Netflix's first African original series, a spy thriller starring South African model, actress and TV host Pearl Thusi, offers a distinctive South African backdrop. "Though there may be a remaining audience that attaches a stigma to reading TV shows or movies, there's something wonderfully progressive to the way Netflix has blurred international and linguistic boundaries such that 'Hey, that looks good!' has become a more important inducement for viewership than, 'Hey, that show is in a language I speak and populated by actors I recognize!'" says Daniel Fienberg. "Netflix has encouraged audiences to understand that if you, for example, like CW-style teen soap operas, you aren't beholden exclusively to The CW to produce them when you might find equally entertaining genre entries from Spain or Denmark, just like you'll rapidly discover that the rhythms of the Dick Wolf-style procedural have spread across the globe. Netflix's first script-to-screen African original series, Queen Sono, follows in the footsteps of many of the streamer's better international efforts. It's simultaneously completely recognizable and easy to classify, genre-wise, but if you actually tune in for the Alias-esque thriller, you'll be exposed to a dozen languages, several of which you probably haven't heard on your TV, and to a cultural and geopolitical backdrop that makes the familiar plot feel distinctive and somewhat new. And at only six episodes, there isn't nearly enough time for the myriad less successful elements to become serious impediments."
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TOPICS: Queen Sono, Netflix, Pearl Thusi