Will Smith became famous thanks to the amazing sitcom that aired from 1990 to 1996, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show became a household name, and so did the lead character, who was also named after the actor who played him, “Will Smith.” The sitcom is about an affluent African American family living in one of the most upscale neighborhoods of Los Angeles, Bel-Air. Even though the show was humorous, it talked about many issues concerning the African American community and how the leads have fought to become one of the influential families in the city. Peacock has now rebooted the same show, but instead of comedy, the new reimagined version in the same neighborhood, Bel-Air is a full-fledged drama about the Banks family. The family has to make new adjustments as a new relative, Will Smith joins them. Bel-Air seasons one and two aired in the years 2022 and 2023, and it extensively covers the life of Will and the Banks family.
Spoilers Ahead
Season 1 Recap
Bel-Air season 1 began with Will Smith, a young school-going kid, a talented basketball player who got into a fight and, as a result, ended up in jail. Just like in the original show, Will Smith, a native of West Philadelphia, aka West Philly, was flown off to Bel-Air in California to live with his aunt Vivian and Uncle Philip Banks, after getting into trouble with some local street gangsters. The show moves to California, where Will Smith was new to this rich lifestyle his uncle, aunt, and cousins were leading. As his uncle Philip Banks was a high-flying lawyer, he was also running for the position of district attorney, and Will arrived just at the beginning of his campaign.
Will was subjected to cultural shock as he felt his cousins were far removed from life in the hood and were too rich to understand the culture of African American communities. The young boy and his cousin Carlton do not get along for a while in the beginning, as Will has a nature that would automatically bring him all kinds of attraction, including from Carlton’s ex-girlfriend Lisa. Philip Banks also had a house manager, Geoffrey Thompson. He was also his right-hand man who would carry out any kind of errand for the family, including making sure everyone was safe and sound.
Season one of the show maneuvers through Will adjusting to the new private school, which was far better than the public school he was a part of, and this means there would be someone who would notice his basketball skills. Will was also concerned about the life and friends he left behind, but was slowly adapting to his new one around people who would help him find opportunities to channel his voice and youthful energy. Bel-Air also focuses on the Banks children, Hillary, Carlton, and Ashley. Hillary was a social media influencer who was known for her cooking; Carlton was a young, driven kid working towards securing a place at Princeton University for further studies; and Ashley was a young preteen girl trying to imbibe everything there was to learn from her siblings and her cousin Will Smith.
Carlton comes across as a bully initially, but he slowly simmers down to Will Smith, realizing he was indeed harmless. Hillary was struggling with her mother’s ambitions for her as she was trying to build a brand for herself through social media. The makers of the show throughout the first season discuss teenage drug abuse and several mental health issues the youngsters face these days, and they are given no avenues to discuss how they feel about it.
Aunt Vivian in Bel-Air is serious about her career as an artist and signs up for a scholarship. However, Philip Banks was in trouble for taking an anti-police stand during his campaign and began to get pushback from some of his allies in the Los Angeles Police Department. The Police Chief of LAPD was also his rival for the district attorney elections, and he began to feel Philip’s wave was picking up, which was bad for the local administration. To make matters complicated, Lisa, Will’s current girlfriend, and Carlton’s ex, was the daughter of the Police Chief of LAPD. They had a lot to lose at this juncture as her father revealed Philip Banks used all of his influence in Philadelphia to get Will out of jail and moved him to Bel-Air. This information was now with the LAPD Chief, and he planned to use it against Will’s uncle. Philip decided to withdraw from the race as a result, and requested his wife Vivian to take up the scholarship she had been offered, as he was willing to be the supportive spouse.
Will was keen to know where his father was, and he requested Geoffrey to pull up details on him. Initially, Will was not ready to go through the information dug up by Geoffrey out of respect for his uncle Philip Banks, who was more like a father figure to him. However, a falling out between Geoffrey and Philip led to Lou, Will‘s father, showing up at the Banks’ residence. The meeting between Will and Lou did not go as planned, as the man turned out to be exactly what Philip described him as: aggressive, volatile, and temperamental. Will was more upset at his mother, Uncle Philip, and Aunt Vivian for keeping him in the dark about the real reason why his father was never around. Lou was in prison for ten years. His ugly confrontation with his father, followed by him realizing all of that could have been avoided if the elders had been honest with him about his father, made him want to stay away from them for some time.
Bel-Air season 1 ended with Will moving out of his uncle’s home and moving in with Jazz, a friend he made on his first day in Bel-Air. Jazz was a driver/record store owner who was getting along with Will’s cousin Hillary. Will moved in with him without any idea what his future held in store for him.
Season 2 Recap
Bel-Air season 2 began with the beef Will had with his Uncle Philip and Aunt Vivian about his father’s situation. Will was in touch with his cousins as he was a regular at school. The concerns between Carlton and Will had been settled as well since both had been through too much together to fight again. Ashley’s birthday brought the family back together, and Will decided to move in after having a heartfelt talk with his uncle Philip, who wanted only what was best for his nephew and agreed to support his dream of becoming a basketball player.
The second season began with Will wanting to get the attention of mentor Doc Hightower, who was known to scout basketball talents and train them for the scholarship that would allow children to join universities. Will impressed Doc, and the man began to show interest in making him a better basketball player. Carlton, along with Will, had approached the Black Student Union (BSU) of their school in regards with firing of an African American middle school teacher, Mrs. Hughes. On learning that Mrs. Hughes was offering children novels and books that were outside of the curriculum, she was forced to leave the job, which angered many students, especially from the African American community. Mrs. Hughes was offering literature about African American history that was not in the school curriculum, which led to the protests led by Carlton Banks against the school management. Will and Lisa were supportive of him.
As the protests were flaring up, Will was suspended. Carlton, who was dealing with severe anxiety, froze due to a panic attack just before he was about to give his speech. Carlton was beginning to like the BSU leader Yazmin, but his inability to speak up in favor of the protests did not go down with her and the other members of BSU.
Bel-Air season 2 covered the racket that was simmering under Doc Hightower and his business partner Lorenzo, who were not a legitimate group and were not legally allowed to recruit children for universities. Will initially assumed Doc Hightower fooled him just to get his Uncle Philip to invest more money in this scheme. Uncle Philip was informed about this, and along with Geoffrey, they got to the bottom of this and caught Lorenzo. They had to let go of Doc Hightower because he was working as per Lorenzo’s instructions. With the villain out of the picture, Will was happy, but there was plenty of uncertainty about his future.
Carlton and Will got into a beef over the former going back to drug abuse and his old friend Connor. Connor and Carlton had a wild night, ingesting all forms of narcotic drugs, which they had no memory of the next day. Carlton was nowhere close to recovering as his anxiety levels kept going up, and as a result, his drug abuse did not stop. Will was falling for Doc’s niece Jackie. She eventually confessed to having known about Doc and Lorenzo’s plan to hustle Uncle Philip, which led to their breakup.
Vivian was dealing with many concerns as she had begun to work as a full-time artist under the scholarship offered to her, which led to a lot of friction with her mentor, who was hijacking the narrative of her painting instead of letting her take center stage. Her hard work and dedication led to Vivian being offered the chairmanship of the fellowship.
Philip was looking forward to rejoining his old law firm, but they were going through troubled times after he left to become a district attorney. The ruthless takeover of his law firm with his friend Jeffery was inevitable, but he went out of his way to make sure the core of the firm was not lost, and saved Jeffrey from making a huge mistake. Philip eventually joined the firm, where his ex-girlfriend Erica was the partner, and as a result, there was some friction between him and Vivian. Erica assured Vivian that the relationship she currently had with Philip was strictly professional. Philip eventually turned down her offer and established his own law firm to kick-start his solo career.
The school ‘Bel-Air Academy’ was to felicitate one of the students with ‘The Founder’s Award,’ and Carlton, along with Will, was nominated for it. Will had not put his name up for it, but Yazmin came forward and revealed Carlton’s cousin’s name was suggested by BSU. Yazmin was livid at Carlton as she believed he used the protest to his benefit, which was why she chose to place a competition between the brothers. Will was not keen on competing for the award as he knew Carlton was tailor-made for it, but he was encouraged by Doc to consider this as a challenge as it would look good on the college application.
Bel-Air season 2 ended with Carlton winning the Founder’s Award, but he confessed about his drug addiction during his speech to the school. As his family was in the audience listening to him talk about his struggles, Carlton walked away from the felicitation. There was never closure as to if he rejected the award or was it taken away from him. Carlton’s family, including Will, came together to help him fight this battle as Vivian began to look for rehab facilities. Philip got a text message from Erica to join her for drinks, which he did not reject, indicating there might be the possibility of an affair simmering between the two, and it might wreck the family further.
