"Them": Racism and Paranormal in 1950s Compton

 

Amazon has been pushing its new series Them, based on the movie about an  African-American family facing paranormal peril.  I liked the movie, although there was no gay content, so I decided to give the series a try.  Maybe there will be some beefcake.

Scene 1: While Judy Garland sings "Over the Rainbow," we zoom into an old-fashioned farmhouse, where young mother Lucky is feeding her baby, Chester.  Suddenly an elderly white woman appears out of nowhere and starts singing "Old Black Joe," about the death of a master's beloved slave!  This obviously doesn't sit well with Lucky.  Then the woman asks, "Can we have your boy?" Creepy!

  Scene 2:  Henry Emory (Ashley Thomas), Lucky, and their two kids, neither of whom is named Chester, driving with a U-Haul across the desert.  Eldest child Ruby reads a magazine article about Doris Day, so it's the 1950s.  Where's Chester?  Is this years later, or years before?

Sorry, no beefcake images, as there are dozens of girls named Ashley Thomas, and I won't risk searching on  "Ashley Thomas nude." 

A scrollover tells us that between 1916 and 1970, roughly 6 million African-Americans relocated from the rural south to the big cities of the North.  On September 13, 1953, the Emory Family moved from North Carolina to Compton, California. The following events occurred over their first ten days.  Funny, the movie was set in the present.

Scene 3: White Stepford Wife Betty talks on the telephone amid her collection of creepy dolls. She sees that the house across the street has been sold, and rushes out to talk to the realtor.  Wow, what a white neighborhood.  The houses are white or pink pastels, the women are all blond or redhead, wearing washed-out colors.  The props department is trying too hard!   And no men around; I'm starting to feel beefcake deprivation.

Cut to Judy Garland singing "Get Happy" as the Emorys crosses the Los Angeles River. It had water in it then.  They tour downtown L.A. in 1953, and enter Compton. White people grimace menacingly or rush inside their houses as they pass.  

Finally the Emorys arrives.  Peering through the window from across the street, Betty and her friends gasp "Oh, my God!"  They rush out to grimace menacingly.  

As the Emorys explore their new house, Sargent the Dog starts growling and whining at the door to the basement.  Ruh-roh.

Lucky looks through the window, and sees a group of men -- no doubt the husbands.  Oh, boy, beefcake!  But they're a snarling mob getting ready to lynch the Emorys. 

Scene 4: Night. The snarling mob is still out there.  Lucky is loading her gun, just in case.  

Scene 5: Morning.  The Wives wave at milkman George Bell (Ryan Kwanten).  Oh, boy, Ryan is built, and apparently a major character!  Then they, along with about 30 other women,  park on the Emorys' front lawn and play loud music, hoping to annoy them to death.  Meanwhile the delivery guy grimaces menacingly as he delivers the furniture.

Uh-oh, Lucky has to escort her kids past the Wife mob to the school bus stop -- where there are a group of teenagers grimacing menacingly.  

Scene 6: Henry goes to Grimace Menacingly, Inc., and tries to explain to the grimacing receptionist that he's the new engineer, not a cook.  Calvin the Mail Guy (Malcolm M. Mays, top photo)) comes to the rescue.  

Cut to the music-playing wives, now numbering in the thousands (I think), while Calvin tells Henry about the last black family that tried to move to Compton.  The harassment drove the wife insane.  

Scene 7:  Calvin drops Henry off at the Engineering Department. Darn, I thought they were going to be buddies.  The engineers all grimace menacingly.  

Meanwhile, Lucky is explaining to her youngest daughter, Grace, why she's being home schooled (so she won't be murdered by a grimacing student or teacher).  Grace says that Miss Vera, the fictional teacher in her book, is real, and taught her a song.

Guess what/?  It's "Old Black Joe."  She sings while channeling Crazy Lady from Scene 1.  Lucky freaks out.  Wouldn't you?

Grace says: "It' ok.  You're not crazy anymore, are you?" 

Scene 8.  Later, in the bedroom, Lucky pulls out a secret chest containing Chester's baby blanket.  Wait -- is she the only one who remembers the baby being taken? That's why they thought she was crazy?  

She brings the chest to the scary basement and finds a hiding place for it.

Scene 9: Betty made lemon meringue pie for the Wives' "how to get rid of the black people" meeting.  Husband Clarke (Liam McIntyre) arrives, shoves his finger into the pie (disgusting!), and leaves (darn!).

The meeting: the black people must have come from someplace terrible, so just screaming "We hate you!" won't get them to leave.  They have to do something really bad.

Meanwhile, the husbands are having their own meeting.  "Shoot them?  Burn the house down?  Poison the dog?  Aw, why can't we shoot them?  It's not like they're people or anything."

Scene 10: Betty and Clarke going home.  Betty talks about how awful it is that the neighborhood is about to be destroyed.  They have to protect their property!  Clarke cautions her to not go crazy: "You're my property, and I have to protect you!"  But Betty won't listen: "I'll do whatever is necessary.  If I have to kill them, so be it."  

Meanwhile, the Emorys are being loving and wholesome and practically perfect in every way.  

Scene 11: Night.  Grace, the "Old Black Joe" singer, gets up and heads to the living room, where a mysterious figure approaches: a tall, thin woman.  Light flashes on her outstretched hands -- uh-oh, white, evil!  Probably Betty, starting her campaign to kill them all. Suddenly she grabs Grace and cackles maniacally. 

In the morning, the dog is dead.  Lucky grabs her gun and rushes out into the neighborhood and yells "Stay away from my family!"  The end

Beefcake: None.

Gay Characters: None.  Only two scenes of men interacting with each other: Henry and Calvin talking for 20 seconds, and Clarke at the "kill them" meeting.

Victim porn:  Lots.  The suffering is laid on too thick to be believable, and is actually counterproductive.  You can't do a good job of revealing the extent of racism by making every white person grimace and seethe and plot homicide.  Audiences will think "If I don't want to literally kill them, I must not be racist."

Paranormal:  Chester's disappearance and implied memory wipe.  The mysterious Miss Vera.  The scary basement.  The ghost lady, if it's not Betty.

Will I Keep Watching:  Nope.  Too much suffering.  I came here to be entertained, not get my soul squashed.  Besides, they killed a dog.