Girlfriends & The Game

For a change of pace, I'll start with The Game. I was surprised, yet glad, to see how far they pushed the racial slurs and stereotypes. Those were very honest confrontations and the characters were allowed to voice out loud what most of us only say in the privacy of our heads. For example, the part where Jason and Malik see each other in the kitchen at Melanie's dinner party. Jason (bowing and lifting his drink): "Mr. Bojangles." Malik: "O.J. Simpson." Come on, admit it, when most people see a Black athlete, in particular a football player, with a White wife, isn't that a natural association? Right! And then the kicker that had me gasping right along with Melanie was when Kelly called out Tasha for her Korean hair. Ouch! I'm not sure how realistic it is though (outside of the sports arena) where folks can have those type of discussions and still remain friends, but for the sake of TV, at least they made us sweat a little before the kiss-and-makeup that eventually came at the end. The acting was great last night, with the exception of Tia, whom I was happy to see more involved in the show. Not to say she was bad or anything, but she could have been a bit less earnest - just take it down a few notches, honey. I literally rolled my eyes when she and Derwin were having their postmortem of the dinner party (too cute with the parfaits) and she said that she and Derwin are not that type of people to use others for personal gain and how they would have to answer to God. Whatever! I'll let that slide since I know that was a nod to Tia's personal beliefs and morals. I'm really impressed with this show overall. The writing is on point, the actors are working it out, and the topics are on target. Other than Sex and the City, I don't recall such a raw discussion of inter-racial dating/marriage than what I saw last night. I know the viewers aren't there (the show is averaging only about 2 million), but it's in the top 10 among African-Americans ages 18-34. I guess that's what counts, huh?

Well...well...well...the first new episode of Girlfriends where there was no mention of Toni. Praises! Though I have to say, since Jabari played such a big part in the show last night, I did miss Toni's hilarious mispronunciations of his name. Ju-ju-beans, anyone? But I digress. I'm still getting used to the new Jabari. He seems like a good young actor, but I was so used to the previous one. I admired Maya's parenting skills. She's tough, but fair. And I liked how she told Jabari that since Darnell is off living his dreams, we need to hold it down, and she can't be running up her anytime minutes every time he acts up. I quickly figured out that Jabari was homesick for his friends and familiar surroundings, but like Maya said, she didn't have to ask him if he wanted to move. She's the parent and it's her duty to make a better like for her child, which she did by moving out to the boonies - better schools and I'm sure, less temptation to get into trouble. I was LMBAO when Maya said to Jabari: "We haven't had our meet-and-greet down at the police station yet, so they don't know that you live in this neighborhood." Spoken like a mama of the young Black boy who is well aware of the dangers of racial profiling, though I have to give it to Maya, Jabari's profile shouldn't have been out there in the first place to be profiled. OK! I have confidence that they'll work it out, but it was a nice change of pace from the usual drama these women find themselves in. And way to go Lynn with the political dig. Lynn told Joan and Maya about one of her acting out episodes as a teen, when she freed her "rat brothers" from her school's lab but they ended up drowning in the pool. Well, what happened? Lynn: "Like Bush, I didn't have an exit strategy." Good stuff! That totally redeems Lynn for her previous missteps so far this season. Just allow me one more digression....is Swiffer a sponsor of Girlfriends or what? What is up with Joan and that damn Swiffer? Every single episode she's pushing that thing around like she's a school janitor or something.