Mara Brock Akil has been floating for the past two weeks. Or, as she joyfully puts it, “I’m riding the sea turtles.”
The feeling is understandable. The prolific TV mogul’s latest creation, “Forever,” a modern adaptation of Judy Blume’s beloved (and controversial) 1975 novel, premiered on May 8 to overwhelming praise from critics and viewers for bringing a new kind of coming-of-age tale to life. The TV series is just as revolutionary and forward-thinking as the original novel.
Brock Akil’s “Forever” reimagines Katherine and Michael, the protagonists from Blume’s book, as Keisha Clark (Lovie Simone) and Justin Edwards (Michael Cooper Jr.), two Black kids from Los Angeles — one wealthy, from a loving two-parent home, and the other raised by a struggling single mother and a tight-knit village of relatives. The show then follows the childhood sweethearts reuniting years later as teenagers at a New Year’s Eve party at the close of 2017. That party is the catalyst for their whirlwind high school romance full of firsts, which isn’t without its hurdles.
“Forever” turns Keisha and Justin’s lives inside out as they fight to save their relationship, futures, and most of all, themselves. It’s a teen experience many folks can relate to: navigating academic pressures, living up to parents’ expectations, fearing missteps, discovering who we are and who we hope to become — all while trying to make sense of a first love that feels so messy and out of control.
