When E.H. Wright needs a temporary receptionist, Freddie (played by Shero Cree Summer) is begrudgingly given the job by Jaleesa... but not after she chases Freddie around the room with a brush. For the remainder of the episode, Cree's trademark ringlets are replaced with a blow-out that resembles Farrah Fawcett's do'.
What made me raise an eyebrow is that in the episode, Ron Johnson observes Freddie (with her straightened locks) from behind and is instantly attracted to her. When Freddie reveals herself and leaves, Ron says as she exits, "Oooh.. what a little Dark and Lovely will do for a sistah!". In reflecting on the episodes of the show, Freddie's curls were repeatedly the butt of jokes, and her character was told on more than one occasion that she needed to "do something" about her unruly tresses. The irony is that despite the mockery, many naturals of my generation (I of course include myself in this) will say that it was Cree's curls that inspired them to go natural.
Fast forward to last night's episode of the new BET series "Reed Between the Lines", starring Tracee Ellis Ross and Malcolm Jamal Warner.
In the episode, teenage daughter Kaci (played by the cute as a button Zoe Soul), after landing the roll in the school play is asked to flat iron her hair for the part. She complies and is very vocal about the fact that she finds the act insulting and unnecessary... until the boy she's crushing on takes notice. Like Ron & Freddie, he suddenly is liking what he sees.
Kaci is suddenly not so in a hurry to bring back her curls, and when her Carla (Tracee Ellis Ross' character) approaches her about changing herself to please a boy, she stumbles across Kaci applying vaseline to her face in preparation for a relaxer.
I won't spoil the ending for those who missed it, but I will say that Tracee took us all to church, and I was fanning myself with an afro pick at the conclusion!!!! LOL
I'm grateful for "Reed...", not only for the episode itself, which was huge, but for creating characters with "Of course I wear my hair natural!!!!" attitudes, instead of some of the "My hair is natural.. .ain't that wacky?!?!" characters we've encountered in the past.
Did you catch last night's episode? What were your thoughts? Leave a comment and let's talk!
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I thought it was good as well! and I appreciate how the young man acted at the end of the show, so that it did not end on a negative note!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! She got a good lesson AND the boy!
ReplyDeleteI haven't seem this show yet, but I'll try to check out this episode.
ReplyDeleteBET will most likely post the full episode online to watch. It's not up yet, but you can check out a clip from the episode here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bet.com/video/reedbetweenthelines/season-1/highlights/brbl11104-highlight-s2.html
Thank you! As a "newly natural" I have been paying a lot of attention lately to magazines and television to see how many of us are depicted with natural hair. I have been watching reruns of A Different World and was really appalled at how many times Freddie's hair was the subject of negative discussion, from being called "mop head" to her best friend saying that nobody would notice if she had twigs in her hair to being forced to straighten it for jobs or to enter law school. Can you imagine the self-esteem issues that she would have had if that were reality! Can you imagine our young sisters that probably endure that every day? I am glad that somebody else noticed. And I loved that episode of Reed. Thank you Tracee Ross for doing what the producers of A Different World didn't...celebrating our natural beautiful hair!
ReplyDeleteWord! :)
ReplyDelete