Synopsis: The story of a woman named Nicole Reese, who raises her son Dion after the death of her husband Mark. The normal dramas of raising a son as a single mom are amplified when Dion starts to manifest several magical, superhero-like abilities. Nicole must now keep her son’s gifts secret with the help of Mark's best friend Pat, and protect Dion from antagonists out to exploit him while figuring out the origin of his abilities.
Review: Based on a comic book and short film of the same name, Raising Dion is not a title that most are going to instantly gravitate towards. But, with the ever-expanding roster of original shows on Netflix, there are certainly shows that are going to fall through the cracks. For a time, every series that Netflix premiered was of a very high caliber but with each week seeing more and more new shows on the streaming giant, there is going to be an inevitable drop off. With Raising Dion, a series based on the comic book and short film of the same name, there is not much brand recognition, but an intriguing trailer and the involvement of Michael B. Jordan was enough to put it on my radar. Unfortunately, I wish I had skipped it.
Similar to NBC's superhero themed series Heroes, each episode of Raising Dion is titled like a comic book. We learn through the first episodes that young Dion (Ja'Siah Young) and his mother Nicole Reese (Alisha Wainwright) are mourning the loss of Mark (Michael B. Jordan), a scientist who perished in a thunderstorm/flood. Virtually without warning, Dion begins to exhibit supernatural abilities that include levitation, teleportation, and more. As Nicole tries to find ways to deal with her son's newfound powers, she has to wade through new details surrounding Mark and, eventually, the group seeking out Dion for their own nefarious purposes.
Hitting all of the standard elements of a superhero story, you have the hero on the run, the shadow group chasing him, and a monstrous villain waiting in the wings. There is nothing all that original about Raising Dion nor is there anything that makes a case for this show to even exist. It is so bland and inoffensive that I cannot tell if this was intended for family viewing or not. While there is no profanity or nudity, the material is too adult for young kids but too immature for discerning audiences. I don't like trash-talking child actors, but Ja-Siah Young is one of the weakest young actors I have seen in a long time. Often, he plays Dion like an average kid, but when scenes call for special effects, you can easily tell he had no idea how to act opposite green screen.
Written by Carol Barbee and directed by veteran TV helmer Seith Mann, Raising Dion boasts some of the most generic cinematography and special effects I have seen on the small screen in quite some time. Maybe a stronger story could have held up against CGI that would have looked mediocre fifteen years ago, but the dialogue here is almost as laughable as Netflix's recent flop, the atrocious The I-Land. The characters spout dialogue that is laughable at best and for most of the first half of the season the story plods along before gaining any momentum. There are several shout outs to Comic Con and a reference to Stranger Things that are meant to make Raising Dion seem hip and relevant but come across as desperate.
Despite the premise, everything about Raising Dion comes off as cheap and low budget with one of the worst child actor performances in recent memory. With a shoddy narrative and stilted acting throughout, Raising Dion is a waste of nine hours. There are twists, of course, that vary from nonsensical to easily deduced with minimal clues which leaves very little to root for in this series. I cannot tell who would waste their time with this show as it was hard to even get through the boring first episode. If you think it gets better as the show progresses, think again. Even Michael B. Jordan's role is so insignificant that it feels like a glorified cameo and a way for Netflix to try and salvage some viewers for this show. I would be shocked if Netflix renewed it for a second season.
Raising Dion premieres October 4th on Netflix.