i have to confess that this discussion is going to be a little bit different to the ones where i
discuss the first episode and say whether or not i plan on watching any more of this show because
i kind of watched the first episode made a note to discuss it and then carried on binge watching
two and a half seasons family reunion is one that hooks me in immediately the
first episode is amazing and i will discuss it here without any spoilers
but i couldn't i couldn't refrain from watching any more of it it's absolutely incredible
i'm not going to say anything that happens after this first episode but i will give you a small
flavor of what themes you can expect because i feel like the first episode although great
doesn't necessarily reflect some of the key elements that pop up frequently that may put
some people off further down the line which to be fair i think is a good thing it hooks you in keeps
you watching it there may be some episodes that you don't like if you are not into certain topics
or subject matters then you can carry on watching it so this first episode aired in 2019 and i have
to say the reason i watched this initially i saw it on netflix i'd never actually heard of it but i
saw that tia maori was um in the thumbnail and i'm quite a big fan of her work not from her sister's
sister days because i never really watched the show i have recently reviewed that first episode
but from the films that she does her christmas films primarily um and i thought well i'll see
what the sitcom's like on this first episode remember how this all started and each of the
episodes starts with the name the word remember not really sure why it doesn't seem like it has a
purpose but doesn't cause any problems this first episode released 2019 directed by eric dean season
does of course star tia mouri hardrict as one of our protagonists coco mckellen and
to make a long story short in this first episode the mckellen family are visiting
their grandmother who is primarily referred to as medea for a family reunion and
at the end of this first episode i'm going to tell you what happens at the end because
it's the premise of the entire show so it's not really a spoiler but i won't tell you
how they get to this conclusion but at the end of the first episode they decide that actually
it's time for them to move from seattle to georgia where they are currently having a family reunion
because it's more important that they have their family around them if this family reunion is
brilliant they've realized that being isolated in in seattle means they're missing out on a lot of
really great family moments so they're going to move back and stay with madeir and their
grandfather and of course as the season progresses thereafter they are all living in this one house
and it's all about the various members of the family going through their own problems getting
along having arguments etc we'll talk about some of the key themes um in a moment but this first
episode is obviously all about introducing us to the characters and the family dynamic and
i think it's absolutely brilliant so i'm gonna go down from the top so obviously at the top
of the household we have grandpa played by richard browntree now he is actually
typically credited um as a supporting cast member he's not in every episode whereas medea played
brought by the fantastic loretta divine she's in every episode and medea is an amazing character
she is very old school when it comes to punishment um you know she's quite strict in fact she's very
strict but she's also very lovable she's a true matriarch and i think she is fantastic
and straight away in this episode i fell in love with her i thought she was absolutely amazing
moz mckellen the father of the family played by anthony alibi is um an ex-pro football player
he is actually a former nfl player um means nothing to me i'm not a football fan but maybe
if you're a football fan or just an american in general you may be very familiar with his work
i'm not it doesn't make a difference became very obvious very quickly what his character was he
is an ex-football player who retired and was bringing up his family in seattle now it's time
to move back to his mother's house um as you can imagine there are mixed feelings about that but
ultimately it's a joint decision he makes with his wife coco coco played by tia marie hardwick
and she's brilliant she's an absolutely fantastic character she's quite sassy she gets on well
with my dear there's no like hatred towards the daughter-in-law or anything but obviously there
are glimmers of nobody would ever actually be good enough for my dear's son and that's just the kind
of woman she is she's fantastic the three children uh the four children sorry i don't know who i was
forgetting at the top we have jade who is i think 14 in his first episode played by talia jackson
really brilliant performance really liked her um she does go on a really interesting character
journey throughout the first few seasons i won't go into any detail um then we have shaka played
by assaya russell bailey and then mazzy cameron g wright the two sons um they are quite different
children shaka is a lot more athletic mazzy is into baking and playing instruments so straight
away we have two completely different individuals who are going to give us different storylines
and then ami played by jordan raya james is i think she's about five in his first episode and
she is adorable she's the baby of the family she's the source of the cuteness so we have a
very mixed bag of ages of personalities straight away you can tell that this is going to give us
all kinds of narratives and it's going to take us in all different kinds of directions
i knew straight away that we'd have quite a mixed bag of narratives and that's certainly the case
so once this first episode is over and done with excuse that loud sound um i carried on watching it
this first episode is brilliant it will hook you in you're introduced to the characters
very quickly but it doesn't feel like you're being told things it's not like they step forward and
say my name is such and such and this is who i am although the theme song kind of does that i
love the intro song i absolutely love it it is so addictive and i think you will find that to
be the case too so the first episode absolutely fantastic thoroughly recommend it so recurring
themes i won't go into any spoilers but there are two recurring themes and there is something
that i've not mentioned yet the mckellen family is black and that's important for two reasons
one it's important to the family because there's a lot of you know discussing the family history
particularly as they're moving from seattle to georgia the children primarily they don't really
know that much about their own family history so there's a lot of discussing their family history
as the seasons progress which gives us a really um deeper look into the characters
personalities and where they come from and who their ancestors are and most sitcoms don't do that
most sitcoms you might know the protagonist's grandparents or great-grandparents with these
we go way back and you really get a strong sense of who these individuals are and what the family
unit is like and i think that's beautiful because you really feel quite absorbed within them and you
know you really get a good strong understanding of who they are but that's also important because um
black rights and issues for black individuals they do crop up as a theme um not in every episode but
it is recurring and because they've moved from seattle where it's a lot more um i don't want
to say whitewashed but it's not a predominantly black community to somewhere that is it's almost
like a culture shock for them which doesn't make any sense but there are certain things about
attitudes towards black people in georgia that they have to learn and there's a really emotional
episode that i'm not going to mention but i will say it involves a police officer and it's really
timely and moving and definitely something that's worth watching even if you watch just that episode
um unfortunately i can't remember what episode number it is to tell you
the other thing is the religious aspect medea is very religious grandpa is actually the local
pastor and obviously religion plays um kind of the core of their family unit but at the same
time it's not like everybody's religious some of the children are still trying to work out what
they believe in even moz doesn't necessarily um i keep saying moles it's moles as in moses
i keep saying mosques that's the way it's written moses doesn't necessarily 100 believe despite his
upbringing so there is a lot of religious discussion which for me as a spiritualist
bring it on absolutely love it it's something that i find should be at the core of a lot more sitcoms
because i think it's absolutely brilliant um but that is something to bear in mind if you are
an atheist or cannot abide anything religious or you don't want that from a sitcom
it is something that features quite heavily but personally i love it this has
the makeup of everything that i love in a sitcom the characters are brilliant the cast is brilliant
the narrative in this first episode is very well developed enough exciting things happen to keep
you engaged while still giving you a chance to get to know the characters and the family dynamic
and that carries on throughout family reunion as i said i kind of binge watched 20 something episodes
in a weekend i've got one season and a little bit left i don't know if there are any more after this
last season i haven't googled to check to see if that's the was aired um quite recently i haven't
checked to see if there are any more seasons after that or if it's being canceled i don't
want to google it because i know i'll get spoilers but i'm looking forward to watching more of it
this first episode absolutely brilliant family reunion is without question my new obsession