Peacock's #1 Crime Drama With 58% on RT Is Too Cliched to Even Pay Attention to It

Etta's parents started a business offering sailing trips. She soon discovers that their business is merely a cover for drug trafficking. After a failed mission, the Rojas clan murders her parents right before her eyes.

Etta lost her family and home, fled to Miami, and vowed revenge. Does that sound promising? In reality, the Peacock series M.I.A. is an exhausting pile of clichés.

What Is 'M.I.A.' About?

After losing everything, Etta starts over in Miami. There, she meets Lovely and Stanley, two illegal immigrants. She searches for work and a place to live and begins an affair with a student. Meanwhile, she hatches a plan for revenge against all twelve members of the clan.

Clearly inspired by GTA: Vice City and Scarface, the creators reveal that behind the glitz of Florida beaches lies a dangerous criminal underworld. Like any screen gangsters, the cartel holds sacred codes, engages in cleverness before committing murder, and illustrates the drama of their lives with Caravaggio's art.

'M.I.A's Attempt to Fuse Gangster Drama With a Story of Self-Discovery Fails

Bill Dubuque, who worked on Ozark, favors a measured pace. Etta doesn't suddenly become a ruthless revenge machine, her plan develops gradually. However, the show is torn between two genres and fails to flesh out either one fully.

On the one hand, M.I.A. is a neon-tinged crime thriller with bloody murders, on the other hand, it's a story about self-discovery. These two elements barely mesh, creating the feeling that there are two parallel shows.

At times, the writers bombard us with action-packed moments at the expense of logic. Etta can summon an alligator with a whistle, which eliminates the villain. Meanwhile, she easily finds out everything about the guy involved in her family's murder.

As the action ramps up in later episodes, M.I.A. looks a little livelier, but that doesn't save the show from being too clichéd.

'M.I.A.' Feels Too Fragmented – Each Storyline Works Separately & Doesn't Come Together as a Whole

Each storyline – Etta's story, Mateo Rojas' criminal dealings, and Detective Kincaid's investigation – feels like it could be its own series. Somehow, the script merges them into a single Miami tourist postcard – a beautiful, hedonistic, and predictably dangerous city.

Shannon Gisela tries hard, but her character is drowned out by clichés, Brittany Adebumola and Dylan T. Jackson deliver the best performances, but they're given too little screen time. The secondary villains are so cartoonish that you neither care nor hate them.

M.I.A. aspires to be a female version of John Wick, but it lacks the style, charisma, and impeccable action that made John Wick a hit. Here, we have endless conversations, inconsistent actions, and sluggish shootouts.

What Did Critics & Viewers Think of 'M.I.A.'?

• M.I.A. has 58% from critics and 80% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

• On IMDb, the series has a score of 6.3/10.