Bel-Air: Season 3 Episode 4 – Review/ Recap (Written)

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Storyline Recap

Insecurities and Playing Catch Up – Will, Carlton, Amira, Lisa

While Will and Carlton both have unique strengths that they bring to Blackccess, there is the challenge of both wanting to be able to do everything. Will is a showman, optimistic, and good at marketing, and Carlton has the business know-how. The audience understands this and you’d think Will would too, but he struggles to accept what he doesn’t know and it isn’t until a rather rough day at the beach and conversation with Lisa he realizes he has to play catch up.

Meanwhile, Carlton is looking at the whole situation as Will potentially sabotaging his return to form and with Will knowing how much this means to him, it feels like a personal attack him not stepping up like he needs him to. But, what doesn’t help to a point is Amira.

Yes, she is a supportive girlfriend, but in pursuit of them keeping each other sober from drugs, they seek a different high, like Carlton driving fast looking directly at her, or him driving fast while she does some polishing. Two very dangerous things which push the idea a car accident could be in Carlton’s future.

Girls Night Out – Vivian, Joan, Steph

You know what we rarely see on most shows? Adults who have kids and families also having friends. Vivian has seemingly long been in need of a friend and thankfully Joan pops up and when she hears about everything, a Girl’s Night is proposed and accepted. Now, it does include Steph, and a unnamed woman, but Vivian is out for having a good time and even though Steph is messy, including liking nearly every post on Shareef’s IG page, it overall is a good night.

Time To Play Dirty – Omar, Phil, Geoffrey, Yolanda

Phil knows his relationship with Vivian will continue to suffer as long as he is in proximity to and reliant on Erika. So, with this in mind, he and Geoffrey come up with a plan to take on Omar as a client, despite how contentious his development is becoming.

Yolanda, Jazz’s friend running for a council seat, is leading a protest, Omar shows up saying the wrong things, and Phil swoops in as legal counsel and handling PR to begin turning things around. Omar isn’t fond of some of Phil’s methods, like increased community involvement, but if this means less vandalism and the project moving forward, it seems he’ll pay for the convenience.

Focus On The Person Not The Player – LaMarcus, Jazz, Hillary, Mr. Alton

It’s not 100% clear what LaMarcus’ relationship is with his parents. His mom is in and out within a scene, as is his dad. But, what we do know is Mr. Alton, LaMarcus’ dad, expects him to recover quickly and while LaMarcus is 26, he is a 26 year old with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and recommended for open heart surgery. The pressure to bounce back makes it so Hillary realizes, while there might be residual feelings for Jazz, the kiss was a mistake, and thankfully Jazz lifts that burden from Hillary. Thus allowing her to focus all in on LaMarcus, and likely follow Ivy’s advice on taking that kiss to her grave.

New Character Descriptions

David Ramsey As Lamont Alton

With his own sports career, Mr. Alton seeks to make it so it isn’t just him, but his genes as the source of his family’s success. Which makes him push LaMarcus beyond what he might be able to do based on his heart condition.

Melissa De Sousa As Steph

Steph is the wild child of Vivian’s friend group who she isn’t the most fond of, but acknowledges is a necessary ingredient to getting any party started.

• The actor is also known for their role in ” Our Kind Of People: Season 1/ Episode 4.”

Review

Highlights

Phil’s Alliance With Omar

What I want, and perhaps need, from Uncle Phil, and maybe “Bel-Air” in general, is a character who is willing to be the bad guy, or girl. Yes, people have layers to them and everything isn’t black and white. However, I’d submit Uncle Phil’s ambitions, while it has allowed for a huge mansion, left Vivian feeling secondary and unfulfilled, Carlton with a complex, Ashley disillusioned with it all and Hillary? I would say she suffers from what Carlton does, but chose a different path to compensate.

With that in mind, I look forward to Uncle Phil defending Omar’s project and I hope there doesn’t come a point where he realizes the destruction Omar’s development will cause and turn on him. Let the man get his hands dirty with Geoffrey, get the project to completion, and dare I say, screw over Jazz in the process. Let’s not present every character with an arc that allows for redemption with ease, or redemption at all.

On The Fence

Feeling Like We’re On A Hamster Wheel With Storylines

Does anyone else feel like some storylines or situations are repeating themselves? I think with Hillary acknowledging how she runs from challenges, and seemingly repeats mistakes, it has me thinking how others are repeating themselves as well, just with slightly different scenarios. Aunt Vivian and Uncle Phil continue to be tempted by outside forces, which could be a very real issue in long marriages, but seems to happen in theirs a little too often.

Carlton and Will constantly go back and forth as they trigger something in each other, Ashley disappears whenever she stirred something up and seemingly was starting to have a storyline of her own, and it isn’t the worst thing, these repeats, but it is worrisome. “Bel-Air” does have a lot of good going for it, but like most Black predominant shows, you always have to factor one of the reasons the show is a highlight is because it lacks peers and thus, you can’t easily compare it.

Yet, in that scarcity, it is hard to not want better and without peers to compare it to, or go to when you feel like you may have reached your limit, it makes it far easier to get frustrated.

Geoffrey and Frederick

With Geoffrey being the muscle or blade to Phil’s work with Omar, a part of me is unsure if the Frederick storyline may keep up. For what goes on with most characters, I’m starting to realize, is they try to split their storyline between their personal life, their work life, and their part as a member of the Banks household. Generally, two out of three is where most excel, with the personal life being the weak point for damn near everyone, but for Geoffrey this is especially true since Frederick has yet to present himself as someone with layers.

So one can only hope this changes in time.

Amira & Lisa

The thing I’m worried about regarding Lisa, but especially Amira, is them being established and maintaining a life outside their boyfriends. Lisa, last I checked, was supposed to be in some kind of intense swimming training which was supposed to zap her summer yet she had a day to go to the beach or spend with Will advertising his company?

Then with Amira, who is she outside of Carlton’s girlfriend? We know she likes to drive fast, has substance abuse issues, but when are we going to see her life? Heck, how about Lisa’s home life with that new baby around? While I know the boys are higher ranked on the cast, it would be nice to see these women share their world vs. getting absorbed into Will and Carlton’s.

General Information

Additional Information

1. Previous Episode: Season 3/ Episode 3
2. Series Page

Episode Title

Out All Night

Release Date

August 22, 2024

Network

Peacock

Director(s)

Nick Copus

Writer(s)

Felicia Pride