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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGXcXhk6vng
Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)
Otis is a problem. One which seemingly the show realized it shouldn’t drag out so they decide to handle that storyline this episode to leave Jahil with the bulk of the criminal activity.
Topic 1: The Witness & The Evidence (Jahil)
Eva (Sharlene Taulé), who Jahil is pretending is his niece, ends up someone he keeps close by his side. Almost to the point, it seems she maybe falling for him. Problem is, she ends up a witness as Jahil handles the situation noted in topic 2 and with Maggie (Helena Kallianiotes) not believing Jahil was robbed, since the other transfers went well, having Eva around isn’t going to help things.
Commentary
Every time Jahil is on screen I wish his issues were like Jackie’s in The Get Down. It would be nice if he burned some industry people, was trying to rebuild his own career and wasn’t involved in this drug game/ human trafficking mess. For the storyline just seems so out of place and like it was crafted just so Benjamin Bratt would fully commit to the series. Not because it made sense and was something which would be cohesive, but just so he has enough drama to be a regular and attempt to be more than this unnamed group’s manager.
Topic 2: Who Shot Ya? (Simone, Carlotta, Cotton, Star, Alexandra, and Jahil)
Carlotta thought she was just going to a hair show, advertise her business, and maybe Miss Bruce may win an award which could bring her shop some notoriety. However, Otis shows up and with Simone still having nightmares and Otis coming into Carlotta’s shop trying to get a job to closely stalk Simone, Star decides to finish what she started.
Well, at least that was her intention. She, alongside Alexandra, Cotton, and Carlotta were on the hunt for Otis after it was revealed who he is and that Simone has run off. To make matters worse, Carlotta find out her gun is gone and Simone is the one who took it. But, despite her having the gun, and we seeing Otis with a bullet wound right in his sternum, she says she didn’t do it. The only other person we saw with a gun that whole episode is Jahil, the last one we saw him alive with was Simone, and the first person to discover he was dead seemingly was Star. Someone who saw him sitting in his car and with no bullet in the window, making him likely placed in his car. Also, I should note, Carlotta said she saw the body too. As for Cotton, she did have a pair of hair clipping scissors in hand which could leave a puncture wound, but she doesn’t say a word.
Commentary
Is it wrong for me to say this seems like unnecessary drama? Granted, what do I know about writing a TV show, but let’s take this whole Otis situation under consideration. Star stabbed this man multiple times in the back with a long blade, the type which should have hit some nerve endings or made it so this man would not walk without some kind of assistance. Yet, for some reason, he is walking around like all she did was hit him with a frying pan.
On top of that, this dude is written to believe in mutually assured destruction and made so diabolical that you’re only reaction to the first time you thought he was dead, and the confirmation this episode is “Good for his ass.” But here comes the problem, is there really a need to create this much drama for these girls? We already got Simone who is on her way to OD’ing like her mom, Star seems like the type whose street smarts eventually are going to get outmatched and either mess up her career or threaten her life, and you know Alexandra’s parents are going to return at some point and try to make her heel. So really, why add a “Who done it?” storyline?
If anything, this show would have been better off having Otis die episode one and having his wife be assumed as the one who did it. Making it so on top of Simone having issues because she knows Star did it, and her having traumatic flashbacks, she has to deal with an innocent woman going down because of her and Star. Thus leading her to really need Ms. Carlotta and the church because while she knows Star’s intentions were good, her ambitions have led to this and only drugs and alcohol seem to help Simone cope for the truth isn’t presented as an option.
Now, is it the best idea? Maybe not, but I think this Otis murder is going to become the bane to this show’s overall plot. For with that included, alongside the Jahil situation, it strays further from being rooted in some type of reality and starts venturing to your usual network TV drama. Leading to, with time, I think unraveling what makes this show seem different and great and eventually making it like everything else. Just with better music.
Things to Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered
- What is the name of Star, Simone, and Alexandra’s group? You’d think, by now, their name would have been a conversation we have heard. Especially when they are being introduced onto a stage and they have a demo being sent to a major music event.
- Those weird wigs are due to the girls performing a tribute to Gladys Knight, who is in the episode, and I can’t wait to put their covers of her songs in rotation.
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