Queen Sono is what's great about Netflix: Exposing viewers to international series

The Hollywood Reporter

Netflix's first African original series, a spy thriller starring South African model, actress and TV host Pearl Thusi, offers a distinctive South African backdrop. "Though there may be a remaining audience that attaches a stigma to reading TV shows or movies, there's something wonderfully progressive to the way Netflix has blurred international and linguistic boundaries such that 'Hey, that looks good!' has become a more important inducement for viewership than, 'Hey, that show is in a language I speak and populated by actors I recognize!'" says Daniel Fienberg. "Netflix has encouraged audiences to understand that if you, for example, like CW-style teen soap operas, you aren't beholden exclusively to The CW to produce them when you might find equally entertaining genre entries from Spain or Denmark, just like you'll rapidly discover that the rhythms of the Dick Wolf-style procedural have spread across the globe. Netflix's first script-to-screen African original series, Queen Sono, follows in the footsteps of many of the streamer's better international efforts. It's simultaneously completely recognizable and easy to classify, genre-wise, but if you actually tune in for the Alias-esque thriller, you'll be exposed to a dozen languages, several of which you probably haven't heard on your TV, and to a cultural and geopolitical backdrop that makes the familiar plot feel distinctive and somewhat new. And at only six episodes, there isn't nearly enough time for the myriad less successful elements to become serious impediments."

ALSO:

• Queen Sono isn’t “Alias but Black” or Black girl James Bond: "It’s a carefully crafted, visually brilliant drama that examines everything from Black female independence to the impact of white colonialism on Africa," says Ashley Ray-Harris. "With 45-minute episodes, Queen Sono never falls victim to Netflix’s usual 'bloat issue'; the plot moves at a near perfect pace, balancing the emotional complexities of the show’s heroine, Queen, and the complexities of African politics."
• Queen Sono is unremarkable as an action and crime drama, but that doesn’t cancel the excitement of seeing something new
• Read a guide to Queen Sono's cast