In the past year, many of the series crowned the best of TV have concluded. As Succession, Atlanta, and Ted Lasso ended, we were left wondering, what’s next? The golden age of TV might be coming to a close, but the golden age of auteurism might be making its way from film to TV. I’m A Virgo is objectively one of the weirdest things you will find on TV and thrives in that space. Writer-director-creator Boots Riley has expanded his vision to seven episodes of extremely strange TV and the result is fascinating. The show does not live and die by the acting, the writing, or the “giant in a normal-sized world” trope. Riley has made sure that the ideas are front and center and everything else is working in concert to bring them to life.

Cootie (Jharrell Jerome) is 13 feet tall. His parents Lafrancine (Carmen Ejogo) and Martisse (Mike Epps) have purposefully kept him inside the house his entire life with the promise of letting him leave when he turns 21. We meet Cootie when he is 19; he's getting more anxious about his confinement. When he overhears something that contradicts the facts his parents have told him about the world he has never seen, Cootie gains the confidence to leave the house. He overhears a group of friends just outside his house, and they embrace him fully, taking him on a journey he will never forget. For better or worse, Cootie is not just 13 feet tall, but a 13-foot-tall Black man walking around Oakland. When he draws the ire of local caped crusader The Hero (Walton Goggins), Cootie has to decide if he will turn his fame into money or use his size for justice.

Boots Riley delivered one of the most ambitious directorial debuts in recent years with 2018’s Sorry to Bother You. His long-awaited follow-up to the bizarre anti-capitalist comedy, with just a dash of body horror, confirms that Riley has created his own lane and intends to navigate us through it. The themes he deals with in I’m a Virgo aren’t exactly identical, but they share much of the same DNA. At the root of this is the downfall of capitalism and how the Black experience can be inherently ostracizing. From a filmmaking perspective, he is truly one of a kind. Perhaps it's because he started his career as a musician, but everything you see onscreen feels like it came from the mind of someone who isn’t concerned about the rules of filmmaking, but someone brave enough to throw it all at the wall and see what sticks.

The only question you should ask yourself going into I’m A Virgo is whether you like your themes straight or on the rocks because Riley has absolutely zero interest in ice. Kara Young's Jones and Ejogo's Lafrancine quite literally explain everything another movie or TV show in the same vein would layer in context. It’s not so much that Riley is holding our hands or looking down on us as it is him creating something on his own terms. The same can be said about Sorry to Bother You, with the key distinction coming again in the form of a woman's monologue. Young talking about the ills of the police in America is so on the nose it makes Tessa Thompson's speech in Sorry to Bother You feel like a puzzle.

Visually, I’m A Virgo has quite a few tricks up its sleeve. Films like Gulliver's Travels and The Borrowers have employed playing with scale in similar ways, but what sets I’m A Virgo apart is the way the story and the concept are in total sync. There are moments here and there where you might ask yourself, "If Cootie uses a car to exercise, how is he able to safely ride in one?" To which I'm a Virgo's apt response is, "Who cares?" None of that takes away from the pure joy of the cast when they are joyriding for the first time. And leave it to Epps, who at this point in his career can basically do no wrong, to crack joke after joke about his son's size while still being incredibly believable as a man truly worried about what the world is capable of. When Young delivers her informational speeches, black fabric explodes from her back like butterfly wings, creating a backdrop not dissimilar to a theater as wave after wave of white and gold tapestries create the next scene. Save for some unflattering CGI in the scenes where The Hero is flying his super scooter, I’m A Virgo nails its biggest technical hurdle.

If nothing else, you have to appreciate the sheer scale of the canvas Riley employs in I’m A Virgo. The series will undoubtedly be divisive, as most challenging art is, but that is half the fun of all seven episodes, none of which outstay their welcome. The show is equal parts fun and social commentary. It's as blunt with its ideas as it is sincere with its main character. Brett Gray (On My Block), as Cootie's first friend Felix, is lovely and will have you laughing, crying, and wishing you could dap him up. Riley’s work continues to awe, and I’m A Virgo is no exception.

All seven episodes of I’m A Virgo will be available on Amazon Prime Friday, June 23.