Based on a memoir called “The Pink Marine” by Greg Cope White, “Boots,” the newest original series from “Netflix,” checks some predictable boxes for the streamer: the 1980s-based nostalgia of “Stranger Things,” the coming-of-age angle of shows like “Never Have I Ever,” and even action scenes seen in original films like “The Old Guard.” It also might just be one of Netflix’s best new shows in quite some time.
The story, based on White’s real experiences, centers around Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer, who you’ve seen previously in “13 Reasons Why,” “Parenthood,” and “Love, Simon”), a closeted young queer man who decides to join the Marines largely to get out of his small hometown and see the world, especially because he can’t afford to go to college and his family is about to move to Bismarck. When his friend Ray McAffey (Liam Oh) is ejected from the Air Force Academy due to poor eyesight, he convinces Cameron to enlist with him, even though, since this is set in the 1980s, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” exists — a law forbidding servicemen and women from revealing their sexual identity. Though Cameron is initially terrified, he eventually decides to take a chance, especially knowing that he and Ray won’t be separated, and enlists, without fully telling his hilariously distracted mother Barbara (Vera Farmiga).
Off to boot camp he goes, and the adventure of “Boots” begins as Cameron gets his head shaved, meets his superiors, and is fully thrown into the difficult and intimidating world of basic training. Thankfully, “Boots” is well worth the journey.
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Boots is filled with really great performances
Barbara yelling at the recruitment officer in his office on Boots – Netflix
In a cast full of younger actors and relative unknowns, special attention must be paid to Oscar nominee and star of “The Conjuring” franchise Vera Farmiga, who steals every single scene she’s in as Barbara. (In the pilot, she’s barely paying attention and on the phone when Cameron tells her he’s joining the Marines; when he says he might never come home, she tells the person on the other end of the line that he’s always being dramatic.) Still, everyone more than holds their own alongside Farmiga, a formidable performer with decades of on-screen experience.
Liam Oh is really great as Cameron’s best friend Ray, but the people stuck playing the seemingly awful Marine superiors — including Cedrick Cooper as Staff Sergeant Marcus McKinnon, Ana Ayora as Capt. Denise Fajardo, and Max Parker as Sergeant Robert “Bobby” Sullivan — all carry their weight, making the stakes of every single exercise in basic training seem like actual life or death and helping us understand precisely what the recruits are experiencing. Ultimately, “Boots” has all the makings of a great show: a solid concept, a great cast, and pedigree in the form of legendary producer Norman Lear. It soars above and beyond, though, because of its emotional yet funny approach to admittedly serious material.
Little quirky touches and a seriously deep emotional core help Boots succeed
Cameron smirking amongst his other recruits in Boots – Alfonso “Pompo” Bresciani/Netflix
In “Parks and Recreation,” Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope at one point notes wryly that “skywriting isn’t always positive.” The same can be true of voiceover, but in “Boots,” it really works. The entire show opens with Cameron explaining precisely why he’d even want to join the Marines, since he seems like such a frankly unlikely candidate … and we are subjected to plenty of unpleasant and casual homophobia, fat-shaming, and racism as superiors go after their Marine recruits like hawks. (There’s a particularly gross scene in the very first episode where Cameron throws some of his food into the trash and is forced to retrieve and eat it before vomiting profusely; though it’s probably realistic, it’s still tough to watch.)
Still, thanks in large part to Miles Heizer’s central performance and the show’s fun artistic flourishes, “Boots” isn’t as tough as a watch as it initially seems; in fact, that pilot boasts one of the best uses of “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips since “Bridesmaids.” As all the recruits adjust to their new lives at boot camp, they also learn to understand one another and work past any perceived differences, especially Cameron himself, who’s hiding his true desires as a young gay man to maintain his place as a future Marine. Blake Burt as John Bowman, a Marine who’s been struggling with his weight and his cruel family — including his twin Cody (Brandon Tyler Moore) — also deserves a major shout-out, due to the fact that his storyline handles his emotional journey with sensitivity and care rather than ridicule (even though he does admittedly face some horrible ridicule during basic training). Whether you’re an Army brat or have no idea what basic training even is, much less what it’s like, there’s a lot to love in “Boots.” “Boots” marches onto Netflix on October 9.
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