, was clearly created with lofty ambitions. Announced as an anthology series, the auteur's second major project for OWN sets out to traverse a couple's relationship through pivotal 24-hour periods. Spanning five years and starring relative unknowns Xosha Roquemore and Alano Miller , the eight-part debut season showcases lushly lit black skin, an aspirational black L.A. and a reverent appreciation of black artists, then and now, that's grounded in daily life.
The male half of the series' central romance flags even further because Gently and Luma are the kind of black characters we seldom see on screen. A restless roamer, Gently treats the globe like most of us treat our browsers — she goes anywhere the mood strikes her, anytime that it strikes her. Childhood trauma informs her wanderlust, too, but her upbringing is more an illustration of a community stepping up than that of familial dysfunction.
The biggest source of friction between Gently and Evan is their class difference, which almost instantly dooms their coupling. On their first date, he offers to help her pick up a used refrigerator, which means borrowing a truck from a part of town where he's loathe to leave his Tesla for the hour or two that the errand would take.
Evan's snootiness dissipates quickly, leaving the new couple with little to separate them or deepen their characterization. Even in just the four episodes for review, the angsty storylines soon feel forced and melodramatic, at odds with the hangout vibe that suffuses most of the series. The romance's naysayers are the people closest to our protagonists, who don't seem to get much out of their relationships with their second-guessers otherwise.
The dialogue fares much better, with each episode featuring at least one highly quotable line, as when Gently compares her stance on religion to her M.O. at Hometown Buffet: "Sample a little bit of this, a little bit of that, try to get full.
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