David Makes Man, which is now available on HBO Max, has special resonance amid the Black Lives Matter protests

The New York Times

The OWN series from Moonlight's Tarell Alvin McCraney was one of the best shows of 2019. "It would be disingenuous to ignore that the show has special resonance now, in a season of protests over the devaluing of young Black lives like David’s," says James Poniewozik. "The cry 'Black Lives Matter,' after all, is not just a plea for mere existence. It is a demand for Black people to be recognized, by the state and the culture, as full, complex, varied individuals. David Makes Man does this while also exploring issues, like colorism and respectability politics, that series with a few Black faces among mostly white casts can’t. But it would also underestimate David to say that it’s worthwhile simply because it’s filling a void. This would be a remarkable series even if there were a hundred others like it. For one thing, it’s visually stunning, not just in the cinematic pilot but in images like the final shot of Episode 7, which closes on David sitting in a drug den, wearing a Halloween-costume crown on his head."