‘Bel-Air’ review: ‘The Fresh Prince’ goes down a dark path in a Peacock drama that’s better than it has any right to be

Will Smith (Jabari Banks) has a bright future, with a looming basketball scholarship that will take him out of Philadelphia and put him on a path to bigger and better things. But an encounter with a gang member goes wrong, and his hubris leads him to try settling matters on the playground, a plan that backfires in a dangerous manner.

Understandably concerned, Will’s mom (April Parker Jones) ships him off to Los Angeles and relatives he barely knows, as evidenced by his stunned expression when he first catches sight of their gated mansion. “You did not tell me that your family was White,” the driver (Jordan L. Jones) says.

Still, fitting in isn’t sitcom-easy in this telling, with Will’s arrival provoking jealousy from his cousin Carlton (Olly Sholotan), who’s hiding his own secret, and tensions involving his Aunt Vivian (Cassandra Freeman) and Uncle Philip (Adrian Holmes) — the latter in the midst of a race to become District Attorney, but facing questions about street cred due to his zip code.