What else are we gonna be?

Top Boy Season 3 — 4/5

It's back from a long hiatus, and I'm glad it's back and I thank god for the hiatus. Season 2 had lost any momentum from Season 1, having fallen in love with characters no longer relevant, and so we arrive back with everything in disarray and new, compelling characters to compete with our aging horde who've lost their luster, both in-show and in my caring about them. I think the show's biggest strength, going back to season 1, is an exceptional cast of new talent. To compare it to The Wire: that show had a handful of excellent actors, surrounded by people who looked and felt the part but weren't themselves people we'd consider a good actor. Here, everyone is a star, from top boys down to the youngers. It knows how to use what the actors inherently bring to a role. With the excitement of the new characters, there was a big hope for me this season that we'd see a larger regime change. It didn't quite work out that way, but it also didn't quite not work out that way. Looking back on it, the show fit a lot into ten episodes, but the main shift is that DuShane is now Sully—willing to do whatever—and Sully is now DuShane—some version of a moral code now imprinted on his body. Something in both of them has broken, and they're willing to scar the landscape to match their image. The shades of sympathy have shifted, and whatever comes—they deserve it.