Clean Slate
By Sioph W. Leal
After years away from home, Desiree (Laverne Cox) returns to her estranged father, Harry (George Wallace) to reveal that his son has returned as a proud trans woman. Having no choice but to return home, Desiree and her father navigate their fraught relationship as they rediscover each other in a funny, light-hearted way that pushes each other out of their comfort zones to confront their own biases with fun moments.
Rounding out the cast is Desiree’s closeted best friend and choir director Louis (D.K. Uzoukwu), his mother Ella (Telma Hopkins), Harry’s employee and former convict, Mac (Jay Wilkinson) with his daughter Opal (Norah Murphy) and Harry’s arch nemesis-neighbour Miguel (Philip Garcia). There is a real sense of a quirky and fun community with Clean Slate with the main draw being how instantly accepting everyone is of Desiree and allowing her to embrace her true self. Harry is the only one that struggles in the beginning, but it’s done with care and without malice which allows the humour and outlandish moments thrive more to elevate the comedy.
Right away Clean Slate has a bright and happy vibe and makes for an easy watch with its uplifting idea, eccentric humour, characters and short run time. It's an easy show to watch that delivers on humour and over the top situations to bring laughs. While the situations can be grounded it is the very theatrical characters that draws you in more and keeps attention on the situation. The biggest draw of the series takes a leaf out of Schitt’s Creek’s book by having the world of Clean Slate defy any preconceived notions and have the world around Desiree be supportive and accepting. Even when characters like her father, Harry, do not understand her all the time the lack of judgment makes more room for humour. In fact, the funniest moments of the series are when these moments of no understanding happen as everyone adjusts to each other.
The characters are the best part of Clean Slate, and they pick up well where the pacing can sometimes feel rushed due to the short runtime. Even though the series is cemented in kindness and omits any kind of hate – some of the characters disdain for each other helps pick up when moments become repetitive. Miguel and Harry’s tumultuous relationship shows this the best with Harry being unnecessarily nasty to his neighbour who retaliates. There’s a good balance of typical comedy elements that we’ve seen before with these kinds of rivalries but it keeps the plot going and adds an unpredictable element to the series that, at times, is most needed.
Clean Slate is an easy watch with its light-hearted and accepting undertone mixed with the over-dramatic antics of the residents of Mobile, Alabama. Laverne Cox perfectly carries the glamours and over the top Desiree with extravagant moments of exaggerated comedy that fit her and the plot well, but the best moments come from Laverne Cox and George Wallace who, by contrast, is much more grounded and grumpier. It’s a classic combination that works well for comedy duos but updated with themes of self-discovery and change that make Clean Slate an easy comforting watch. The only thing letting the series down is the short eight episode count and twenty-minute runtime, more episodes would allow for the comedy to thrive more and make the series more memorable.
Screeners provided for review, Clean Slate premiers February 06, 2025 on Amazon Prime Video