Summary
The Other Black Girl is easily one of the best-written series of the year featuring a star-making turn from Sinclair Daniel.
This review of the Hulu series The Other Black Girl season 1 does not contain spoilers.
The 2021 novel The Other Black Girl was written by Zaklya Dalila Harris, who was inspired to write the book based on her own experience as an editor to address the various forms of racism in the corporate world. Harris and a team of writers adapted the book into a ten-part series on Hulu starring Sinclair Daniel and Ashleigh Murray in the lead roles.
The Other Black Girl Season 1 review and plot summary
The Other Black Girl follows Nella Rogers, an editorial assistant at Wagner Books. She often feels alone at the job due to being the only Black woman working for the company, but that all changes when the company hires Hazel-May McCall. Things quickly turn south for the new friends, making Nella question everything about Hazel.
Shortly after meeting Nella, her boss Vera asked her to read the publishing company’s biggest author, Colin Franklin’s latest book, and give her opinion. Nella tells Vera that she didn’t like the book and how it portrayed a specific Black lady, and Vera tells her to keep those thoughts to herself and not tell Colin.
READ: Who is Kendra in The Other Black Girl?
New hire Hazel-May talks to Nella about the issue and convinces her that she needs to be honest with Colin to prevent it from being a bad look on the publishing company. After taking her advice, Nella projects how she feels about the book to Colin, and he doesn’t take it well, nor does her boss. When Colin asks Hazel-May her thoughts on the book, she says she loved it, catching Nella off guard because she threw her under the bus. This causes Nella to question her place in the company and her next move.
The script speaks for itself with its authentic and personal portrayal of how Black men and women face racism in the workspace. This resulted in some very heavy scenes where you get a lot of softly spoken words or quietness, which are elevated by this haunting and harrowing score by EmmoLei Sankofa. Sankofa made you feel things in those in-between moments, ensuring the score was its own character.
I know we are almost a full year away from the 2024 Emmy Awards, but let me be the first to throw Sinclair Daniel’s name into the hat for Best Actress. The layers of Nella’s story couldn’t have been easy to portray. Daniel is forced to look at an accurate depiction of what people like her have to face daily, so getting in and out of that head space couldn’t have been easy. She brought a convincing and empathetic, while still dominant, performance as Nella.
Is The Other Black Girl Season 1 good or bad?
The Other Black Girl is the cream of the crop of TV series in 2023. It’s a suspense-filled journey that keeps you guessing at every turn.
More importantly, the ability of this ensemble cast to bring Zakiya Dalila Harris’s book to life to perfectly depict what she went through will have people talking for weeks after watching.
Is The Other Black Girl Season 1 worth watching?
At a brisk thirty minutes per episode, The Other Black Girl raises the bar for mystery thrillers produced for TV.
You have this troubling story that we know is reality mixed with the magnificently written chess match between Nella and Hazel that keeps you uncertain of what is ahead. When you factor in the score, the ensemble, and the script, you won’t be able to stop clicking “next episode.”
What did you think of The Other Black Girl Season 1? Comment below.
You can watch this series with a subscription to Hulu.
