Jermaine Reed, MFA is a college professor and writer from Chicago, who creates fiction, nonfiction and local and national news stories. Please join Jermaine’s email list to get notifications on new blog posts, writing advice and free books. Get his recently released Science Fiction novel A Glitch in Humanity by clicking here. Follow J Reed on Twitter @jreed913 .
*Spoiler Alert: This post contains a lot of spoilers.
The first season of Hulu’s show Woke introduced the audience to Keef Knight, a Black cartoonist who experiences police brutality. This experience jars Keef awake socially, and he begins to really see racism for the first time. Though season one left us on a promising note, season two of Woke is proving to be a snoozer.
The art of enjoying television is partially based on your willingness to suspend disbelief. This suspension is tempered by the world in which the characters live. That is, you’re more likely to accept vampires in The Walking Dead than you are to accept vampires in Miami Vice.
Situations in Woke are compromising the viewer’s tolerance…
The above stated, although Keef does talk to live garbage cans, markers and other normally inanimate objects, other situations in Woke are compromising the viewer’s tolerance for suspending disbelief.
For instance, Keef gets into a deal where he unknowingly distributes shoes that contain 5G and tracking technology to homeless individuals. Complicating the issue further is that the data is being sold to the City which is using it to find and disband peaceful homeless encampments.
This is a stretch at best and just plain bad writing at worse. For me, it’s like the moment Fonzie jumped the shark. Maybe it’s not unbelievable that a private company or the government would put tracking devices in shoes. It is unlikely it would be done in such poorly, openly brazen manner.
And wandering how Keef has this season looking for a fight, he now has to battle against something he helped start? So, Keef begins a fight against Laura, the Silicon Valley archetype that helped invest in and start the “Keef Knight Project”, after the company she works for goes after Keef’s friend Ayana.
Keef accomplishes nothing…
After organizing a rally against himself to ruin his own name and making it seem like the 5G shoes hurt him, Keef threatens to sue the company Laura represents if the company doesn’t drop its suit against Ayana which it seems will happen. At the end, Keef rides off with Clovis’s dad in search of himself.
To say the least, a lot happened and nothing happened simultaneously in Woke Season 2. Each twist and turn led to nowhere. Keef accomplishes nothing on a grand scale and grows in no meaningful way. In sitcoms many time, characters do not grow. What set Woke apart was its potential to push boundaries sitcoms normally don’t.
This season of Woke is not worth the time it takes to consume. It’s like getting a big, juicy-looking steak only to find out it’s just meaty air. This season served no purpose. Keef did not move or grow as a character. His agenda has not been furthered. And, honestly, it wasn’t that funny.
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