Reels & Riddims
Welcome to Reels & Riddims!
Mikelah and Kerry-Ann, two friends and culture enthusiasts, give their eclectic mix of commentary and reviews in world of TV, Film, and Concerts. From dissecting storylines in TV and film that feature Caribbean characters, to the irresistible 'riddims' of the concerts, Reels and Riddims got you covered.
Reels & Riddims
Netflix's new series"Champion" is a Champion
In this epsiode we review episode 1 of the series "Champion vs. Champion." The Champion siblings' rivalry takes center stage, with Vita's uncredited contributions to Bosco's music career fueling a narrative that's as gripping as it is relatable. With a keen eye on the storytelling mechanics that drive character development, we’re inviting you to immerse yourself in the series alongside us.
By the time the credits roll, you'll have a deeper appreciation for the characters' journey and the storytelling artistry that brings "Champion" to life. So, tune in and experience the drama with us. It's going to be a ride you won't want to miss.
Connect with us:
- @reelsandriddims on Instagram
- Website | YouTube
A Breadfruit Media Production
Hey everybody, welcome to season two of Reels and Redims presented by Carry On Friends in partnership with the Style and the Vibes and Breadfruit Media.
Speaker 2:More fan, more fan.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and we are excited to kick off season two with the new Netflix series straight out of London City, champions. And when we say champions to the world winners, only I am not going to try to rap like Bosco or Vee-ah, so Vee-ah, vee-ah, and we're not going to be mucking around.
Speaker 2:Is it just me? Or every time I watch something that is British, you start to think like, yeah, I'm chanting that British In it, in it, in it, in it, yeah in it, in it, in it, yeah, yeah, and we should also make a list Calm calm, calm breath.
Speaker 1:Like dust seal like dust like uh like I love it.
Speaker 2:I love this slang that they use in there.
Speaker 1:And it just feels yes, bundam, bunda, bun, all y'all.
Speaker 2:And, like you said, we're going to call her Vee-ah, vee-ah.
Speaker 1:We can't call her Vee-ta, no Vee-ta. So all right, let's back up. I'm Kari-Ann and this is Michaela, and we are excited If this is the first time listening, we are excited to have you joining us to talk about the things that we love on TV. So that's the reels and rhythms, the concerts that we go occasionally, and so the whole point of this is just talking about the shows that we are enjoying, a lot of them with a Caribbean focus and some without, and champions is fitting, because everything about champion is champion, right? So, um, champion is based out of the UK Um, and it just reinforces my theory that the UK, um Britain specifically, has just the best output of Caribbean focused content. Um, we covered small acts. Um, there are so many other shows that I've talked about in our respective podcasts that came out of the UK um big, up to the Windrush generation and the legacy that we're now seeing in that creative output in um series like champion on Netflix. So way off of some Michaela.
Speaker 2:No, I'm excited Um, I enjoy the series. I'm excited to kind of really talk um about it in. You know, siwa Guan, share the people, them, the champion Ting's Siwa Guan, yes.
Speaker 1:So the series is out. It's an eight part series. At the time of this recorded, we've watched all the episodes. We probably go over like three episodes in um of the series in this episode and then we'll continue.
Speaker 2:But the series is written by um Candice Cartu.
Speaker 1:Williams yes, candice Cartu Williams of Queenie fame, that's a novel. That was her debut novel.
Speaker 2:Which I'm reading now. I I I started reading Queenie before I discovered champion Um, so I hadn't seen any press or anything like that for champion.
Speaker 1:So I I started reading it a couple of years ago but put pause on it, to be honest, because it was a. It was hard for me to get into in the the first couple of chapters. But, um, this is a series that she's written. Um, as we're talking about Queenie, that's supposed to be adapted soon, so more reels and rhythms content. But we're focusing on champion, and champion is focused around the champion family. Yes, champion is really their last name.
Speaker 1:And so it opens with Bosco wrapping as a little kid and Vita in the background you know Vita in the background trying to sing and Bosco push our dog, and you could hear the parents in the background come talk to your kids and the father said I should provoke him. That felt that and that was a sign of things to come throughout the series. And so, um, cut away from that flashback to present day. Bosco is the son and a rapper and, um, he is clearly going through some kind of anxiety before he hits the stage. Everyone's asking about him and I'm like, all right out the gate, we're having mental health issues that we're going to be addressing in the series. Um, I have my note because there were some things in there I think the series generally had me on an emotional roller coaster. Um, and I think, out the gate, bula, just get pommin' nerves Like out the gate.
Speaker 2:My name is Bula. But even going back to the opening scene where it's Viya and her brother Bosco as children, right, there's this old saying Caribbean parents, women in particular they raise their daughters and love their sons, and so not to say that that applies, but it's a running theme culturally, leading into the idea of a woman's role versus a man's role. But I think that that theme tends to play out, like you said, throughout the entire series. I think Viya's parents have this idea of what her role is and the people who are her peers around her see her differently. But her family just does not see her that way and so she internalizes that and she doesn't see herself the way that her friends and peers see her. So that for me, was probably. I couldn't tell in that opening who was going to be the main character and I think that they're both main characters. They're actually like dual main characters throughout the entire series and you kind of see how their relationship progresses throughout the series.
Speaker 1:I mean, that was the thing that I noticed, right, like this idea of the daughter and everybody enabling Bosco, and Bosco is just the center of everybody's world and everything revolves around him. And how Viya, as the sister, shows up for everybody. And even that scene when he was like you know. I wanna just dedicate this song to the person that's always had my back and it cuts the Vita Vita. Things say ashi imago bigopano im bigopimada, and I think that was really the sign of the tension and the sibling rivalry that is the undercurrent of the entire show. And even in the early parts, barys' champion and Arya they're influence in their kid's life, because even coming off the stage, barys was like, why am I of Arya opanistiyaj, you know, like the criticism that he faced. So, just as how we see that Vita is relegated to being supportive of the family, you can also see, within that same view, that Bosco isn't enough. Even though he's the center and everyone focuses on him, he's still not enough, especially for his father.
Speaker 2:Yes, I agree, it's such an interesting dynamic between all of them and I really love how each episode is kind of like an onion. It kind of peels back a layer a little bit more, which the character development and the way that they chose to. Kind of. Honestly, I didn't expect for it to escalate as quickly as it did, but I'm happy that it did, because by the end of the episode they're kind of like that's when they really become rivals in a sense. I think Vita kind of feels like she's always been vying for the attention and the validation, but I don't necessarily think that she was competing with her brother.
Speaker 1:I don't think she was even vying for attention or recognition is what I mean. No, I don't even think that was the case. Inna vita ed vita sayo mira do da work. Ya Mi kyan do a betta job of this job and I want to do this job. She basically wants a promotion and she didn't get that promotion.
Speaker 1:And that's really the litmus, the thing that just kind of blew everything up. She wasn't like you said, she wasn't competing, and I use Slippin rivalry loosely because she not compete with our brother, but it is a sibling rivalry fee. She not compete with our brother, but she knows that she's doing more and she just has a title and everyone can relate to having one title and doing things way beyond your title and just want the recognition and that's really what she wanted. She was well content supporting her big brother. Like she said, from Shaban she know if the life for him to everything for him and she's good with that being her role. They have a close relationship but it's not without its friction and this friction is showing as she, because, like the friend said, she quit whatever she was doing to be her brother's assistant. But as you saw how she handled the fallout of the police. I come kick the door, you know, and Arya says stop pressing upon me, stop pressing upon me, back off, back off.
Speaker 2:No, the way, the way, the way. Oh, arya, see, you brought it up. The way how she just turned up straight. You know, look the officer. And I, you know she was like look at him, you uniform. I said back off.
Speaker 1:And then at the end she go oh, yes, yes, so like just just all the Jamaican goodies that we feel like, yes, yes, same way. So the escalation happens because, you know, vita feels like yo, I'm doing this work and what don't I do, right, we all can relate to. Would I do somebody else job? And the person who job it is not to not invite the way throughout the whole series, done ever to eat, ever to something, ever, yeah, up the full set Houston.
Speaker 2:So Don, is Bosco's manager appointed by his father?
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and so we're still in episode one, but we're going to back up a little bit and focus on Bosco's 25th birthday party, and at this party is where we meet most of the cast of characters that's important, are central to the story. We meet Lennox, which is Aria, the mom's now living boyfriend of six years. We meet Honey, vita's friend. We meet Mehmet, who is Bosco's friend, but Mehmet invited Adil Panisai, the hotel Bosco yet, and then you have, and you're DJ, yeah, and Mehmet is Bosco's DJ and best friend from the Malacca Pitney. There's Teo and Femi. Teo is Vita's friend, who is queer, and her partner come to the party. And there's somebody else that I'm missing Chanel, who is Bosco's baby mother, whose fiancé is his rival manager. All of them, they mix up there. They quickly learn to mix Like this is all episode one. This is all episode one, right? And the daughter. You know Bosco has a daughter with Chanel. But anyway, side note, chanel, the whole time I was like Chanel Fiesto, familiar. Chanel was in riches.
Speaker 2:Yes, she was good as one of the sisters. Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:So these are all the people that we meet in episode one and they're having a party, and we should also sell the audience that Bosco just come out of jail. It's not clear what Bosco going to jail for, but it's sound like he went in for a possession, a possession of what I'm not sure, but I don't think it was a violent crime. Maybe he had some paraphernalia on his possessions.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I think throughout the series they kind of allude to some sort of I thought it was a knife, but I could be mistaken. Like I don't. I don't think it was drugs, I just think it. They didn't. They didn't truly reveal why he went to prison and it sounds like he was only there for a short stint, so maybe like two years. Again, when we open this, he's 25. He has a what perceived to be maybe a six year old daughter. So you know, as the as the season progresses and it doesn't really give anything away, you understand the connection between Chanel, mehmet and Bosco. They basically went to secondary school together and they kind of grew up together, all of them together, and that's how. So he's known these people for for a while. So, as he was coming up, these are all the people that kind of grew up with him and then he went away post having a baby and, coming back, built his career prior to going in and then went in and is coming out to his own fan base.
Speaker 1:Okay, so so we're still in episode one. My God Holy, what's happening at the 45 minutes?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I think that pretty much sums up like sets up the audience enough to kind of like really be interested in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So there the police comes, and then that's where all hell breaks loose and it cascades to something else. So I really think that this episode was really good, even from the onset of this episode. Backing up, we know that there is a heavy Jamaican influence. The flag, them outside for the birthday party, inside the balloons. You know the characters, they don't have to say it, they just are. And even the cover art in Netflix, if you notice it, the hummingbird, the Dr Bird, is part of the artwork in Netflix, so it's an ode to the British Jamaicans and Jamaicans all around the world. That can relate to the series. Are we still in episode one?
Speaker 2:or two. Well, we got to get to the end of how we transition, how to, you know, the important transition around Vita and Bosco's relationship. From the first episode we really learned how talented Vita really is. I think in the as it progressed you kind of understand that she wrote a lot for Bosco. To what degree we don't really know, but it's kind of perceived that you know she does a lot of the creative development for his sound and his writing. But we also learned that Bosco is also talented too because he's able to freestyle things that Vita hadn't written.
Speaker 2:So it feels more like their relationship as writer and talent is more of like a co-production.
Speaker 2:So I envisioned it more, not that she was writing exclusively for Bosco, but she would come up with the hooks, maybe come up with the themes, and he would kind of add together, you know, to the project but of course, perception and reality and understanding the dynamic you know from Vita's eyes.
Speaker 2:She's essentially writing for her brother without one proper compensation for credit and he's shitting on her for not making him his manager and so she feels a little slighted on the creative and the business end and she's the only one getting the short end of the stick. She clearly has talent because you can hear her singing and doing ad-libs and helping him as he's progressing through a scene. But then she also has her own talent and her best friend really pulls her into the studio with a rival, with Bula. So Bula is a rival rapper who they somehow have beef and I don't know if it's because they've always had beef or because when Bosco it sounds like when Bosco went in, bula kind of took a rise and was taking shots at him because he's the new guy on top, which is kind of normal, but Bosco kind of come and shut it down, panfim sure, and then we see how talented Bosco is. So I feel like I'm sharing a lot, so carry on. You jump in yeah.
Speaker 1:No, man, you're good. So I was going to agree with you. Like Bosco, freestyle, battle, rap, no problem. And I think Vita is the one to craft the album focus hits that the label wants. So Vita is upset because she had the conversation and it seemed like Bosco was like, yeah, I'm going to talk to the label. And so she was disappointed when they went to the label for the meeting and Bosco alluded to Don as the manager. And so you know, honey, her friend called her to go to the studio, as you said, with Bula and she's recording that. But even in that episode, you know, like that's why some women said I'm not a woman, because there is a rivalry that kickoff in the studio between them.
Speaker 1:This is a review show, so there are spoilers. Everything in here is just going to be spoilers. It's spoiled. And they kick off in the studio because Honey felt like Vita was over singing her and I was just like my girl, you bring her in here. You knew, like I have friends and I just know that they're like me and me talented. But Mino said you have to be self-aware to know that they can be more talented than you. And she had to know that Vita was talented and one argument kick off. But as they were recording in the studio, mark comes into the studio. So remember, mark is Basco, bebe mother, new fiance, and here Vita singing and is just like yo, I'll be your manager, you got a good voice. It is also where we get introduced to Loran, whom is Suerse Imam Papka and her cousin, because he got a look like Papka, that's true, that's true, that's true.
Speaker 1:No, I'm not, I'm seen the whole time I said why in could I look like Papka?
Speaker 2:I'm good.
Speaker 1:So we're introduced to them and then we go back to the restaurant where she's talking to her brother. He says you know, I need this record. She shares with him a rhyme or a song that she's doing and something in that lyrics triggers him. Where she's like, you know, people ask her my head at and that triggers him. He's like I'm not saying that. And then that then blows up into a big squabble in the restaurant that their parents own and that's where she she, you know throws down the gauntlet and say all right, I'm performing with Bula, I'm going to be singing, and you know they accuse each other of whatever. And then they say yo, it's champion versus champion. An episode done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what we also forgot to kind of talk about is Bosco is kind of on the hook with the label. You can tell that there's some friction there, Like the way that the label wants to reintroduce him to the public is not in alignment with where he is. Additionally, it feels like he literally just got out of prison and he's already being forced back to work and if you think about it, that's kind of like a mom giving birth to a baby and they expect it to go back to work the next day. He hasn't really had time to, you know, connect with his family, his, his daughter, his friends, get acclimated. He's literally from jail to the studio, it feels like.
Speaker 2:And the pressure from the label is really there for him to start back working, and not only that, the pressure from his dad, and that's where you kind of start to like, well, why does he have to get back to? You know, like I immediately thought that something was odd with the amount of pressure his, his dad was kind of putting on him. And to the mental health thing, the idea of something being slightly like off or wrong. I feel like that's been Bosco his whole life. So I don't think it was just the prison, that he like he went to prison but it feels like because his dad kind of just feels overbearing on him.
Speaker 2:To be a champion, live up to the family name, Get, get your head right, Get in the game Like it's a. It's a running theme with him and his dad. Whenever they interact he's always pushing him to do more. We learned that there are ulterior motives behind that later, so it's part encouragement and then part pushing him and it kind of like you understand why he's always on edge and he takes it out on Vita all the time because she's the only person there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right. So we we discovered throughout the series that this is some level of PTSD that he's experiencing. He may have had emotional and mental issues before prison, but definitely the two year stint kind of make it worse, basically, and so he now has like this full on anxiety and PTSD on top of that. And bearish champion is the stereotypical I feel like you know. I'm just going to say that in this episode in season one, bearish champion, played by Ray Firon, is or first nominee of the reels and rhythms viewers choice award for best actor. True, we don't even get into the good. Yes.
Speaker 1:Bearish need his own episode bearish need a whole episode to break down his character, like the way it bears to walk in oh you are always be a champion to me Like sweet lyrics.
Speaker 2:No, I mean we are what we are talking, we are just deliver everything in, so much Nico was watching.
Speaker 1:We say what a man. Ignorant, not ignorant, ignorant, ignorant, ignorant. He's a charmer. He may hear the rebel, right, I'm just, I want to look at Chikster. You know them, people that were, you know so them ever, ever. Osla, go on, right, that's his energy, right, but he's able to, the way he uses his charm to navigate those things in a way.
Speaker 1:And so I want to get to Barris and Lennox in episode two. But I want to wrap up this episode because I thought we were going to cover more than one episode Overall. If you haven't already watched it, you really should watch champion. It is a great series and we're just talking our reactions from watching the series with you, what we see or what we're experiencing from the characters, but it doesn't really get into that emotion. I mean, honey, the friend being whatever she was, that's a mechanic. Yeah, whatever she was in, that is nothing compared to the emotional reaction that I begin to experience as more of Barris and Aria and Lennox comes in to the subsequent episode. So as we wrap up this one and we promise for the other one and with us I go rolling in, you know, but I think this episode we're trying to set up a lot for the audience of the series and kind of lay the groundwork. So when we go in the subsequent episodes we're not doing too much contextualizing who these characters are.
Speaker 2:So watch it, come back and pre-de-recept the episode them because yeah.
Speaker 1:Yes, and let's let us know what your thoughts are on the series. Love to hear, join the conversation and until next time later. Bye.
