Like his 2018 feature debut, "Sorry to Bother You," Boots Riley's new Prime Video show, "I'm a Virgo," is tough to pin down.
The coming-of-age, anti-capitalist, superhero sendup stars Jharrel Jerome as Cootie, a 13-foot-tall man who was raised by his surrogate parents Lafrancine and Martisse (Carmen Ejogo and Mike Epps). They have kept him confined to their Bay Area home well into his teenage years in an effort to protect him — regularly showing him newspaper clippings of other giants who have been killed as proof that the outside world isn't safe. Cootie eventually breaks free and tries to find friendship, love and meaning in his life.
The show is set in a hyperstylized, distorted version of Oakland, California, and some of the supporting characters include his love interest, Flora (Olivia Washington, Denzel's youngest), a fast-food clerk who moves faster than the speed of sound; a young activist called Jones (Kara Young), whose impassioned speeches about systemic inequality and oppression quite literally put listeners in a trance; and a deranged superhero cop known only as the Hero (Walton Goggins). A "Simpsons"-esque animated series that inspires feelings of existential dread makes regular appearances.
