She's Gotta Have It: A Kennedy-Xpressway Review

**This series review contains some spoilers**

I was never hip on any of Spike Lee’s movies from the 80’s like “Do the Right Thing” or “School Daze”. I’m more familiar with his productions such as “Malcolm X”, “The Best Man”, “Love and Basketball”, and “2 Fists Up”. So, when I heard all this chatter in the media about one of his productions “She’s Gotta Have It”, coming to Netflix as a television series, I wasn’t excited about it like many other people were. I knew nothing about the original movie. All I knew was that I kept reading articles that said, “Netflix is coming out with a new sex positive series about a black pansexual polyamorous woman. I’m always down for narratives or representations of sex positive, queer black women that are not being slut shamed or chastised for their sexual choices. On November 23, 2017, Netflix released ten 30-minute episodes of “She’s Gotta Have It”. As a commentator on a podcast show called #Black, a topic during our 9th episode (click HERE to listen to this episode on SoundCloud) was the series. I didn’t have much to say about the show because I obviously hadn’t watched it yet, so that’s when I decided it’s time that I watch it.

The season was quick it only took me about a day and a half to complete the series (could have been less, but finals ya know). I thoroughly enjoyed the series. At first, seeing the album covers of songs used in scenes appear on the screen at the conclusion of the specific scene, was cheesy and unnecessary to me. But after a couple episodes, especially the one featuring Maxwell’s This Woman’s Work, I found the use of the album covers to be creative. It connects the occurrences in the show to music that matches Nola’s mood precisely. It also many times put me in my feelings (lol).

From the first episode, I fell in love and somewhat related to Nola Darling. I saw myself in her artistry, carefree spirit, combined with her confusion when it comes to love. Now when I say confusion I don’t mean that she’s confused sexually but romantically. Her first lover Greer Childs is the most attractive in my opinion, but he is way too into himself as a person. He’s selfish and often writes off Nola, her ideas, and dreams. Her second lover Jamie Overstreet is pretty much perfect for her. He is a strong minded successful black man and supports Nola financially, sexually, and emotionally. The catch is, he’s married with a child. Her third lover is Mars Blackmon, a trendy Brooklyn native that sports his name around his neck. He’s adorable, supportive but very childlike, and sometimes when he talks to Nola, he just doesn’t get what she has on her plate. Lastly is her only lover that isn't a man, Opal. I really liked Opal’s character in the series opposed to the Opal from the movie. All of her lovers in the movie weren’t developed enough as characters for me but Opal from the movie was very dry to me. This Opal was interesting, related to Nola, smart, and not to mention gorgeous. I ship her and Nola together, but I think Nola has some growing up to do before Opal decides to let Nola back into both her and her daughter’s life. Out of all of her partners I think she loves Opal the most. Opal understands her as a person and a woman, and I mean she’s gotta have some deep feelings for her, Opal was the first person she called when she needed to get bailed out of jail. Nola sees the bad in her partners but she also sees the good in them. Along with that they each bring out something different in her that the other can’t.

The series covered so many current events like botched plastic surgery, the gentrification of Brooklyn, and the election of Donald Trump, which I thought was necessary in this age of social media, bigotry and “Trumpism”. I especially liked the way that Lee took on gentrification with the “mayor of the block”, Papo who is accused of defacing the property in the neighborhood with graffiti. Nola also sees a therapist. Black women are often told that we are crazy if we go see a “shrink”, but the truth is with all the trauma we experience as black women, therapy is often very helpful and sometimes a needed resource for us to overcome our trauma. Nola shows us that it’s ok to see a therapist and it doesn’t make you crazy to see one.

The sex scenes were pretty litty if I say so myself. I liked the idea of Nola’s “Lovin Bed” and that she only had sex in HER bed. She never has sex with more than one of her lovers in a day, nor does she see any of them more than twice a week. She also always uses condoms. She sets boundaries for herself and her lovers to protect her body and guard her heart.

Many other critiques of the show are that Nola Darling isn’t an accurate representation of a black queer woman, but there is no ONE way to be a black queer woman, just like there is no ONE way to be any identity. That’s the beauty of humanity. We all are different and have different ways of operating in the world. Nola Darling is who she is. She's a representation of a black queer woman and cannot possibly have all of the characteristics of all queer black polyamorous women. Maybe she’s not queer enough for some viewers or she isn’t the “right type” of polyamorous individual and that’s ok. Nola’s character cannot satisfy everyone’s standards or perception as far as representation goes, but I believe Spike Lee has made an attempt. With more queer and polyamorous writers, I believe that this show can reach its potential.

I should have watched the movie first in order to get the references in the show that came from the movie, but in the end, I enjoyed the show way more than I enjoyed the mostly black and white film from 1986. The characters in the series were fresh sexy faces and that’s just what this series needed to liven up the plot. I am patiently waiting until the show is renewed and a second season comes out, because I crave more of Nola Darling and her intriguing atypical life. But until then I’ll be looking for other shows to binge watch on Netflix and Hulu. Next on my list is probably Stranger Things 2, but I hope you enjoyed my perspective on this show. Leave your comments and opinions below and make sure to share this blog post!

#ShesGottaHaveIt #SpikeLee #NolaDarling