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In the first season of the Showtime comedy Dreaming Whilst Black, screenwriter and director Kwabena Robinson strugglied to get something, anything that he wrote into production. But he finally gets a big chance in Season 2. But on a high-profile TV project, he’ll be s surrounded by white people who mean well but can’t help but spew aggressions of both the micro and macro varieties.
DREAMING WHILST BLACK SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: At the BAFTAs, we see an old and grey Kwabena Robinson (Adjani Salmon) getting the Outstanding Newcomer award for Jamacia RoadI.
The Gist: Of course, Kwabena is having a daydream as he stares at a BAFTA award at a producer’s office. He’s gotten some attention after the success of his short film, but the shows he’s getting directing offers for seem to be pretty stereotypical vehicles with ridiculous premises. The one project that does sound like something he’d do, a script about Jamaican immigrants called From The Boats, goes off his radar when he finds out that it was written by a white guy who got the idea from his gardener.
Kwabena’s pickiness is driving his agent Drew (Jessica Hynes) crazy; given his lack of credits, she thinks From The Boats is a solid opportunity, one that may have some compromises, but would be good for his resume. Kwabena disagrees. “I just want something with substance,” he tells her.
In the meantime, Amy (Dani Moseley) is getting frustrated at the production company where she works; her idea about a food show where actors of African descent go back home to make and eat their favorite foods is pushed aside in favor of an much dumber reality show idea about nude bachelors cooking to impress a bachelorette.
After a particularly disheartening dressing down by his Uncle Claude (Roger Griffiths) because he doesn’t work, Amy invites Kwabena to a screening. There, he meets Bridgette Julius (Christine Adams), who is producing a big-deal Regency-era drama called Sin and Subterfuge, which is supposed to have “colorblind” casting. She politely gives him her card, but Drew doesn’t hear anything about him interviewing for a directing job.
He’s about to compromise and take the gig for From The Boats when he takes yet another desperation shot and drops by the production offices of Sin and Subtrefuge unannounced. Bridgette scoffs at his lack of experience, but Simon (Charles Edwards), her fellow producer on the project, is intrigued enough to give him 15 minutes to make his pitch.
Photo: BBC/Big Deal Films/Paramount+What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Dreaming Whilst Black, co-created by Salmon and Ali Hughes feels like Insecure, but centered more on the British entertainment industry.
Our Take: One of the things Kwabena has to deal with in the second season of Dreaming Whilst Black is making a Regency-era production that will have “colorblind” casting. It seems like an ideal situation for Kwabena, but given how Black people were really treated during that era — many of whom came from his family’s home country of Jamaica — he’s going to end up struggling with the notion of making this era colorblind. It’s a fun satire of shows that have done exactly that — Bridgerton, anyone? — and gotten praise for it, despite the implications of doing so.
But Kwabena is also just going to have to contend with being at the helm of a major project, with a big budget, a massive staff, and lots of pressure to produce. One of the other issues is that, because it’s a TV show, the producers and showrunners have much more sway than the directors do, especially if the directors are hired to execute an EP’s vision for the show. How will Kwabena be able to handle that while still being able to add what he thinks the production needs will also be funny and interesting to watch.
There are other sides to the story, of course. Kim has to deal with similar weirdness where she works, and her life is complicated when her sister Tola (Laryn Ajufo) decides to quit Cambridge and become an hair influencer, moving in with Kim in the process. Kwabena finds out that his ex Vanessa (Babirye Bukilwa) came back to London without telling him. And he’ll have to navigate a system where it seems that the out of touch white producer seems to want him on the job more than the Black producer he admires does.
All the while, we’ll see Kwabena’s visions, like when he dreams of him asking for more gruel a la Oliver Twist as he tries to fix the From The Boats script. Those “dreams” anchor the show, because they indicate what’s eating at Kwabena’s psyche as he tries to pursue his career.
Photo: BBC/Big Deal Films/Gary Moyes/Paramount+Performance Worth Watching: Adjani Salmon is just as compelling in Kwabena’s visions, where he’s put in all sorts of situations, as he is just playing Kwabena in real life.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: While with his cousin Maurice (Demmy Ladipo) and Maurice’s wife Funmi (Rachel Adedeji), Kwabena gets a flabbergasted text from his agent, telling him he booked Sin and Subtrefuge.
Sleeper Star: It’ll be fun seeing Christine Adams’ Bridgette and Charles Edwards’ Simon battle back and forth over Kwabena’s choices as director.
Most Pilot-y Line: When Kwabena tries to point out to the writer of From The Boats that his name, Winston, is very common in Jamaica, the writer interrupts him by saying, “Dog name. Yes, I know, I know. The amount of nicknames I had over the years…”
Our Call: STREAM IT. While Kwabena isn’t in a dead-end job anymore, Dreaming Whilst Black shows how much of a struggle it will be to get his voice heard in the entertainment industry, which may even be more insular than the outside world.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
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