Instead, they’re ordinary, average people who strive to be better today than they were yesterday. Sometimes they succeed and often they fail. But their winding path to personal growth is never linear because that’s not the way people behave in real life. "Hella Shook" takes us through what happens when you hit that melancholy plateau on self-reflection.
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After their run-in last week, Issa and Daniel have
fallen into a casual arrangement. It feels like a bad decision because
of how poorly she handled things the last time, but they’re both
comfortable and at home in each other’s company in a way that we never
really got to see with Issa and Lawrence.
Also, let’s be real, Daniel is
a beautiful man with a beautiful beard to match. That said,
Issa is determined to explore her ho-phase and Daniel is one of three in
a rotation that also includes neighbor bae and new guy Nico (with whom
she has a great first date). At work, her conflict with Frieda is
growing. While I was earlier inclined to see Frieda’s protestations re:
the racial makeup of their class as well intentioned but futile, I’m now
inclined to take her side. Vice principal Gaines’s prejudices aren’t
Issa and Frieda's fault, but Issa’s refusal to address or mitigate them
is her own failure and borders on active neglect.
The
real mess comes later though. After rear-ending a car because she was
looking at dick pics while driving in traffic (Potential bae shaves his
pubes and I approve!) she calls Daniel to let him know she won’t be
making it to their date later. Ever the gentleman, he comes to meet her
and lets her know he has her back. But Issa, ever the awkward black
girl, chooses to put distance between them, citing their
once-poorly-handled affair as a reason to be upfront about dating other
people. On principle, I support honesty in nonexclusive relationships.
There’s too much potential for heartbreak otherwise. But everything
about this interaction feels like Issa’s attempt to cut off Daniel
emotionally before he can do it to her. It’s a different kind of
dishonesty, sure, but it’s still dishonest.
Over in his corner of L.A., Lawrence is the one now
cyber-stalking his ex. After finding photographic proof that Issa and
Daniel are still seeing each other (they’re smiling together in the
background of one of Kelli’s photos from last week’s festivities), he
heads to a bar with Derek (Tiffany’s husband) to complain about the
betrayal he feels. But, surprisingly, instead of taking his side, Derek
delivers a crushing blow to the #LawrenceHive: "Honestly, this ain’t all
on Issa. You spent two years unemployed. Not doing shit. Letting your
woman take care of you. You kinda left the door open. [...] I can see
why she’d be attracted to a guy who’s out there making things happen." I
maaaaaay have done a body roll or two. While nothing excuses Issa’s
infidelity, Lawrence has to acknowledge his own part in driving her away
and contributing to her unhappiness. It’s clear he still has feelings
for her or he wouldn’t have ended up running "home" to her place after
that disastrous threesome, but it’s also clear he wants to burden her
with culpability for the demise of their relationship without admitting
his own faults. Rather than face that truth, he blocks her on Facebook. I
suppose it’s easier to hate her from a distance than see her finally
happy without him dragging her down. Let he without sin cast the first
stone, or however that goes.
Molly, unfortunately, is back to her "shoulds."
Despite some pretty good advice about addressing her wage gap with
White Josh, she won’t leave her job because she’s already put in four
years at the firm. On the relationship front, she invites Lionel — the
man she'd previously passed on because there was no spark — to her
parents’ vow renewal ceremony because he’s a good man with credentials.
After her brother points out that she’s clearly not that into Lionel and
shouldn’t date him simply because he looks good on paper, she discovers
from gossiping aunts that years ago, her father cheated on her mother.
Angry and hurt, she leaves the party with Dro (and not Lionel) trailing
after her.
Her impulsive decision to sleep with Dro tells us
that she took all the wrong lessons from her parents' situation. Rather
than coming to a considered decision to be involved with someone in an
open relationship (accepting all the concessions and negotiations that
entails), she uses Dro to push away the pain of finding out that not
even her parents’ marriage is perfect. It isn’t morally wrong, but it’s
not what she wants, and she knows it. Molly isn’t flexible enough to
share a man who is formally off the market and she’s intentionally
setting herself up for heartbreak.
So many of
Molly’s issues stem from the fact that she thinks the work of being in
love ends when you say "I do." But marriages (like all relationships)
take a lot of work to keep them alive. As both her parents and Dro
demonstrate, people who love each other find ways to exist within each
other’s orbit that don’t diminish the people that they are. Her father’s
infidelity isn’t a testament to her mother’s weakness but rather to her
love. The fact that they lasted 30 more years after a betrayal suggests
that they did the work it took to find their way back to each other and
rebuild the trust needed to repair their marriage. It’s short-sighted
and frankly childish of Molly not to recognize that life is complicated
and love isn’t black-and-white. People are flawed and they hurt the ones
they love.
Good people make amends, acknowledge the hurt they’ve
caused, and do what it takes to move forward. If Molly can’t recognize
this, then she simply isn’t ready for the marriage she so desperately
wants. Her behavior reinforces just how much she needs to go back to
therapy.
Bouch Bonfessions
Thot Bop:
"Insecure" by Jazmine Sullivan and Bryson Tiller is an original song for
the season two soundtrack. It’s appropriate that it plays in an episode
where so many characters make bad decisions, and specifically in the
scene where Lawrence staunchly refuses to admit his own fault in pushing
Issa away and blocks her. The lyrics may as well be a prophecy: "I’m
your lady, not a slave / You my nigga, not my massa I’ll escape /
Thinking who can I run to? Got me looking for a new dude / I’m a good
girl but you reaching / 'Bout to make me give you reason to be
insecure."
Black Twitter Cameos: Regina Hall and Scott Foley are back for another episode of Due North,
a completely nonsensical and hilarious show that clearly exists for the
sole purpose of amusing me. The show is obviously a parody but it
occurs to me that 90 percent of the reason it works is because of the
metatextual joke of casting a Scandal/Underground spoof with these specific actors. Without the audience buy-in, it’s a strange if not totally misguided stunt.
Weekly White Nonsense: "I’d want to know if any of their parents are affiliated with any … organizations."
Miscellaneous Observations: Shout-out to Molly’s Sintra Bronte T-shirt! The photograph is an iconic bit of West Indian history that has sparked many a diaspora Twitter war. (Trinidad wins.)
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