‘Beyond Black Beauty’ and the Importance of Its Storytelling
Black girl magic is meeting cowboy core aesthetics in Season 1 of Prime Video’s Beyond Black Beauty, and it’s a horseback ride worth taking.
Beyond Black Beauty, based on the book Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, follows the teenager Jolie Dumont (Kaya Coleman) and her multi-generational family. Jolie has heart and spirit. She’s an ambitious horseback rider living in Belgium with plans for the Olympics. However, her life is uprooted when her father’s (Gilles Marini) business scandals surface, and she finds herself moving into her Aunt Yvonne’s (Lisa Berry) urban ranch in Baltimore with her mom (Sagine Sémajuste).
Initially, Jolie’s primary goal is getting back to Belgium, but she develops an unbreakable bond with a gorgeous black horse who has been let down time and time again. The horse, who Jolie appropriately names Beauty, connects Jolie to her family and gives her an entirely new definition of home.
The scope of issues on this show is vast, and every issue is handled with impeccable care. It covers animal rights and resilience through the story of Beauty. It covers the struggles of gentrification through the story of Yvonne’s ranch. It covers mental health through Jolie’s struggles with anxiety and bullying, and it covers racial discrimination through a wide variety of lenses. I could go on and on. Somehow, though, Beyond Black Beauty covers all of these intense topics (and more), while holding the viewer in the comforting embrace of the familial bond that ties the show together.
This show is Black women-led by a stellar cast. Kaya Coleman’s performance as Jolie shines on this show. Being a primary connecting point of all the stories being told isn’t an easy feat, but Coleman does it with heart and talent. The chemistry she has with Akiel Julien, who plays her love interest, Alvin, is also incredibly tangible.
Similarly, Sagine Sémajuste and Gilles Marini have great chemistry, even playing a couple with marriage turmoil that’s rather heavy in the plot. The sisterhood between Sémajuste’s character, Janelle, and Lisa Berry’s character, Yvonne, is also wonderful, heartwarming, and refreshing. Its growth is beautifully nourished throughout the show’s first season
Lisa Berry’s performance as Yvonne Parrish is powerful and full of love, comfort, and joy. Fans of her previous work like Supernatural will savor seeing her in a lighter role that’s easy to adore and root for.
With fully-rounded characters of all ages, this show truly covers and relates to the experiences of anyone who watches. Even through some of these characters’ flaws and mistakes, it’s hard not to root for the wonderful women who make this show what it is. We can only hope that Season 2 is on the horizon. (I mean, that ending? Come on!)
The first season of Beyond Black Beauty is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video and FreeVee.
