On this chapter of The Queerest Things I Watched Last Week, I recap the first three episodes The Chi season three which is by far its queerest season yet.
This is turning into, “Some of the queerest things I’ve seen in the last few weeks, because what is time anymore?”
- The Chi – Season 3 Episode 1 “Foe ‘Nem” – Season 3 Episode 3 “Buss Down” [Catch Up]
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Last year, during The Chi season two, one of the stars Tiffany Boone made public allegations of misconduct by her co-star (who played her boyfriend Brandon on the show) Jason Mitchell. He was soon fired after that and Tiffany left the show. I feel bad for Lena Waithe having a #MeToo event happen on one of her shows. This is 100% speculation by me, but she seems to have been way more involved this season because the queer factor went from 1 to 11.
I never liked Brandon and my wife and I were placing bets on how they were going to write his character off when we started up The Chi season three episode one. To our pleasant surprise, it kicked off with a lesbian wedding! Kevin’s mom Nina was marrying her girlfriend.
But wait a minute, that’s not Karen, Nina’s girlfriend from season one and two. The woman she just married’s name is Dre. I guess we did a time jump to reset the show after two main characters left. It couldn’t be too far in the future, because the kids are still teens, but I guess you can meet a new lady and marry them within a couple of years.
Right after the ceremony, Kevin jumps on a bus to attend Brandon’s funeral. Killing the character off was our first guess. The show did a good job of honoring the character, while still providing some implied commentary on the actor’s behavior in future episodes. Now Kevin and Emmett have to run back to the wedding reception after the funeral. Emmett was Brandon’s food truck business partner and he’s dedicated to keeping the food business alive. He’s also catering the wedding which he does a really bad job at.
The wedding was a wonderful queer-positive event, with funny lesbian jokes and commentary thrown in. One thing I really love about the show is Kevin has never had any issues with his mom having girlfriends even if his friends don’t totally get it.
Nina and Dre have a lovely wedding and an even better Honeymoon.
But all of that happiness is gone when at the end of the episode, Kiesha, Kevin’s older sister is seemingly kidnapped from a bus stop.
In The Chi season three episode two, “Brewfurd,” we learn more about Jake’s oldest brother, Trig. At the end of the last season Jake’s (one of the 3 teen main characters) older brother Reggie was killed and we learn Jake’s mom gave Otis Perry (businessman and the head of the 63rd Street Mob) custody of Jake in exchange for $5,000. Up until now, we didn’t know Jake had another brother, but now he and his girlfriend Imani are in Chicago to get his brother back. Trig tells Imani the story of them growing up, and how he left home when Jake was 8 after his father lost his job and his mom started hanging out with a bad crowd. At this point Jake doesn’t know if Trig is alive or dead.
After this scene, Imani says she’s getting dressed because she wants Trig to take her out. When we see them out it’s at a really swank-looking gay bar. While Imani is off somewhere one of the patrons hits on Trig.
What I liked most about this scene is Imani came out to the audience as transgender without saying it out loud or with a big sensationalist reveal. Up until now, Trig and Imani have been a loving couple with ups and downs and they introduced us to one of their relationship challenges in an organic way.
In The Chi season three episode three, “Buss Down,” the episode starts with Kevin, Papa and Jake trying to look for Kiesha at her boyfriend’s gang house. The three of them are chased away pretty quickly. Meanwhile, the moms are frantically flyering the neighborhood and asking everyone if they’ve seen Kiesha.
Jake having restarted his relationship with his brother Trig, asks for his help. He is reluctant at first, but agrees to do it. Trig and Imani being more experienced gangsters get a lot farther than the three boys did.
OMG, Imani knew how to win me over Root style with two guns.
They don’t find Kiesha, but they do find a lot of girls in that house against their will. That haunts Imani for the rest of the episode.
I am not happy about the main plot being Kiesha missing and probably something terrible happening to her while her moms are distraught and trying to find her. But I do love the introduction of two new queer characters and having all the overall queer screen time turned way up. I’m also in love with Imani and I hope we get to see her rescue those girls.
This week: It’s the Hightown season one finale on Sunday and I guess I’m going to force myself to finally write about it.
