TV Review - Dear White People: Volume 3

It's so strange. The first season or Volume 1 of this TV show was one of my most favorite things the year that it was released. I thought it was a series that was funny and bold with great and interesting characters. Now, I doubt it will crack my top ten of 2019. It began to fall for me last year and this year didn't do much to improve it in my view. I appreciate that it exists on so many levels and the cast is so beautiful and amazing. Sadly, I just can't get excited about this current season as a whole. As I criticized in my review for Volume 2, this season feels too long. It's only ten episodes, each being a half-hour, but yet it still feels too long. It still feels like it's a drag. For me, things didn't kick off or I wasn't hooked until Episode 7 or Chapter 7. It could be argued that the first, six episodes set-up what happens in the last four, but I don't think it needed six episodes to do so. It could have concentrated or compacted things into three. By the end, I felt like there were characters or scenes that felt superfluous, including the so-called main character, the original protagonist who felt unnecessary this season.

Logan Browning (Hit the Floor and Meet the Browns) stars as Samantha White, a biracial student attending Winchester University. She used to host a radio show on campus called "Dear White People" where she could address modern-day issues of racism among her Millennial generation. Her radio show was aimed at white people who did offensive or inappropriate things. A lot of it was microaggressions. Some of which played out in her daily life. The first season even had a powerful Black Lives Matter moment. Nothing since however has been that powerful or impactful. Samantha or Sam's personal life had her pulled in multiple directions.

It culminated in two really good episodes last season. After that, it seems as if the the creator and head-writer here, Justin Simien didn't really know what to do with Sam. As a result, she almost feels like a non-presence in this season. I dare say she as a character could have been removed entirely from this season and it wouldn't have mattered or affected much of anything. Considering Sam has been the main character or protagonist, going all the way back to the 2014 film that was the basis for this show, her non-presence here proves a problem.

DeRon Horton (American Vandal and Burning Sands) co-stars as Lionel Higgins, the black and gay student who initially was torn between his ethnicity and his sexuality. He felt like an outsider among both the black students and the LGBTQ students. He never quite could fit in. The past two seasons have brought him more out his shell and engaging in both camps. He had some interesting ups and downs last season, but the fallout of which wasn't handled all that great. His interactions with other LGBTQ people this season is interesting. He even gets a boyfriend, but still his character is eclipsed by a new face, D'Unte, played by Griffin Matthews. Because D'Unte sucks up all the oxygen in the room, Lionel often feels like he's more of a guest star than a main character.

There are several other things occurring with the other characters. None of it feels overly vital. The show remains topical, addressing issues like the one involving Elizabeth Warren and her Native American associations. The show can still be funny in its joke where the students of Winchester will all stop to watch a TV show that they think is serious but is a meta-spoof of a popular TV show in real life. This season, Simien and his writers spoof The Handmaid's Tale and Queer Eye. Some of it is pretty on-the-nose, but the spoof of Queer Eye made me giggle. As mentioned though, I wasn't hooked by anything until Episode 7.

Blair Underwood (In Treatment and L.A. Law) guest stars as Moses Brown, a professor at Winchester University who runs a tech course where his students develop things for the Internet and social media. He's a beloved and inspirational figure to the students, particularly to Reggie Green, played by Marque Richardson (The Newsroom and True Blood). Things take a turn in Episode 7 when he's accused of sexual misconduct with one of his students. The result is a very compelling plot and exploration of the situation. Yet, I can't say the same about any other aspect of the show this year.

Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 30 mins. / 10 eps.

Available on Netflix.