YMMV / Roots (2016)

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• Broken Base: The existence of the remake itself has brought mixed reception from the public. Many think the incorporation of new facts regarding life in Africa and America during the story's time period and the ability to deliver a no-holds barred depiction of slavery on cable justifies the remake. However, a good chunk of viewers thought that remaking a classic was unnecessary. Snoop Dogg was particularly vocal in his objection to the remake. Granted, Snoop Dogg's comments were met with criticism from those who felt that he was being ignorant of legitimate American history. Roland Martin had pretty harsh words for not only Snoop, but anyone else who rejected the remake as "another slave movie".
• Complete Monster: The Big Bad of Part 4 is Frederick Murray, a proud Confederate major who is defined by his Lack of Empathy for his family, slaves, and subordinates. When Chicken George visits his family at the Murray family's plantation, Frederick plots to have George re-enslaved by refusing to notify him of North Carolina's 30 day limit for freedmen. A vehement racist even by Southern standards, especially compared to his father, Frederick accuses Chicken George's son Tom of lying when a failed cannon test kills some of his men, and later lets his men gangrape Tom's wife. While Frederick supposedly loves Nancy Holt, he sends men to die in Nancy's and Jerusalem's trap despite knowing Nancy was an abolitionist spy for the Union. After Jerusalem is captured, Frederick orders his men to slowly lynch him even after Nancy reveals the truth about her and her friend's backgrounds. To his father's despair, Frederick then brutalizes and lynches Nancy after she puts Jerusalem out of his misery. A deluded sadist even after the war, Frederick declares that blacks will never be equals before he tries to kill Tom in front of his own family.
• Moral Event Horizon: Given the remake's unforgiving setting, it was inevitable that a few characters would cross the line.
  • Missy confirms herself to be an irredeemable bitch in Episode 2 when Missy allows her uncle to sell her Childhood Friend Kizzy to Tom Lea.
  • Tom Lea crosses it at the end of Episode 2 when he rapes and forcibly impregnates Kizzy.
  • If Frederick Murray doesn't cement himself as a racist monster when his men rape Irene (Chicken George's son Tom's wife), he certainly does when he orders his men to slowly lynch Jerusalem and Nancy.

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