S03.E16: Love Hurts

[AnimeMania]

When Fisk (Donal Logue) tasks McCall with tracking down an ex-MI6 agent (Andrew Stewart-Jones) in Paris with whom she had a past relationship, she must convince him to help her track down a crucial document that his friend was hiding. Also, Delilah faces discrimination at her new fashion internship. 

Premiere Date: SUNDAY, May 7, 2023     8pm     CBS
Donal Logue as Colton Fisk
Andrew Stewart-Jones as Rick Dawson
Carey Van Driest as Cosette

[Trini]

I just started the episode, but I had to comment on how ugly Mel's top/corset thingy is! She usually looks good, if overdressed sometimes.

Robyn's first two outfits so far are pretty chic, though.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Trini

[AnimeMania]

No mention of Dante or his problems with "I believe I can fly" Lo-Lo.

[Trini]

Ugh -- this Fisk character is just not working for me; he's annoying, and him calling Robyn 'mall cop' is just stupid. She's not even supposed to be working for the CIA anymore! If they're going to keep doing these 'off the books'-type CIA plots, it needs to be twice a season AT MOST, and with anybody but Fisk.

Robyn and ex-MI6 Guy could be a believable couple on paper, but I don't think they had much chemistry. Made me miss Dante.

I'm glad Dee stood up for her principles, but I still wanted her to get another internship by the end of the episode. But that's a minor nitpick.

It was interesting seeing how they tried to make NYC look like Paris. I've never been to Paris, so I'm not sure how successful they were.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Trini
oops, dropped a "not"

[ebk57]

Not only was Mel's first outfit not good, but that last thing she was wearing (the silver top) was also...not good. 

I'm really torn about this, but...I appreciate that Dee is willing and able to stand up for herself and her principles, but sometimes, depending on one's situation, that's not always possible.  It seems that Stacey really needed that job.  Hopefully this will prompt her to look for something else, but if she has no fallback, she's not able to just walk out the door of a job that's putting her through school and paying down her debt. It's not always that cut and dried.   I wish it was.  

I laughed when they were playing "As Time Goes By" and I realized the MI6 guy's name was Rick. 

[possibilities]

On 5/7/2023 at 11:18 PM, ebk57 said:

 

 

I'm really torn about this, but...I appreciate that Dee is willing and able to stand up for herself and her principles, but sometimes, depending on one's situation, that's not always possible.  It seems that Stacey really needed that job.  Hopefully this will prompt her to look for something else, but if she has no fallback, she's not able to just walk out the door of a job that's putting her through school and paying down her debt. It's not always that cut and dried.   I wish it was.  

I laughed when they were playing "As Time Goes By" and I realized the MI6 guy's name was Rick. 

I agree.  Dee was really smug and talking out of privilege. Solidarity is important and Dee wouldn't have even known what the issue was if Stacy hadn't stuck her neck out to explain it. So her casting stones at Stacy is, in my opinion, not how you build a movement. Also, if Dee didn't have any other options, that means Dee herself was grossly over-confident by only applying to one internship! I respect her choice to not work there, just not her lack of understanding about the pressures Stacey is facing.

The Casablanca homage made me laugh, too. Here's looking at you, show!

Edited May 9, 2023 by possibilities
fix typo

[dwmarch]

I think Dee's plot would have worked better if it had been spread out a little more. Maybe she could get hired in one episode and be excited about working, even if it is just warehouse stuff for now. And then we see her coworkers being rotated out of the warehouse stuff and working up front but Dee seems to have been passed over. And then she clues in as to what is different between her and the other folks. Instead, she gets this new job and about five seconds later her racism detector goes off and on her first actual day where she's supposed to be working she decides to make a scene in the store in front of everyone. From her point of view they wouldn't accept her as her authentic self which is a perfectly fine reason to leave a job. But from their point of view they didn't say anything to her other than assigning her a very general task and she ended up storming out of there going on about how racist and criminal their work environment is. Even if she's right (which the episode didn't actually go out of the way to establish beyond that one woman having a sour faced look) there are better ways to speak truth to power. But I guess the fashion industry isn't for her so she'll have to do spy stuff instead.

3 hours ago, Trini said:

I had to comment on how ugly Mel's top/corset thingy is!

It was a weird look, like they put an outfit together for her out of whatever bits and pieces they could find that she hadn't worn yet.

Harry was not nearly bothered enough by his rival getting tortured and killed in his shop. Harry, that is what we call foreshadowing. Remember, that guy was tortured and killed for the file that McCall hung onto for the lulz.

That was weird too. So the CIA sends her on a mission to retrieve a thing. She retrieves it but decides the world is better off if she hangs onto it herself rather than handing it over to those shifty CIA pricks. The CIA guy basically laughs and says "you got me this time, Mall Cop!" and walks away instead of having her arrested and thrown in jail for several lifetimes.

[marceline]

10 hours ago, ebk57 said:

I'm really torn about this, but...I appreciate that Dee is willing and able to stand up for herself and her principles, but sometimes, depending on one's situation, that's not always possible.  It seems that Stacey really needed that job.  Hopefully this will prompt her to look for something else, but if she has no fallback, she's not able to just walk out the door of a job that's putting her through school and paying down her debt. It's not always that cut and dried.   I wish it was.  

Yeah, I got really ticked off at Dee standing their in her mother's palatial home looking down on a young woman who doesn't have the safety net Dee does. It's real easy to stick to her almighty principles when Aunt Vi is doing the cooking and Robyn has the CIA on speed dial.

Edited May 8, 2023 by marceline

[12catcrazy]

I'm not a big fan of these CIA plot episodes because a) I thought that Robyn was out of the CIA, b) this guy Fisk is a real Asshole (and I usually like the actor playing him) and c) I much prefer Robyn sticking to NY and helping people who have no where else to turn (which is what I thought the show was supposed to be about). 

Dee's smugness and privilege really annoyed the hell out of me.   Yeah great for you that you could turn your nose up at a good internship because you don't want to change your hair but to be so judgemental with the Black young woman working at the store who can't be so picky because she needs the job - I just wanted to slap Dee.    And not for nothing, would a white girl with pink or rainbow dyed hair get the job if the boutique wanted a more conservative look?   I bet they wouldn't.    And there are probably pleny of people who would love to wear t shirts and shorts to work but the position requires suits, ties, (and for women, high heels) and if you want the job, you deal with it.      I was very disappointed that Robyn gave her props for sticking to her principals rather than calling her out on being a privileged brat who doesn't have a clue what life is like for an awful lot of other people.  

[Attatude]

Dee’s attitude didn’t make sense.  It was a high end store that caters to older, elegant women, not a young, trendy crowd, They obviously have a style they expect from employees.  They shouldn’t have hired her if she wasn’t what they wanted, rather than make her feel badly. I’ll give her that, relegating her to the storeroom without explaining why was rude .  My friend who is all tatted up has to cover them up to work in an office setting and change out her hair color. She wants the job so she does it without complaining.  I think Dee is stylish and cute but she and that store aren’t a match. The other student who smoothed her hair and dressed for the job has the right attitude for that particular job.  They didn’t give a good explanation why Dee wanted to work there.  I don’t see it as a race issue at all but more of a generational difference. Why does Dee feel entitled to get her own way? Why didn’t  she apply to many internships so she might have the option to choose one that is a better fit?

[Trini]

2 hours ago, Attatude said:

Dee’s attitude didn’t make sense.  It was a high end store that caters to older, elegant women, not a young, trendy crowd, They obviously have a style they expect from employees.  They shouldn’t have hired her if she wasn’t what they wanted, rather than make her feel badly. I’ll give her that, relegating her to the storeroom without explaining why was rude .

It's not even about 'rudeness' or Dee's feelings; the store owner was engaging in illegal discrimination.

Also, who says braids can't be elegant and stylish?

2 hours ago, Attatude said:

 I don’t see it as a race issue at all but more of a generational difference. Why does Dee feel entitled to get her own way? Why didn’t  she apply to many internships so she might have the option to choose one that is a better fit?

It's always interesting how something that almost only happens to black people is never a race issue. Maybe generational differences could be a part of it, but braids and hair discrimination have been around for generations as well.

Why wouldn't this particular internship be a good fit for Dee? Her hairstyle shouldn't determine if she'll be a good intern. Her hair wasn't messy or extreme at all.

More info on the Crown Act and why it's needed, BTW: https://www.thecrownact.com

There was an earlier scene as well, but here's the other scene where Dee says why she wanted to work for this particular store:

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Trini

[ribboninthesky1]

18 hours ago, dwmarch said:

I think Dee's plot would have worked better if it had been spread out a little more. Maybe she could get hired in one episode and be excited about working, even if it is just warehouse stuff for now. And then we see her coworkers being rotated out of the warehouse stuff and working up front but Dee seems to have been passed over.

Yes, that would have made a better storyline for sure.

But also, I don't recall Delilah talking about wanting to go into fashion before.  I have skipped an episode here or there this season, so maybe I missed it.  It just felt out of left field to me. 

1 hour ago, Attatude said:

They shouldn’t have hired her if she wasn’t what they wanted, rather than make her feel badly.

If she was the only black student they interviewed, NOT hiring her would have potentially exposed the business to a lawsuit. Relegating her to the back was a way to avoid discrimination allegations while still discriminating.  

Also, as demonstrated, racist people commonly pit minorities against each other due to a real/perceived scarcity of opportunity.  In this case, the young black woman who already worked there is a traitor for not immediately compromising her job and future opportunities for someone she just met simply because she's black and female.  Delilah didn't see what the white woman did to shut down her accusations - she only saw the black woman didn't have her back.  So she was right and even righteous, but she's also young and naïve.  If she REALLY wanted to make a difference for the next black girl, she should have filed a complaint against the boutique so they are held legally accountable.         

I'll also be kind of petty and mention that she didn't pursue an opportunity with a black-owned boutique.  But again, racism will have you thinking that the only path to success is "upper middle class white sanctioned."  That's the challenge with writing racism for TV, because often the writers themselves may be limited in what they convey.  Sigh.     

21 hours ago, Trini said:

Robyn and ex-MI6 Guy could be a believable couple on paper, but I don't think they had much chemistry. Made me miss Dante.

I agree, there was no chemistry. 

Normally, I don't mind the CIA stuff, but I was not feeling this one. 

[tvfanatic13]

I loved Dee’s braided hair and her interview outfit. She looked terrific. 

[kwnyc]

Not to be That New Yorker, but FIT (where the boutique worker was a student) is a public school, part of the State University of New York, which means its tuition is a LOT lower than a private school (like Pratt). So her loans would not be the kind that cripple for decades, and NY State has help for students who stay in state. Quibble over.

I think Dee is reacting like a middle-class teen encountering the subtleties of racism, classism, and how it will affect her in the adult world. Racism always an underlying theme on this show, so Dee's experienced it, and had her Aunt Vi and Mom to guide her, but as she gets ready to make her own decisions in adulthood, she has to experience some things for herself.

She's 17 (or so) and going to have to parse her own way through the world for herself. 

As for the CIA mission, i felt like filler. Don't like Robyn being called "mall cop," which is f*cking disrespectful. The SIM was the McGuffin, and we got to see the Casablanca parting at the airport. Sweet.

Also did not care about Mel/Harry and the house in CT. I don't believe they were ever that type, anyway!

[statsgirl]

This episode was ... not good.

The Robyn CIA plot was poorly constructed. I actually like Fisk, or rather I like Donal Logue but why would Fisk put an agent to protect Robyn and the CIA guy and not tell her? Why not tell her the whole mission if he wants her to succeed? This withholding of information seems like a stupid reason to put them at odds. How did the bad guy survive a bullet to the chest and the fall and them harbour this revenge plot for 3 years? Why introduce an alternative love interest, one she has no chemistry with, that is going to go nowhere because Robyn isn't going to leave Dee and move to London to be with him.

The Mel/Harry plot also seemed stupid. I thought that they had a really good relationship, now I find out that they don't talk about something as big as buying a country house.

But the main plot of the episode was Dee's and that had the most problems for me.  The biggest one is the selection of fashion as the place to draw the line. Fashion is an industry where you can be told what the wear because it's part of the job so it's strange that they picked this to have her rebel against the dress instructions. Remember The Devil Wears Prada? In a coincidence, I was listening to an interview with designer Aurora James who designed a newsworthy dress for the Met Gala in 2021. She mentioned an early job of hers where everyone had to wear black. So there are precedents in workplaces where you're told to wear something and it's part of the job. Go along with it, or find another job.

If Dee had always wanted to be a lawyer and turned down an internship with a New York Supreme Court judge to keep her braids, I would have been impressed because there was weight to that internship. Or being a researcher for a famous writer when she'd always wanted to be a writer, or helping a scientist find a new vaccine.  But it's a job in a clothing store, and while it was valued, I don't feel like it was such a sacrifice to give it up and find another clothing store to give her a reference. (Admittedly those are my values not Dee's.)

On 5/7/2023 at 11:18 PM, ebk57 said:

I appreciate that Dee is willing and able to stand up for herself and her principles, but sometimes, depending on one's situation, that's not always possible.  It seems that Stacey really needed that job.  Hopefully this will prompt her to look for something else, but if she has no fallback, she's not able to just walk out the door of a job that's putting her through school and paying down her debt. It's not always that cut and dried.   I wish it was

This also bothered me.  For those people who have never had to compromise because they needed the job, I say Good for you. I wish that it were that easy. I know that I have stayed in a job doing things that I didn't want to do because I needed the job. I don't know anyone who hasn't. Welcome to the world of international professionals like doctors and professors who clean toilets (e.g. Anna Porter) or work fast food places because they need the job. Putting up with things that legally they shouldn't have to because they need the job.

Yes, it was admirable that Dee took a stand but that she was able to say no to the racist boss just shows Dee's privilege. Her treatment of Stacey when Stacey came to apologize and explain shows her lack of empathy. Not what the show was going for I'm thinking.

A lot of bad writing choices.

[milkyaqua]

40 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Yes, it was admirable that Dee took a stand but that she was able to say no to the racist boss just shows Dee's privilege. Her treatment of Stacey when Stacey came to apologize and explain shows her lack of empathy. Not what the show was going for I'm thinking.

Agree with this.  Yes, discrimination based on hair is illegal but I also question why we've never seen Dee express an interest in fashion before and why she didn't apply to multiple places for her internship.  And yes, she comes from a middle-class background and hasn't had to struggle as much as someone not from that background.  She's got two parents, a nice home provided by her mother and an aunt who's almost always there.  She's going to run into road blocks as she goes through life and maybe she'll learn some a bit more about how people make choices that might not align with hers.

I also like Donal Logue but didn't get this storyline.  But I also know that most entertainment shows have plot holes so I just view this as a filler episode.  Same with the Mel and Harry storyline which seemed even more implausible than Robin's and Dee's.

[Trini]

48 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

But the main plot of the episode was Dee's and that had the most problems for me.  The biggest one is the selection of fashion as the place to draw the line. Fashion is an industry where you can be told what the wear because it's part of the job so it's strange that they picked this to have her rebel against the dress instructions. Remember The Devil Wears Prada? In a coincidence, I was listening to an interview with designer Aurora James who designed a newsworthy dress for the Met Gala in 2021. She mentioned an early job of hers where everyone had to wear black. So there are precedents in workplaces where you're told to wear something and it's part of the job. Go along with it, or find another job.

Clothes wasn't the problem.

50 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Her treatment of Stacey when Stacey came to apologize and explain shows her lack of empathy. Not what the show was going for I'm thinking.

I agree Dee should have been more sympathetic to Stacey's position, especially after she came to personally apologize.

It's just disappointing (but not surprising) there's more criticism of reactions to discrimination than to the actual discrimination. Neither of these young women should have been put in that position in the first place.

[Cress]

Why did Dee mention the Crown Act but not ever discuss filing a complaint? Presumably there should be some legal means to confront the boutique. She was so self righteous with Stacey, instead of talking about the real enemy, the boss lady.

[milkyaqua]

12 hours ago, Trini said:

It's just disappointing (but not surprising) there's more criticism of reactions to discrimination than to the actual discrimination. Neither of these young women should have been put in that position in the first place.

While I agree with this, this show has made no secret of addressing discrimination and it's ills.  I think a lot of us realize that that shouldn't have happened and shouldn't happen.  But most of us know, stuff like this does continue to happen.

But for some of us, Dee's reaction, still came off as a bit entitled and only caring about herself.  I was also a little disappointment that her mom and her aunt didn't point out both sides of the coin to her as well if Dee supposedly had told exactly what happened in both dealings with Stacey.

[Jackie14]

I found Dee's story interesting since I majored in Fashion Merchandising and did an internship as part of the program. I worked in a high-end store and started in the backroom and then moved to the sales floor since you had to learn all aspects of retail which included the operations side of things. The back room is where you learn about inventory, shipping/receiving, damages, etc. I get that in her story it appeared that the manager wanted to keep her in the stock room forever and never rotate her to the sales floor, but it could have been an opportunity for Dee to learn something that Stacey wouldn't by only being on the sales floor. 

[statsgirl]

13 hours ago, Trini said:

Clothes wasn't the problem.

If I understand correctly, it was her appearance which is similar.

13 hours ago, Trini said:

It's just disappointing (but not surprising) there's more criticism of reactions to discrimination than to the actual discrimination.

It's Dee's story, the boss is a plot contrivance. Did we even know her name? We have no idea of the reason she was against Dee's braids and it's weird that she was since Dee's braids are neat and look very nice and professional.  And again, it's strange that they placed this plot in the fashion world since fashion has the reputation for being outrageous and Dee was very far from that.

It would be a great world if discrimination were something so unusual as to be noteworthy but it's not, discrimination is the norm for many people. Unless you're white, male, cis, with no physical or mental disabilities and look like a young Ryan Reynolds, you're going to be discriminated against at some point and it is a part of life for most people. I've been discriminated against for being female, ethnic and not being young and a size 6 so my interest is in how Dee handled it, not that it happened. I'm surprised that it took this long for Dee to feel discriminated against. Lucky her.

I really wish that she had reported the boss instead of just stepping back. Boss wins to discriminate again.

[blackwing]

On 5/7/2023 at 9:33 PM, Trini said:

Ugh -- this Fisk character is just not working for me; he's annoying, and him calling Robyn 'mall cop' is just stupid. She's not even supposed to be working for the CIA anymore! If they're going to keep doing these 'off the books'-type CIA plots, it needs to be twice a season AT MOST, and with anybody but Fisk.

I agree.  I don't like the Fisk character.  He's an ass, and the "mall cop" moniker is beyond stale.  If he thinks she's that much of an amateur that she's no better than a mall cop, why does he keep calling her?  For that matter, why does she even agree to do any work for him?  She's not employed by the CIA.  Does she even get paid for her work?  Is she a contractor?  Why does she feel so beholden to him?

I get that the prospect of reuniting with Rick enticed her, but if she's the contractor, she should be allowed to set the ground rules.  Fisk almost got her killed and yet because this is a TV show and Donal Logue is on the show, she will just keep agreeing to work for him under his caustic conditions.

14 hours ago, statsgirl said:

The Mel/Harry plot also seemed stupid. I thought that they had a really good relationship, now I find out that they don't talk about something as big as buying a country house.

I agree.  It's like because the episode was set in Paris, they needed to find something for them to do besides just remotely help Robyn.  I couldn't care less about their house with the lake view or whatever.

 

I agree with everyone that Dee was a bit classist when she was berating Stacy.  Stacy said multiple times that she needed the job and the money, and that Rowena's connections could really help her.  Dee was completely unsympathetic.  When Stacy knocked on the door, I was expecting her to tell Dee that she agreed with her, and she and a rich uncle decided to start their own store, and would Dee work with them.   Or something that resolved everything to satisfaction.  Instead, Dee was all "why are you here, I told you that you are selling out, bye".  Good for Dee for sticking up for her principles but clearly she comes from a wealthy background and didn't seem to have any sympathy for someone less fortunate like Stacy.

[possibilities]

5 hours ago, Cress said:

Why did Dee mention the Crown Act but not ever discuss filing a complaint? Presumably there should be some legal means to confront the boutique. She was so self righteous with Stacey, instead of talking about the real enemy, the boss lady.

I agree she should have tried to hold them accountable, but she may have felt that without Stacey's testimony, she had no proof that was the reason. It was Stacey that told her flat out that it was her braids that were why she was being kept in the back room, even though the internship was specifically a sales internship.

I thought Dee was 100% in the right, other than her taking it out on Stacey.

I also wondered if she didn't initially file a complaint because she was afraid that if she got a rep as "being difficult" then she would have a harder time getting hired elsewhere-- and if so, that makes it even more obvious that she should not be so pissed off at Stacey, who doesn't have her kind of back up privileges. 

I think it's a good thing for the show to highlight the Crown Act, but it would have been a better story if they also delved into the complexity of using a law to protect yourself, and what makes that not so easy, rather than glancing by that and mostly blaming Stacey for not supporting Dee, rather than working harder at building solidarity between them. But maybe the show felt that it was not honest to have a happy ending, and so they just left it was Dee is S.O.L., regardless of the law.

 

 

[Trini]

8 hours ago, statsgirl said:

22 hours ago, Trini said:

Clothes wasn't the problem.

If I understand correctly, it was her appearance which is similar.

Specifically, it was that her "braids were too 'ethnic'" and "didn't fit the culture" of the store/brand.

[Stevie Nicks]

I agree that Delilah was talking from a position of privilege. I hoped she would have been more sympathetic to the other girls plight. Especially when she made the effort to come to Delilahs house and apologize. My only problem with Delilahs hair is I hate the "tendrils hanging on either side of the face" thing.  Women snowboarders do that too and it's awful IMO. She would have looked just as nice with all her braids back like she had them. Are those extensions or is the actress's hair actually that long? I love her hair. All the time and work that goes into it is really worth it. Speaking of hair, Queen Latifahs braid is so long, and her hair is thick, and how she gets it all up into a small bun on her head is puzzling. Lol 

 

[Trini]

3 hours ago, Stevie Nicks said:

Are those extensions or is the actress's hair actually that long? I love her hair. All the time and work that goes into it is really worth it. Speaking of hair, Queen Latifahs braid is so long, and her hair is thick, and how she gets it all up into a small bun on her head is puzzling. Lol 

Yes, both had hair extensions.

[andromeda331]

On 5/9/2023 at 11:27 AM, milkyaqua said:

While I agree with this, this show has made no secret of addressing discrimination and it's ills.  I think a lot of us realize that that shouldn't have happened and shouldn't happen.  But most of us know, stuff like this does continue to happen.

But for some of us, Dee's reaction, still came off as a bit entitled and only caring about herself.  I was also a little disappointment that her mom and her aunt didn't point out both sides of the coin to her as well if Dee supposedly had told exactly what happened in both dealings with Stacey.

I really thought that's what would happen when Stacy came by to apologize with Robyn and Aunt Vi in the background. That they would point out that not everyone can do what Dee did. Stand up for herself and not take the job. But not everyone can do that because they need the job and how much that sucks.  

[statsgirl]

On 5/9/2023 at 3:26 PM, possibilities said:

I also wondered if she didn't initially file a complaint because she was afraid that if she got a rep as "being difficult" then she would have a harder time getting hired elsewhere-- and if so, that makes it even more obvious that she should not be so pissed off at Stacey, who doesn't have her kind of back up privileges. 

It would have made for a better conundrum for Dee if she had worried that if she reported the boss, she would have been blackballed from working at other fashion stores because of it. It would have given her some real stakes in deciding what to do. As it is, there were no consequences for her either way.

Given that Robyn is all about helping people in desperate situations, it's strange that she was okay with Dee deciding not to take the internship but being unaware of and not doing anything for people who didn't have the opportunities that she does.

[charliesan]

I usually blame Dee for everything but Robyn and Aunt Vi seemed accepting of the way she handled things, which was a bit surprising since in this case the real victim here for me was Stacey, actually, for a second, I thought Dee was going to embrace Stacey. 

I have absolutely no idea how the fashion industry works and I tend to buy clothes online anyway, so relegating Dee to the back of the store because she had braids seemed like a storyline I would've watched in the 90's, I would've thought rich ladies (from NY? Was that store in NYC?) would appreciate having stylish hip girls help them style them to look more youthful and trendy -yet conservative. But then again I'm not a rich older lady so what would I know?

But MAYBE this is the show's way of derailing Dee's ambitions to work in fashion and instead work her up to become the next Robyn? Now I'm scared to write this as I will seem like the lady who didn't want Dee at the store, but I think Dee's too tiny to become a CIA agent/Equalizer. And yes, Mel is also tiny but I thought she was more of a shooter than a fighter. 

 

 

 

[juliet73]

On 5/8/2023 at 9:02 AM, marceline said:

Yeah, I got really ticked off at Dee standing their in her mother's palatial home looking down on a young woman who doesn't have the safety net Dee does. It's real easy to stick to her almighty principles when Aunt Vi is doing the cooking and Robyn has the CIA on speed dial.

THIS!   I thought Dee was downright rude to Stacey about what personal choices Stacey made to pay the bills.  Nobody with financial privilege (Dee) should shame someone else for how they earn a living.  I don't think Stacey needed to defend her choices to an entitled teenager who has no idea how the real world works when it comes to making compromises/sacrifices at a job in order to keep a roof over her head, pay her student loans, etc.  Plus, Dee's snide comment about Stacey having the day off because she was wearing her hair natural, was completely uncalled for.  

I think Dee's story had so much potential, unfortunately it was so poorly written!  Braids or not, I thought it was quite arrogant of Dee to complain about working in the backroom.  She has no experience and most businesses have unexperienced employees start in the back and move up.  I don't understand how she would think she would be put out on the floor her first day not knowing anything about the merchandise, inventory, etc. 

[Trini]

29 minutes ago, juliet73 said:

I think Dee's story had so much potential, unfortunately it was so poorly written!  Braids or not, I thought it was quite arrogant of Dee to complain about working in the backroom.  She has no experience and most businesses have unexperienced employees start in the back and move up.  I don't understand how she would think she would be put out on the floor her first day not knowing anything about the merchandise, inventory, etc. 

It was a sales internship, and she would have been on the floor 'first day' if she wasn't discriminated against because of her hair.

[possibilities]

Here's more info about the Crown Act, for anyone who hadn't known about it.

https://www.thecrownact.com/about

There is a history of people of color being discriminated against and denied employment and other opportunities based on their natural hair. The processing and other requirements imposed by this discrimination place undue burdens and create an inherently unequal workplace. It is not the same as expecting people to abide by a dress code, which many workplaces have, because it targets specific populations with the forced imposition of practices that can actually damage their hair and is designed to erase their cultural identity as much as possible. It's inherently racist, as such standards are not imposed on white people and our natural hair or cultural identities.

The show may have made more sense to people who know about or have experienced this problem and understand the hardships it imposes, more than those who were unaware of it, but they did explicitly say that Dee was put in the backroom because of her hair, and that it was a sales internship that normally had the interns working on the showroom floor. She was not hidden because that's where everyone starts. And it was explicitly illegal discrimination, as The CROWN ACT is law in New York.

[juliet73]

43 minutes ago, Trini said:

It was a sales internship, and she would have been on the floor 'first day' if she wasn't discriminated against because of her hair.

I stand corrected.  I thought it was an internship at a boutique - I didn't hear that it was specifically for a sales position.  

[Attatude]

I didn’t mean to offend anyone, but it seems like Delilah jumped into fashion awfully fast when all she wanted to up until now was train to be like her mother.  I was treated poorly as a teenager by potential workplaces and bosses for a lot of reasons, so I didn’t see the implications the way the writers meant me to see them.  I focused on her bad attitude more than the problem.  In the end, what lesson will she take away from the experience?  

Does anyone know how old she is supposed to be now?  She was supposed to be 15 when the series first aired two years ago. Now she’s talking about college applications, but they are in season 3.