Hello, everyone, and welcome to Black Girls' Night Out. A lot of you (hell, most of you) are new this season, so you probably don't know that about this little feature we've been running for about as long as we've had the blog. It all started with Det. Joss Carter (Person of Interest) and Olivia Pope (Scandal), and has since grown (and shrunk at times). The main point of BGNO is basically to critique shows (and sometimes films) which feature Black women. We don't usually cover sitcoms; we instead gravitate towards the dramas, the nighttime soaps, etc.
Now, I'm going to be your Shondaland correspondent (have been since day one), though I may take on other shows. I won't be touching Grey's Anatomy; I feel it's long past its heyday; it took too long to bring on some young sistas, and when it did, it didn't really do anything exciting with them (they're not the focus). Gina Torres is slated to appear on The Catch, but I doubt I'll be touching that one either unless they really step what they're doing with Rose Rollins. I'm not particularly thrilled about Still Star-Crossed, but...we'll see. And Scandal won't be an issue until next year.
I will admit that I've fallen for How to Get Away with Murder; it's a crazy show that's open and honest about its craziness, and I have to respect that. Also...Viola Davis.
Y'all, Annalise Keating's wig and makeup have come a loooooong way over the last couple of years. I feel the stylists have finally figured out something which works for our leading lady here, and it helps that Viola is in her fifties, but looks at least a full decade younger.
To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the Season 3 premiere; while watching it, I was suddenly reminded of old Scandal episodes where things only seemed to get interesting in the last five minutes. Annalise spends most of the episode trying to find Frank after he murdered Wes's father and went into hiding. FYI: I don't care about Frank.
It seems that Annalise spent her summer working in her garden and occasionally connecting with her students. Laurel went to Mexico for the summer. Connor suntanned and soaked his feet in a kiddie pool. Asher was financially cut off from his mother and offended at the thought of getting a job. Oliver asked Annalise for a job and of course, she hired him. And Michaela...we'll talk about her next.
But Annalise did experience some development in this show; apparently her Keating 5 suck at a school now and have dropped to the bottom 10%, unlike their predecessors. I'm just saying, maybe if they stopped killing people, they wouldn't be in this mess. It's hard to focus on your grades when you're trying like hell to stay out of jail.
Because of their failings, Annalise's prized criminal law class is taken from her and she's granted a clinic as a consolation prize. That means in addition to teaching, she can choose two students to sit with her as co-chairs on her cases. So now the students will go from doing just the dirty work to actually getting to talk in court.
In the meantime, someone is taping up flyers branding Annalise a killer. My money is on her dead husband's sister. And oh yeah, Annalise's still sleeping with Nate. *shrug* Good for her.
My disappointment in the writers when it comes to Michaela Pratt continues to grow. I still feel she's an afterthought for them, as they prefer to focus on Laurel.
Apparently, Michaela spent her summer acting out; in a flashback, Annalise has to come get her when she's busted for drunk driving. Michaela is distraught; she can't believe that after all the murders and all the drama, she's expected to shut up and just go back to being a law student. Annalise reminds her that she got away from a bad family, and so she'll get through this.
Huh? Who? Come again? Was that a throwaway line to get fans off the writer's backs about fleshing out Michaela?
Michaela Pratt is the latest example of Shondaland writers not really knowing what to do with young, beautiful Black women on their show. They don't know how to make them interesting. We saw this on Grey's Anatomy, and we're seeing this on The Catch. In fact, if a Black actress is not the lead on the show (or a maternal, mentor figure), the writers tend to struggle. At this point, Aja Naomi King stays shining only because she's that beautiful and that awesome, not because of anything the writers have done for her.
The premiere ends with the show's signature flash-forward to Annalise's house on fire and a covered body being put into an ambulance. We don't see who died, but we do see Annalise wailing at the top of her lungs. So we're meant to assume it's someone she cares about. However...this is Annalise. I wouldn't be surprised if we learn during the season finale that she set her own house on fire to torch the corpse of someone who was about to snitch.
This wraps up Season 3, Episode 1 of HTGAWM. If you are interested in being a BGNO correspondent, let us know! There's plenty to go around this season.
Now, I'm going to be your Shondaland correspondent (have been since day one), though I may take on other shows. I won't be touching Grey's Anatomy; I feel it's long past its heyday; it took too long to bring on some young sistas, and when it did, it didn't really do anything exciting with them (they're not the focus). Gina Torres is slated to appear on The Catch, but I doubt I'll be touching that one either unless they really step what they're doing with Rose Rollins. I'm not particularly thrilled about Still Star-Crossed, but...we'll see. And Scandal won't be an issue until next year.
Y'all, Annalise Keating's wig and makeup have come a loooooong way over the last couple of years. I feel the stylists have finally figured out something which works for our leading lady here, and it helps that Viola is in her fifties, but looks at least a full decade younger.
To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the Season 3 premiere; while watching it, I was suddenly reminded of old Scandal episodes where things only seemed to get interesting in the last five minutes. Annalise spends most of the episode trying to find Frank after he murdered Wes's father and went into hiding. FYI: I don't care about Frank.
It seems that Annalise spent her summer working in her garden and occasionally connecting with her students. Laurel went to Mexico for the summer. Connor suntanned and soaked his feet in a kiddie pool. Asher was financially cut off from his mother and offended at the thought of getting a job. Oliver asked Annalise for a job and of course, she hired him. And Michaela...we'll talk about her next.
But Annalise did experience some development in this show; apparently her Keating 5 suck at a school now and have dropped to the bottom 10%, unlike their predecessors. I'm just saying, maybe if they stopped killing people, they wouldn't be in this mess. It's hard to focus on your grades when you're trying like hell to stay out of jail.
Because of their failings, Annalise's prized criminal law class is taken from her and she's granted a clinic as a consolation prize. That means in addition to teaching, she can choose two students to sit with her as co-chairs on her cases. So now the students will go from doing just the dirty work to actually getting to talk in court.
In the meantime, someone is taping up flyers branding Annalise a killer. My money is on her dead husband's sister. And oh yeah, Annalise's still sleeping with Nate. *shrug* Good for her.
Apparently, Michaela spent her summer acting out; in a flashback, Annalise has to come get her when she's busted for drunk driving. Michaela is distraught; she can't believe that after all the murders and all the drama, she's expected to shut up and just go back to being a law student. Annalise reminds her that she got away from a bad family, and so she'll get through this.
Huh? Who? Come again? Was that a throwaway line to get fans off the writer's backs about fleshing out Michaela?
Michaela Pratt is the latest example of Shondaland writers not really knowing what to do with young, beautiful Black women on their show. They don't know how to make them interesting. We saw this on Grey's Anatomy, and we're seeing this on The Catch. In fact, if a Black actress is not the lead on the show (or a maternal, mentor figure), the writers tend to struggle. At this point, Aja Naomi King stays shining only because she's that beautiful and that awesome, not because of anything the writers have done for her.
The premiere ends with the show's signature flash-forward to Annalise's house on fire and a covered body being put into an ambulance. We don't see who died, but we do see Annalise wailing at the top of her lungs. So we're meant to assume it's someone she cares about. However...this is Annalise. I wouldn't be surprised if we learn during the season finale that she set her own house on fire to torch the corpse of someone who was about to snitch.
This wraps up Season 3, Episode 1 of HTGAWM. If you are interested in being a BGNO correspondent, let us know! There's plenty to go around this season.
