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| Photo: Netflix |
After a 2017 and early 2018 that included such lowlights as Neo Nazis marching in Charlottesville and "shithole"gate, alongside what looks to be the first legitmate, sustained push for gun reform in ages, Netflix's Dear White People couldn't have picked a better time to return for season two.
Things picks up two weeks after the climatic campus protest that closed out season one. Turns out, the same night Troy smashed a door at Hancock Hall was also the same night a fire happened at the mostly white Davis House, causing white students to be relocated to what was the mostly black Armstrong-Parker House. And from jump things are definitely...interesting. Like white yoa happening in the commons area, black students getting the side like they're the visitors interesting. What's less interesting but more dangerous is the insidious, alt-right ideology spreading across campus via social media.
Dear White People sticks to same interwoven story structure of season, but spends more time with the major characters, with some getting multiple solo episodes. The approach works particularly well with Sam, who I found to be a little one-dimensional after bingeing season one. This go around she finds herself the target of a vitriolic alt-right backlash led by a Twitter troll called AltIvyW, whose racist tweets inspire idiocy like Dear Right People, a right-leaning radio show sickeningly accurate in its hosts' bigoted talking points. In her personal life--or lack thereof--things are tense with both Gabe and Reggie. All of this takes a toll on Sam, allowing Logan Browning to bring a weariness and vulnerability to a character who often sits on steely. By the time the credits on 'Chapter 10' rolled, Sam felt more like an actual person and less like an archetype.
Lionel also gets more screen time, as we watch him ping-pong among Winchester's LGBT subcultures (casually racist literary white gays, woke black queens) in attempt to find his tribe. After exposing campus paper The Independent's racist connections last year, he soon dives headlong into the idea of secret societies pulling the strings on campus. Troy also has a pretty satisfying arc as he awkwardly transforms from pretty-boy burnout to aspiring sketch comic (I guess tripping on 'shrooms and getting a word from Loretta Devine in dog form would be a turning point for anyone).
Reggie's arc, which sees him trying to cope with facing the barrel of an officer's gun via sympathy pussy and alcohol, starts off interesting. However, after he starts to deal with his trauma by taking part in Gabe's documentary, he's largely regulated to the background. Coco shines again this season, her naked political ambition as A-P's unoffical "white whisperer" balanced out with her epic wig snatch of Rikki Carter, a controversial black conservative whose visit to Winchester prompts protests. Joelle also gets her first solo episode, where she unfortunately attracts a super hotep. But no use crying over ashy elbows girl.
Silvio is revealed as the face behind AltIvyW midway through the season, and a potential faceoff between Rikki and her liberal sparing partner Carson Rhodes is a bust after funding for latter's appearance falls through (thanks Troy). But they take a backseat to to the big reveal of Sam discovering an old book her father bought containing a compiliation of secrety society plans. She and Lionel go down the rabbit hole, and the other side leads to discovering a black secret society's hiding place and being greeted by narrator Giancarlo Eposito. Hmmm, what could this mean for Winchester's melinated residents?
The alt right, colorism, free speech, homophobia, classism, interracial dating, media opportunism, general interpersonal drama--Dear White People doubles down on its favorite subjects and largely handles them and the multiple plot lines with aplomb. The choice to have historical flashbacks was smart, as it frames both the current wave of bigotry and resistance in a larger context: we've been here before (and it's been much worse), but if we keep being our expectional black selves, the tide will turn. Slowly, frustratingly, but it will turn. The dialogue remains sharp and laugh-out-loud funny, while elements like Lena Waithe's hilarious turn as reality star P. Ninny ("bitch don't make me grease yourself!") show Dear White People doesn't take itself too seriously.
I can't wait for next semester.
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