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Dear White People
Available on Netflix SA
2/5
Netflix series Dear White People, the brainchild of director Justin Simien, returns for its third season and continues to chronicle the lives of black students as they steer the legacy of whiteness and race relations at Winchester University, an elite school.
Season 2 was slightly unpredictable, highlighting peaceful protests, secret societies, long-awaited hook-ups, explorations of sexuality, Twitter trolls and family drama. But, like season 1, season 3 struggles to maintain the authenticity, satire and nuance the Dear White People film brilliantly explored in 2014.
While the first two seasons asked the characters some big questions and they always seemed to know the answers, now the struggles they face on campus feel far more like the ramblings you have when you realise you might not have it all as figured out as you thought you did.
This leaves audiences with a series that leans far away from its original premise.
The only meaty episode is number 8, when the characters have to ask what you do when your hero is compromised, when we have to re-evaluate people – and what does that do to our communities? What does that do to us? Why is it that we can’t let go?
What is very clear during this season is that Dear White People has run its course and is not helping audiences navigate through societal problems like I think it tries to or should.
