Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the first three episodes of Black Cake.
What if a family’s past secret asks you to redefine who you are in the present? Produced byOprah Winfrey,Hulu’s new seriesBlack Cakeis a family drama/mysterybased onCharmaine Wilkerson’s New York Times bestselling novel. Making its streaming debut this month, the thriller brings audiences on a distinct, multi-generational journey of discovery from the Caribbean to London and Southern California. Through a series of voice messages that Eleanor Bennett (Chipo Chung) has left behind for her children B and B, the siblings must come to terms with their mother’s unknown past, learning the footprints of their lost origins through the symbolism of Caribbean black cake.
Black Cakegifts its viewers with a sweeping family chronicle that positively presents mixed-raced ethnicities rarely depicted in modern television. Not only does this tale represent the power of dynamic storytelling, but its own title reflects how a concealed confection can unfold a turbulent truth. It’s a gripping, island-spiced, wave-crashing narrative for us all, and in addition towinning over critics, the eight-episode adaptation is just the treatmystery thriller fans have been waiting for.
Black Cake
What Is Hulu’s ‘Black Cake’ About?
Black cake evolved from the British plum pudding that colonizers brought to the West Indies. It reflects the marriage of cultures—“mine and yours,” Eleanor says in the series' first episode, titled “Covey.“Black Cakebegins on the beach in present-day Californiawhen an elderly woman with a forlorn look in her eye goes out to sea to surf. Suddenly, a wave wipes her out, and she ends up in the hospital — where we meet her son, Byron (Ashley Thomas), a successful oceanographer, and learn the rather shocking news of Eleanor’s unexpected brain tumor.
Soon after this reveal, Eleanor passes away and Bryon and his younger sister Benny (Adrienne Warren), who hasn’t been involved with the family for over eight years, are forced to come together to read their mother’s will with her lawyer Charles Mitch (Glynn Turman). But there’s a catch!Eleanor has left behind a series of voice messages for her children to finally unveil the full truth behind the hidden chapters of her life.B and B had asked their mom questions about her past, though she always dodged answering. They were only told she had grown up in an orphanage in London before moving to Southern California’s Orange County with her husband Bert. Now, it’s time for the siblings to find out who their mother was, where their roots are from, and what will become of their lives in the ever-changing present.
Beginning in the 1960s, the voice recordings start in the West Indies and tell the story of Eleanor’s life as a young island girl, real name Covey, whowas born to a Black mother and a Chinese father(Simon Wan) in Jamaica. She had a passion for the ocean and dreamed of entering surfing competitions with her best friend Bunny (Lashay Anderson). After her mother leaves the family, 17-year-old Covey (Mia Isaac), lives a relatively happy life swimming on the daily and sneaking in a few adorable dates with boyfriend Gibbs (Ahmed Elhaj). In order to pay off a major debt, Covey’s alcoholic, gambling father swindles a deal to marry her off to tyrant gangster Little Man (Anthony Mark Barrow). Covey has no choice but to go through with the wedding, terrified that Little Man or his gang could do more harm if she refuses. Overnight, Covey’s teenage life is thrown into adulthood — but to her luck, Little Man is suddenly poisoned during the wedding reception dinner. Covey runs to the ocean in fear and hides from the police. Later, Bunny finds Covey on the beach and begs her to escape to London to save her life.
Naturally, the children are bewildered by the first recording. Bryon can’t comprehend the news while Benny urges him to consider this newfound information more positively. Yet, all this sudden change is too much for Bryon, and his automatic default pushes him to return to his job. Despite the shocking discoveries, Benny also finds comfort in her mother’s story. Eleanor wasn’t the perfect woman she thought she had been. Eventually, B and B reconcile and come back together to listen to the next chapters of Eleanor’s story. They learn more of Covey’s strenuous journey of living as a runaway bride, a suspect in a murder, and an outcast in a world completely unfamiliar or welcoming to her. As the years pass, Covey goes through multiple identity changes to hide herself from being found, taking her on a rollercoaster path from London to Scotland.The first three episodes ofBlack Cakeare a whirlwind of emotions that touch on darker subjects that many often shy away from vocalizing about themselves — especially the hardships that may lie in their histories.
How Is ‘Black Cake’ Redefining the Mystery-Thriller Genre?
One of the things that makesBlack Cakeso special is its confidence in presentingthe diversity of its multicultural heroine. It’s quite rare to see this type of dynamic fully explored and talked about in the genre of a mystery thriller. There has yet to be a TV show depicting a half-Jamaican and half-Chinese protagonist shining in their natural setting, and this new perspective is a breath of fresh air to see on screen. The casting for Covey is done respectively as Isaac is from a Black and Asian background as well.
Additionally, by choosing a non-linear approach for its storytelling,Black Cakeis able to showcase a different side to a multigenerational saga that stirs away from the history of oppression of minorities and instead takes time to allow viewers to experience the beauty of an uncommonly portrayed culture.In the first half of the series' initial episodes, Covey shows her love for her outcast father, her passion for her surfing roots, and, most importantly, her acceptance of her mixed ethnicity.In an interview with Oprah Daily, series creatorMarissa Jo Cerarpersonally resonated with Wilkerson’s original book and fought hard to getBlack Cakedeveloped into a TV series:
“So much of it relates to my personal experience. I am biracial. I am the mother of a biracial daughter. I have a very unique, blended, multicultural family, and I wanted to see Black, brown, Asian people at the forefront of a story that wasn’t about the civil rights movement, slavery, or oppression. I wanted to do a series with the same level of artistry as The Queen’s Gambit, Little Fires Everywhere, and The Handmaid’s Tale, but with women of color at the forefront, rather than supporting”.
Where a typicalfamily drama might focus on the tensionbetween individual family members,Black Cakesprinkles in little clues about B and B in the present day as their life is already being reshaped. Some may find the lack of character background lazy; however, the pace of the series is built as if you are also whipped into their sudden secret without any warning. That’s how death creeps up on us. Just like Eleanor’s children, the audience is not prepared to digest such heavy knowledge, throwing in handfuls of information loses the purpose of unraveling a mystery.
Darkening the color palette as the hardships progress, the series slowly bakes in Covey’s self-exploration as we get to learn about her from the beginning — where all stories should start.Eleanor Bennett may have left behind life revealing voice messages, but hopefully, in the coming episodes, B and B will come to realize that theblack cake their mother left behind holds even more history and connectivity than they can imagine.
