Nemesis has a fun, entertaining premise, but lacks the caliber of acting in classic crime dramas like Heat.
DTF St. Louis surprises with its dark humor and character development, despite initial skepticism about the middle-aged protagonists.
The female characters in both shows are praised for their emotional depth and commanding performances.
A high-stakes cat-and-mouse thriller and a murder mystery fueled by middle-aged malaise had The Black Watch talking this week, and BOSSIP and Cassius are weighing in.
Source: Netflix / Netflix
Today (May 29), the brands released a new episode of The Black Watch, an editorial-led series examining the biggest cultural moments in film and entertainment.
The latest installment of the series brings together BOSSIP’s Managing Editor Dani Canada, iONE Digital Director of Content for the Men’s Division Alvin Blanco, executive producer Serita Wesley, and comedian-writer Richard Jones for a candid conversation about Netflix’s Nemesis and HBO Max’s DTF St. Louis.
“If you ever wondered what the movie Heat, starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, would look like with an all-Black cast, Netflix has got you covered with their latest series, Nemesis,” Dani says to kick off the discussion. “We’re discussing that and more on this episode of The Black Watch.”
Source: The Black Watch / iOne Digital
The panel first turns its attention to Nemesis, the new Netflix thriller from Power creator Courtney A. Kemp that follows a relentless cat-and-mouse game between an LAPD detective and a criminal mastermind operating across Los Angeles.
As the conversation gets underway, Serita admits she wasn’t entirely sold on one of the show’s leads.
“I have mixed feelings, I’m gonna be honest with you,” she says. “I don’t buy Matthew Law as an L.A. cop. He’s supposed to be born and bred in L.A., and just the language he uses. I mean, he’s from Seattle, and it’s giving Seattle with the acting.”
Source: The Black Watch / iOne Digital
Alvin quickly pushes back.
“You weren’t impressed with O’Shon from Abbott Elementary being a cop?” he asks.
“That might have also been the issue,” Serita replies with a laugh.
Richard, meanwhile, argues that viewers may be taking the show more seriously than it was ever intended to be.
“I didn’t have a problem with the show,” he says. “The show was a fun ride. People keep trying to make Shakespeare out of Springer.”
Source: The Black Watch / iOne Digital
He goes on to compare the series to a more entertaining version of a classic drama.
“This was Les Misérables with bass. That’s really kind of all it was,” he jokes. “The acting wasn’t that great. I was sitting there wondering why new Shemar Moore was so angry all the time.”
Richard also weighs in on the show’s leading men.
“Shemar Moore aged out of his roles, and they were like, ‘We need a new light-skinned brother to fill in all the roles,’” he jokes. “And then Daniel from Insecure. As criminal masterminds go, he’s kind of dumb. But again, it was a fun ride.”
Source: Netflix / Netflix
Naturally, comparisons to Michael Mann’s iconic crime drama Heat soon entered the chat, though Alvin cautions against setting expectations too high.
“A lot of people want to compare it to Heat. It’s like, relax,” he says. “There’s nobody here that’s like De Niro. There’s nobody here that’s like Pacino. But the storyline is good enough where it has enough twists that I’m like, okay, I want to see what happens next.”
Alvin admits he initially had reservations but found himself pulled into the story.
“We kind of hold Black actors to the highest standard, right?” he says. “We want them to really be hitting it, be in that pocket. But I’m just down to see what happens.”
Source: Netflix / Netflix
He also couldn’t resist taking aim at another aspect of the production.
“I also want to give a shoutout to the wig budget because I think there’s a lot of units in there,” he jokes. “Some of these hairlines are not believable.”
“Everyone had a unit on!” Serita adds.
Dani largely agrees with Richard’s assessment that the series works best when viewed as entertainment first.
“I think it’s a fun ride,” she says. “I didn’t take it too seriously.”
She also admits that Y’lan Noel’s breakout role continues to follow him.
“Every time I see him, I really do see Daniel from Insecure,” Dani says. “So I’m like, Daniel, why are you robbing these people? What would Issa say?”
Still, she praises the emotional depth added by the supporting cast.
“I think Gabrielle Dennis did a great job,” Dani adds. “I like that you get to see more than just the robbing and then the police officer on the hunt. You get to see more of their personal lives, and I think that was interesting, too.”
Source: Courtesy / Netflix
For Richard, the show’s women ultimately emerge as its strongest assets.
“I would dare say the ladies kind of carried the series,” he says. “All three of the main women.”
He specifically points to Sophina Brown’s commanding performance.
“The second she was on screen, I was like, okay, I’m focused. I’m locked in. She is not somebody to be trifled with,” he says.
Richard also credits the female characters with providing much of the emotional weight that grounds the series.
The crew later lightens the mood with a game in which they pitch potential Nemesis spin-offs centered around some of the show’s standout characters before shifting gears to HBO Max’s DTF St. Louis.
The dark comedy stars Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini, and David Harbour and follows three middle-aged adults whose attempts to shake up their stagnant lives lead to deadly consequences.
“So what do we think about DTF St. Louis?” Dani asks. “First of all, the name threw me off. I was like, what do you mean DTF?”
Source: The Black Watch / iOne Digital
“You know what it means,” Richard responds. “You know exactly what it means.”
“But you look at these characters and I’m like, they’re DTF?” Dani jokes. “No shade!”
Richard recalls a joke from a fellow comedian that feels especially relevant to this show.
“When I first found out about this show, I thought back to a friend of mine who’s a comedian,” he says. “She made the joke, ‘You never want to be the best-looking person at the orgy,’ and now I kind of understand why. If I did swing with these people, I wouldn’t tell anybody.”
While Richard focused on the show’s eccentric premise, Alvin admits the central characters tested his patience.
“I love David Harbour. I love Jason Bateman, but these two losers were working my nerves from the get-go,” he says. “I’m like, where are we going? Where’s this headache headed?”
Alvin notes that the marketing didn’t fully prepare him for the story he ultimately got.
“It’s tough to really explain what the story is about in the trailers,” he says. “Once I got into it, I was like, yeah, I don’t know.”
His perspective however, changed once the murder investigation began to take shape.
“When Joy Sunday’s character, the detective, was introduced and she’s dealing with her passive-aggressive older white detective while she’s doing all the work and making things happen, I appreciated that part,” Alvin says.
Source: The Black Watch / iOne Digital
Dani agrees, noting that much of the show’s appeal comes from watching seemingly ordinary people make increasingly reckless decisions.
“I thought it was interesting that these are very average middle-aged, Middle America-white people, and they want to spice things up,” she says. “And you get to see how it unfolded.”
For Serita, however, the show’s biggest selling point is Jason Bateman.
“Jason Bateman, I trust Jason Bateman with my life, honestly,” she says. “I will watch anything he does, and I’m never disappointed.”
She adds that his portrayal of Clark helped pull her into the story.
“Him being the weatherman is awesome!”
The panel ultimately agrees that while DTF St. Louis may not be what viewers expect based on its provocative title, its performances, dark humor, and unfolding mystery make it worth sticking with.
Check out the latest episode of The Black Watch below!
