REVIEW: I’m a Virgo – Season One [2023]

Rating: TV-14 | Episodes: 7 | Runtime: 35 minutes
Release Date: June 23rd, 2023 (USA)
Studio: Amazon Prime Video
Creator(s): Boots Riley

Get your mind right, halfwits.

If you thought Boots Riley’s absurdist, anti-capitalist screed Sorry to Bother You was wild, you haven’t seen anything yet. The writer/director takes those same ideas and retools them into a critique set through the lens of superhero copaganda by manufacturing a character that cannot escape the pro-capitalist indoctrination television and comic books have a way of instilling within a for-profit world of consumer-driven desire. This brainwashed soul is named Cootie (Jharrel Jerome) and he is nineteen years old and thirteen-feet-tall.

Raised by his uncle and aunt (Mike Epps’ Martisse and Carmen Ejogo’s LaFrancine) in Oakland, Cootie has never seen the outside world except through a periscope so as not to be seen and inevitably studied, feared, and killed. So, his only interpretation of what awaits him beyond his four walls comes from the filter of agenda-driven entertainment/media. To him, all you have to do is dream to find happiness. But “working hard” and “behaving” according to the system’s rules actually just makes you complicit to its intentional pursuit of inequality.

Riley is commenting on everything from celebrity culture, exploitation, religion, unionization, for-profit healthcare, toxic masculinity, disability, sex, and love through seven jam-packed episodes depicting Cootie’s crash course in the “American Way.”

You have his parents on one shoulder saying he’s not ready to confront a society that’s historically shown itself to be violent towards the “other” and his new friends (Brett Gray’s Felix, Kara Young’s Jones, and Allius Barnes’ Scat) on the other using exposure therapy to make up for all the lost time via alcohol, dance clubs, and the hallowed juicy goodness of fast food burgers. Then there’s the potential love interest standing in front of him (Olivia Washington’s Flora, an intriguing and empowering interpretation of autism) imploring him to embrace who he is outside the noise and a so-called savior (Walton Goggins’ self-deluded The Hero) behind him with a gun against his head despite Cootie believing he’s merely there to offer a pair of hands to catch him if he falls.

It’s a lot to juggle. Some of it doesn’t land as effectively as I’m sure Riley hopes. Some hits you over the head with a sledgehammer of soap-box oration to ensure there’s no way you can miss the point. And most hits that sweet spot of insightful metaphor and absurd satire that makes the whole such a joy to experience.

As such, it’s practically impossible to grasp every little thing that’s happening without repeated viewings since there’s very rarely any time to take a breath let alone fully comprehend what’s going on in the foreground without also being aware how what’s occurring in the background is just as crucial to the bigger picture. Expand that truth out further and know that many of the odd twists and turns from the opening episodes will change context and purpose thanks to new revelations in later episodes. Never therefore assume anything. Because Riley’s whole point here is to prove that you’re wrong. That even the most cynical of us is still unwittingly being ruled by a lie that says things can change.

I can’t wait to see the think pieces that will come out in the next few months. The hyper-specific reads on Cootie’s parents doing more harm than good or the positives and negatives of Jones’ patient politics or the thin line between heroism and villainy by way of “heroes” being ignorant to their own oppression.

There’s going to be a lot of discourse around the Adult Swim-esque nature of Scats’ favorite cartoon “Parking Tickets” and the unforgettably hilarious logistics of an average-sized human having sex with a giant too. Some will center on the superficial escapist comedy of it all while others will mine down deeper to reveal the psychological effects of subliminal messaging and deprogramming respectively. Because nothing on-screen is purely just for fun. Rewatch Sorry to Bother You to remember how exacting Riley is and how effectively he overloads our senses to ensure his themes are injected straight into our DNA.

I’d love to think it will connect with enough people to keep going because there’s a ton of unanswered questions: Cootie’s parentage, a rapidly worsening rash, a silent ghost, and a shift into pure fantasy by way of practical superpowers (public speaking) and unexplained phenomenon (if you’re leaning into notions of giants, Lilliputians aren’t out of the question). I’m sure the capitalist system it critiques is going to play a huge role in any decision on a second season too since budget can kill anything regardless of legitimate concerns or the fickle whims of its benefactor.

Because even if the brilliant use of practical effects here is cheaper than CGI, time is also money. Thankfully, as the finale “Cellphone on a Headband” proves with its climax, the potency of lo-fi DIY visuals is married to the message they’re used to illustrate. And despite the ingenuity of Cootie’s scale, he’s actually sidelined from some of the show’s best moments (see Scat’s journey at the end of “Paco Rabanne”). “I’m a Virgo” isn’t as much about him as it is you and me peering through his eyes at the truth of everything we’ve been trained to ignore.