All 10 episodes in the first (and maybe only) season of The Other Black Girl showed up on Hulu without much hype, but this is not one to pass over; the reviews are solid, and it shares its name with a well-received 2021 debut novel. This new show has enticing producers to credit and a potent trailer that blends horror, comedy, and mystery, so if the description has not yet hooked you, find out below if The Other Black Girl is worth the deep dive.
The Plot of The Other Black Girl
Though passionate about being part of the change in a world still rife with systematic racism, Nella is the only Black woman at the office, where she works as an editorial assistant and is not taken seriously by her boss. Suddenly, another young Black assistant joins the company at the desk next to Nella, and changes occur all around. But those changes might not be for the better, as the feeling of something off with everyone involved begins to consume Nella’s overworked, underappreciated life.
Power Through Satire and Nuance
With book author Zakiya Dalila Harris and the incredible Rashida Jones developing and producing the show, The Other Black Girl lives up to the decent reviews of the original novel while blazing a trail all its own. A story about corporate racism as told through dynamic genre-mashing is understandably urgent; luckily, the outcome is neither simple nor easy thanks to a wildly unexpected direction for the series as each mysterious detail unfolds. The ability to watch each episode without weeks of waiting means we can overlook the pacing issues.
The adaptation needed to balance its over-the-top, in-your-face blasts of satire with detail and care to convey the significance of the central themes of The Other Black Girl, and in that, the cast and crew often succeed. Even without absorbing the messages told here, The Other Black Girl would be an enjoyable, exhilarating watch from front to back, so the relevance is just a bonus. Since Harris and the show are not setting out to solve the world’s problems but instead add some spice to the ongoing discussion, we do not have to endure any force-feeding of simplified clichés.
The Expectations of Binge-Watching The Other Black Girl
Ashleigh Murray in ‘The Other Black Girl’
After years of shaping television to match the new binge-watching formula, streaming services are building new shows to match the expectations of binge-watching. As such, The Other Black Girl has a momentum that works best as a binge-watch, and the decision to drop every episode at once demonstrates these intentions from the onset. The engaging, clearly defined main characters played by Sinclair Daniel and Ashleigh Murray take their afforded season-length time to settle into their roles; the resulting complexity is worth the time invested, even if it takes through the halfway point to turn into much more than baiting thrills.
Look Out for a Potential Season 2
With time to develop, a continuation of The Other Black Girl seems essential considering the shocking conclusion, and we can always use more nuanced takes on how racism can manifest in corporate structures. Even so, there is no word on if the producers intend to continue the show, though Hulu did not market the show as a miniseries. Given its shifts from the book, continuation is canonically possible, and the chance for more delving into this wild mystery means we are crossing our fingers for more.
The Other Black Girl is streaming now on Hulu.