“Washington Black,” Hulu’s new limited series, is an action-adventure story about a bright 11-year-old boy with a talent for science that is both a daring hero’s journey and a sober reminder of a time when people were treated as property. These two themes run concurrently. It is a production that presents a challenge to the cast and crew to show the viewpoints and emotions of both sides well. And they do, for the most part.
Of the four episodes available to critics, the show doesn’t stray from the prize-winning book of the same name by Canadian writer and series co-producer Esi Edugyan. Edugyhan based parts of the book on the true story of 19th-century former slave Andrew Bogle. The fictional George Washington Black aka “Wash,” is born on a Barbados sugar plantation sometime in the 19th century. Under any other circumstance his curious mind might have led him to attend college, get into a career where science meets tech or maybe he would have been a wunderkind inventing ingenious products that we need to live better. Yet, being born into slavery means he must hide his talents. To appear too knowledgeable could be deadly, yet the young boy’s enthusiasm for life and learning is hard to ignore. He meets Christoper “Titch” Wilde (Tom Ellis), a scientist and the abolitionist brother of his owner Erasmus (Julian Rhind-Tutt), who befriends him and eventually helps him escape the plantation — but not before something bad happens.
Actor Eddie Karanja gives an excellent performance portraying the young character’s guile and smarts. Ernest Kingsley Jr. picks up where Karanja leaves off, adding depth and maturity to the adult Wash while never losing the character’s enthusiasm for the world of science and what it can do. As the story expands, so do the characters. In addition to the evil plantation owner, played unforgivingly by Rhind-Tutt, there is his and the scientist’s depressed and petulant brother, Phillip Wilde, portrayed just so by Chris Patrick Simpson. An unexpected tragedy propels Titch and Wash to leave in Titch’s latest invention, an early version of the hot air balloon. Then the “balloon” crashes into a pirates’ boat.
Until now, the warm relationship between the young boy and Titch is almost like, well, nephew and eccentric uncle. Aboard the pirated ship, Titch is seen as the enemy because the pirates are mostly of African and Barbadian lineage. Here, the series’ producers successfully turn back to the reality of the times and show how the familiarity of bloodlines and culture comforts Wash. Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine gives a moving performance as Gauis, who temporarily takes Wash under his wing. The late Kamar de los Reyes (“Daredevil: Born Again”) steals a few scenes as Gauis’s passionate mentor, friend and fellow pirate.
Then the series moves into another arc. Wash is now an adult in Canada, working where he can, still tinkering with inventions. He falls in love with Tanna Goff (Iola Evans), the daughter of Mr. Goff (Rupert Graves), a British scientist and inventor. Tanna, of mixed heritage, is set to marry into higher society to provide herself and her father with a financially secure future. Tanna doesn’t want to do this and falls equally in love with Wash. The rest plays a little bit like Romeo and Juliet and any one of those youthful, “it’s us against them, they just don’t understand” tropes. At this point, despite the magical adventure genre that this is, it seems a little naive that Wash would be so willing to ignore that he is not out of danger, even in Canada, unless he is willing to keep his head down and not draw attention.
Providing him shelter and guidance is Miss Angie (Sharon Duncan-Brewster)
And Medwin Harris (Emmy nominee and executive producer Sterling K. Brown). Medwin is a character who represents the African-American “conductors” leading men and women safely to Canada and freedom. As Medwin, Brown is both optimistic and cautious. The result is another (pun intended) sterling performance marked by grit, sacrifice and compassion.
And the story doesn’t end here. Will Wash and the girl he loves get to stay together? Will his inventions finally work? Will he be able to sell them under his name? What happened to Titch? What other wonders will he find in Canada? What’s up with Tanna’s “fiancé (Edward Bluemel)?”
The goal seems to be how to keep “Washington Black” magical and mystical without easing out the travesties of the time. So be warned, this isn’t Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
“Washington Black” premieres Wednesday on Hulu.
