Netflix fans told to watch series with near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score after presidential debate

The Central Park Five became a talking point in the US presidential debate, leading to recommendations to watch a Netflix mini-series with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score. 

Though there’s plenty of new true crime and TV shows to watch on streaming this month, the 2019 series When They See Us is being hailed as a vital watch following the pre-election event. 

The four-part limited series was directed by Ava DuVernay for Netflix, giving a dramatized account of the 1989 Central Park jogger case, which saw five Black and Latino teenagers wrongly accused and arrested for sexual assault.

What followed was a years-long battle for justice, with the wrongly accused now known as the Exonerated Five. So, why are Netflix users being urged to watch When They See Us? Warning: some may find this content distressing.

Central Park Five is addressed by Harris and Trump

The case is in discussion again after the Central Park 5 case was raised by Kamala Harris, who pointed out Donald Trump took out a full-page ad at the time calling for the innocent teens’ execution. 

Discussing his background as a land and property owner, the current Vice President said, “He was investigated because he refused to rent property to Black families. 

“Let’s remember, this is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of five young Black and Latino boys who were innocent – the Central Park Five.”

These points were raised as part of Harris’ call to end division among Americans, saying they deserve someone who understands “we see in each other a friend.”

“We don’t want a leader who was constantly trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other.”

CNN

In response, Trump said, “A lot of people, including Mayor Bloomberg, agreed with me on the Central Park Five. They admitted, they said they pled guilty. 

“And I said, well, if they pled guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty then they pled we’re not guilty.”

The Central Park Five case explained

The Central Park Five case refers to the wrongful conviction of five Black and Latino teenagers – Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise – for the 1989 assault and rape of a white female jogger, Trisha Meili, in Central Park, New York City. 

Wikimedia Commons

Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, and Kevin Richardson are among the Exonerated Five

On the night of April 19, 1989, Meili was brutally attacked, and police quickly arrested the teens, who were coerced into giving false confessions after hours of intense interrogation. 

In 1990, they were convicted and sentenced to five to 15 years in prison, despite no physical evidence linking them to the crime.

The interrogation techniques used on the teens became a point of contention, and they soon retracted their confessions, saying they had been tricked and coerced by police officers. But the trials went ahead. 

Wise’s lawyer Jane Fisher-Byrialsen said (via The Justice Gap) that their stories were so inconsistent, they couldn’t be tried simultaneously. 

“They tried Korey and Kevin Richardson together because their confessions were both similar. Then they did the other three together because their confessions were more similar,” Fisher-Byrialsen explained. 

“It was government trickery. They knew the inconsistencies were going to be way more visible if all five were together.”

It wasn’t until 2002, after serving between five and 13 years in prison, that their convictions were overturned. The exoneration came after convicted rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the crime, with DNA evidence confirming his guilt. 

The five men were later awarded a $41 million settlement from the city of New York in 2014, having sued for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. 

The Central Park Five now serves as a symbol of systemic racism and injustice, highlighting how racial bias influenced both the media and the criminal justice system. 

When They See Us is a powerful retelling of the case

In 2019, the streaming service released Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us, a powerful dramatization of the Central Park Five case that brought the true story to a new generation. 

The series explores the racial injustice faced by the five teenagers, offering a fresh context as racial divisions continue to be a major issue in the US. 

Jharrel Jerome stars as then-16-year-old Wise, the oldest of the five, while the 15-year-old Antron McCray is played by Caleel Harris, and his adult counterpart is portrayed by Jovan Adepo.

Ethan Herisse takes on the role of Yusef Salaam at 15 and Chris Chalk as an adult. 14-year-old Kevin Richardson is portrayed by Asante Blackk, while his older version is played by Justin Cunningham.

Last but not least, the 14-year-old and adult versions of Raymond Santana are played by Marquis Rodriguez and Freddy Miyares, respectively. 

As well as receiving a 97% score from the critics, When They See Us has a respectable 89% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Guardian gave it four stars, writing, “Ava DuVernay pulls no punches in this urgent, astonishing retelling of an assault case that opened a window on injustice in America.”

When They See Us arrived to critical acclaim

Elsewhere, The Hollywood Reporter said, “DuVernay, director and co-writer of every episode, approaches their story in ways that avoid typical triumph-over-adversity narrative tropes… The material mines profound outrage, and the note-perfect ensemble lends it heart.”

The New York Times added, “When They See Us does not pretend to make up for that lost time. Instead, it gives us something we haven’t yet fully seen: their humanity, and the intimacy these boys nurtured with their families and, over time, with each other in order to survive.

“By doing so, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam emerge as the heroes of their own story – and if we pay heed to the series’ urgent message about criminal justice reform, ours too.”

Netflix users urged to watch the series

Since the presidential debate, search for the case has been higher than ever. As said by one X/Twitter user, “Interest in ‘Central Park Five’ was higher tonight than any time in the past five years, including the period when the 2019 Netflix series When They See Us was released.”

Many have since recommended the Netflix series following Harris’ revelation about Trump’s ad. “Go watch When They See Us, where we see in detail the exonerated five were KIDS manipulated into pleading guilty,” said one. 

Another wrote, “Watch When They See Us… If you still wanna vote for Trump after that… Idk man.” A third added, “I wanna rewatch When They See Us… but idk if I can really watch it a second time, the first was hard enough.”

One urged Trump himself to watch it, writing, “Buddy literally stepped in his own turd when Kamala brought up the Exonerated 5. 

“Cuz bruh, she JUST said they were boys who were wrongly prosecuted and then you doubled down? That black vote should be 0% for him and he needs to watch When They See Us.”

Another recommended, “Central Park Five is a great Ken Burns documentary,” to which an X/Twitter user replied, “That is wonderful and so is Ava DuVernay’s series, When They See Us, about the now called: The Exonerated Five.”

When They See Us is streaming on Netflix now. You can also find more TV shows to stream this month, as well as shocking Netflix documentaries to watch after Worst Ex Ever.