I thought it was very good as a dramedy, but if I'm being picky, maybe a little broad and on the nose politically, which I can't really hold against it as being one of the only prominent examples of its type, and addressing stuff that not a lot of other things do, broad archetypes were probably the right way to go for a first series eyeing mainstream success.
As a well meaning whitey looking in, I thought it struck a good balance myself, but I also found it interesting reading an
Atlantic round-table with some prominent black writers (including Ta-Nehishi Coats) about its flaws from a black perspective. Mainly that for a show for black people, about black people, there was very little interaction between the black characters that wasn't in someway related to the overarching themes of racism, or their place in a racist society. Essentially they didn't talk to each other like people discussing everyday black people things, as much as black people talking about being black. It failed a "blackchel test" if you will...They also all hated the consistent use of "woke", which I'd agree often came off like an older writer trying to seem 'down' with modern parlance by rampantly overusing it.
Little of which I feel remotely qualified enough to have much of an opinion on, but nevertheless found interesting as suplimentary context. I tend to think it's something they can build on in the second series now they've gotten the broader strokes out of the way. The long form nature of the show has already allowed for huge improvements on the characters of Coco and Reggie, for example, who were both kinda secondary villains in the film, but are a lot more fleshed out here, and in Coco's case, possibly the most sympathetic protagonist (though Reggie is still kinda defined by his possessive obsession with Sam, which itself seems based entirely on their shared political ideas of 'blackness'. Also Joelle is completely underwritten, despite being possibly the only character to have any non-politically charged conversations with Sam.)
Definitely an entertaining binge-worthy show, with some important stuff to say, and unsurprisingly - like the film - completely uncontroversial in its attitudes to the titular "white people" that caused such a ridiculous stir amongst dumb trolls with no knowledge of, or inclination to know, what the show was actually about in the first place. I also liked the episodic structure, and the little comedic narration at the top of each ep.
7.5/10, would bang.