A POLITE REVIEW: SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT SEASON 2
So I just finished this season and yeah it was pretty bad. Let’s just say it right now. Like it’s fucking awful. I’m just gonna start off with what I didn’t like. Lord have mercy cause it’s a lot.
When I saw that I was on episode 9 I was reminded that I literally felt nothing from this series. There is no need for a season 3 unless they have a serious turn around with the writing. It was plain to see that without the movie as a template that the second season had no identity and struggled out of the gate. The sex scene with Opal at the very beginning had me thinking that they’re really bout to be with the shits. By episode 2 the season was dead.
This season moves away from Lola’s love life and dives into her life as an artist who now has a buzz after her campaign from season 1. The whole season it just seemed like the writers didn’t know how to make Nola’s career interesting. It’s hard to compete with a season where Nola has 4 lovers and she’s trying to juggle all of them without imploding. Her art being discovered by a music streaming service and her being unsure of partnering with them is borrrrrrrinnnnnnng. The riskiness was gone. The rush. The excitement. The edginess. All of that is gone. It just turned into this watered down version of HBO’s “Insecure.” Which is funny because Insecure is sort of suffering from the same type of boring writing from it’s last season.
The 3 guys have ZERO significance in the show anymore. ZERO! Jamie has no place in the show. He’s just in it for no reason. We’re watching him go through a divorce and stalk his wife. WHAT THE FUCK THAT HAS TO DO WITH ANYTHING? It has no connection to the plot. AT ALL! I’d understand if Jamie’s wife worked at the streaming company Earwave who hired Nola and they have to work together but no that isn’t the case. Jamie is not this fan favorite character. If he just made an appearance and never came back nobody would care. Greer’s presence is even more pointless. The only good thing good about Greer was his girlfriend with the legendary titties. She was fucking gorgeous. Other than that Greer was forced into the season with his shitty and hollow takes on cultural issues. Mars was actually the most interesting character cause he was the only character with an arc. I hate Mars so me saying he’s the most interesting is alarming. He’s even more annoying this season but he actually is the only character with growth and an actual arc. He was homeless. His love life is confusing. He found out the truth about his father. He found out he was almost a father. He found his talent for singing. He went back home to Puerto Rico. Mars is annoying, he has no friends outside the women in his life and they try to portray him as this good guy who’s always helpful but what has he truly done for anyone? He’s just there taking up space. He’s more of a burden and a child than anything else yet he was the only entertainment.
They dropped the ball with Mekka. She almost died but it didn’t really feel like it. Her getting the butt shot lady locked up was cool but it happened too early in the season and there was no aftermath. I think that would’ve been better as a climax to Mekka’s story for the season. How does the people in her hood feel about her working with the police? How does her daughter feel about what her momma almost died from? What does a black woman who feels she’s ugly tell her daughter? There was so much potential for her character there and they didn’t do shit with it.
Nola is all over the place to the point I have no connection to Nola at all. I don’t like her. She’s just a blank piece of paper and has no idea what she wants but tells people the opposite when giving them advice. She’s the protagonist and she’s very boring and poorly written which is alarming. The only thing you see with Nola is that she’s an annoying, irresponsible and selfish person. She preaches over and over again about boundaries and self empowerment but lives none of it with the people she claims she loves. She doesn’t respect Opal’s boundaries at all. WHO THE FUCK BUYS A FUCKING CAMERA WITH THEIR RENT MONEY IN NEW YORK FUCKING CITY WHERE RENT FOR 1 BEDROOM IS $ 9000 WHEN THEY HAVE CHECKS OUT HERE BOUNCING?! Nola acts like she lives in an alternate universe and she gets everything handed to her because she’s pretty. Like this woman does not work hard at all. The shit she goes through is so normal and not a big deal yet she is so fucking dramatic about it and 90% of the time it’s self inflicted. She’s very un-relatable as a character.
Fat Joe’s character Winny is fucking unbearable his voice is nails on a chalkboard excruciating and of course this season his role is even bigger since he’s dating Mekka which is also forced.
Nola’s art is about as interesting as Jennifer Lopez vocal performances. So seeing her continuously talk up her artistry like she’s this generational artist is hilarious.
The final episode where Nola makes this controversial painting and I’m expecting to be super offended and it’s just a painting of a naked Nola colored with America’s flag colors and lynched from a tree. I laughed my ass off at it cause I was like “That’s It?!!” They had a guy in her solo show try and protest it and once you see the painting you see how pointless his mini protest was. I’d understand if she had painted naked children hanging from trees with the trump administration sitting in chairs laughing counting money. That’s offensive. This episode was a fitting end to a boring, lifeless, and flat season.
Clorinda is the sellout in Nola’s life and it’s the same issue that I stated with Mekka’s arc. They just tell us Clo is a sellout and that’s all we need to know and see. They don’t build upon it. They almost make her character interesting when Clo almost reported Nola’s IG page at the request of her old white sugar daddy but she doesn’t do it and she’s back to being a character in the shadows with no purpose. She’s just Mars babysitter. The fact that she gave that nigga some pussy insults my intelligence.
Jamie’s son divorce speech was nauseating. Not needed at all. A wasted scene. That’s like 95% of this season. Wasted scenes.
This show either blatantly takes a popular or corny hashtag off social media in incorporate it into it’s writing or makes up an even cornier hashtag and puts it in the writing. Either way stop having 50 year olds in the writing room. Please. Either an old mothafucka wrote this shit or the young writers are lame with no imagination. The dialogue between the characters is really empty and forced.There’s nothing wrong with a black woman in her late 20’s being woke but they act like black women like this are like Maya Angelou 24/7. Have these young people shake they asses to Playboi Carti or Cardi B like they would be in real life. Act ratchet here and there. Every conversation in life is not this enlightening artistic convo. We talk about dumb and silly shit too. I like how I get history lessons on black artists and activists I never heard of but integrate it with the present. They made Nola so typical. Spike Lee material is DATED and it’s obvious.
Okay here’s what I liked.
Opal’s daughter was basically the only adult in the series. It was weird seeing interrogate a grown woman about her sex life but shit the adults weren’t going to do it so, whatever.
Greer Girlfriend. LORDT!!!!!!
Opal and Nola relationship was so fucked up because they’re super opposite and seeing them struggle to connect outside of physical attraction was interesting. It was entertaining. Nola had no respect for Opal’s parenting she just did whatever the fuck she wanted and acted like it was okay. Opal expected this immature ass girl to have structure. There was a part where Opal got pissed at Nola because her daughter said she now has “Two Mommies” and I’m like “WTF you think would happen?” You got Nola in your house 24/7 eating breakfast, picking up your daughter from school, letting them go on playdates.” She got this woman doing stepmom duties but want her to still be seen as “Mommies special friend.” That relationship was toxic and pointless but potential good TV.
The soundtrack and photgraphy.
That’s all. I don’t think a season 3 will be needed. It’s over.
Peace.
