In the Deep begins on a good note. The first episode utilizes some creative editing and storytelling techniques to introduce us to the world and the characters. That’s pretty much where the good ends and the bad begins. The first image we see is one of the “four gay best friends” (yes this tired story premise is revisited, this time in the UK) named Rene’ stuffing his face with cupcakes. It’s a gross image that pretty much sums up this character in every way, disgusting. The best friends all converge at his home to see what is worrying their flamboyant, narcissistic, promiscuous friend so much that he’s binging on sweets. Maybe this is a British thing. Eating more than three cupcakes in the United Kingdom must be cause for alarm; in the United States it’s called “light snacking.”
Turns out Rene’ is upset that a newspaper theater critic gave his acting a poor review. The critic says that his acting was “less than mediocre.” In regards to the actor playing the actor, I couldn’t have put it better. Actually, the acting is pretty unremarkable from everyone in the cast. I guess all of the really talented black British actors not named Ashley Walters have all moved to America.
Renee contends that the review was only negative because the unattractive critic was not allowed to join his public act of oral sodomy with a fellow theater performer while semi-naked in the theater’s open stairwell. If this sounds creepy, unbelievable and confusing, that’s because it was very creepy, unbelievable and confusing to me when I watched it as well. Mind you, this all takes place in the first two minutes of the web series’ first episode. The debased public act is just plain weird and gross.
As bad as it is, “In The Deep” does have solid audio, sharp well-lit visuals and strained attempts at actual character development which makes it ahead of most of the Black Gay American Web Series pack. Also, even though the acting isn’t great, casting men of direct African descent is awesome and rarely seen. It would have been more interesting to tell the specific story of being a Nigerian-British gay or bisexual man living in the United Kingdom and the complications that it may bring. Instead we just get more of the same gay American crap.
The blatant lazy cliches and horrible acting (*points to the less-than-mediocre Rene*) takes away any bonus points they may have received from the enhanced film quality and unique casting.
I originally discovered this show a couple weeks ago in my black gay web series search. From what I could tell it has the honor of being the only black gay web series in all of the United Kingdom. That’s no small thing. I’m sure the filmmakers are great folks, but this web series needs work. How would I fix this show? I’d lose Rene’, not only the actor playing him, the entire character. He’s annoying and embodies 90% of what’s derivative about the show. I’d lose all of the “four best friends” angle. That premise is as redundant and recycled as new seasons of Doctor Who. Lastly, I’d work on the show premise more. What is this series about? So far its about nothing…not leading up to or moving towards anything. But I’m just one guy, thousands of miles away, who am I to judge?
The filmmakers are currently holding a fundraiser to produce more episodes, maybe with a little more (Pounds, Euros, Quid?) money they can hire better writers and actors. Either way, this show can’t get much worse than this, innit?
Swerve, Bruv (*In British Accent*)
– Nick D
LOL. I looked at the trailer and just shook my head in disappointment.
I make no apologies about never watching 99.9% of all black gay web series and this is a prime example why.
Nick, ALL of your reviews on all the black gay web series that are out there are so on point. I feel like you have validated my point of view and also saved me from wasting my time on such bullshit.
I am so eager to prop up and promote a black gay movie or web series but I think I will be waiting a long time before I have a chance…
Nick is going hard on all these web series out there though!
I do wonder what the next seasons of DL chronicles and Freefall hold though. Those are two of the best. No Shade got good reviews on this blog so I may check that one out too.
DITTO Nick! As you say and I quote…
As bad as it is, “In The Deep” does have solid audio, sharp well-lit visuals and strained attempts at actual character development which makes it ahead of most of the Black Gay American Web Series pack. I would say FREE-FALL, NO-SHADE, MY BROTHER’S KEEPER all get a thumbs up in this particular corner! But truly, most of them lack good stories/character development! Okay…I’ll make a couple exceptions, I liked FINDING ME SERIES(only because it was my 1st time ever really watching a complete LGBT type of series and I followed the characters and wanted to see how they turn out), MY BROTHERS KEEPER(Loved this one),DL CHRONICLES(great) for their particular story lines, I watched a few of those stories
develop into a little something more interesting. Ok, cool beans!
Now as far as “IN THE DEEP” series goes?…You are absolutely correct! The character development is whack and very predictable-in particular, RENE’S character (can u say ughk!?)
I don’t know very much about gay lifestyle (whatever that is?) but I am most certain its gotta be much more to it than a punchline-toting-wanna be fly-with the whore complex-I Don’t Give a Damn, I’ll fuck Everybody and Shit on Anybody That Get in My Way-PERSONA!
The first thing THE “IN TOO DEEP” Producers need to do SHOULD they continue producing this project…is LOSE, LOOSEN, LET GO, GET RID OF THAT RENE’S CHARACTER! HE’S HORRIBLE! The other characters were eh’ okay, namely I liked Emilia’s character (For a quick sec, I thought SHE was a HE/Transgender until I seen the whole lesbian interaction between her and the chic) was cool.
ADE’S character was typical and yet somewhat interesting. Only because of the whole secretive relationship between the other friend-WESLEY…who was predictable and annoying as well!
I’d like to see a story for just once, that’s has a more universal outlook in how the LGBTQ Community just deals and revolves around this thing everybody deals with called, LIFE! And NOT from an angle of “All I do is party, screw everything and anybody not nailed down, cry over a fool that’s screwing each other’s friends! LOL!
To me, the LGBTQ Community always seem to paint a picture of their world from an eschewed outlook. I don’t know if its because of the sexuality differences or hiding, but these over the top-like characters seem to be something birthed out of their imaginations or fantasies. I’m going off into something, but I digress…LOL! My point is, DO WE NOT BREATHE THE SAME AIR? DO WE NOT ALL HAVE THE SAME 24HRS IN A DAY? DO WE NOT ALL HAVE WARM BLOOD RUNNING THRU OUR VEINS???…Tell a GOOD story!
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT NEED TO BE MORE REALISTIC, MORE THOUGHT PROVOKING, AND OVERALL JUST MORE INTERESTING! I wonder in these types of stories, Do they NOT have family members, or friends, that DON’T ALL judge them? but love them for who they are, or like to hang around doing regular stuff? Its as if the LGBTQ Community isolate themselves yet live in this glass bubble~SHEEESH! LOL!
Good topic!
Thanks for this Wes. Hopefully the creators of In The Deep and creators of many other web series will see this comment and listen to your words. There is a demand for something DIFFERENT.
Speaking as someone from the UK, I think it is to an extent a realistic portrayal…well a Nigerian guy who is on the DL hiding his relationship isn’t too hard to find here…and one who is married as well with kids…
It’s two episodes in, so I’m not going to judge where they are going to go to with the entire season, because well I don’t know.
Now I don’t know about everyone else, but over here when I’ve been to clubs, I’ve seen Rene’s all over the place, men who give blow jobs in staircases and toilets, and I’m sure this is universal whether or not we choose to say it exists, that’s a different topic, but we can watch a whore in a film and say that’s ok, but a guy gets a blow job in a staircase, we don’t want to accept it as part of our culture. Fair enough – we’re in denial…I get that. Or maybe it’s too different cultures and no…LGBTQ stories can never be universal because of that, but we can accept there are other people out there who deserve to have their stories told…or maybe we just want the good stuff on screen and forget the bad exist…so much for realism eh?!
I like In The Deep, I want to see where they are going to go with it, it’s too early to judge and seeing that ti’s something that I can relate to in some areas so far then I’ll give it a try…and as for the Three Act story….well, web series are 10-15 mins long, I don’t know how that works.
Thanks for your take on this series and I appreciate your alternative POV from the UK.
I’ll counter a few of your points though, not to be combative, just to further explain myself.
1.) Just because something is “realistic” doesn’t make it entertaining. If it has been done HUNDREDS of time before in much better ways, no matter how realistic it is its still cliched and derivative.
2.) The whore Rene’ Character has been done repeatedly since 1998’s Sex and the City…and its been done in much better ways. No matter how realistic it is, If the creators of the first black gay web series in the UK wants this negative persona to be the centerpiece to their film series, so be it. I for one am tired of the same stereotype.
It may be a cultural different thing. Maybe Black Brits like being negatively stereotyped. I constantly hear people saying the UK hood films don’t represent all of black London, but those films keep getting made. In The Deep was a indie project, the filmmakers could have shown us something unique and different than the norm.
3.) And no, American gay men don’t have sex in public stairwells. This is a British thing.
I hear your points – but I guess it’s also subject to what you view as realism in your World, Rene’s character aside (I doubt you can speak for ALL American gay men or women…but I did watch The Skinny when it premiered here in the UK and I’m sure there was a scene where the guys and lesbians got it on in the toilets….or maybe that’s classier?) – I don’t think it’s a negative portrayal, I think it’s honest, because at some point we have to say here’s the good and bad, now what do we do about it. Do we dismiss it as “cliched and derivatie” because in your World it’s been done, or do you look at it and go “ok, here is what is going on in this culture” – besides let’s be honest, the gay world is full of images of sex with half naked men staring at us all over the place – we don’t complain about that as being cliched? And if it is, why aren’t we changing it?
The funny thing is – this shows you a different side of London that people never see from a black perspective and in that form it is unique and different. Hood films show you dark council estates where no one is getting out — little bit like Spike Lee films, no one leaves the ghetto for whatever reason – here we have four friends who seem to be middle class and live in an upcoming side of London that is trendy – yes they could have done more with East London…but like I’ve said before, it’s two episodes in, so I’m not going to judge the entire first season…I’ll hold out to the end, if they do get a chance to make all episodes and see what happens, then I’ll rate it.
LOL You’re arguing for me to accept “realism” of the film but not the quality of it. The acting is bad. The story is unoriginal, cliche’d and derivative and goes no where. And yes I disapproved of the toilet sex in my review of “The Skinny.” And yes we complain about the gay world being full of images of sex ALL THE TIME on this website. And yes, calling out debased stereotype filled films/shows like “In The Deep” goes towards changing it.
I stand by my review of this web series. Two episodes totaling over 20 minutes is enough to know this is not very good, I don’t need a full season. I don’t need to eat a full meal to know that it doesn’t taste right. I don’t need to read a full book to know if it is written well or not.
Check out the web series called My Brothers Keeper on our website. It easily manages to tell a quality, original story with the full Three Act Structure in every episode.
http://www.discreetcity.com/1/post/2013/04/web-series-review-my-brothers-keeper.html
At the end of the day, you’re entitled to your opinion and tastes. This series may just not be for people like me and others in the USA and is just more suited for people in the UK. All of the other comments were from Americans and they didn’t really like the series either. Thanks for the debate Guerera.