Summary
“Gig. E Smalls” is funny but the story isn’t really going anywhere. It gives a slight nod to Keef’s creativity but that’s about it.
This recap of Hulu’s Woke season 1, episode 3, “Gig. E Smalls” contains significant spoilers.
We recapped every episode — check out the archive.
The opening
While out with his friends, Keef shows Ayana his latest update of Toast and Butter. She’s impressed by the activism presented in his work and asks Keef to send her his stuff. However, he gets bad news; his ex-publisher has sent him a ‘cease and desist’ for Toast and Butter, plus they want their advance back — they own the rights. Clovis recommends that Keef tries out the gig economy to make his money.
Getting a car
His Marker Pen tells him not to get jobs in the gig economy and to draw instead. While picking up customers as a taxi driver, one of his customers requests silence as he won’t stop talking. He gets a range of customers — from couples hooking up to women eating loads of chicken wings nastily. Episode 3 shows the brief life of a gig economy worker.
Little money
And then the taxi app starts talking to him and tells him to drop this work and to draw a comic. The next morning, Keef reveals he made $61 — Clovis states he could have made more on OnlyFans in an hour. He ain’t wrong.
A strange invite to a party
One of Keef’s customers asks about how drawings — she knows about Toast and Butter. The customer invites Keef to a party where there will be friends there who are in the art world. Keef claims he can’t because he needs to make money but the woman offers to pay him to go to the party and draw. Clovis and Gunther think it is strange but Keef thinks he should go anyway. Yeah, there’s no way anyone would want to go to this party.
A novelty
When Keef gets to the party, it’s clearly a wealthy event. The person who invited him to the party introduces him to two women who are supposedly interested in art and they seem way too excited to see him. Keef realises that everyone keeps looking at him. The white guests keep giving him quips like “I’ve just come from Uganda”. He’s the only black person at the party and he looks like a novelty.
Treat women with respect
Clovis sees Ayana and sits next to her at a bar and makes out that he saw her coincidentally but really he stalked her on Instagram. Ayana tells Clovis he is being disrespectful and that if a woman wants to sleep with him, they’d let him know. She takes the sneakers he brought for her and says she will Venmo him. Clovis shows the audacity of men in this scene, believing he can stalk a woman all the way to a bar via social media.
The ending
Back to the party; a woman at the party takes a genuine interest in Keef — she’s called Adrian. Keef calls her Adrian like in Rocky. She teases Keef that he was paid to be the “cool black guy” at a party. This woman then suddenly leaves. Keef then has a lightbulb moment and goes home to draw. He draws ‘Black People For Rent”. Episode 3 is funny but the story isn’t really going anywhere. It gives a slight nod to Keef’s creativity but that’s about it.
Additional points
- Gunther is the temporary landlord of the apartments and he has an irritating renter.
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