---
title: "When They See Us"
year: 2019
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/when-they-see-us"
fi1m_score: 84
critics_score: 85
critics_reviews: 11
published: "2026-09-17T13:53:20.095715+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T13:53:32.564434+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# When They See Us (2019)

Created by Ava DuVernay · MPA NR · Drama

**Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 85 from 11 reviews

*In a sentence:* Every adult in a suit already knows the answer; the boys are only there to sign it

> Ava DuVernay’s four hours on the Central Park Five are strongest in small rooms with frightened boys and their parents, and they are hard to shake. The series is weaker when it stops to make a speech, but Jharrel Jerome alone justifies the evening.

## Synopsis

New York, April 1989. A woman is found raped and beaten in Central Park on a night when teenagers were running through it, and the police begin pulling boys off the streets of Harlem. Kevin Richardson (Asante Blackk), Antron McCray (Caleel Harris), Yusef Salaam (Ethan Herisse) and Raymond Santana (Marquis Rodriguez) are held overnight and questioned without lawyers. Korey Wise (Jharrel Jerome) walks into the precinct only to keep Yusef company and does not walk out. The detectives want a story that fits, and by morning they have five. The parents, among them Linda and Bobby McCray (Marsha Stephanie Blake, Michael K. Williams) and Sharonne Salaam (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), arrive to find their sons already on paper.

## Review

In April 1989 a woman out running in Central Park was raped and beaten nearly to death, and within days the New York police had five names: Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise, black and Latino boys from Harlem, the oldest sixteen. Ava DuVernay’s four-part series is about what was done to them. The case is famous and its outcome is on the record, so DuVernay assumes you know the headline. What she is sure you do not know is the boys, and she keeps the camera on them and their parents and lets the detectives and lawyers come and go at the edge of the frame.

The first episode is the best hour about a police interrogation we have seen on television. The editors, Spencer Averick, Terilyn A. Shropshire and Michelle Tesoro, cut between five rooms in one precinct, and we watch the confessions being assembled in front of us, each boy handed the others’ names as if they were already friends. Asante Blackk’s Kevin asks whether he can go home once he has written it down. Caleel Harris’s Antron is told by his own father, Bobby (Michael K. Williams), to say what they want because then the police will let him leave. We were angry, and the anger did not lift for a day. DuVernay earns it with detail rather than volume: the strip lights, the takeaway cups, the boys’ hands.

Bradford Young shoots in low light and keeps the boys’ faces warm, which the newspaper photographs of the time did not. The park at night is a scramble of handheld shapes, and that is honest: nobody in the series knows exactly what happened there and Young does not pretend the camera does. The precinct and the courtroom, built by Henry Dunn and Akin McKenzie, are beige and brown with the colour drained out. Kris Bowers’s score is mostly piano and low strings and stays out of the interrogation rooms altogether. Caroline Duncan’s costumes carry the passing years; you notice the decade has turned from the width of a collar before anyone says the date.

The parents do much of the acting. Marsha Stephanie Blake’s Linda McCray and Williams’s Bobby have the hardest marriage in it, a man who thought he was saving his son and a woman who cannot forgive him, and Williams plays the shame without asking for pity. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s Sharonne Salaam is the one parent who arrives in time and knows the rules, and the series is honest that this helps less than it should. Niecy Nash’s Deloris Wise has fewer scenes and lands every one. John Leguizamo’s Raymond Santana Sr. is quieter than we have seen him and better for it.

Then there is Korey. Jharrel Jerome plays Korey Wise from the sixteen-year-old who walked into the precinct only to keep his friend Yusef company through to the man he becomes, the only one of the five played by a single actor across the whole span. The fourth hour is his, and it moved us more than we were ready for, not in the big scenes but in a visiting room, where he cannot bring himself to ask his mother the question he has been saving up. Jerome gives him a stammer and a way of ducking his head that never asks to be liked.

What works less well is everything that moves away from the boys and their parents. The detectives and prosecutors are one note each, and the teleplays, credited to DuVernay with Julian Breece, Robin Swicord, Michael Starrbury and Attica Locke, have a habit of standing someone up to make a speech about the system that the previous twenty minutes had already made without words. The archive footage of the city’s rage in 1989, including a property developer named Trump buying newspaper space to call for the death penalty, belongs here, but DuVernay leans on it as though the line to the present needed drawing. Most critics rate the series a little higher than we do, and those speeches are the difference.

It is a 15 certificate and it is not for one sitting. Take an episode a night and let each settle; the third and fourth ask the most patience. Anyone who knows the case will know where it goes, and will find that knowing helps less than they expected.

*Fi1m score 84, published 17 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews lean firmly positive, and most critics agree on why. Ava DuVernay is praised for turning the Central Park Five back into five separate people, following each boy through the coerced confessions and into the years that followed rather than retelling the facts of the case. The young cast draws near-uniform praise, with Jharrel Jerome singled out repeatedly, above all for the fourth episode. Bradford Young’s cinematography is named more than once. Almost every critic warns that it is hard to watch, and most treat that as a strength.

The spread is narrow: ten positive, one mixed, none negative. The reservations that do appear concern tone and weight. IndieWire finds the series caught between an intimate account of the men and a broader attack on the system, and says it wears the viewer down. Vulture notes an occasional lean into cliché, and The AV Club, though admiring, says the experience tastes like medicine.

### Reviews we read (11)

- **The AV Club**, Joshua Alston (A-): DuVernay maintains a disciplined focus on the men and how their lives suffered irreparable damage from incarceration after coerced confessions; the series is urgent, unflinching, and political but a gutting experience that tastes like medicine. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/ava-duvernays-bruising-central-park-five-series-is-an-e-1835135851)
- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): Ava DuVernay delivers an urgent, astonishing dramatisation of the Central Park Five case that refuses to label prejudice explicitly but embeds it in every assumption by the white authorities. The uniformly astonishing performances, especially by the young actors portraying the five boys, capture both their lost innocence and its lasting impact. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/may/31/when-they-see-us-review-netflix-ava-duvernay-central-park-five)
- **Variety**, Daniel D'Addario (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the series an achievement for its merciful approach to the story rather than vengeance, immersing viewers in the men's humanity and the failures of the justice system. It singles out the glimpses of family reconnections, such as Korey’s relationship with his mother, for praise. [Read](https://variety.com/2019/tv/reviews/ava-duvernay-when-they-see-us-1203220510/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the miniseries searing and compelling overall, praising its rigorous chronicle of the legal failure and DuVernay’s choice to restore the men’s individual identities. It singles out the superb cinematography of Bradford Young and the note-perfect ensemble cast for praise. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/they-see-us-review-1211524/)
- **Vulture** (80/100, inferred): The miniseries strips away the dehumanizing tendency to bunch the boys together and shows what each dealt with individually; DuVernay's intimate approach and strong performances make it feel personal, though it occasionally leans into drama and clichés. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2019/05/when-they-see-us-netflix-review.html)
- **IndieWire**, Ben Travers (60/100, inferred): The series is wrenching and blunt in its portrayal of the Central Park Five case and DuVernay's targeting of systemic issues including Trump, but it is torn between intimacy and symbolism, ultimately wearing on the viewer. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/netflix-when-they-see-us-central-park-5-series-1202143178/)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (★★★★★): The critic praises DuVernay's powerful miniseries for focusing on the emotional toll on the five men and their families rather than just the facts of the case, highlighting systemic racism and demanding empathy from viewers. Special praise goes to the cast performances, particularly Jharrel Jerome, and Bradford Young's cinematography. [Read](https://collider.com/when-they-see-us-review-netflix/)
- **Den of Geek**, Tony Sokol (5/5): DuVernay does an amazing job with the emotionally jarring story of wrongful imprisonment; the natural acting, subtle realism, and master stroke of directorial choices make it blunt yet subtle, a never-coming-of-age story filled with tension. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/when-they-see-us-review/)
- **Consequence** (90/100, inferred): The critic describes the series as a scathing indictment of American injustice and a harrowing account of an unforgivable failure of justice and morality. It singles out DuVernay's artistry, consideration in handling the story's humanity and intersectionality, and the uniformly great performances for praise. [Read](https://consequence.net/2019/05/tv-review-when-they-see-us/)
- **Paste**, Amy Amatangelo (9.5): The critic calls the series masterful and exceedingly difficult to watch, leaving viewers devastated yet in awe of the men's resilience. It singles out the casting of relatively unknown young actors to portray the boys and Jharrel Jerome's tour-de-force performance in the devastating fourth episode for particular praise. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/article/you-cannot-look-away-from-when-they-see-us)
- **The Ringer**, Alison Herman (75/100, inferred): The series effectively spotlights the personal lives and post-conviction experiences of the Central Park Five rather than rehashing known facts about the case. It excels in its later episodes by showing the challenges of readjustment, prison disparities, and individual resilience, especially through Korey Wise's arc and strong casting choices. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2019/05/30/tv/when-they-see-us-central-park-five-ava-duvernay-netflix)

## Details

- **Created by:** Ava DuVernay
- **Creator:** Ava DuVernay
- **Director:** Ava DuVernay
- **Story:** Ava DuVernay, Julian Breece
- **Teleplay:** Ava DuVernay, Julian Breece, Robin Swicord, Michael Starrbury, Attica Locke
- **Cinematography:** Bradford Young
- **Editor:** Spencer Averick, Terilyn A. Shropshire, Michelle Tesoro
- **Music:** Kris Bowers
- **Production design:** Henry Dunn, Akin McKenzie
- **Costume design:** Caroline Duncan
- **Cast:** Asante Blackk as Young Kevin Richardson; Jharrel Jerome as Korey Wise; Ethan Herisse as Young Yusef Salaam; Marquis Rodriguez as Young Raymond Santana Jr.; Caleel Harris as Young Antron McCray; Marsha Stephanie Blake as Linda McCray; Michael K. Williams as Bobby McCray; John Leguizamo as Raymond Santana Sr.
- **Certificate (MPA):** NR
- **Release (the US):** 31 May 2019
- **Genres:** Drama
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyoSErErnCE

## Where to watch in the US

- Netflix: streaming

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, AZ, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Central Park Five* (2012): The documentary account of the same case, with the men telling it themselves.
- *The Thin Blue Line* (1988), Fi1m 90: Errol Morris takes a Texas murder conviction apart one witness at a time. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-thin-blue-line.md)
- *In the Name of the Father* (1993), Fi1m 83: A coerced confession, a father in the next cell, and Daniel Day-Lewis furious. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father.md)
- *Fruitvale Station* (2013): One ordinary day in Oakland, filmed so you know exactly what was lost.
- *Time* (2020), Fi1m 77: A Louisiana wife films twenty years of waiting for her husband’s release. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/when-they-see-us