I'm a Virgo

You can always rely on Boots Riley to hoof out something profoundly weird and I'm a Virgo is no exception to this. A meditation on superheroics, corporate culture and trueness to whatever one's self is - chock full of bizarre allegorical imagery and fascinating ideas. It's an art thing. Feels very art. In that, as a narrative, it's a little lacking. Its intentional metaphorics make it come across as fairly aloof and the deep message being presented on the most corporate television platform there is feels sadder than the trollish win it's painted as in some quarters. That being said, I feel like this endeavour may end up outliving the endless turgid cape crusades from the rival corporations, and the more cynical ones of the same network.

Brilliant concept, provocative writing and laser focused direction from Boots Riley. He manages to paint another colorful dystopia that once again highlights the evils of capitalism by flipping concepts on their head and putting a mirror up to show you the world we live in. I love that someone is touching on the concept of giants in American history I feel like there is a lot of new clippings like that you can still find through the years of giant remains being found across the world. Who knows but it's an interesting concept and dope that Boots touched on that. Mike Epps and the whole cast is great as well. Looking forward to anything Boots Riley does which hopefully includes a new The Coup album.

Having immensely enjoyed Sorry to Bother You, I was very excited to see what Boots Riley did with this and was not disappointed!

Excellent commentary on capitalism, with plenty of surrealism throughout.

I only wish that the pacing was a bit more balanced; I think this could have easily been a standalone mini series but it seems that some things/characters that could have been explored with more depth were intentionally left out in favor of some too-long scenes involving sex/romance and action.

My favorite bits were the various superpowers and the scenes critiquing capitalism with some fantastic visuals. I also really love the cartoon that was shown throughout, and the dystopian elements.

I hope that if there is a season 2 that it can focus more on exploring the main characters in depth, more over the top hilarious commentary on commercialism, as well as more powerful and concise messages on capitalism.

I hope that we can see more and more popular movies and tvs explicitly calling out capitalism and the toxicity of society in the hopes of inspiring people to fight back and create a better world.

I would vote this 8 stars, but am putting 9 stars to boost the overall rating because it is at a 6 right now and I don't want people to be deterred by that unfairly low score.

In our current mass media landscape oversaturated with superhero stories, it's become increasingly hard to find ones that stand out from the pack. Gone are the days of Sam Raimi's Spider-man where the storytelling was played straight, with bright colors and energy that seek to evoke the feeling of reading a comic-book. In the 2020's, we have reached peak of the superhero craze, and it seems studios have bottlenecked their output into two different flavors of media:

1. Superhero stories that infuse their characters into a different blockbuster genre (a superhero spy movie, a superhero sci-fi epic, etc.) 2. Superhero stories that ask "what if Superman was BAD?"

"I'm a Virgo" is the third Amazon show I've watched that falls into category 2, and despite not advertising itself a superhero show, it contains the most interesting answer to that question by far.

In the other two Amazon shows I mentioned, "The Boys" and "Invincible", the drama comes from the insurmountable odds of defeating an antagonist who wields godlike powers. There's always the looming threat of this evil Superman figure who is capable of wiping out all the heroes (or anti-heroes) without breaking a sweat. In "I'm a Virgo", this threat is also present, as "The Hero", a sort of Iron Man/Batman archetype played by Walton Goggins, always shows up to intimidate the characters who seek social change. The show starts off slow, introducing us to this familiar-yet-bizarre universe (similar in tone to Donald Glover's Atlanta) and the players that inhabit it. Eventually, however, we reach a turning point that forces our main characters to confront this force of "justice".

The main between this show and those other two is the conclusion. Without spoiling anything, the finale of this series is some of the most thought-provoking, well-explained examinations of what it means to be superhero, and why anyone who tries to take on that mantle will fail. There have been plenty of superhero media that examines the inherit fascism associated with being a superhero, but almost all of them reach the conclusion that "we should kill them" or worse, "I'll just be better". This show does not say either of those things, and I hope more people get to experience Boots Riley's superhero manifesto for themselves.

Really good. That's all I can say. The best art to me is the kind I can't effectively describe. It is itself. That's the highest compliment I can give. This show never did what I expected but felt 100% appropriate to itself the whole time. It was engaging and bizarre and sweet and packed a punch and I love seeing stuff like this get made. It's worth the watch and I don't even mind if there's another season or how the second one goes, this one stands on its own and will still be enjoyable for me no matter what else happens to it in the future. Definitely recommend checking it out now and not worrying too much it's just a good ride.