[REVIEW] The Lack That Lies Within Washington Black

By Will Dawson

Adapting Esi Edugyan’s remarkable novel Washington Black was always going to be a delicate balancing act. The book is both unflinching and fantastical — a tale that threads the brutality of slavery with the whimsy of steampunk invention. Hulu’s version opts firmly for the whimsical, and while that makes for accessible television, it also leaves behind too much of the grit that made the novel linger long after the final page.

Let’s start with what the show gets right. It looks gorgeous. The windswept Nova Scotia landscapes (standing in for Virginia and beyond) offer a rugged grandeur that feels almost unreal, in the best way possible. The costumes do their part, too — every top hat and coat is impeccably styled. Sterling K. Brown, also a producer here, is a magnetic presence as Medwin Harris, and he wears his purple corduroy with kingly ease. Tom Ellis brings a boyish warmth to Titch, and both Eddie Karanja and Ernest Kingsley Jr. portray Wash with moving sincerity at different stages of his life. The performances are not the problem. At all. In fact, they keep the show afloat.