This review will contain no major spoilers for Prime Video’s I’m a Virgo.
The winner for the most imaginative and visually strange series of the year in my mind will be going to I’m a Virgo. Jharrel Jerome plays Cootie, a literal giant living among the people of Oakland in California who has been sheltered from society by his overprotective parents his whole life.
Not only until he hits his late teens does he decide to finally explore the world outside of his garden, eat burgers, have real-life crushes on a woman with superhuman abilities, and find out harsh realities among other things that all get wrapped up in a coming of age story unlike any other you’ve seen before.
There are some really odd moments in I’m a Virgo that won’t be leaving the memories of those who watch for quite some time. Cootie’s perspective on the world gives a new look at the state of the world, but on top of that, the show also spends a lot of time just honing in on Cootie’s coming of age.
One extremely well-done and notable factor of this show is how well Jerome is made to appear as an actual 13-foot-tall teenager. Wide body shots of Cootie standing next to people half his height just looks real. This includes scenes of Cootie trying to navigate through building rooms that are just too small for him alongside the performances that truly sell what we’re being sold.
The pacing is often all over the place which seems deliberate in all honestly despite it taking away from certain character arcs. It’s a bit tough to follow what’s going on, in the opening minutes alone you’re thrown straight into a fast-paced teenage Cootie montage of him going from being young and happy to older and stressed out. It’s not the hardest to stay tuned in to the plot and character arcs, just don’t expect to get too invested.
Prime Video’s I’m a Virgo strays against the current norm for tv shows and boldly goes where no coming-of-age story has gone before. It may not pull you in fully in terms of investment for its characters but it does keep your attention thanks to everything else going on around them.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
I’m a Virgo releases on June 23 exclusively on Prime Video.