I knew I recognized Dana’s nosy neighbor Hermione from somewhere. Hermione is played by Brooke Bloom, the same actress from an episode of the last season of Atlanta, where she coincidentally played another Karen-type character. Brooke, if you’re reading this, know that you do a great job of portraying annoying white women with an abundance of entitlement. (I mean that as a genuine compliment with the utmost respect.) The way she’s able to project both immense insecurity and delusional self-appointed authority is a master class in white woman-ing. Hermione comes from a long tradition of white women who, very much like Margaret, are raised to occupy a very specific space in society — perennial victims who weaponize their discontent onto others and will protect their whiteness at any cost. Even when that very whiteness, and the concept of white supremacy, will never benefit them as much as men. The intersection of whiteness and womanhood is complex yet rarely dissected by white women themselves.
Regardless of the Karen energy she exudes, I have to cut Hermione some slack. In her defense, there’s some suspicious activity coming from Dana’s house. The yelling, the black eye, seeing them writhing on the floor together in their underwear. It’s weird. Now, I personally still would’ve minded my Black-ass business, but that goes against the first rule in the Karen rule book: Everything is their business. So, of course, she continues to investigate. Seeing how other characters view Dana and Kevin’s strange behavior is the central feature of this episode. We get to explore more of the world the pair experience in the present. They return to Dana’s LA home after she’s forced back because of the threat of death from Olivia’s poisonous tea. Shaken up, she and Kevin discuss their next steps. Dana is against the idea of playing with her mortality as a means to time travel, so the only solution is to figure out what’s happening to stop it.
They get supplies to at least be prepared for the next time Rufus calls Dana. They gather a plethora of bandages, gauze, snacks, Pedialyte, and anything else that could help them or the people at the Weylins’. Before their stop at the store, Kevin heads to his house to grab some clothes. He lives with his sister Penny in a guest house filled with African art and Black records. There’s a bongo drum sitting on his bookshelf. Very much a Black culture enthusiast, for better or worse. The scene was a missed opportunity to dive into the wishy-washy way a lot of white people treat their Black counterparts. In the novel, Kevin recalls that when he and Dana first got engaged, he was completely confident that his sister would not only approve but openly embrace his partner. That didn’t happen. His sister told him she wouldn’t even allow Dana into her home, and Kevin wouldn’t be welcome either if he married her. This is a perfect example of the insidious nature of racism since, of course, Kevin wouldn’t peg his sister as racist because Blackness isn’t real in his world; it’s abstract … that is until he has an interpersonal relationship with someone Black. Then it becomes too real, bringing out hidden ideology in people you thought you knew well. But in the series, Penny does seem to be wary about Dana’s presence, but not in a particularly racist way. Any sister would be concerned if her brother with a history of alcohol abuse strolled in late at night acting frantic … with a stranger sporting a black eye.
This whole episode had opportunities that could have dove deeper into some of the original book’s themes or perhaps added some thoughtful ideas of its own. We’re midway through the season, and there hasn’t been much on interracial relationships, white-washed history, or sexual autonomy and Black womanhood throughout the ages — all the things that made Kindred such an extraordinary piece of fiction. So many of those things could be applied to the 21st century and explored in this very episode. Kevin telling Dana he didn’t want to go back to the plantation with her is a moment that started to intrigue me but left much to be desired. I wanted to hear more specifics about his discomfort, especially because he knows that his presence keeps Dana safe in many ways. Since the two were married in the book, the nuances of their feelings for each other and the sexual nature of their relationship were deeply altered by their experience. In the show, I can’t blame Kevin for not wanting to repeat that trauma, white guilt or not. He doesn’t really know her, and this could trigger his alcoholism. But, by the end of the episode, he comes around and becomes more eager to help Dana, feeling that this is a moment dictated by fate, a supernatural event in which he has no choice but to participate.
As for Dana, she doesn’t have time to have moral debates about her own comfort; this is something she will experience whether she wants to or not. This mirrors a real-life dynamic: White people can choose how much or how little they investigate race or even understand their own whiteness without much consequence in their everyday lives. If they’re uncomfortable, they, more often than not, tap out. Black people don’t have that luxury. Dana has to experience this, and right now, only her aunt may be able to fill in some blanks as the person who knew Olivia the best. Denise is already worried about her niece’s behavior and asks her husband Allen to check on her after receiving an erratic phone call from Dana with questions about her mother. Allen comes at the same time Kevin is getting into a tussle with Hermione’s husband, who came over to defend his wife after Kevin accuses her of being racist on the Neighborhood app. An ex-cop, Allen breaks up the fight and checks in on Dana. What he sees isn’t comforting; the obvious lies about the black eye, the weird energy, and the random white man would make anyone’s mind jump to domestic violence. But Dana insists the bruise wasn’t from Kevin, and Allen gets Dana to talk to Denise on the phone.
The phone conversation goes well enough and despite the residual tension of their fight, Dana and Denise talk about Olivia at the hospital where Denise works. Denise talks to Dana like she’s fragile, believing her niece is on the verge of a mental breakdown similar to Olivia’s. They also talk about Dana’s maternal grandmother who Denise describes as a “troubled woman, not in her right mind.†We find out that she randomly disappeared when Olivia was a baby. There’s clearly some sort of generational pattern happening. In a moment of trust, or maybe desperation, Dana tells Denise that her mother is alive and got pulled back in time, and she saw her with her own eyes. She admits to having the same time-traveling experience and asks Denise to help. Denise confirms that Olivia claimed to have experiences on an antebellum plantation as well, but she believes it was a symptom of psychosis. Knowing that Denise thinks that she’s mentally unstable, Dana flees.
While Dana is at the hospital, Kevin finds Olivia’s wedding ring and rushes to the hospital to show Dana the evidence of their time-traveling. He meets Dana in the hall right as she’s questioning her own sanity but convinces her that she isn’t losing her mind, what they’re experiencing is real, and apologizes for turning away from her. By this point, Denise has alerted security and hospital personnel that Dana fled and is mentally unwell. They spot Dana and Kevin, who immediately run and hide in a line closet only to be whisked away to the past, called by Rufus once again.
Time-Traveler’s Diaries
• This episode proves I need some more Dana. Mallori Johnson is budding with talent, but the show hasn’t given her room to really flex those muscles until this episode, and it still didn’t feel like enough. There must be a hurricane of thoughts and emotions in her head, but there hasn’t been much exploration. Maybe because she doesn’t have time to think and express her feelings. If that’s the case, Johnson is doing a great job of conveying the multitude of emotions through her facial expressions and delivery of lines.
• I love Allen. He cracks me up as the Black man who, after decades of work, just wants to kick back and enjoy his pension and retirement in peace. But all the women in his life seem to prevent him from doing that. I also love that he’s fiercely protective of Dana, someone who grew up without her father.
• It’s hard to believe this is the midway point for the season; everything still feels introductory. However, I’m not going to be mad at that quite yet because I like it when full-season streaming drops get wild in the second half, and I can’t stop watching. Crossing my fingers!