primarily the villains are themselves- they are their own worst enemy. In more ways than one. Oh, and there’s a covert organization with the intent to control and contain them in super cells (pun intended). The details of this organization are still very sketchy this season but there are revelations along the way that keep your interest supa-piqued.
Summary
Supacell received a 100% critics score rating and a 75% audience score from Rotten Tomatoes. It was created, written and directed by Rapman. Born of Nigerian parents, Rapman (Andrew Onwubolu MBE) is a conscious rapper and film director whose inspirations in either field include Tupac Shakur and Martin Scorsese. Traits of each have been infused to create a socially conscious, plot-based series. So I’ll say no more than that. I think it’s worth checking out whether you are into supes or not.
It’s a story about hard knocks and rising above them but not in a patronizing, cliché sort of way.