The loyalty to the protagonists is both the strength and the weakness of the series
EARLY IN the first episode of “When They See Us”, a detective responding to the news that a jogger has been found beaten and raped at 11pm in New York’s Central Park asks: “What was shethere?” The line captures the assumptions that governed white New Yorkers’ behaviour in April 1989, when the city’s murder rate was seven times higher than it is now, and sensible folk did not venture into the park after dark.
The case was overseen by a flamboyant, press-hungry assistant district attorney, Linda Fairstein . Ultimately four black and one Latino boy between the ages of 14 and 16 were convicted of committing the attack together. But there was no physical evidence, the boys’ confessions were inconsistent and black protesters called it a stitch-up. They were right. In 2002 Matias Reyes, a serial rapist serving a life sentence, confessed to the crime, and the convictions were voided.
This loyalty to the protagonists is both the strength and the weakness of the series. It allows the film-makers to depict the boys’ family and community lives with tremendous empathy and sophistication. Antron McCray’s relationship with his ex-convict father is a heartbreaking mix of love and resentment. In prison, Yusef Salaam forms religious bonds with other Muslim prisoners, while the baby-faced Kevin Richardson struggles for guidance.
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