Can an old man be taught new tricks? That’s the question raised in Apple TV’s new limited series, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey based on Walter Mosley’s novel of the same name. Samuel Jackson stars as the title character, a weathered, sheltered 91-year-old man that’s suffering from dementia.
Jackson, who executive produced the series along with his wife Latanya Richardson Jackson, works alongside a talented cast of characters. The most notable include his Hateful Eight co-star Walton Goggins as Dr. Rubin who offers to restore his mental faculties, Omar Benson Miller who plays his great-nephew Reggie, and Dominique Fishback as Robyn, his family friend turned caretaker who wowed audiences(and me) in her role as Deborah Johnson in the two-time Academy Award-winning biopic Judas and the Black Messiah.
Having lived such an extensive life over several decades, Ptolemy has interwoven tragic fragments of his past life running concurrently with his modern life. Old friends that have long since passed obscure his grasp of the outside world, to the point where he’s almost struck by cars and mistakes women for his late wife Sensia. Bearing witness to loved ones having lapses in memory or judgment firsthand, Jackson played this aspect of Grey astutely well.
The core heart of the story is between Ptolemy and Robyn as they both grow to rely on each other over the course of the show. Fishback plays her role of Robyn with just enough subtlety that imbues the show with a great sense of realism. He takes on of her surrogate father as he’s often ensuring she’s kept on the straight and narrow.
Mostly known for his leading action hero roles like Jules in Pulp Fiction and Nick Fury in the Marvel movies, it’s always refreshing seeing Jackson play a more natural and grounded character. After facing a tragic, personal loss in his family, Grey is invited by the local Dr. Rubin to be the recipient of a miracle drug that he boldly claims to cure him of his dementia.
As the drug begins to take effect, Grey’s life starts turning around. He becomes more social and more energetic than he’s been in years. Robyn rejuvenates his home and comes to discover treasure his late uncle stole from a white landowner worth close to $50,000. His spirit and acuity are rejuvenated as well when the two start finding clues as to who’s responsible for his slain family member. The biting social commentary relating the mistreatment of black people during the 1930s to the present day felt especially poignant.
Just as things begin to look up for him though, he starts to drift back into old memories and struggle with his words. The series becomes a race against time as Ptolemy attempts to piece together the answers before the effects of the drug wear off or he loses his bout.
--Michael Omoruan