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Equal

Equal

TV-MA

hbo max

Though it could’ve been smoother, this docuseries turns the spotlight on urgent, overlooked lessons on queer history

7.2

TV Show

United States of America
English
Documentary, Drama
2020
Billy Porter
40 min

TLDR

It’s fittingly more educational than entertaining, though the latter could’ve been better utilized to improve the former.

What it's about

Narrated by Billy Porter and featuring celebrities as various gay icons, this docuseries dives deep into landmark events in Black and queer history.

The take

When history shoves you in the corner and current generations start to forget their roots, it makes sense to take up an urgent if frantic tone. That’s what the showrunners of Equal have done here. Scenes are packed with busy animation, star-studded reenactments, and paragraphs of history lessons (sometimes all at once), so much so that it can be hard to keep up at times. I would've preferred a slower pace to let the important events have their moment, but the quickness makes sense and ultimately makes for an educational and important watch.

What stands out

For better or worse, the distracting but well-acted celebrity cameos.

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