The Good Lord Bird
Series Details & Credits
| SHOWTIME | Release Date: October 4, 2020 |
Summary:
A young slave named Onion (Joshua Johnson-Lionel) becomes a part of John Brown's (Ethan Hawke) family, interacting with other abolitionists like Frederick Douglass (Daveed Diggs) and eventually the 1859 raid of the Army depot at Harpers Ferry in this limited series adaptation of James McBride's novel of the same name.
Genre(s):
Drama, Movie/Mini-Series
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Recent Episodes
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S1:E7. Last Words
Air Date: November 15, 2020
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S1:E6. Jesus Is Walkin'
Air Date: November 8, 2020
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S1:E5. Hiving the Bees
Air Date: November 1, 2020
Positive:
25
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
The Independent
Nov 19, 2020
Collider
Oct 5, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The Good Lord Bird does an excellent job of balancing its serious subject matter with an almost breezy folktale tone. Each episode contains both profoundly emotional moments and beats that will make you laugh out loud. Also, it never veers into exploitation, which is a common pitfall in films that deal with American slavery.
Read full review
Oct 2, 2020
Sep 23, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Executive producer McBride, Hawke and Richard don't want to fall into white savior tropes, and as big as Hawke's performance is, the grandiosity is there primarily to be punctured; Brown's very real affection for Onion is captured by Hawke more in beats of quiet regard than paternalistic puffery. Seven hours of The Good Lord Bird left me both clear-eyed about John Brown as a historical figure and curious to learn more. Above all, it left me with zero doubts about Hawke’s ever-evolving talent.
Read full review
Oct 5, 2020
Season 1 Review:
What matters most is that the series takes a brutish time in history frequently presented dryly out of respect, and dares successfully to capture the uproarious insanity of a righteous, outgunned rebel. Brown's image may not be wholly transformed by this rendition of "The Good Lord Bird," but surely Hawke's work here should elevate our estimation of his skills and how far he's willing to do to resurrect our estimation of figures moldering and, if not forgotten, at least somewhat misconstrued.
Read full review
Oct 1, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The Good Lord Bird” isn’t like many of the wrong-headed white savior stories I’ve seen; Hawke’s complex performance helps avoid some of those tropes (which are mentioned in Onion’s narration right at the top of the series), and the emphasis on Onion’s story as an orphan finding his power helps even more.
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The Playlist
Oct 5, 2020
Season 1 Review:
“The Good Lord Bird” shouldn’t work, but somehow the evocatively shot series leaps from the pages of history. And though it might lose its way, in the same meandering fashion as one of Brown’s prayers, writers never forget that the goal is seeing Black people fighting for their freedom.
Read full review
Nov 24, 2020
2 of 2 users found this helpful20
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Seasons & Episodes
- Series Overview
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Season 1
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Season 1 Overview
Air Date: October 4, 2020
-
S1:E7. Last Words
Air Date: November 15, 2020
-
S1:E6. Jesus Is Walkin'
Air Date: November 8, 2020
-
S1:E5. Hiving the Bees
Air Date: November 1, 2020
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S1:E4. Smells Like Bear
Air Date: October 25, 2020
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S1:E3. Mister Fred
Air Date: October 18, 2020
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S1:E2. A Wicked Plot
Air Date: October 11, 2020
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S1:E1. Meet the Lord
Air Date: October 4, 2020
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Season 1 Overview