Review: She's Gotta Have It

Watching She's Gotta Have It and although I didn't like the original I like the vibe of Nola on the Netflix version so far but some of the aspects of the show is a bit of a stretch. Mind you I'm only 4 episodes in so far but still I'm not fully sold on the reality of this fictional story. Hear me out.

How to fuck do these people with no real jobs afford to live in these massive apartments with crazy amounts of square footage in expensive ass NYC? Really like WTF??!!! That is not believable AT ALL! There are people who are similar to the characters on the story that live 5 deep in an apartment in NYC paying around $1000 each. You're trying to tell me that a struggling artist with no real job and a crazy social life can afford that apartment solo while buying $500 dresses and posting anti-harassment flyers up around Brooklyn for FREE??? Ohhhh no dice! Art supplies are expensive and so is socializing and living in the city. It's completely unbelievable and Spike had to think about that when shooting. Also the apartments they show are rather LAID! First episode we see the apartment of Nola which seems modest enough but is way larger than what a girl who is a recent graduate of Pratt can afford as a struggling artist. Then we see her metro-sexual (gay-ish) photographer sex toy's apartment and he has a nice little loft spot too with exposed brick and class enclosed bathroom.They made his character completely lack of alpha-male characteristics that in real life dude wouldn't even be checking for her sexually unless he was in need of a beard! There is absolutely no believable sexual connection between these two.NONE!

Speaking on all of her sexual liaisons because she begins with three different men and then the story cuts to her rekindling a flame with a woman so she extremely busy sexually and socially. However my one main criticism with this is that these men couldn't be more different from each other. I don't get the sense of connection between her and some of the men they've paired her with. Typically when a woman is dealing with a man, you can see different aspects of herself within the man or men she dates. With these dudes you get a egocentric karate loving photographer metro-sexual, a Brooklyn B-Boy bike messenger and a married white collar  businessman and a lesbian single parent. In real life she would be friends with the photographer, chill with the Brooklyn dude which may occasionally cross the line sexually and IF she did decide to date the businessman it would be purely as a sugar-daddy.  Now don't get me wrong because you definitely get to meet all kinds in the melting pot that is NYC but typically people stick to certain tribes. The melting pot is one of the cities most beautiful qualities but honestly speaking you tend to chill and fraternize with people who fit your personality and the show makes her out to be all over the place which isn't believable. The way she is depicted on the show is that she genuinely has some level of  interest in all the dudes she's sleeping with and I don't buy it.

None the less I'm still watching and currently I'm on episode 4. Aside from the few mentions points there are aspects of the show that I really like. Homegirl who plays Nola has absolutely flawless skin and I like the interaction between her and the Brooklyn dude. The show also slightly highlights the gentrification of Brooklyn with subtle peeks into the topic. There's two scenes in general that highlights the gentrification subject briefly. One in which a nosy neighbor who buys the adjacent brownstone ask who the "b-boy" is visiting in her neighborhood which is intended to be comical. Then there is another scene in which a white bearded waiter brings out a drink that doesn't contain top shelf liquor which is suppose to highlight how trendy little eateries are popping up everywhere. Despite the attempt, the scenes weren't really impactful enough to highlight the magnitude of how gentrification is changing the demographics of what used to be primarily black areas. Overall I'm still watching and supporting when time allows. It's not one of those shows that is must see TV but it's definitely something to watch when bored.