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    The WaltmobileAli Barthwell
    12/08/17 12:32pm

    I’m honestly laughing my ass off, because this is the most ridiculously wide gap between the pre-air review of something on this site and the actual reviews that I’ve seen in a long time. Did Ashley Ray Harris only watch the pilot or something? That first episode was genuinely good (the only episode of this show that counts as anything resembling good), but DAMN did it fall off a cliff after and never get back out.

    Pre-Air Review: “THE NEXT GREAT ERA OF NETFLIX PRESTIGE TV IS HERE”

    Actual Reviews: “C+, C-, B, C, D+”

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      beetleraceThe Waltmobile
      12/20/17 1:51pm

      I am so glad I waited to recommend this to people. Episode 1 was encouraging, and the disjointedness was excusable as a set-up I guess? Plus I think I was just SO eager for a good show with a black, sex-positive, woke, female lead... But yes, it fell right off that cliff and every subsequent episode I find myself more confused about what exactly this show is trying to accomplish?

      I think I finally gave up when we find out that Jaime Overstreet is old buddies with the guy that runs the strip club, and wants to call in a favour for $10K to... re-buy Nola’s painting? Ughhhhhh.

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    NYCPaulAli Barthwell
    12/08/17 12:40pm

    I hate to keep pointing this out, but “tonally out of place” is Spike Lee’s fucking calling card.

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      ~SwintonNYCPaul
      12/08/17 4:09pm

      For some reason I remember Inside Man as not being too jarring, but I’ve heard it discussed as a film in which Lee compromised himself, even as it’s a pretty good one.

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      NYCPaul~Swinton
      12/08/17 4:57pm

      You know, I didn’t think of that, but it’s an enjoyable commercial genre picture. Maybe that’s what he needs to do!

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    fastandsloppyAli Barthwell
    12/08/17 1:07pm

    “There is no need for a predominately Black cast and crew to rely on vaguely Indian or Middle Eastern caricatures for a cheap laugh.”

    Yup. While it’s foolish to expect suffering to enoble a people, that sort of stuff is always extra depressing. I reminds me when we went to a Christmas party thrown by the guys next door and were mortified to discover that a lot of gay people are hella racist.

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    FastFreddy666Ali Barthwell
    12/08/17 3:10pm

    After reading the review. I was like. Nooooo, now i have to watch it and make a gif. Fast forward is there for a reason. O, it’s a character with an unrealistically pronounced ass dancing in a club. But ... that’s so not cool.

    The very definition of “it falls flat”

    Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF

    My reaction was the same as that disabled guy in the audience. WHAT THE FUCK? Only for different reasons. Are you fucking kidding me? Is this Spike Lee’s attempt at humor? It falls flat is the understatement of the year. This is plain right horrifically bad.

    Now I’m confused. Is the show and i quote the pre-air review a “stunning character study”, “Spike Lee’s best work in decades” or can i qualify the show as an unhumorous piece of crap? It can be two things? It’s excellent but it has its bad moments?

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    Carioca LDNAli Barthwell
    12/08/17 12:38pm

    Once I saw ‘D+’ I just knew this had to be a review for that episode with the exploding butt. I forgot until reading this review that is the also the episode with the creepy white dude at the art gallery. With those two things combined, a D+ is too generous.

    Once she started dancing I was just waiting for the explosion, the whole scene was just horrible and dragged on and on, from the struggle dancing, to the lapdance for the dude with the hooks for hands. I was watching with bated breath thinking his hand hooks would pop her booty (that’s a really weird line to write!) and when that didn’t happen I thought “Oh, maybe they have the good sense and restraint to avoid some stupid scene with ... *POP!* ... Oh, i guess not!”

    And the scene with him and Miles in the men’s room - I remember actually getting annoyed with myself at that moment for watching this crap!

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      BforRealCarioca LDN
      12/10/17 10:50pm

      I 💯 agree with everything you wrote. I was already mad at myself for continuing to watch that horrible show. Then, when that butt explosion scene happened followed by the white guy in the bathroom, I was just too outraged. I stopped watching. I came back a couple of days later to finish the season just for closure. A D+ is far too generous for that episode and for the whole show.

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    QueenVictoriasCorsetKatanaAli Barthwell
    12/08/17 12:36pm

    Thanks for these recaps.

    Reading them has told me that my decision to not bother watching this series was the right choice.

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      AfroGoddessQueenVictoriasCorsetKatana
      12/08/17 9:11pm

      You should watch it. I’m tell you I was a person who thought I shouldn’t watch this either but, this show speak to a different type of black woman especially from the insecure girl! I hope they bring this show to get a second season! I don’t know why this woman is putting down the show because what I’m seeing is not what she seeing! The Shemeeka situation was not a way to be funny; I believe it was a way to make the woman see that sometimes what you want ain’t always the best thing for you. The show is funny and especially the episode 10 with all her lovers together in one room. It’s dry humor but neither the less funny!

      I won’t take nobody word for it until I see it....hope you do too! If you watch I hope you like it.

      ✌🏾

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      (OA)AfroGoddess
      12/10/17 3:41pm

      The reviewers whole point is that even IF the show is trying to say that “what you want might not always be what you need” it is IDIOTIC to be making this point with an Afro-latina single mom from the projects.

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    Roberto aAli Barthwell
    12/08/17 1:48pm

    This was the episode that really disappointed me. The whole Shemekka story line is uninvolving and would be an addition by subtraction. The time spent there could be much better served just about anywhere else. I agree that the interaction with the cab driver was unfunny and completely off base. Ditto the ‘concentration camp’ joke which was unfunny when it was first applied to Newt Gingrich or some other right wing cretin back in the day...

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    Mr. ThreepwoodAli Barthwell
    12/08/17 4:37pm

    Why did I enjoy this show so much? Ok, so, not that stupid Shemekka storyline, but elsewhere I just loved most of it. Seeing these grades just messes with my brain.

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    Soylent GreenAli Barthwell
    12/08/17 3:11pm

    Isn’t that where Luke Cage’s barber is?

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