"Supacell" has scooped the top spot in Netflix's global top 10, with 11.8 million views on the platform this week alone – and a perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Showrunner and director Rapman's six-part series follows the lives of five Black Londoners who suddenly find themselves with unexpected superpowers.
Despite the stiff competition in an already oversaturated genre, said Ben Gibbons in Screen Rant, it's an "incredible first chapter in an original superhero story" that leaves a lasting impression. Rapman doesn't rely on "tropes and tradition". By bringing together underrepresented individuals as the primary stars, and gradually revealing the unique reason the characters got their powers, the "extremely well-executed" show stands apart as something more "worthwhile and engaging".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It's a "defibrillator of a show", said Alex Godfrey in Empire, "helping to bring an increasingly spluttering genre back to life". Instead of using their newfound powers to take over the world, the characters are simply trying to "get through the day", whether that's getting the money to pay their way or simply being good partners and parents. The portrayal of "real people living real lives", fills the "addictively stressful" show with a genuine sense of danger. These are the types of characters you "very quickly invest in".
The only weak point is the "underdeveloped bad guys" who feel all the more "jarring" in contrast to the "finely drawn leads". Still, it's an "impressively unpredictable show pulsating with vitality and urgency, that gets the blood pumping and has you hitting 'next episode' with super speed".
"If 'Supacell' has a superpower", said Jasper Rees in The Telegraph, it's that the hit show knows how to draw on an array of different sources. A "rattling grab-bag of other scripts' DNA", the end result has elements of everything from "Misfits" to "Top Boy".
But even though the show nods to other series, added Leila Latif in The Guardian, it still feels "wholly distinct", with the deftly developed characters rivalling those of "the best of contemporary prestige television". Hopefully, given how "compelling and charming" the cast is, there will be many more battles to come.
-
Delhi's dogs earn Supreme Court reprieveIN THE SPOTLIGHT After an outcry from the public and animal rights activists, India's Supreme Court walks back a controversial plan to round the city's stray dog population into shelters
-
8 hotels with ace tennis courtsThe Week Recommends Bring your A game
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportationSpeed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
8 hotels with ace tennis courts
The Week Recommends Bring your A game
-
The 5 best zombie movies of all timeThe Week Recommends Ghouls feasting on flesh have been a staple of cinema for more than 50 years
-
7 travel fragrances that let you smell good on the goThe Week Recommends Spritz away!
-
A guide to Budapest's healing thermal bathsThe Week Recommends There's a reason why it's called the City of Spas
-
Every MCU movie since 'Avengers: Endgame,' rankedThe Week Recommends How did the recent 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' stack up?
-
5 fun cycling tours that let you vacation on two wheelsThe Week Recommends Gain a new perspective while pedaling
-
The best singers turned actors of all timeIn Depth It's not often that someone is born with both of these rare skill sets
-
A descent into academic Hell, a ferocious feminist fable and the adult debut of a beloved children's authorThe Week Recommends August books include R.F. Kuang's 'Katabasis,' Xenobe Purvis' 'The Hounding' and Louis Sachar's 'The Magician of Tiger Castle'
