S01.E08: Murda Night

[Scarlett45]

Quote

Season Finale. Folks from Biloxi to Atlanta pack out the Pynk to see two shining stars on a unforgettable night. Meanwhile, Autumn's past finally catches up with her.

Airing September 6, 2020. 

[luckyroll3]

What a great first season!  And we totally did not get enough Grandmother.  I'm still laughing at "Ho, what's your name?"

Mississippi made me so sad when she pulled the gun on Diamond. She'd rather save that motherfucker's life than her own.  I really hope he doesn't end up killing her. 

Glad we got some confirmation on Hailey's former job as corporate accountant.  They weren't quite clear but it seems that maybe she and her partner where laundering money for that dude's gang? I love that she called out how everyone always thinks the pretty women don't know how to do their job well.  

Looking forward to season 2.

[Scarlett45]

9 hours ago, luckyroll3 said:

What a great first season!  And we totally did not get enough Grandmother.  I'm still laughing at "Ho, what's your name?"

Mississippi made me so sad when she pulled the gun on Diamond. She'd rather save that motherfucker's life than her own.  I really hope he doesn't end up killing her. 

Glad we got some confirmation on Hailey's former job as corporate accountant.  They weren't quite clear but it seems that maybe she and her partner where laundering money for that dude's gang? I love that she called out how everyone always thinks the pretty women don't know how to do their job well.  

Looking forward to season 2.

Ditto to everything you said. That guy was her boyfriend, and they were laundering money together for his gang. They left it open for a gang member to investigate where he went, adversaries for next season. 
 

Keyshawn does look like a Barbie! I would think she would be happy Diamond was going to get rid of him for her. Broke my damn heart to see her hurt Diamond. He really likes her and seems like he would be kind to her babies. 
 

Uncle Clifford deserves someone who will value him for himself. 

[Sheenieb]

On 9/7/2020 at 12:33 AM, Scarlett45 said:

Keyshawn does look like a Barbie! I would think she would be happy Diamond was going to get rid of him for her. Broke my damn heart to see her hurt Diamond. He really likes her and seems like he would be kind to her babies. 

It was disappointing, but not surprising. Isn't there a statistic somewhere that it takes an abused woman at least 7 tries before she officially leaves?

Such a great finale! Brittany put two and two together when she saw how Andre looked at Hailey. 

I hope Murda turned that deal down. Even I know his offer was terrible and I know barely anything about music industry deals. I'm not into Trap music, but I liked his song. 

 

[Scarlett45]

19 minutes ago, Sheenieb said:

It was disappointing, but not surprising. Isn't there a statistic somewhere that it takes an abused woman at least 7 tries before she officially leaves?

 

I certainly understand why Keyshawn would be afraid to leave him, but there was this very hot kind veteran who was going to “remove” the problem for you.
 

No danger you’d get hurt or be taken away from your babies. Like a heavenly sign, yet she wanted to protect that POS. For the record I’m not blaming Keyshawn for being abused- Derrick is the POS here, I’m just saying I don’t understand and I’m sorry she hurt Diamond. 

[Sheenieb]

37 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

I certainly understand why Keyshawn would be afraid to leave him, but there was this very hot kind veteran who was going to “remove” the problem for you.
 

No danger you’d get hurt or be taken away from your babies. Like a heavenly sign, yet she wanted to protect that POS. For the record I’m not blaming Keyshawn for being abused- Derrick is the POS here, I’m just saying I don’t understand and I’m sorry she hurt Diamond. 

Oh, for sure! I agree. I was hoping she used the gun on Derrick. I'm hoping that in her mind, she thought that she was protecting Diamond. The last thing she'd want is for him to go to jail for Derrick's ain't shit ass. 

[HorrrGoodnight]

Well I'm late to the party but I just finished binging the season the other night. I love the show!  

I would have thought that Uncle Clifford would have gotten much more backlash than he did being in the Deep South. Maybe because it's a small community and everyone knows him  there's not as much outrage but I would have expected a lot more discrimination and just outright ignorance being displayed. I am glad that it wasn't but I wonder how genuine that would be in that community IRL. 

 

[Scarlett45]

On 9/16/2020 at 5:11 PM, SlutAssBitchAssHor said:

 

Well I'm late to the party but I just finished binging the season the other night. I love the show!  

I would have thought that Uncle Clifford would have gotten much more backlash than he did being in the Deep South. Maybe because it's a small community and everyone knows him  there's not as much outrage but I would have expected a lot more discrimination and just outright ignorance being displayed. I am glad that it wasn't but I wonder how genuine that would be in that community IRL. 

 

Welcome!! We are glad to have you and please join us for season 2.

 

Given that Uncle Clifford grew up in the community people may be used to his gender presentation. But he was very afraid to go on date with LaMarcus, and listed out all the same sex couples that were bashed in the surrounding area recently. It may be that as long as Clifford is seen as “asexual” and “entertaining” he’s left alone. 

[qtpye]

On 9/16/2020 at 6:11 PM, SlutAssBitchAssHor said:

Well I'm late to the party but I just finished binging the season the other night. I love the show!  

I would have thought that Uncle Clifford would have gotten much more backlash than he did being in the Deep South. Maybe because it's a small community and everyone knows him  there's not as much outrage but I would have expected a lot more discrimination and just outright ignorance being displayed. I am glad that it wasn't but I wonder how genuine that would be in that community IRL. 

 

I would of thought so to until I saw that horrible Joe Exotic documentary on Netflix. Joe was pretty open with his sexuality and his much younger "husbands' and his local backwater seemed to leave him alone. He even ran for office several times, so maybe the small towns just write it off as colorful local "eccentrics".

[Blakeston]

On 9/20/2020 at 11:21 PM, Scarlett45 said:

Given that Uncle Clifford grew up in the community people may be used to his gender presentation. But he was very afraid to go on date with LaMarcus, and listed out all the same sex couples that were bashed in the surrounding area recently. It may be that as long as Clifford is seen as “asexual” and “entertaining” he’s left alone. 

This sounds dead on.

I just bingewatched this, and loved it! But I have so many questions:

1. How the hell is the Pynk going to reopen? They just had a massive incident in which 20 customers were injured because an employee pulled a gun and got into a huge, destructive brawl with a customer - and another employee shot someone to death on the premises! And the mayor desperately wanted them closed in the first place. I can't imagine them keeping their licenses.

2. What was the point of Hailey's scheme with the money transfers and all of that, if she was going to end up with $250K in a bag? Isn't that what she started with? It sounded like maybe the original money was unusable as it was, and she had to mix it with her stripper earnings and get it dirty in order for banks to accept it? What was the problem with it?

3. This is a small-town strip club, right? In the first few episodes, why did Lil Murda act like his career depended on Mercedes dancing to one of his songs? 

4. When Clifford first met Hailey, he compared her breasts to bee stings. I'm sorry, but...WHAT? What kind of mutant bees are we talking about here? If that was supposed to be sarcastic, it didn't come across that way at all. Maybe the line was written before they cast the actress? If so, they should have changed it.

I think there's a lot of talent in the cast (especially if the actresses did their own dancing!), but most of them were unpolished. Loretta Devine is obviously an exception, along with the actress who played Mercedes' mother, and Isaiah Washington. Despite his talent, I really resented seeing him in this. Watching a known homophobe play a homophobe was uncomfortable for me.

And I kind of wish this show had been made about a decade earlier, when they might have been able to get Billy Porter to play Clifford!

[qtpye]

3 hours ago, Blakeston said:

This sounds dead on.

I just bingewatched this, and loved it! But I have so many questions:

1. How the hell is the Pynk going to reopen? They just had a massive incident in which 20 customers were injured because an employee pulled a gun and got into a huge, destructive brawl with a customer - and another employee shot someone to death on the premises! And the mayor desperately wanted them closed in the first place. I can't imagine them keeping their licenses.

2. What was the point of Hailey's scheme with the money transfers and all of that, if she was going to end up with $250K in a bag? Isn't that what she started with? It sounded like maybe the original money was unusable as it was, and she had to mix it with her stripper earnings and get it dirty in order for banks to accept it? What was the problem with it?

3. This is a small-town strip club, right? In the first few episodes, why did Lil Murda act like his career depended on Mercedes dancing to one of his songs? 

4. When Clifford first met Hailey, he compared her breasts to bee stings. I'm sorry, but...WHAT? What kind of mutant bees are we talking about here? If that was supposed to be sarcastic, it didn't come across that way at all. Maybe the line was written before they cast the actress? If so, they should have changed it.

I think there's a lot of talent in the cast (especially if the actresses did their own dancing!), but most of them were unpolished. Loretta Devine is obviously an exception, along with the actress who played Mercedes' mother, and Isaiah Washington. Despite his talent, I really resented seeing him in this. Watching a known homophobe play a homophobe was uncomfortable for me.

And I kind of wish this show had been made about a decade earlier, when they might have been able to get Billy Porter to play Clifford!

Yeah, I was like, Hailey has an amazing body (so do most of the women). Maybe strip club owners are used to everyone having fake implant triple D size breasts?

[Scarlett45]

On 1/1/2021 at 9:26 PM, Blakeston said:

2. What was the point of Hailey's scheme with the money transfers and all of that, if she was going to end up with $250K in a bag? Isn't that what she started with? It sounded like maybe the original money was unusable as it was, and she had to mix it with her stripper earnings and get it dirty in order for banks to accept it? What was the problem with it?

From what I remember of when I watched the show live, Hailey was laundering the money with the guy in the white hat, and hiding it in off shore accounts.

After she ran away from him and her daughter died in the flood, she was transferring the money BACK to her in the USA in small amounts to not trigger any reporting activity, and then she was going to keep it all so she could use it (and not distribute it to any of the people/organization she and the guy were laundering it for). The money was STOLEN, it wasnt her legitimate money she earned from her employment, so yeah she had to create a clean trail before she could put it in her personal account for regular use.

[Blakeston]

9 hours ago, Scarlett45 said:

From what I remember of when I watched the show live, Hailey was laundering the money with the guy in the white hat, and hiding it in off shore accounts.

After she ran away from him and her daughter died in the flood, she was transferring the money BACK to her in the USA in small amounts to not trigger any reporting activity, and then she was going to keep it all so she could use it (and not distribute it to any of the people/organization she and the guy were laundering it for). The money was STOLEN, it wasnt her legitimate money she earned from her employment, so yeah she had to create a clean trail before she could put it in her personal account for regular use.

This is helpful, thanks.

So she withdrew the money from the offshore accounts, then mixed it with stripper money and deposited it in her own bank account. What I'm left wondering is, what was the point of that if she was going to withdraw it from the bank account and keep it in her locker?

[Scarlett45]

On 1/9/2021 at 8:16 AM, Blakeston said:

This is helpful, thanks.

So she withdrew the money from the offshore accounts, then mixed it with stripper money and deposited it in her own bank account. What I'm left wondering is, what was the point of that if she was going to withdraw it from the bank account and keep it in her locker?

She only withdrew it from the bank account and put it in her locker when she realized the man with the white hat could be alive and was coming after her. Then she knew she had to bounce quickly. 

[AuntieMame]

I loved this overall and look forward to a second season. The characters were compelling, the conflicts true to life and the dialogue was poetic. The writing and directing managed a balance between the male gaze and female reality without being heavy handed. Really enjoyed this one. 

[Scarlett45]

On 12/5/2021 at 10:23 AM, AuntieMame said:

I loved this overall and look forward to a second season. The characters were compelling, the conflicts true to life and the dialogue was poetic. The writing and directing managed a balance between the male gaze and female reality without being heavy handed. Really enjoyed this one. 

Yeah me too! We will be getting a second season next year. 

[qtpye]

On 12/5/2021 at 11:23 AM, AuntieMame said:

I loved this overall and look forward to a second season. The characters were compelling, the conflicts true to life and the dialogue was poetic. The writing and directing managed a balance between the male gaze and female reality without being heavy handed. Really enjoyed this one. 

It was honestly Emmy-worthy but we know that is never going to happen.

[AuntieMame]

On 12/7/2021 at 7:35 AM, qtpye said:

It was honestly Emmy-worthy but we know that is never going to happen.

I’m so happy that I wasn’t the only one to see and feel the excellence. I went in thinking it might just be set in a strip club prurience and was delightfully surprised by what I found. It will be great to have a board to discuss Season 2. 

[Scarlett45]

On 12/8/2021 at 10:01 PM, AuntieMame said:

I’m so happy that I wasn’t the only one to see and feel the excellence. I went in thinking it might just be set in a strip club prurience and was delightfully surprised by what I found. It will be great to have a board to discuss Season 2. 

We will be glad to have you around for the discussions!

[Avaleigh]

On 9/8/2020 at 8:33 AM, Sheenieb said:

Oh, for sure! I agree. I was hoping she used the gun on Derrick. I'm hoping that in her mind, she thought that she was protecting Diamond. The last thing she'd want is for him to go to jail for Derrick's ain't shit ass. 

I'm hoping that this was her rationale but since she didn't say anything like "I don't want you to risk ending up in jail because of this evil mofo" it kind of feels like she mainly decided to save him because she's not done with this abusive relationship. I hope I'm wrong because I was really hoping she'd see what a diamond Diamond is but it seems like she still needs to figure out what her priorities are. 

On 12/5/2021 at 8:23 AM, AuntieMame said:

I loved this overall and look forward to a second season. The characters were compelling, the conflicts true to life and the dialogue was poetic. The writing and directing managed a balance between the male gaze and female reality without being heavy handed. Really enjoyed this one. 

Yes! My mind is blown with how good this show is considering it gets zero attention in comparison to the other big shows right now. I think people are assuming that the setting and subject matter mean that this isn't going to be quality viewing and that couldn't be further from the truth. I think the jail episode really cemented it for me that this show is well above average.

Also, Loretta Devine is a gift to any production. More of her, please! The actress who plays Patrice is top tier. She is amazing and hits all of the right notes literally and figuratively. The range of emotions with that character. She's hateful, tragic, duplicitous, strong, fiery and fascinating. I'm curious if she and Mercedes will ever get to a place of forgiveness where they can just be supportive of each other and let go of all of the negativity. Easier said than done of course, and Mercedes has every right to never want to speak to her mother again, but I kind of hope they can somehow make it up and live the rest of their lives being supportive and encouraging of each other.

One thing I wanted to bring up from a previous episode is the scene where Uncle Clifford had this moment of panic where he wonders if Mercedes is dead. For a moment it seemed kind of OTT to me but then I realized that Clifford is thinking that nothing short of death would have kept Mercedes away from that stage and they probably had that worry in the back of their head all night long when she never called or came back. Clifford describes Mercedes as the daughter they'll never be able to have and this attitude is really apparent throughout the season. Their fondness for Mercedes is definitely maternal. In a way they're maternal when it comes to all of the girls. Clifford is like a blend of a mother figure, a madam from a brothel, a sister who lets them borrow clothes and gives them makeup advice, and a therapist with endless words of wisdom and southern proverbs. I think Uncle Clifford is the best character on the show and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them next season. 

I'm so excited to start season 2. The only bummer is knowing that season 3 isn't coming out any time soon.