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The Quad pushes its rape storyline further and with that, so comes after school special like discussions. Which help to bolster the storyline and make it seem like more than a topic to cause melodrama.
Trigger Warning(s): Depiction of Rape
Episode Focus: He Said/She Said (Sydney, Eva, Coach Hardwick, and Terrence[note]Kevin Savage[/note])
With the video widely circulated and people taking sides, Sydney and Dr. Fletcher are going through all the required procedures for a possible conviction. Sydney goes to the doctor and seemingly has the rape reported by police. Meanwhile, Terrence is dealing with the backlash of the accusation of which Tiesha made from just a school matter to something which could be reported on local news.
However, while the young adults bicker over whether Sydney is telling the truth, and harassing her about it, Dr. Fletcher and Coach Hardwick draw lines in the sand. Dr. Fletcher, without any care of the ramifications, wants Terrence off the football team and out of school. Hell, when she learns there was a dropped accusation in high school, she decides to confront Coach Hardwick. Someone who doesn’t appreciate her, once again, trying to tell him what to do and how to run his team. Plus, he reminds her of his two daughters and that BoJohn has a conviction while Terrence does not. Thus leading to her making, perhaps, one more enemy in the school [note] However, when it comes to Cecil Diamond, of all people, it seems she may have support. It is a bit awkward for him to go from one of the people who wanted her out to supporting her on this issue, but considering the childhood he had, maybe the subject matter is familiar to him. [/note] [note]We learn in this episode that part of the reason Sydney and Eva have problems is because while Eva was working on getting her degree, she revealed she never wanted children. It was all something Derek wanted and she was getting frustrated raising and taking care of a child she didn’t want probably because she knew they would get in the way of her goals.[/note].
Commentary
Again, like with the last episode, the subject of rape and how to handle it is hard to talk about. Especially since this episode takes an after school special approach and discusses what consent is, what is rape, and has its usual ending which features statistics and where to go on BET’s website for more information. But, with that said, us getting the two different sides to the same story was an interesting approach. Naturally, it didn’t change the perception of Terrence, since no matter how you tell the story Sydney was too drunk to give consent and all signs point to her being raped, but at least The Quad tried to do something vaguely different, in terms of storytelling. Even if it was creepy to try to bring the rapist’s perception of things into play.
Subplot 1: The Truth About The Assault Charge (BoJohn and Tiesha[note]Aeja Lee[/note])
Tiesha really puts herself front and center in this episode between making a press conference all about Terrence’s rape allegation to pushing BoJohn to reveal why he got a charge on his record. Well, while she may not be able to report the answer, she does learn why BoJohn beat up his coach. Simply put, he was being a bully and homophobic toward one of BoJohn’s teammates. So, with BoJohn not being able to stand up to his dad and deal with it at home, he took it upon himself to defend a kid when he could say or do something. Thus leaving this at least 50+-year-old man injured and BoJohn unable to speak on why he did what he did since the kid wasn’t out yet and he didn’t want to force him out for the sake of himself.
This opening up to Tiesha, as well as learning she is into football, leads BoJohn to catch feelings for her. However, with her not necessarily playing games nor showing there is a mutual interest, he is a bit confused. Though with Junior noting how she has been messing with someone on the team since freshmen year, who knows if the A&M Journalist to look out for is looking for BoJohn to be more than a friend.
Commentary
I have never really taken an interest in BoJohn and, to be honest, even with him defending a gay kid on his team, he still bored me to tears. However, one thing I feel is still strangely missing when it comes to this show is a gay character and I feel like BoJohn could be one – if not bi. Granted, until this episode, there have been 0 reasons to believe that but there is just the slightest thought that with the way BoJohn was looking at that kid, he just wasn’t seeing himself but maybe the guy he was exploring his sexuality with.
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