'#FreeRayshawn' Review: Quibi's screen-orientation shifts make this gunman and police standoff story very real
Spoilers for ‘#FreeRayshawn’
Watching a show with seven-minute-long episodes can be a surreal experience. It’s fast, it’s intense, and it can almost give you whiplash. And much to my delight, the plot of ‘#FreeRayshawn’ feels apt for something like this.
‘#FreeRayshawn’ tells the story of a young, black Iraq War veteran named Rayshawn. The eponymous character was allegedly set up by the New Orleans police. As he runs for his life and takes refuge inside his apartment building with his girlfriend and child, cops and the SWAT team show up outside his door, ready to storm his home. At the same time, a social media frenzy begins as community members and news outlets arrive at the scene. Steven Poincy, a veteran cop, then plays the role of negotiator and tries to get Rayshawn to calmly surrender in order to avoid a violent situation.
The Quibi show has a lot going on. The urgency of the story, however, does not take away from these details. In fact, a Quibi feature works extremely well for this show. Because it’s a show you watch on a mobile device, the orientation of the show changes from portrait to landscape as you turn your device. Automatically.
What could have become a tiring experience, however, fits the premise of a show about a hostage situation-turned-police negotiation-turned social media movement. In fact, the show sometimes feels much more alive in the vertical portrait mode -- the hand-held camera movements in this mode almost gives it a real-time feel.
The following are short reviews for each episode of the show, updated as and when a new episode airs:
Episode 1: What Are You Doing Here?
A high-speed police pursuit on a hot, dusty, sunny day in New Orleans in the very first scene that sets the tone for the series’ urgency. As a visibly afraid Rayshawn (Stephan James) drives, cop cars chase him, sometimes even taking shots at him. The pursuit leads to an accident and even Rayshawn almost hits a kid on a bike.
Cops alleged that he tried to kill a cop. But is Rayshawn as innocent as he seems? Despite his claim that the police set him up, as he gets out of his car to enter his building, we catch a glimpse of an automatic weapon in Rayshawn’s hand. Guilty or not, Rayshawn’s fear is almost infectious as he tries to make sure his wife (Alyshia Ochse) and son get out of the house. But before long, the cops arrive at his doorsteps.
The first glimpse of the show’s racial commentary arrives when one of the white policemen describes Rayshawn to the elderly cop Poincy (Laurence Fishburne) as a “Black male, 20s, dark clothing”. Poincy has an exasperated look on his face at this overtly generic description. Also, as viewers note, Rayshawn was wearing a yellow shirt. The episode ends with Poincy pointing a gun at Rayshawn as he tries to leave with his wife and son.
Episode 2: Clear the Building
The second episode gives viewers a better understanding of Poincy. After Rayshawn and his family give him the slip and escape back inside their home, one can see Poincy visibly shaken, making it apparent that the elderly neighborhood cop had unlikely been in a high-stakes situation like this in a long time, perhaps even never.
It also tries to portray that cops behave in predominantly black neighborhoods. They treat everyone as a potential suspect. One particular scene encapsulates this beautifully. As the cops were clearing out the building, one of the houses had an extremely large man, who was both tall and well-built. How the cops immediately went on hyperdrive is something many continue to witness in real life, even through videos of police brutality on social media.
The episode highlights the difference between a community policeman and gung-ho cops. While one attempts to control the situation, the others open fire, with no thought for consequences, at Rayshawn’s window as he tries to broadcast himself live on Instagram, telling his followers not to let him get killed by cops.
Episode 3: Get Away From The Windows
This episode sees the aftermath of the indiscriminate police firing. While the cops strategized how to move ahead, a community movement began to build up, as Rayshawn continued to live-stream his torment. He told viewers that the cops were trying to frame him by pinning the gun on him. This is again, one of those moments where Quibi’s portrait mode feature makes the Instagram live look too life-life. The show’s urgent pace and the hyperrealism make this likely situation feel true -- and that works only too well for the show’s story.
The episode takes an emotional turn as we see Rayshawn try to console his shell shocked family. That they should come in the way of this violence is unconditionally cruel and the poignant scene makes one angry and sad at the same time.
Episode 4: Put The Brother On The Phone
As cops manage to make contact with Rayshawn, the story finally reveals its ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ inspirations. Rayshawn tells the white policeman (Skeet Ulrich), “Put the brother on the phone,” signaling that he only trusts Poincy at this moment, very similar to how Al Pacino’s Sonny developed a bond with Charles Durning’s officer Moretti. His instincts aren’t wrong. Poincy did not shoot him even though he was in point-blank range in episode 1, while the other cops did.
That Poincy is hesitant to be the person of contact -- the negotiator -- is also abundantly clear and understandable. A beat cop who has no experience with hostage situations (although this could hardly be called that) is unlikely to excel in such a role. But the other cops convince him.
Another parallel with 'Dog Day Afternoon' becomes clear as the media starts arriving at the scene. With news crews keeping an eye on them, the cops had to be on their best behavior. Something that Pacino points out in the 1975 film too.
Episode 5: Face to Face
As tension reigns outside Rayshawn’s building, Poincy goes inside to hand the eponymous character and his family food. This marks the beginning of a conversation between them. While Poincy tries his level best to gain Rayshawn’s trust, things aren’t easy.
Even though he asked to speak to him, trust, at this point, isn't easy for Rayshawn, seeing how he and his family were fired upon just minutes back in the show’s timeline. Yet, there is a rapport. That, however, turns into a hostile situation once again as the other officers turn up and point their weapons at Rayshawn. He then has no choice but to hold Poincy hostage, in order to protect himself. The episode ends in a stalemate with multiple officers on an offensive against him.
Will this make things more difficult for Rayshawn? Find out more in the next episode.
Episode 6: It’s Ok to be Scared
The episode began on a tense note. Rayshawn had a gun on Poincy as the other cops attempted to target him. Even though the kerfuffle ended quickly, there were consequences. Rayshawn’s five-year-old son had now seen his father violently hold a policeman hostage for a bit. He was afraid of his father.
The dynamics of the trapped family is portrayed with as much importance in the series as is what’s happening outside, which makes the story all the more compelling. It’s a helpless situation for Rayshawn -- his wife is angry and scared. His son is scared to death. And cops outside want his head. What is he to do?
And while Rayshawn deals with this, things start escalating outside. A SWAT team has arrived and that decreases his chances of surviving all the more. The community’s reaction to this massive deployment of forces also increases the tensions further. What is to stop an impromptu riot from breaking out? Episode 6 only marinates the story in unease.
Episode 7: I’m Not a Negotiator
The drama inside the house only escalated further as Rayshawn’s wife demanded an explanation. When he said that the cops were trying to frame him on false drug charges, his wife seemed unwilling to believe that he was being honest. He suspects him of infidelity as well. It’s visible that the stress of the situation was getting to both of them.
But even outdoors, things weren’t better. There was visible friction between Poincy and the other cops. The former only repeated what Rayshawn claimed about how he was being framed and entrapped by the police department. The other cops took that as Poincy sympathizing with him. Luckily, before things could escalate, the SWAT officers intervened.
The episode juxtaposes mistrust on both ends beautifully, while making sure that things remain as tense as they can be.
Episode 8: No Way Back
The episode sees two important events, one the police’s frustration at Rayshawn managing to communicate with people through social media. And two, the death of the policeman who Rayshawn allegedly ran over trying to escape the supposed entrapment. As the crowd outside Rayshawn’s apartment grew more frenzied, law enforcement officials found themselves frustrated that Rayshawn’s cell phone was still working. It was how he had managed to alert the community of what was happening. And it was how he was talking to the media.
But even as they attempted to cut the phone’s network, things took a turn for the worse. Not just for Rayshawn, but for everyone. The media reported, mid-interview, of the policeman’s death. This would only weaken Rayshawn’s position in the case where he alleged he was being entrapped by law enforcement.
Episode 9: They Want Me Dead, Don’t They?
As cops discussed how to control the situation, a recurring theme that occurs within the law enforcement’s narrative (with the exception of Poincy) was how to not cause a media scene and how to avoid one of their own bearing the brunt of killing Rayshawn. In other words, they did not care for Rayshawn’s life, they wanted to protect themselves.
In the meantime, Poincy was stuck introspecting on his own past actions and how he too was part of the system that led to Rayshawn’s present situation. As the SWAT team advanced to his door, Poincy’s sympathy for Rayshawn and other victims of police excesses led him to have a heated discussion with his own brethren.
Episode 10: He’s Telling The Truth
Amid chants of “F*** the police” from the surrounding crowds, Poincy was now being accused of being a traitor to his uniform, for believing what Rayshawn had to say. This episode highlights racial lines even within law enforcement and how a simple act of humanity -- not wanting to kill Rayshawn for being a supposed cop-killer -- earned Poincy the rage of his fellow cops.
As the SWAT team and a sniper took position, early signs of an oncoming riot began to present itself outside Rayshawn’s building. The episode ended on a tense note, with the sniper taking aim at Rayshawn.
New episodes of '#FreeRayshawn' air on Quibi every weekday.