everything I love about Netflix' Forever
after Sinners, and the Met - this is truly the cherry on top
Mara Brock Akil
The legend that gave us Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane, The Game, and so much more. She has been a pioneer in showing us carefree Black women. Black women who aren’t a monolith, Black women who are climbing the career ladder, Black women who are doing their best at motherhood, Black women who are not the mammy or just the best friend. Her writing remains a breath of fresh air in a world where I actively refuse to watch anything by Tyler Perry.
fun fact: She went to Northwestern, which was a fun easter egg on Forever since that’s also Dawn’s alma mater.
All the familiar faces
Not only were these familiar faces, but they were familiar faces from works that really left an impact!
Wood Harris; his role on Remember the Titans (truly one of my fav movies) reminded many young Black people of the duality of a life where one experiences so much racism whilst holding love for a friend and sibling who has the same skin colour as your perpetrators. We haven’t seen him in much on the big screen and I hope he will be in more things going forward!
Lovie Simone; her role as the very annoying Zora on Greenleaf influenced how some of my friends were watching Forever. She’s such a formidable actress who has been the lead in a few more pieces, but this was her first time again in something that is more widely spread. Whenever the topic of “we need more darkskinned actresses in their 20s” comes up, she always gets my vote!
Niles Fitch; who we remember as teenage Randall on This is Us. A show that not only brought many families together in their living rooms, but also showed us what great casting looks like! He is back on our screens, he is looking mighty fine if I might add and I think I speak for many if I say that we needed more of him!
Black Mothers in therapy
Guys, I know I have been mentioning the Black Mother Wound podcast on every platform recently, but for good reason!
I absolutely LOVED seeing how different the Black mothers were on the show and how they showed up for each other! But the fact that there was even a mention of therapy? Chef’s kiss. Both Shelly and Dawn have a style of parenting that is well intentioned, but driven by fear. And especially in the case of Keisha’s mum, you can see that there is a lot of projecting, that she is triggered by her daughter’s actions. What was the most wonderful thing about both is that they remained teachable. Their characters didn’t have to hit rock bottom as individuals or in their relationships (at least not in front of us) for them to want to seek help and/or change their reactions.
“cost less than a set of acrylics” — Shelly about therapy
A present Black father
Wood Harris as a present Black father was so healing. He played this role perfectly. It was a wonderful balancing act between his parenting style and character and his wife’s, yet in a way that did not mock nor undermine his wife. Which should be the primary requirement for a present father, because the two roles are not mutually exclusive!!
I think this may have been the first time that I saw a Black father give an actual sex talk on TV. Especially the part where he had Justin put the condom on a banana in the dark. I hope that this character will be an inspiration for young men in the ways in which they can show up for their families and what the role of a husband and father can also entail.
The realistic awkwardness of a first love
TV romanticises soo much, especially in the age where nudity and sex are no longer subtle or alluded to. Teenagers on TV seem to know how to do everything and there is little room for the teens who overthink everything, who care about what others think, who are influenced by what their friends say, who are still trying to respect their parents, and who have no clue how to deal with their emotions.
Bringing this and the previous few topics, I think above all, it was also nice to see how a first love can be respectfully supported by parents.
The fear of the police
The show came out on Ahmaud Arbery’s birthday, he would have turned 31 this year, rest in peace. He was murdered in 2020, whilst the show was set in 2018, so I don’t know if that was intentional or not.
However, 2018 is the America post-Trayvon Martin and post-Michael Brown. Both Black boys who still had so much life ahead of them. The fear that the parents but also Justin has is so palpable as a Black watcher and as scary as it is, it was also comforting to see it depicted in that way. In that subtle but heavy way that leaves you almost unable to move until the fear passes.
Furthermore..
There were so many things to love about this show, but other things that stood out were the ADHD representation, the warmth of the braiding scene, and the depiction of racism despite “fitting in”.
And I truly think that the biggest thing that made Forever such a heartwarming show was the soundtrack, the colours, LA — a lot of things that were very reminiscent of Issa and Lawrence. At times, Forever felt like those two characters in an alternate universe. Especially the prom and arcade scenes!
So thank you, Mara Brock Ali and the amazing team behind this show, for giving us such a warm hug of a show!
