Chapter V

So, I'll just be honest and say that I've not seen a single episode of this show aside from this. I saw the film and really enjoyed it, but never really had a lot of desire to watch the show. I'm watching this episode because it was directed by Barry Jenkins, and he's a master. In "Chapter V," Reggie decides to go with his friends to a party, but the evening turns dark and has a climax that changes everybody. I really enjoyed the film, and if this episode is saying anything about the show, I'll definitely find time for it, because this was remarkable.

I remember a few of the characters from the film. Reggie, who is the lead character of this episode at least, is a character that carried over, with Marque Richardson reprising his role and doing an excellent job at it. He was the first thing that stood out to me, and I like how the show takes some of these characters that maybe didn't get a lot of shine in the film and puts a new spotlight on them. Richardson gave a great performance in this episode, managing to sell the character as someone who is both cocky, but also very serious about what he believes in. I like the composition of the show and focusing on these individual characters in the different episodes. It enables the writers to expand the characters and focus on the development, instead of trying to interweave them into other storylines, which I'm sure is still the case, but that seems a little looser and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Barry Jenkins did an amazing job and I'm excited to see him handle comedy as that seems to be an area that he has kept away from mostly. I know that he didn't bring his regular crew on for the episode, but it still felt very much like a Barry Jenkins film, and the editing was top-notch. There were certain characters that I didn't feel like had a lot to do, but I imagine that their arcs will be expanded on in other episodes that comes after.

"Chapter V" was a great viewing experience, and even though I thought I'd be lost, I actually found myself able to follow along quite easily. Barry Jenkins tackles comedy with the same precision he does his dramas and he's able to form an episode that tackles the major issues he likes, but also has a lot of fun.

You could drink yourself into a coma if you took a shot every time one of these characters complains about white people. Every single white character in this is either a full on evil racist or a complete idiot who means well, but, still acts like a total racist. A more accurate title for this show would be if you swapped the word dear with the F word. The events of this episode are more far fetched than Star Trek. I don't know anyone who actually uses the word 'woke' and I'm glad I don't. Also, the show constantly complains about cultural stereotypes, but, every single character is a walking cliché. The sassy black girl, the class president, the shy gay kid and the nerdy Asian girl. This show is terrible and I am quite sure the positive votes must be bots or something. Finally one of the writers of this abomination is a white guy. Think about that when you watch this condescending garbage. Netflix has gone full SJW in the past few months. They deserve to lose business over this terrible content.

Like Gabe and Coco, Reggie was one of those characters that was underdeveloped in the movie on which the series is based. In this episode (helmed by "Moonlight" director Barry Jenkins), Reggie (played by Marque Richardson, who reprises his role from the movie) is in the spotlight and as result we get a deeper understanding of his character. Before this episode, he was a likable, but fairly nondescript character. To a certain degree he just blended into the woodwork as more of a follower than a leader. In this episode, a traumatic event takes us deeper into Reggie's soul. We also begin to learn more about Reggie's relationship with some of the other characters in the series. This is a pivotal first season episode in many respects. One of the things it does very well is highlight the complex relationship that Americans have with race. This episode will surely elicit strong reactions from people across the political spectrum. It's very hard to be neutral about this one. You are either going to love it or hate it.

This episode was really and truly incredible. It shook me to the core, but that's a good thing. It's hard to see people critiquing this series and this episode so harshly because it's such an important subject. It was a hard and sad watch, but a good one. Please don't judge this series on its too-low rating. It deserves more.