It was over one year ago that I read the book, “The Other Black Girl,” by Zakiya Dalila Harris and was so blown away by its creativity that I made it the first book of the month recommendation for this blog. Now to see it become a series, so quick from its release in 2021, I was so excited to see it. As we all know when reading a book first, it’s usually better than the film because some details are usually missing , but the series stayed along the story line very well. I must admit the first episode was a little on the slower side, but it picked up and included some comedic moments, lines about current events, and had some familiar faces in the cast.
In the series, we see the main character Nella (Sinclair Daniel), rocking a beautiful afro style working as an editorial assistant at Wagner Books Publishing Company. Nella is the only black girl there, with the hopes to be a publisher. So, after the Asian editorial assistant moves on to a new job, the company run by Richard Wagner (Eric McCormack) hires another young black woman named Hazel (Ashleigh Murray). Hazel joins the company and she’s very upbeat with everyone in the office noticing her including Nella’s boss Vera (Bellamy Young). Now as time goes on, Nella starts to receive suspicious notes and is being approached by a mysterious woman, eventually leading to an unconscious competition between the only two black girls trying to move up in the company especially during a big project for Diana Gordon (Garcelle Beauvais). As Nella gets to know Hazel and brings her into her personal life, her best friend, Malaika (Brittany Adebumola) and then later her boyfriend Owen (Hunter Parrish) start to have questions about Hazel’s life and her role in these events.
The biggest thing the series and book touch on is the thought of black women needing to be controlled in a way that’s appropriate to society or the workplace. Some of these topics relate to hair and expression of one’s feelings that often gets labeled as ‘Angry Black Woman.’ In more recent times, we have seen the Crown Act in some states, which was created to end discrimination against hair texture and hairstyles. We are in 2023 and Black Women’s natural hair is still a topic of conversation with European hairstyles being looked at as a guide for professionalism. Our hair is what’s given to us at birth and is not something that we can change without changing who we are.
In the end, I enjoyed the 10 half hour episodes of this series and with the ending, I hope it continues on to another season to see how it creates a new life for itself separate from the book.