Aretha Franklin Shines In, And Despite, The New Miniseries, 'Genius: Aretha'

Debuting this Sunday on National Geographic, Genius: Aretha looks at the Queen of Soul's life through the lens of a television biopic.

Transcript

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Soul legend Aretha Franklin gets the miniseries treatment starting Sunday when "Genius: Aretha" debuts on the National Geographic Channel. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans says the series works best when it lets Franklin's music do the talking.

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CYNTHIA ERIVO: (As Aretha Franklin, singing) Chain, chain, chain.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Watch star Cynthia Erivo moments into the start of "Genius: Aretha" and one thing is clear - they found the right woman for this job.

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ERIVO: (As Aretha Franklin, singing) Chain of fools.

DEGGANS: But recreating the tumultuous life of Aretha Franklin requires more than singing her classic hits with power and excitement. It also involves revisiting a life filled with trauma and challenges, as foreshadowed by journalists questioning Franklin at a press conference.

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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) With your father and your husband by your side, I mean, who's calling the shots?

ERIVO: (As Aretha Franklin) I think you've all been reading a few too many gossip columns.

DEGGANS: "Genius: Aretha" is the story of one of the greatest singers in modern history finding her voice but not just as the music world's queen of soul. She also learns to free herself from the men in her life determined to dominate her, beginning with her father, renowned Baptist preacher and civil rights activist Reverend C.L. Franklin.

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COURTNEY B VANCE: (As C.L. Franklin) Some people only want to trust in theyselves (ph). Some people put all their trust in their bank account.

DEGGANS: Courtney B. Vance is magnetic as Franklin, a preacher who one character says, quote, "loves Sunday morning and Saturday night." In one scene, he's urging a tween-age Aretha to sing at a house party before Art Tatum and Dinah Washington. But the Reverend Franklin is also shown as a compulsive womanizer, confronted by his girlfriend, who Aretha had grown to love, hoping she would become her stepmom.

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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Some hussy tells me she's your sidepiece.

VANCE: (As C.L. Franklin) Oh, who the hell would say that?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) You run around on me like a dog and now your hussies cut me in the street.

VANCE: (As C.L. Franklin) My past ain't got nothing to do with you.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) You had relations...

VANCE: (As C.L. Franklin) Shut your mouth. Shut your mouth, I said.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) You got with...

DEGGANS: A fight over infidelity followed by violence - that's a cycle we see repeated with Aretha and her husband, Ted, after he ruins a recording session by fighting in the studio.

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ERIVO: (As Aretha Franklin) This was supposed to be my last chance - my last chance. And you ruined it.

MALCOLM BARRETT: (As Ted White) Stop it.

ERIVO: (As Aretha Franklin) You said that you loved me. You were supposed to be good as gold.

BARRETT: (As Ted White) You sound crazy. Now stop it.

DEGGANS: Despite crackling performances from Erivo, Vance and the actress who plays young Aretha, Shaian Jordan, "Genius: Aretha" too often unfolds like a predictable biopic burdened by ham-handed storytelling. It's the third installment of National Geographic's "Genius" anthology series but the first about a woman or a nonwhite person after seasons on Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso. So some may be disappointed in how it presents a succession of Black men who take advantage of Franklin, from her philandering father to her philandering husband to a man who left her pregnant at age 12. The best moments involve showing how Franklin transitioned from gospel star to soul diva. That includes a scene where producer, songwriter and performer Curtis Mayfield urges her to channel her tribulations into her vocals in the studio.

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MARQUE RICHARDSON: (As King Curtis) You move people. You take the heaviness of life and you make it beautiful. We need that.

DEGGANS: And then she did this.

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ERIVO: (As Aretha Franklin, vocalizing).

DEGGANS: If more moments in "Genius: Aretha" matched this one, it would truly be the triumph Erivo and the queen of soul deserve.

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ERIVO: (As Aretha Franklin, singing) Many say that I'm too young...

DEGGANS: I'm Eric Deggans.

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ERIVO: (As Aretha Franklin, singing) ...To let you know just where I'm coming from. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.