The Get Down: Season 1 (Part 2)/ Episode 9 “One by One, Into the Dark” – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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The repercussions of the last episode become clear and these young men and women are forced to decide who will dictate their fate? Also, of the possible paths they can choose, be it what’s easy or the dream, which road will they head off on?

Episode Focus: Sometimes You Got To Burn Bridges To Focus on The Path Ahead (Mylene, Shaolin Fantastic, and Zeke)

 

Fat Annie is impressed with Shaolin and his boys. So impressed that she decides that Cadillac’s failing record label, Super High Voltage, they going to put out the boys’ album. It may be a novelty one but novelty records make money for years, decades and Fat Annie ain’t the Fat Annie we knew. It doesn’t seem she wants to be the next big time supplier anymore. She has been shook. So now she wants to make some retirement money and The Get Down Brothers are her ticket.

So, with $1500 up front and contracts, all Shaolin has to do is convince the boys. Of which Zeke is a bit of a hard sell. For even though he got kicked out the house, for, in Mr. Gunns’ words, telling him to go F— himself, he still has no love for drug dealers. However, considering all the bridges he burned to get to the path he is on, he has to make it all mean something now.

As for Mylene, it seems her career may be at an end before it began. Thanks to Cisco wanting to keep Mylene from singing anything raunchy and Ramon wanting to use her to fulfill his own dreams, it seems she and the soul madonnas may become one hit wonders. That is if it wasn’t for Zeke and Lydia. Both push, though especially Lydia, Mylene to visit Roy and see what it going on and he is upfront with her. Her family is holding her back. But, this apparently won’t be the case anymore for she is hesitant but willing to be sexy, raunchy, and the disco queen Roy thinks she can be.

Commentary

Can we focus on Fat Annie for a second? What happened to that gangster we saw in part 1? Granted, Annie showed she liked to party and get down, but she was also about moving on up in the criminal underworld and that was one of the selling points of her character. Fat Annie was a villainous Black woman who slightly had a heart of gold. I feel like she has been watered down this season and demoted just to being Cadillac’s momma.

Switching to Zeke, again, with knowing he is ultimately going to be alright, unless they pull a switcheroo and the character Nas is playing isn’t Zeke, I have a hard time caring about his hardships. That is, as opposed to Mylene, who has the weight of her family on top of her and their conservative Christian values to boot. With her, we know disco dies so her moment in the sun isn’t going to last forever. So you wonder, as she gears toward becoming raunchier, what will happen in the future when disco dies? Will she, like Roy, because she took her own path lose her family? Family which will refuse to forgive her and make amends? Only time will tell. [note]Didn’t Mylene have a little sister? What happened to her?[/note]

Subplot 1: The Fall of Papa Fuerte (Francisco)

 

That article about Francisco committing arson, combined with what Zeke did, it is messing up everything for Francisco. The construction has been halted, his name is becoming poison, and what can he do? His power is in the Bronx, not downtown, so all he can do is prepare for the worse and hope for the best.

Commentary

I honestly still struggle to get into Francisco. For his machismo persona just doesn’t tickle me. On top of that, the sole thing which draws my attention is his relationship with Lydia and the question of whether he is Mylene’s true father. Outside of that, his whole political side bores the snot out of me. But, in general, outside of maybe Scandal and House of Cards, I tend to stay away from shows with political storylines.

Subplot 2: Thor Is Out And Dizzee Maybe Gone (Cadillac and Dizzee)

 

With Shaolin Fantastic having too good a record against Cadillac and being favored more than her own flesh and blood, once more Cadillac tries to take Shaolin down a notch. However, rather than mess with his music, he messes with his drugs. For, lest we forget, the drugs are what keeps Shaolin’s weird looking goatee greased up. So, he has the drug dealer Boo-Boo deals with put a little something extra in it.

Something which, after Dizzee messes with it, seemingly puts him in a coma. Which is unfortunate for the day Dizzee gets put in a coma is the day Thor gets out of jail.

Commentary

I wonder if they are going to kill Dizzee off. I have this strong feeling someone of The Get Down is going to die. It almost seems like fate, an exclamation point of how bad the Bronx was, or is. Now, for the longest time I figured it would be between Mylene, Ra-Ra, Shaolin Fantastic, and Dizzee. If only because Zeke we know is alive and as for Boo-Boo, honestly he courts the possibility of being shot so if it happens it happens. However, Mylene is Zeke’s girl so there is this belief she is protected. Then with Shaolin Fantastic, being that he is a general for Fat Annie and Cadillac is more and more directly coming after him, it seems that eventually something will happen to him. Plus, the way future Zeke talks about him, it is like he is talking about the dead.

Leaving Ra-Ra and Dizzee. Now, with Ra-Ra the sad thing would be how close he and Zeke were. Especially in part 1 of the season when he was giving Zeke advice and all that. [note] Leading to the question of, why aren’t they close anymore? [/note] But with Dizzee? I feel that him dying doesn’t have that much of an impact anymore. Maybe if Part 1 & Part 2 was released at the same time. However, with it being months in between and Dizzee’s personality being watered down like Fat Annie, his death would be sad, yeah, but not have the same shock and heartbreak.