Champions is a Netflix series produced by Mindy Kaling. Building on the success of The Mindy Project, she presents with Champions a rather special family living in New York.
The first season of Champions tells the story of Vince, who lives in New York and runs a gym with his brother. One day, his ex-girlfriend from college, Priya, introduces him to their child, Michael, 12. She asks him to keep him until Michael finishes his studies at a prestigious art school.
The format of Champions is a sitcom series of 10 episodes of 22 minutes. It is a classic format. The series does not venture to go beyond this framework. The rhythm is always the same: an event occurs during the episode and ends before its end.
The setting is a positive point in the series. The different places make the lives of the characters believable. We see that there was a fairly substantial budget behind it. But, we still feel that it is a set mounted but the different shots make the sets credible.
However, even though Champions has many settings, the direction is not great. The plans are not very original, the light is quite flat in short, there is little risk taking in terms of realization.
The scenario is also not over. Indeed, we suspect the trajectories of the characters. Vince is a former sportsman a little imbued with himself who will thanks to his son become less selfish. Dana is an accountant stuck with a couple who does not move until there is an explosion in their relationship. There are no surprises in their evolution. We quickly suspect what will happen.
The characters are quite caricatured whether they are the main characters or the secondary characters. For example, Michael is a young gay and effeminate boy who knows all the reality shows in the country. He is also very close to his mother and has a strong character. He is very unendearing. Indeed, we have the impression that it is a living cliché and that it could not be a person we would meet in the street.
In addition, one can also wonder what are the wishes of the authors. What is their purpose in choosing to talk about homosexuality? Indeed, one of their main characters, Michael is homosexual and this has been assumed for many years. He is very cliché and plays a lot on humor. One wonders if it is a positive humor (to include more diversity in the series) or a negative humor (to mock). The line between the two is very thin and complex. Indeed, the caricature is often not far away and here it is quite obvious.
The series also offers a vision of the discovery of parenthood. However, is this good advice?
