Harlem review: Amazon Prime series is a warm exploration of sisterhood and race

4/5

Golden Girls, Sex and the City, The Bold Type, Insecure and now Harlem. I’m not putting this new Amazon Prime series on the same pedestal as the other four, but it is something. A show celebrating female friendship that’s easy, breezy and binge-worthy? Sign me up. And a show with an all-Black cast that doesn’t pander to the white gaze? That’s refreshing and gives Black women the platform they so need.

Harlem follows the lives of four thirty-something Black women living in the titular borough of New York City. Camille (Meagen Good) is an anthropology professor at Columbia University, Tye (Jerrie Johnson) is a founder of a queer dating app, Quinn (Grace Byers, remembered as the deliciously wicked Anika in Empire) born into privilege yet struggling to keep her fashion label and love life afloat, while Angie (Shoniqua Shandai) is the foul-mouthed, loud free spirit of the group. They are united in their journeys, always there to pick each other up whenever a problem prevails.

Besides the accurate and healthy portrayal of female relationships, the show also comments on the overarching systemic issues that deny Black women equal opportunities - whether it’s racial microaggressions, the constant marginalisation by medical and legal systems, and gentrification of the communities they have grown up in and loved. 

Then there are the other problems like dating as a queer Black person, interracial dating and the frustrating lack of eligible Black men. Even though Harlem maintains a light-hearted tone all along, there is no levity to the way it approaches these issues. They are everyday problems, and these women, together, put up a strong front against them.

Camille could be the Carrie Bradshaw of the group; she’s slightly annoying and obstinate, but it’s her presence that is the glue of the group. The four characters are so well-etched out - they are imperfect, messy and extremely relatable, and every single of them gets the importance they deserve. The men, on the other hand, have a far more superficial treatment. But who’s complaining? Not me.

The show may not pass the Bechdel test in its entirety, yet it packages political, social and cultural messaging aptly. It doesn’t feel like this show was created to show representation for the sake of representation. There's a universality in some of the trials and tribulations these women face that will strike hard with a diverse audience. Then there’s the extremely hip and enjoyable soundtrack that backs every scene. I had my phone auto-playing Shazam at all times.

The actors sure have done a brilliant job, but it’s the writers of the show — Njeri Brown (Black-ish, Dear White People), Aeryn Michelle Williams (Umbrella Academy), and Azie Dungey (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) — who deserve a pat on the back for creating such a well-structured and nuanced story.

All ten episodes of Harlem are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.