RIOTUS

Nemesis might be one of my most anticipated shows coming to Netflix this year. Co-Created by Courtney A. Kemp and Tani Marole, I became a fan of Kemp through her previous series, Power. I was excited to hear she was working on a new series, and the concept of Nemesis instantly hooked me. Los Angeles is the perfect setting for heist stories, and here we have a series inspired by the classic film Heat, but also New Jack City in some ways. While familiar in many ways, you may know this season has a ton of surprises and just the right amount of soap melodrama that can bring in those who might not be into crime stories.

In Nemesis, we follow two protagonists, Y’lan Noel‘s Coltrane Wilder, a successful real estate businessman who is secretly a criminal mastermind thief that runs a crew that hits high-end targets. After pulling off a seamless job against a rich man at his own party, it gets the attention of Detective Isiah Stiles, played by Matthew Law, who’s a brilliant plainclothes police detective who’s been hunting this mysterious crew for months that no one else in the LAPD believes exists.

The cat and mouse game gets started here as we see Isiah’s almost obsession with finding out who this crew is affects everything in person life with very detrimental effects. While Coltrane’s personal life is almost a dream with both sides of his life being a family business, with most of his issues coming from his desire to, like all great movie and TV criminals get out of the game.

This series will be compared to Heat a lot, and with Coltrane, we get a crew that we care about just as much as characters, just as much as we like to see them pull off jobs. Tre Hale plays Darren “Stro” Stroman, Coltrane’s right-hand man, a character who instills trust in you, the audience, just as much as the members in the show. Hale is great here as a relatable blue-collar feeling thief. He’s very likable and very believable on screen. While I felt in the early episodes he didn’t get enough, later on the character gets its due on the screen with some solid character work, especially in a scene with Law’s Stiles that adds much to both characters.

Jonnie Park plays Chris Choi, who I feel doesn’t get much to do here. His character has a lot going on, and we hear how he’s important, but we don’t get to see it. His character does fit with the others and works as a member; it’s just one of the few things here that just doesn’t get enough space in the narrative.

The person who steals every scene he’s in is Quincy Isaiah as Gideon “Deon” Davis. Last seen playing Magic Johnson in the fantastic series Winning Time on HBO, it was such a delight seeing him play the knucklehead screw-up member of the crew. All the charisma in the world and his performance for Deon that will frustrate you to no end as Deon makes like every single mistake you’re going to hate. It’s a credit to just how good Isiah is that you’ll want to see him on screen every time he appears. In all his Crip gang-affiliated glory, full use of “Cuh” and “Dead homies” feels extra but still works in the show.

His extreme work on a crew full of reserved professionals. On the other side, we have Isiah, a person whose personal life is a mess because of his own actions. He’s a great cop who has turned himself into a pariah. It’s here where comparisons to Heat start moving toward just inspiration as Nemesis becomes its own thing. Law’s Isiah is so driven that he never takes the time to pay attention to his family, based on revenge for a lost partner and the need to solve this case.

His wife, Candice, is played by Gabrielle Dennis, mostly known for her amazing comedic work, seeing her getting to play a dramatic role as a loving wife at her wits’ end as her husband always puts his police officer duty ahead of her and their son. Their son Noah, played by Cedric Joe, fulfills the role of Kemp, who shows that there is a son who will aggravate you so damn much. Joe kills it as this kid who makes every bad choice a kid can make.

The relationship between Isiah and Candice is a major fulcrum for where the story of the show hinges, and it connects with Noel’s Coltrane with his wife, Ebony, played by Cleopatra Coleman. Coltrane and Ebony’s relationship is full of trust and honesty. With Ebony knowing and being part of Coltrane’s life, they have a full partnership, and in the established past of the show, Coltrane is even willing to give up the life of crime for her at any moment. He always puts his family first.

This mirror between Isiah and Coltrane helps build the dissonance between them as you see them move back and forth as a viewer. It’s not that Coltrane is too cool to get caught sharing some similarities to Kemp’s last show, Power‘s Ghost, but his dedication to his friends and family makes him a much more sympathetic character to see win. Noel’s performance works too, as he can be tender and loving on screen and calculating and a great leader in the crew scenes.

Law’s Isiah’s focus has him use and manipulate everyone around him as he pushes forward to get what he wants. At times, it’s jarring to see a character talk about him so badly since he’s a cop, and usually, genius hero cops in shows are treated with such reverence, even if they are assholes.

Here, Isiah also essentially has two fathers with the great Michael Potts playing Captain James Sealey, who does his best throughout the season to give Isiah words of wisdom and how to move through life, even as he’s too stubborn to hear it. Potts fits the role of the well-meaning yet stressed out Police Captain we’ve seen in many shows. Yet his relationship here, partnered with Isiah’s birth father, Amos, played by Moe Irvin, and OG in the streets, his former street name of Nightmare, is a person Isiah hates the most, where it feels his entire life is built to be the exact opposite.

The season goes on to explore their backstory and why they have such a strained relationship, but it’s all complicated by Noah’s desire to see his grandfather. Irvin is fun as this old gangsta still thuggin with respect on the streets. He’s not a completely deep character, but it’s not really needed for him to be. His importance to the overall plot gets larger, and it’s very entertaining to see Irvin’s performance evolve a bit in a fun way to complicate many of the characters’ lives.

In regard to great family plotlines, the character of Charlie, played by Sophina Brown as Ebony’s older sister and Coltrane’s fence, can at times be my favorite performance in the show, and has some of the most dynamic and interesting twists and turns in the show. Her conflict with Coltrane over what’s best for Ebony has some of the best acting in the show in moments with Noel and Coleman throughout the season. This show is a great showcase for just how good Brown is as an actor. There’s so much that’s not said, but you can see just through Brown’s expressions. If this show gets another season, I hope we get even more of her.

The show’s women characters don’t take a backseat; there are so many other actresses who do fantastic work in Nemesis, and we see how all these relationships tie together in Los Angeles. Candice and Ebony’s friendship has some great drama to the series as the worlds start to blend before people know who each other are. I like that they get as much time as the men and all of their issues, and they are considered by the showmakers. Ariana Guerra as Yvette Cruz gets to do more than just being the reasonable partner of Isiah, and while I hope she gets even more in the future, Guerra does well in the show.

Nemesis is a fantastic show full of excellently executed tension and action set pieces. It mixes the LA heist story with great familial soap drama. I haven’t been this interested and excited by an original Netflix show in a while. As a big crime show junky this is one of those ones that I’m ready to watch for seasons. I hope it resonates with the audience because I need at least five to sate my appetite for this back-and-forth battle between Coltrane and Isiah.