We’re living in the age of remakes, reboots, and reimaginings. Hollywood is distrustful of new ideas, and has chosen the safety and comfort of dusting off old properties and reinventing them for modern audiences. When it was announced that The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air would get a dramatic reinvention, I was excited. Although the original series is a comedy, it was full of dramatic moments that tackled racism, parental abandonment, youthful rebellion, etc. The potential for a dramatic reboot is engrained into the DNA of the original series. Peacock takes that potential and explores what that looks like through a modern lens.
Will Smith (Jabari Banks) is a star athlete, honor roll student, and proud resident of West Philadelphia. Will has a deep sense of pride about where he comes from and even expresses anxiety to his mother about the idea of attending college outside of his home state. Will’s mother Vy (April Parker Jones) is determined to keep her son on track and has scouts from Virginia State University coming to watch his skills on the court. However, as the theme song of the original series states, Will’s life will soon be twist turned upside down.
After Will and his friend Tray have a troubling encounter with old schoolyard bully turned drug dealer, the two find themselves in a high stakes game of basketball that turns violent when the local drug lord is angered and decides to direct his wrath at Will and Tray. In a desperate attempt to save Tray’s life, Will pulls out a gun and threatens the drug lord. The police arrive to deescalate the situation, and Will ends up getting arrested.
Without missing a beat, Vy bails Will out of jail and puts him on a flight to live with their estranged relatives, The Banks. Upon his arrival in California, he meets and quickly befriends his Uber driver, Jazz (Jordan L. Jones). The meeting is kismet, because Will needs as many allies as he can get as he enters this new and unfamiliar world of the rich and elite. After a tense encounter with the Banks’ house manager, Geoffrey (Jimmy Akingbola), Will receives an enthusiastic welcome from his Aunt Viv (Cassandra Freeman) and his cousins, Hilary (Coco Jones) and Ashley (Akira Akbar).
His stoic Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes), who made a few calls to help Will avoid jail time, and his condescending cousin, Carlton (Olly Sholotan), are more guarded and concerned about how Will’s arrival will impact their lives. Uncle Phil is campaigning to become the District Attorney of Los Angeles, and while his goal is to bring equity and equality to the way the criminal justice system treats troubled young black men, having everyone know one of those troubled young men is living in his household could prove to be disastrous. He quickly provides a cover story that Will has moved to Bel-Air for a better education.
We also meet Lisa Wilkes ( Simone Joy Jones). She’s Carlton’s ex and has an instant connection with Will. She’s a talented swimmer who on track for the Olympic tryouts and attends Bel-Air Academy on a scholarship. Both she and Will are “charity cases” in the eyes of others, and that allows them to connect on a level much deeper than she and Carlton can. As one might guess, this leads to the beginning of a love triangle between her and the two cousins. The episode closes out with Carlton pushing Will into a swimming pool after he notices Will and Lisa dancing too closely. Will can’t swim, and almost drowns if not for Lisa’s intervention. As you can imagine, he’s not too happy with his cousin once he’s back on dry land.
Although there’s a lot going on in the first episode, the updated versions of each of the characters proves to be spot on. Will is smart, funny, and has a unwavering sense of pride in himself and where he comes from. One can’t help but root for him, and Jabari Banks’ portrayal brings a lot of vulnerability and heart to the role.
Coco Jones as Hilary is another portrayal that stood out to me. In this incarnation, Hilary is a stylish, social media influencer who has based her entire internet brand around her culinary pursuits. She’s taking a gap year, living in her parent’s pool house (a nice nod to the original) and filming cooking tutorials that bring in thousands of views. Hilary’s plans on following her own path, even against her mother’s wishes.
Olly Sholotan portrays Carlton as smug, petty, and extremely high strung. Basically, everything he was in the original times ten. This series adds a Xanax-snorting habit to up the ante. Carlton is a star athlete on the lacrosse field, and at every step reminds his cousin Will that he does not and will never belong in Bel-Air. When Will calls Carlton out for allowing his white friends to use the “N” word while signing rap music, Carlton is quick to dismiss Will’s concerns and make excuses for them. In his mind, they’re his equals and Will is beneath all of them. His lingering feelings for Lisa and fear that Will’s presence will continue to destabilize his life will provide plenty of drama as the season moves forward.
Cassandra Freeman as Aunt Viv and Akira Akbar as Ashely don’t get much to do in this episode, but I’m sure they’ll get more development as the season and series progresses. Adrian Holmes brings an intensity and almost sinister edge to the role of Uncle Phil. I really hope we get to see a darker side of the character as the show continues. Same with Jimmy Akingbola’s Geoffrey. You get the sense that there’s a darker side of the character is simmering just beneath the surface.
My hopes are high for the series. As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, the dramatic elements of the original lend themselves to a more dramatic retelling and Peacock’s Bel-Air is just that. The episode is full of callbacks to the original series that will have fans rewatching to spot all of the references, and eager to continue this new series.
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Writer. Video Essayist. Film/TV Critic. Pop Culture Enthusiast.
When he isn’t writing for Geek Vibes Nation or The Cinema Spot, Tristian can be found typing away at one of the novels or screenplays he’s been working on forever.
