Channel Surfing: Wu-Tang:: An American Saga - "Can It Be All So Simple"

Welcome to a new column called Channel Surfing, in which I sporadically look at current TV shows and talk about them. These are not ones that I care to write weekly recaps for and are instead reflections either on the episode, the series, or particular moments. This will hopefully help to share personal opinions as well as discover entertainment on the outer pantheon that I feel is well worth checking out, or in some cases, shows that are weird enough to talk about, but should never be seen.
While their place in pop culture has shrunk a little in the past decade, there still hasn't been a rap group who are as singular as the Wu-Tang Clan. With their debut album "Enter the 36 Chambers," the group established themselves as an unstoppable force of rappers that mixed intellect with kung-fu movies, and gangster imagery. They were from the slums of "Shaolin," better known as Staten Island, New York. Their mythology was so rich that every member of the group seemed to have a subsidiary of their own, expanding the music into its own universe. It's hard to deny the idea that while they were a rap group, there appeared to be something for everybody with producer and rapper RZA helping to steer the group into what it would be as a cultural phenomenon.
It makes sense then that they would be having a moment right now. With their debut almost 30 years old, they are elder statesmen with one of the most unique vantage points in pop culture. Following a four-hour Showtime documentary called Of Mics and Men (also produced by RZA), this marks the dramatic take on their origin that takes audiences back to before they even had the collective. In fact, it will take keen eyes for many to even piece together who half of the members are, especially given that characters like Method Man don't even have their signature names yet. What they do have within the first 10 minutes alone is something compelling and reflective of why the Wu-Tang Clan took off.
The scene cuts between a drive-by shooting and RZA creating the beat that will become "Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber—Part II." It's a mix of violence and creative freedom, showing the urban struggle in all its forms. As much as the group came together to change the music world, it came in part from the urban environment where danger lurked around every corner and drugs was sold at them half of the time. Before the casual audience member so much as learn that the kid creating the beat is RZA, there's already a sense of diversity within this clan. They don't all come from the same background, especially as RZA prefers chess matches to Method Man's gangster mentality. As a whole, it only adds an expansive sense akin to The Wire where every cameo feels like the set-up for another important person. In fact, the core group isn't even together by the end of the first episode. There are pockets that run in the same circles, but what's likely the case for season one is the formation of the group.
Is there any value in a dramatized version of this story? In some respect, it's a hard sell to casual audiences. The Wu-Tang Clan aren't exactly household names to contemporary audiences. Sure, some have stayed more relevant than others, though few can pick Inspectah Deck out of a line-up. It's difficult to even name them all after the first episode (in fairness, that's a feeling most have with their records). Their mythology is still being born, and how much investment you have in the real-life person will determine how much it will stick with you. There has to be something appealing about each character, right?
It's true that some of the air is taken out of the tires by not having distinguished icons in their rudimentary form. However, there is one way to watch it that redeems the show. Because the Wu-Tang Clan come from diverse backgrounds, one can view it as a drama about socio-economic groups coming together to fight urban struggles. It can show where influence comes from and why it's important to continue to strive. By the end of the first episode, the only truly developed character is RZA. Part of that may be that the real-life counterpart is producing. It could also be that RZA has widely been considered the mastermind behind the early days of the group. Still, that leaves several more members that could use some clarity. Luckily the writing is strong enough to give them all distinguished moments. They just need placement in the bigger picture now.
As far as the extension of the Wu-Tang Clan mythology, An American Saga is doing a halfway decent job of creating a world where these characters exist. Everything definitely feels developed to the extent it needs to. While it seems silly to need to base a series around any music group, there appears to be enough members for this group that could help the series even have spin-offs for maybe Killah Beez and Gravediggaz. Maybe a season can be on Bobby Digital. There's a lot to be explored, and it likely will only continue to grow in interesting directions as the series develops. For now, it's a solid drama with a lot of potentials. It just needs to find its footing before it starts putting all of the pieces together. 

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