In the two weeks since my seventh watch of Sinners, I’ve been looking around like that meme of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. What now? While paid subscribers can expect an exclusive, full syllabus on the groundbreaking film this week(!!!), I have managed to pull myself away from it, in order to watch some other stuff. Here’s your weekly binge:
Andor: The season two finale of the best Star Wars show yet premieres on Tuesday and if you’re not yet caught up, or put on, this is the week to do it. I’ll have a deep-dive on Andor after the finale, but until then, know that it is even more radical than Severance, as Star Wars has always been about anti-fascist resistance. Featuring enslaved rebellions, citizens kidnapped and sent to foreign labor camps indefinitely, and one politician brave enough to call a genocide a genocide on a livestream, Andor hits particularly close to home as fascism continues to rise in the real world. Though it’s not without its flaws, Andor features some of the best antifascist writing on T.V., like this gem of a peptalk that the title character gives a scared rebel who’s losing her nerve as she’s facing certain death: “You made this decision long ago. The empire cannot win. You’ll never feel right unless you’re doing what you can to stop them. You’re coming home to yourself. You’ve become more than your fear. Let that protect you.” Hot damn! And that’s just from episode one. Buckle up for the ride of your life.
Andor is streaming now on Disney+.
Forever: Legendary T.V. showrunner Mara Brock Akil (“Girlfriends,” “The Game,” “Being Mary Jane,”) is back with an all-Black adaptation of Judy Blume’s most-banned book, the Y.A. romance Forever. Starring my favorite girl, Lovie Simone (“Greenleaf,” “Stella and the Spades”) as Keisha and newcomer Michael Cooper, Jr. as Justin, Forever captures the beauty and heartbreak of falling in and out and in love in your teens. Simone’s leading-lady talents have deserved this spotlight for a long time and Cooper is perfect as her sweet, neurodivergent forever-love. Set in 2018 with a fire soundtrack to match, the show balances warm nostalgia with the bitterness of predominantly white institutions built to break Black kids. Simone’s Keisha gets the worst of it. Trigger warning: in a sharp turn from the relatively conflict-free plot of the book, Keisha is the victim of an ex-boyfriend’s revenge porn and is summarily slut-shamed for it by both peers and adults. Though it’s “realistic” that parents can be horrible, if Keisha simply *had* to go through something this traumatic for the sake of the plot, I do wish that Keisha and Justin’s moms had reacted in a less stereotypical and a more healing and loving way. It’s a TV show, after all—why re-trigger when you can heal? The lesson of the show: hire Wood Harris (“The Wire,” “Creed”) to be a wholesome dad in everything and stop sending your Black children to white schools.
Forever is streaming now on Netflix.
FYC SEASON
It’s the most wonderful time of the year and L.A.’s best season: Awards. This is when studios trot out their star shows to hobnob with critics and awards-voters “for your consideration.”
Severance: At the Severance FYC, I got to chat up Adam Scott about how revolutionary the show is and I got my own Lumon Sever’d Floor employee badge:
Watch my recap video on IG here, read my Severance pieces here, and stream Severance on AppleTV+.
MO: At the MO FYC, I got to meet the man himself in my Mandela Hirbawi keffiyeh and enjoy his INCREDIBLE falafel tacos from the show. I asked Mo if his unrelenting truth about the genocide in Palestine led to the show’s cancellation after a fantastic season two, which I reviewed back in February here. We’ll never know, but one thing is for sure, he left it all on the field and told a true, powerful, heartbreaking and hilarious story of Palestinian resistance and survival and should be so proud.
Watch my recap of the event on IG:
Stream Mo on Netflix.
Government Cheese FYC: I had the pleasure of moderating AppleTV+’s new show Government Cheese with showrunner Ayesha Carr (“Everybody Hates Chris,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine) after a screening of the first two episodes. The surrealist comedy follows David Oyelowo’s Hampton Chambers as he leaves prison for fraud and tries to reconnect with his wife and kids in 1970s Simi Valley, CA. Because I hadn’t reviewed the series before being a paid moderator, I’ll refrain from reviewing now, but you can stream the series on AppleTV+!
ABANITU: A story on my directorial debut feature film Abanitu was featured in the May 2025 print and online editions of Inside Nova Magazine! Following five generations of the Obie Family, ABANITU tells our 119-year-history owning land in North Carolina as we heal through the indigenous practice of farming and face heart-breaking challenges when people try to separate us from the land. You can read the story here, and of course, stay tuned to Black Girl Watching for updates on when and where you can watch my debut film!
Brooke on the Island Fever podcast talking Sinners:
I took my friend Krit to see Thunderbolts* and it was fine! Immediately after, we hopped theater screens to see Sinners (my 7th time, his first!) which was way better! Then I joined him on his podcast Island Fever to break down the film:
Fiona Apple(?!) “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)” – Speaking of revolutionary, new anthem just dropped from Fiona Apple! I’m so sorry, Fiona, I was unfamiliar with your game. But apparently the iconic singer is not new to being woke, she’s true to it. She spent two years as a court watcher where she saw thousands of women be incarcerated before even being convicted of a crime simply because they could not afford bail. She channels the rage of this injustice into her new song, “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home).” The music video features images of real women, mothers and the families and communities destroyed by pre-trial detention. Her rallying cry “Let Her Go Home” doubles as a website to facilitate bail fund donations. Watch and donate here:
The revolution will be live streamed on YouTube.
Stay watchin’,
Brooke
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