I have always felt I knew what Harlem in New York was like from the music I listened to and the movies I watched. It reminded me of Tembisa and people I knew from my neighbourhood.
Harlem, an Amazon Prime series about four girlfriends, did nothing to dispel that image. Created by Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip), it dives deep into the complexities of four thirty-something women navigating life in Harlem.
Camille (Meagan Good) is a professor at Columbia University. She lectures on the anthropology of love and sex but is surprisingly awkward when it comes to matters of the heart in her own life.
Quinn (Grace Byers) is a fashion designer who owns a super-chic boutique that is struggling financially. The child of first-generation Caribbeans, Quinn comes from a wealthy family but does not want to dip into the family inheritance because of her tumultuous relationship with her disapproving mother.
She lives with Angie (Shoniqua Shandai), a talented musician who has not held down a job in a long time and is the loud, crazy one in the group. Although life is serving her lemons, Angie’s bold personality keeps them going even when they are facing storms.
Tye (Jerrie Johnson) is the most successful and stylish of the group. After developing an app called Q, which caters to queer people of colour, she has investors clamouring. Tye is making money from a successful dating app but she has commitment issues.
Although the show is shot well and cleverly written to represent the sass and boldness of women in Harlem, there is nothing new or revolutionary about it. Many reviews say Harlem feels like a reboot of Girlfriends, Sex and the City or Insecure. They are right but that does not make it a bad show.
Harlem is very relatable — it shows different ways to live as a black woman. We see ourselves in the characters.
In the first season, we were introduced to these educated, creative, successful, struggling, unapologetically queer women who are bosses in whatever space they occupy.
In season two, the character development goes deeper, exploring different ways women can express themselves sexually and through love. They become comfortable with who they truly are and that is liberating for a viewer.
Harlem is funny and a great watch for young black women who have their own struggles. The styling is out of this world, from the clothes, and accessories to the hair and makeup. You will scream, “I know, right!” multiple times because you are guaranteed to have a black-girl magic moment. — Lesego Chepape
The last time I watched a television series centred on four black women was probably in the early 2000s — the Los Angeles-based show Girlfriends, created by award-winning producers Mara Akil (Being Mary Jane) and Kelsey Grammer (Frasier).
I was never enchanted by the show’s dry humour or characters but it was the way black women were represented as intelligent, creative and flawed which made it a cult classic. And for a young, black woman, seeing that on television mattered .
Then Issa Rae’s formative HBO comedy series Insecure debuted in 2016. Here were four black girl friends from a different side of Los Angeles navigating the tumultuous twenties, building careers, discovering relationships, balancing family, all the while unearthing their identities. Insecure was compelling, hilarious, emotional, mentally exhausting, steamy and romantic but so raw and honest.
But, like all good things, the show came to an end in 2021, leaving a gap for a similar series that would speak to the difficulties of being black and female. Enter Harlem, about four black girl friends in their thirties.
There’s Camille (Meagan Good), a young, popular college professor, struggling to find stability in love and career. Fashion designer Quinn (Grace Byers) goes from being the vice-president of a financial services company to owning a struggling boutique. Angie (Shoniqua Shandai) is a musician trying to rebuild her career after being dropped by her recording label. And Tye (Jerrie Johnson) is the creator of a popular queer dating app for people of colour.
Although the plot and storyline in season one wasn’t anything new, it was refreshing to see black women on the screen make life-altering decisions in their thirties while red-lining success. Tye’s character is a standout because rarely do we see the black queer community being represented in a series in a manner that’s accepted and normalised. That’s something we need more of.
I had mixed feelings about season two. I loved the fashion but the plot at times feels tired and messy. The characters don’t get enough breathing room to develop before changes happen in the storyline and they start becoming predictable.
Oh, and not to mention how every girl-friend series has to have a vacation. I had anticipated this would happen but not as soon as it did. And the events felt more like a reach than a plausible storyline. Again, they were trying too hard to fill it with drama.
This season is disappointing — it was not as fun, humorous and engaging as I had anticipated. — Bongeka Gumede