I succumbed to the hype surrounding Beauty in Black, the Netflix series that's been number one in Kenya for what feels like forever. But after watching, I was left feeling disappointed and, frankly, concerned about what Kenyans are drawn to. The show's first season tackles too many heavy topics all at once, without giving each one the space it needs to develop. Tyler Perry should have been more patient with the pacing, gradually introducing darker themes over several seasons instead of jamming them all into just one.
The characters, too, felt like they were thrown in without clear purpose. Take Kimmie's best friend, Rain, for example. What's her role in this show? We're left with hardly any explanation, and other characters are similarly shallow with no clear connection to the story's core. It felt like Perry just added them in for the sake of it, and as a viewer, I found that frustrating. I've always said Kenyans love trash TV because it gives us plenty to talk about, and I won't lie—I'll be tuning in for season 2, eager to see what more nonsensical twists the show can throw at us. But let's be real: Beauty in Black is about as unrealistic as it gets.
The concept itself seemed like it could lead to something interesting: a clash between Atlanta's strip club scene and the brutal, harsh world of beauty. Instead, what we got was more of a soap opera on steroids. Every character is exaggerated to the extreme, from Kimmie, an exotic dancer with a tragic past and a desperate need for survival, to Mallory, a ruthless businesswoman whose every move screams "villain origin story." The story's intensity was initially entertaining, but it quickly spiraled into a melodramatic one that felt more like a parody than serious real life drama.
The conflicts were just as over-the-top. What could have been a simple business rivalry quickly deteriorated into backstabbing and double-crossing, with motivations changing so quickly it was hard to keep up. I mean, maybe I'm missing something that most Kenyans are seeing in the show, but for me, the story just isn't executed very well.
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Mon. 13th May, 2019 at 8:29AM