P-Valley – The Pynker the berry

Sanitise your poles and prepare your holes because we are fighting to save The Pynk with Starz P-Valley this week. 

Stats

Creator: Katori Hall
Choreographer: Jamaica Craft
Released: July 2020
Network: Starz
Actors: Brandee Evans, Nicco Annan, Shannon Thornton

Breakdown and Analysis

• One of the best pilots in TV.
• Uncle Clifford stands in a league of her own. Not only does she balance masculinity and femininity, but she brings so much effortless humour. There are not many moments of emotional resonance without Uncle Clifford in close proximity. Rooting for Uncle Clifford in all aspects, her relationships, keeping The Pynk afloat. On a human level, there is a lot of vulnerability that is easy to identify with.
• All the walls that Uncle Clifford had built were being torn down by Lil Murda. The walls were built for a reason and it was sad to see Uncle Clifford recoil at the very public rejection. As much as there are sad moments, hands down KT’s favourite couple of 2020. Best sex scene we’ve seen in a long time. Safe can be sexy, friends and lovers. The complexities in their relationship was hard to watch at times but we appreciated seeing it through the lens of media.
• There is so much love being outpoured from Uncle Clifford but, especially with Earnestine, it is being received in the same world.
• There are so many different touchpoints with Uncle Clifford in Chucalissa.
• When you have small towns or tight knit communities, as close as they are, they can also be very judgemental and, in some cases, conservative in their views. It’s interesting to see Uncle Clifford live in her truth but to fully live in her truth with someone else would be too much for Chucalissa.
• Lil Murda has the conflict within him about wanting to be who he is but also career aspirations that contradict that. KT was mad but also understands that the world isn’t perfect because it is constructed with humans that are full of garbage. It is a love that we have revelled in seeing every episode. Someone having high walls, understandably so, and a sweet natured partner that breaks down those walls.
• It was sweet that Uncle Clifford could experience not only the love from Lil Murda but also the acceptance of love from Earnestine. No matter what happened or will happen, we had that moment together.
• As soon as we got more airtime on Mercedes, it was puzzling why we were focusing on Autumn Night. Religion plays a major role in Mercedes’ relationship with her mother. This is a powerful allegory of how detrimental the phrase ‘God first’ can be. That God and Religion is more important than your children. We learn so much about Mercedes. Who you are as a person is defined by your experiences and how you let those experiences define you. How you allow those experiences to happen to you again or how others force you to experience that again. In Patrice’s mind, as a whole conscious human being, to do that to her own child and to think she is redeemed in the Blood of her saviour is not something to be applauded. The money Mercedes put to help her mum with the loan, Patrice Woodbine used that for her own selfish needs. It was saddening to see Mercedes run back to her mother.
• It is a juxtaposition to the financial independence Mercedes had at The Pynk to relinquish that for an investment from coach for her gym.
• We understood that Autumn was going to have a compelling story but to continue to show her with no reveal, it made us anxious to get back to other characters that we are fully invested in.
• KT wonders the value of Andre because every decision he made was terrible.
• It was nice to see the bond between Hailey and Mercedes. Mercedes was the first person, within the realms of the show, that Hailey shared her past with.
• We look forward to the power struggle between Uncle Clifford and Hailey.

Unrelated but vital points

• Add shunments to the KT dictionary.
• Oti gives a shout out to Black Love. Queen & Slim, P-Valley, Rafiki. And Baby Boy if you would like another example. There are varying spectrums of Black Love and we have covered a lot of them on the podcast.

For Your Reference

Oti

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KT

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