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.
Review of Unprisoned
