My Review of "Young Rock: Season 1"

Young Rock is a semi fictional and semi-non-fictional tale of the Rock, Dwayne Johnson. It's a new TV series that came out on NBC in 2021. It has a lot of elements that remind me of the writing from "Fresh off the Boat." Since I liked Fresh off the Boat you can probably tell that I really enjoyed this season.

The show starts off oddly enough in the future. It's the year 2032 and Dwayne is looking to be the next president of the United States of America. Through his campaign trail he does a series of interviews and this is where the real meat of the story comes in. So that's why you can see it's kind of fictional but uses actual stories about his real life to further his presidential campaign. It's a really innovative way of telling a biographical story.

Of course we don't know how much of the story is actually authentic or not but if you look at Dwayne's Wikipedia you'll notice that all of the stories he tells in this show can be authenticated and verified.

I even love how they seamlessly made his biographical stories tie into his presidential campaign errors. Everything is so smooth and makes sense that you can tell they took a while to plan out the whole season. There are parts of his backstory that he cuts off so that he can further discuss them later in another episode. They meticulously arranged all of the stories so that there are little mini cliffhangers even within each of the episodes.

If you've seen the Rock's movies you'll probably know what kind of TV show this is going to be. They're always about the value of family and loyalty. Throughout all of his stories he learns what's good and bad through trials and tribulations. Those are the lessons he brings up throughout his presidential campaign.

It also wouldn't be a TV show with the rock if it didn't have a good dose of comedy sprayed all over the place. There is a lot of fun to be had with this show because it's very aware of itself. It makes fun of the fact that the interviewer is Randall Park playing himself. He always refers to the good old days when he was an actor.

A lot of wrestling fans will have a great time with this show as well. Since Dwayne grew up in a wrestling family he talks a lot about the influences older 80's wrestlers had on him. For those of us that remember the famous 80's wrestlers you will have a ball with this season. They have actors portray these famous wrestlers in very comedic yet respectful manners. Even football fans will be delighted with some of the big names that Dwayne mentions in his past.

Throughout the season he talks about reaching your dreams despite the obstacles that come your way. He's shown that he would never be the man that he is today without the people and the things that happened to him. Each person and event has had a significant effect on his persona and shaped him to become a better person.

Overall, I really loved this season and can't wait until the second season. My only worry is that he's going to run out of stories and eventually they'll become made up stories. Then again The Goldbergs have been been on for quite a long time and they've been able to churn out great episode after great episode. I have to give this season an 8 out of 10. It's a must watch for wrestling and football fans especially.