• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, June 16, 2023

The new Amazon Prime Video series “I’m A Virgo” is a classic tale of a sheltered outsider’s attempt to enter a society in which he has no experience.

It also just so happens that this outsider named Cootie is 13 feet tall. That’s the intriguing premise of this part-comedy, part-heartfelt drama that starts streaming next week.

In the show, Cootie -- played by Jharrel Jerome (pictured above) -- is 19, and up until recently has never left his house. 

His parents say it is for his own good because the world, they say, is not ready for a 13-foot-tall 19-year-old. 

They also may feel a vague (and hard to admit) embarrassment over their overgrown son, especially his dad, Martisse (Mike Epps), who is harder than Cootie’s mother on his son.

In Episode One, as Cootie grows to full size, it becomes clear that his days of living in the family house must come to an end. 

It’s a physical thing; he just cannot walk through the home’s normal-sized doorways without demolishing their frames.

Cootie and his father then build a makeshift home for him in the backyard whose features are designed to accommodate his physical frame. 

Thus, Cootie has left his house for the first time, only to be confined to the family backyard under orders from his parents.

But his physical confinement is no match for his curiosity now that he has taken his first steps outside. Now, he is one tall hedge away from interacting with anyone other than his mother and father.

His parents’ fears are eventually realized when he meets the world and the world meets him. 

Not surprisingly, Cootie is ill-prepared. All he knows about the world he learned from television -- from its commercials to its tele-psychics and self-help speakers.

The reclusive, socially and physically awkward Cootie is a combination of Chance the gardener from “Being There,” Boo Radley from “To Kill A Mockingbird” and even the title character in the 1957 movie “The Amazing Colossal Man.”

But TV is only one of the major influences in his life. The other influence is superhero comic books. As he matures, he harbors ambitions to become a superhero himself.

“I’m A Virgo” works, at least in part, because of its close attention to detail. Through various CGI tricks (and presumably other means), the interaction of this 13-foot-tall colossal teen with his physical environment feels real in every way.

The producers of “I’m A Virgo” apparently realized they faced a tall order, and in response, they went to great lengths to put it across. 

“I’m A Virgo” premieres on Friday (June 23) on Amazon Prime Video.