Review: “Harlem Ice” Brings A Dose of Reality to an Often Over-Produced Genre

Harlem Ice is a new five-part documentary series on Disney+ with some hefty names attached as producers. Robin Roberts, Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer all have executive producer credits on this show which follows Figure Skating in Harlem, an organization working to bring girls into the world of ice skating who otherwise wouldn’t have seeked out the sport.

Figure skating, while an Olympic favorite and a winter time wonder, is often not where you are one to see an abundance of black or brown athletes. FSH works to change this by introducing, coaching, and building community around the sport of figure skating. Their message is clear from the get go, with the figures in charge of and the coaches that make up the organization working to expand the mind of not only these skaters, but also the sport as a whole.

At first glance, it reminded me of the docuseries of my youth. Discovery Kids’ Adventure Camp and Disney Channel’s Bug Juice both followed kids in a matter-of-fact way, without the shadow of forced conflict hovering over the series. They were just kids being kids in engaging situations. Harlem Ice, luckily, feels similar in that these skaters are shown as human beings, not entities for drama. Real life happens, of course, but neither stage moms nor petty grievances are shown in the hopes of future meme-dom.

The cast is infectious, as their personalities are allowed to shine in even their most frustrated moments. Even when they feel defeated, you connect with these girls. In the simplest of ways, they are so wonderfully real that is often not seen in docuseries of this nature in the modern television landscape.

Where Harlem Ice falters is the organization of the information presented. In these five, half-hour episodes, the topics covered are mostly not given the time they need to make an impact. The FSH Ice Show is a big deal for the girls, as they are able to audition to showcase their skills through solo or group numbers for the public. Yet, the auditions and the actual show itself are merely a breeze in the wind. More time is spent building up to these events than actually showing them.

The same goes for the girls’ trip to South Africa. A rad concept (a cultural exchange program where their figure skating team heads across the globe to teach a similar group of surfers their skills and vice versa) feels like a flash in the pan. How did they feel surfing? What did the other girls think about figure skating for the first time? So many questions could be easily answered, but the confines of trying to fit an entire year into the allotted episodes means rushed material presented.

The first two episodes follow the team as they embark on various competitions. The scores leave something to be desired for the girls, but again, they breeze through and we move on. How did it affect them? As we see a larger look at the organization, is this the main purpose of FSH? It seems like it isn’t, which leads me to wonder why they didn’t cut the competition episodes and just go right into the more outreach-focused experiences and this highly touted ice show.

Yet, even if I have qualms, I still was excited to click “next episode" on the screeners. There’s something cozy about a docuseries about teens delivered in such a confident fashion. No drama. No manufactured nonsense. Just real people experiencing real life. I often feel like an eighty-year-old man sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch in moments like these, but they really don’t make them like this anymore.

Above all, Harlem Ice should be a remarkably inspiring document for millions of viewers across the globe. Don’t see someone like you? Okay, be the first. The mission of Figure Skating in Harlem is a simple, yet deeply meaningful one. I can only imagine how accomplished the organization is going to feel once Harlem Ice brings even more aspiring ice skaters of color to the rink.

All five episodes of Harlem Ice debut February 12th on Disney+.