Round Two: #blackAF

#blackAF: Season 1, Episode 2 “because of slavery too” (B)

This second episode was fun enough, making me perfectly happy continuing with this show but also not feeling like I need to if there wasn’t enough time. Drugs on television can often be portrayed in an overly silly fashion, and that was definitely a concern here as Kenya and Joya went to a concert where they were eager to try something they hadn’t done for many years. What ended up working well was that it presented an opportunity for Kenya to bond with his daughter when they ran into each other and may or may not both have been on drugs. Like in the pilot, the MVP on this show is indisputably Rashida Jones, who didn’t have the chance to take someone down because of their inherent white gaze, but she did get pretty excited about the night she was going to have away from the kids. She got way too into it, of course, resulting in her being wheeled out on a stretcher while vastly overestimating her capacity. The mockumentary format here isn’t entirely consistent, but I did like that Kenya noticed Drea there filming with her cell phone rather than doing anything to help the family members she was clearly spying on. Seeing each of the family members, namely the wildest and the most gullible children, interact at home in the morning before they somehow all make it to school (or not, depending on how alive their teachers are) is entertaining, and those brief moments are satisfying so far and will surely be revisited more in the future.