Cover art by @ebonidoesart on Instagram
by Frankie Fanelli
Party of Five, a Freeform show that premiered January 8 of 2020, is a reboot of the 1994 series of the same name. It features the same show-runners (Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman) as the original, who decided to reboot it themselves over 25 years later. The premise of the original show surrounded 5 siblings who must learn to navigate being on their own and facing the ups and downs of being a family made up of siblings in all stages of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood after both of their parents die in a car crash. However, the show-runners decided that the reboot called for a more topical spin on the original plot, and Freeform’s version of the series features a group of 5 siblings, the Acosta family, in the same situation after their parents are picked up by ICE and deported.
As pilot episodes tend to be, the 45-minute episode was action packed and chock full of exposition but made the interesting choice to skip from the initial scene where the Acosta siblings watch as their parents are arrested by ICE to 6 weeks later where we are dropped into the new daily routines of the siblings. While it makes sense that they did this in order to get the ball rolling in terms of plot development, it’s a bit disappointing that they chose to avoid showing the initial heartbreak, struggle, grieving, and court hearings that followed their parents being forced to leave the country.
Despite this, the show’s heavily Latinx team of directors and producers helped in creating the honesty of the show, and meticulously developing the connections between each of the siblings in order to effectively portray the immense weight they’re all learning to bear. In addition, the show pays just enough attention to the Acosta children’s’ parents that, while they take a backseat to the story of their kids, they are fleshed out and flawed enough to show their truly heartbreaking struggle without turning them into archetypal martyrs.
The show as a whole is a candid depiction of the havoc that is being wreaked on the lives of plenty of families all over America in its recent political climate, yet is able to separate its touching story and cast of characters from its broader political critiques. The show approaches the Acosta family’s story with a grave seriousness and takes care to point out all of the aspects and injustices of their situation that makes similar ones happening to other families so very possible.
And while the reboot seems to be taking time learning to stand on its own, Freeform’s Party of Five is able to navigate its political commentaries and relevant, engaging storyline to tell a simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming story with the intimacy and scrupulousness that makes this show as great as it is.
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