I watched the eight-part miniseries Washington Black (US: Hulu, CA/UK/AU: Disney+). It's a sort of swashbuckling 1800s steampunk fairytale of a Barbadian boy (the titular George Washington Black) who escapes the life of slavery he was born into using his scientific aptitude and a fantastical airship. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the depiction of life within the show's universe, but going any further than that strays into spoiler territory. Overall, it was fun to watch. Sterling K. Brown is a major standout in the cast, but everybody is doing good work.

Below I'll go into a bit more detail about the things I liked less. It's fairly minor spoilers, mostly about things that don't happen in the show, but if you don't want to know anything going in, skip it.

Spoilers

Presumably in service of being "fun to watch," the realities of slavery and racism in the era are glossed over and sanded down significantly compared to the novel it's adapting or actual history. There are a few threats of gratuitous violence but probably the worst thing that happens is a slap, which is bad but on the lower end of awful things that might happen to a slave. Nobody in the show's universe seems to know any racial slurs. There is an over-representation of enlightened, abolitionist white men, although they are for the most part deeply flawed, not idealized white saviors.

I don't mean to give the impression that the racism is entirely whitewashed. There's at least one unrepentant slaver, several malevolent slave-catchers, a light-skinned, mixed-race character is forced to disguise their parentage to continue living in wealthy, white society. But the show's focus is mostly on the fun parts: the adventures, romance and airships, with the less palatable stuff frequently only implied or occurring off-camera.

Overall, I'd say it's what you might expect from a Disney(-ish) fairytale adaptation of darker source material. It just feels a little weird when the elements that were dropped are the harsh realities of 1800s racism and not ... little mermaids dying (Hans Christian Anderson spoilers). Again, I had fun watching it, but I feel conflicted about how healthy it is to make historical fiction fun by softening the harder edges. Who knows, maybe it's OK to have some escapist fiction with PoC protagonists, as a treat?

For people who have seen Nautilus (US/CA: AMC+, UK: Amazon Prime Video, AU: Stan), I'd say that's a better show, as far as swashbuckling steampunk adventures which try to engage with the racial dynamics of the (fictionalized) eras they represent. But both shows are very enjoyable, quite short and easy to watch. Go watch Nautilus.