Between the World and Me: Season 1

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Universal acclaim based on 11 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Ratings

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5.2

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5.2	Your Score
5.2	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Ratings

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Season Details & Credits

HBO | Season Premiere Date: November 21, 2020

Summary: The HBO special based on the 2018 adaptation and Apollo Theater staging of Ta-Nehisi Coates' book about white supremacy in America features readings from Coates' book, animation, documentary footage and archival footage.

Genre(s): Events & Specials

Season 1 Episodes

No episode information is currently available for this season

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Melanie McFarland

Jan 13, 2021

Coates' writing packs clarity into its lyricism, and at just shy of an hour and 20 minutes Forbes' film honors the book's relative economy while enriching every frame with poignance, augmented by Bradford Young's arresting cinematography. ... The result is magnificently solemn and essentially American. Read full review

100

Hank Stuever

Nov 20, 2020

All of it combines to bring Coates’s words up off the page with startlingly precise intent. Old news footage transitions to recent outrages; dreams are shattered and reassembled to reflect unflinching truths. There’s as much to look at as there is to hear; the words and images meld almost seamlessly. Read full review

Aramide Tinubu

Nov 18, 2020

Between The World And Me is not some hopeful, optimistic assessment of what’s to become of this country or the Black people who built it. Instead, Coates, through Forbes’ lens, offers the truth. Read full review

Inkoo Kang

Nov 17, 2020

The TV adaptation is a worthy screen translation of Coates’ monumental work, with archival footage, original animation and hip-hop tracks lending historical and emotional texture to the author’s words. Read full review

IndieWire Tambay Obenson

Nov 18, 2020

The film brings the book to its own visual life, and does so in a creative, engaging style, speaking to the country’s schizophrenia, and tells the truth about America, because history is often told from records left by the privileged. Read full review

Caroline Framke

Nov 18, 2020

There’s something lost in this translation between page and screen that depends upon this many performers; their interpretations are still powerful, but immediately more scattered, and it’s hard not to wonder if a more pared down version might have been even more effective. And yet it’s even harder to imagine which speakers should get cut, as nearly all convincingly ground themselves in the material. Read full review

Verne Gay

Nov 18, 2020

Beautifully done, but ultimately overdone. The book is better. Read full review

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User Score

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5.2

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User Reviews

Dadsaplaya2

Nov 30, 2020

As an Howard Alumni, PG County resident and reader of Coates, I can say the piece is exceptionally powerful. His communication that the struggle is of great (maybe the most) value is powerful. His descriptions of the illusion of freedom, being shattered in a moment is very familiar to anyAs an Howard Alumni, PG County resident and reader of Coates, I can say the piece is exceptionally powerful. His communication that the struggle is of great (maybe the most) value is powerful. His descriptions of the illusion of freedom, being shattered in a moment is very familiar to any black person. I gave this book to my son as he went away to college. This is the type of programming that gets my $.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

LuckyJim

Oct 19, 2021

Hmmmm... some knee-jerk automatic negative ratings from racists and white supremacy apologists who likely haven't seen the special. Too bad but not surprising.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a gift. It's a wonderful tv adaptation.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Arkham318

Nov 27, 2020

The negative ratings are very... suspicious, white supremacy thriving I see.

4 of 9 users found this helpful45

seel82

Nov 22, 2020

Honestly, I'd give this a 9 but am the 3rd reviewer, and it literally just went up on HBOs site, so I'm guessing the two negative reviewers have not yet watched it.

Coates is a great writer and an 80 minute format is very good for this topic. This was one of the better books I've read inHonestly, I'd give this a 9 but am the 3rd reviewer, and it literally just went up on HBOs site, so I'm guessing the two negative reviewers have not yet watched it.

Coates is a great writer and an 80 minute format is very good for this topic. This was one of the better books I've read in the last decade and the live footage he has in here just expands on the points he's trying to make in it.

I think the HBO release is quite good, with the worst thing I'd say about it is that I could see it being a bit harder to understand without the book. The viewing is good, no doubt, but the book is incredible.… Expand

5 of 9 users found this helpful54

Seasons & Episodes

85

Series Overview
Season 1

85
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: November 21, 2020
- No episode information is currently available for this season