I’m A Virgo is weird you all. I’m talking weird weird. Now I’m with this, but watching this, folks aren’t ready for just how out there this show is while it also is very grounded in genuine issues we deal with on the daily. Here we have the story of a young man named Cootie, played by Jharrel Jerome, who just happens to be a thirteen-foot-tall young Black man living in Oakland, California. He’s raised by his Aunt and Uncle, played by Carmen Ejogo and Mike Epps, respectively. They don’t Cootie outside for many reasons, and one is that they know the world isn’t ready for a giant Black man walking around the world, and the other is a bit more amorphous that you learn over time. The curiosity gets the better of Cootie, and he does get out and makes friends and here is where the show begins, and the fable-ish and mythic-style journey takes real shape. Jerome is fantastic as Cootie, as he plays him with such wonderous energy that mixes naiveté and a curiosity that matches you, the viewer, as you enter this familiar yet different world. Things are askew the whole time, with quirks in the world and little miracles thrown throughout.
Even though going by the show’s title, it is focused on Cootie, but the other characters, his friends he meets, and others in the world are all very well realized. Brett Gray, as Felix, really shines in this in a role entirely different from his character in On My Block. Here’s he’s the voice of the regular guy. He plays a regular young dude that just loves his car and wants to have good times with his friends. He can remind you of people you know in the your late teens and early twenties. Kara Young is also excellent as the activist Jones. This character could’ve come off as one note in some other stories; here is handled delicately with not even a lot of screen time to feel like a full character, and that is thanks to the creatives and the actor. Olivia Washington plays Flora, Cootie’s love interest, and the dynamic between the two characters feels real, even with the fantasy element of a regular-sized woman and a giant man. She’s able to carry scenes with a great mysterious nature about her.
Walton Goggins plays a character who is very important to the world of the show and the character of Cootie. Goggins’ character works in ideas Boots Riley likes to deal with – capitalism and its effect on our society and the people. Still, also he works as an exploration of superhero comics. Not just the character, which is a play on a classic trope, but also the people who create these stories. If you know, you can see Steve Ditko in this, along with the Image 7 and even more recent people. I really don’t want to type much more, but I want people to experience this fantastic television show. It’s something that will have you think and be in awe. It will make you laugh as well as sadness. Boots Riley and all those involved should feel proud of what they made, and the questions it asks also get the thing (Amazon) they are criticizing to pay for it all. That’s a great finesse they did there, some real Hip Hop $#!+ right there.
Score: A
