The Chi – Season 1 Review
Movie Reviews this week looks at the highly praised drama from the people involved with The Wire, the The Chi Season One.
The Chi Season One is a fascinating insight into life in the projects in Chicago, with an underlying theme that not everybody’s circumstances paints them with the brush of either pure evil or purely good.
It stars the superb Jason Mitchell (Straight Outta Compton) as Brandon Johnson, an upcoming chef, who has a lovely girlfriend played by the beautiful Tiffany Boone (Hunters); he is trying to make something of himself with his passion for cooking, all the while trying to keep tabs on his buoyant little brother Coogie played by Jahking Guillory, and their mother Laverne played the stalwart Sonja Sohn (The Wire), who needs a break from the teenager, and allows Brandon to look after Coogie for the day.
We join the series as a murder has occurred, and the only suspect is Coogie, who was found standing over the body. This incident seemingly then connects the lives of all in the community, ofcourse Brandon, their mother Laverne, the police officer investigating the case Detective Armando Cruz played by Armando Riesco (Queen of the South), who is aware that a local drug gang operate nearby who have one of their lieutenants Reg Taylor played by Barton Fitzpatrick (Empire) as controlling that area, and after questioning the likeable Coogie, he is convinced he is not a suspect.
This however does not help matters, and the victim’s adopted father Ronny, a vet who might have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), played by the fantastic Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (Bosch), since he is a confidential informant for Detective Armando Cruz, he feels he should give him a headsup that they have someone in custody.
The fact that Ronny is told this information, has far reaching consequences for the small community, from Brandon’s girlfriend Jerrika who may have to come to terms that Brandon is being led up a path that he is not, to three life long friends Kevin Little played by the very promising Alex R. Hibbert (Moonlight), the funny Stanley ‘Papa’ Jackson, played by Shamon Brown Jr., and Jake Taylor played by Michael Epps (Chicago Fire).
The Chi tries to give a reasonable depth to some of the characters in a community many don’t hear about, and are easily labelled, but aims to show things are never quite just black and white.
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