[Music] the kids are not all right but they are going to be what's good y'all it's your gu s aican coming to you right here on aavan TV with another b a video and in this one we are unpacking and Breaking Down Season 3 Episode number n if you're new here you know what I'm actually going to stop saying that I want you to subscribe if you identify with the conversations um that I have and the content that I create if you feel called to commit to constructive community and conversations but this my channel my commentary is not for everybody so I think I'm going to stop proclaiming so heavily that I want everyone to subscribe because I don't I quite literally do not I want people who are ready to unlearn unpack and heal through various traumas toxicities problematic mindsets and the like that come up so effortlessly brilliantly within this series to be here and I want everyone who still fighting certain demons and honestly those who are not necessarily to the point of fighting demons but they are actually fighting blessings and fighting lessons so go ahead and skip this one because babes this one might not be for you I use personal an lived experience and anything else I can grab to help contextualize a lot of the media that we consume in some of my favorite television series right here on Erica TV and if you can get with that then great this episode I did not love however I am beyond grateful for it and it's not that I didn't love it because it was not a great episode because it derailed the season none of that is true I didn't love it because I didn't like how uncomfortable it made me let me explain I was so ready so ready at the start of this episode to write so many characters off I'm done with them and over the course of this episode I was forced to sit with the desire to discard versus the Beauty and the power that can come from pushing through and pulling up and it really makes me think after finishing the episode of like okay where are you at positioning wise and being able to appropriately audit what you have the capacity for what you're willing to push through what you're willing to push up and when it's time to walk away and I do feel like we're living in a day and age where a lot of us are a little bit more willing to walk away a lot easier first and foremost Carlton the way that he lashed out at will at the start of this episode which I knew it was coming I knew this is how he saw it but like him actually saying the dialogue pissed me off so bad because while there is something to the underlying points of it in reference to will being selfish his will is not to blame for Amir almost killing herself will is not to blame for air feeling triggered will is not to blame for any of that and for Carlton to fit all of that weight all of that burden at Will's footsteps or uh door so easily it pissed me off it made me feel like they have gotten nowhere it made me feel like I was stupid for hoping that they had actually grown and progress and have found a Brotherhood a kinship a cousinhood that would persevere through time like I was immediately taken back to the Carlson that we seen when will first arrived jealous narcissistic addictive vindictive Carlton and it really made me resent all of the moments I spent this season being proud of him I was just so quickly disappointed and honestly I think that that is to the series Brilliance this particular episode's Brilliance because while I didn't love the episode it still was put together masterfully the conversations around Redemption the whether outright and overt like what we get to see in reference to um the closure or the getting closer to closure conversation with Will and um not will with Hillary and jazz or the things that are just the undertones and how the characters progress like with Will and Carlton with uh Will and Lisa um with Uncle Phil and Jeffrey and how they relate to their boys like it's just so many levels in which this conversation around Redemption around growth around Evolution and it's happening and it's like you don't ever get to this point if you give up so you can't give up neither on yourself or the people that you love and that part is something that even post watching it I'm still sitting with it because it's just like how long do you get on this roller coaster and stay on this roller coaster and I get it you push through and sometimes there's powerful pivots that come from it but I can't imagine like getting into season 4 into season 5 and Carson still having these outbursts and being able to immediately immediately drop back into such a disrespectful nature to will that completely erases all of Will's growth that would piss me off and it would make me feel like again throw the whole Carlton away but again I think this just speaks to the Brilliance of this particular Series in evoking this particular thought in me I would love to know how y'all feel and what what was going on for y'all I will actually be going live very soon if I haven't already to discuss this live with y'all but that's kind of where I am with that now going on to talk about will while it was it sucks that will participated with jazz in the destruction and the facing of the construction equipment which turned toall when Terrell decided to burn the whole damn trailer down I understood why will did it and I love the way they communicated his reasonings further to both um Uncle Phil and Vivian in this episode I think aside from really cementing and confirming Will's growth in that he is not the kid that he was when he arrived there a year ago and I thought that that was just so beautiful having him own up to his his part in it um do what needs to be done and not look to to pass any of the blame but ultimately liberate Jazz from a a thing that he ultimately has part in to but Uncle Phil being the one to confirm like you're not the same person even if you were making similar decisions you did this based off of all of this full context and for me I feel like that spoke to Uncle Phil's growth as a man this is probably the most proud I have been of Uncle Phil in the whole course of the three seasons that this Series has been running because he could have taking a point of like just allowing will to accept such shame and guilt around this and to uh reduce himself back to who he was and completely trivialize all of his growth but in adding the context and adding the the perspective and understanding that will has watched him make certain decisions and compromise in a way that doesn't align with the man that he is ultimately trying to help will grow into being that's dope that he could take that accountability in that way and honestly I don't know if I believe that Phil had this in him but to see it is definitely refreshing and exciting and it was brought on by I think a conversation with Jeffrey that we get to see him have where he's able to relate to Jeffrey because Jeffrey is also struggling with his son and him out in the streets uh doing what he doing so much so that he gets beat up only for us to find out the end of the episode that his beat beat down doesn't come from him robbing people and owing people money and in the craps games in the alley which sir who is still doing that Frederick please but it's tied to people wanting to still sit down and that million dollars and not buy him out of the life and ultimately Penelope starts to Foster or facilitates a commun a conversation and um Jeffrey is too keen on it and he catches it he's like do you trust me the question is do you trust her because the way that she was willing to walk your ass into a sit down with these people because it's it's better for her that you have to deal with them versus her son the same way that her son said if he he had to pick between her and you he's going to pick her send both of their asses back across the pond because they're more troubl than what they worth and I just said all this whole thing about not discarding people but I don't trust his London family as far as I can throw them and I can't throw them at all damn near can't even pick them up I I love the idea of Jeffrey having family of his own being able to cultivate that but subtly both Frederick and Penelope continue to throw up red flag after Red Flag after red flag and it tells me that regard L of what is going on they are going to save themselves before they will save Jeffrey and they don't have a problem with sacrificing him and maybe I'm just reading a little bit too much into it I would love to discuss if you see it differently like what are the positives and the things that you enjoy about Penelope and Frederick being in Jeffrey's life but I just feel angst when I see scenes of this I can't even fully fall into the Vibes and the love that they kind of give us as we get to see that chemistry uh being reconnected because the before we're able to really sit in it there's some N/A anyway we don't really get a ton of reference to Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil in their relationships but I love how they are both operating separately as people and operating within growth on Viv is really trying to be accountable for not being too easy on will or the kids as a whole so she makes him call his damn mama and tell and holds Will's feet to the damn fire but she's also able to still be nurturing to Carlton while wanting to check in and be honest and open and transparent I think that she's found a beautiful balance between showing up and supporting the best way that she knows how and also not turning a blind eye so that certain things can spiral out of control and get worse before they get better and again Uncle Phil Brilliance in being accountable for his part and creating the situation that is Will making a terrible Choice as it pertains to the whole construction process now uh I want to go over to Hillary and Jaz because when they said one night I said y'all are not about to bump uglies up in here and you are engaged but no they would not give me something so TR shout out to the B writers mhm because a night to talk about each of yours part in the demise of your relationship to talk about what you have learned about yourself as a result of y''s interaction y''s friendship y''s romantic relationship and then the destruction of that to unpack where you are currently what you need what you still struggle with and be able to get to a place where you realize that y'all are not actually right for each other right now but still be able to clock that oh H for Hillary this yoland thing could actually be something and for jazz like oh yeah you getting married and she could speak to you that she actually loves him and that it's not hard which is a big issue for y'all I said yes inject this into my veins why aren't more people doing this like I get like I I have this conversation with some of my best friends all the time about closure and a lot of them think that closure isn't real but I feel like these are the type of conversations that closure look like and while we didn't get the finite like we could never be together we would never work I think the ease and the the breath in the space and the freedom that was generated created a closure for what I would say was their previous relationship and all of The Angst and the nervousness the unmet expectations the ego that came with it and moving forward if Jazz and Hillary are going to have something that is going to be the beginning of something very new with very clear understanding with very clear context with very clear expectations and they will be in a better place because of this conversation so that's why I would say that this was a a closure conversation of sorts and to me a very mature one W yes I would imagine your fiance wouldn't want you spending a night with your ex Kik and smoking weed eating uh ice cream and having a good old time but they didn't bump uglies they didn't kiss one another and they said a lot of things that needed to be said and I just thought it was so beautiful so beautiful