Date of airing: February 20, 1999 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 11.58 million viewers, 7.7/14 in Households
written by: Attica Locke
directed by: David Patrarca
In which every television drama led by mostly white characters tried to place a black episode into it, just so the show does not look racist by not using any black characters on a regular basis, and has the opportunity to learn something about race relationships between white and black people – a premise that is also rarely part of any television drama. Not that this episode was particularly good at that, because it happened to be far removed from reality, but at least there is an episode of EARLY EDITION that attempted to take black culture seriously for an hour (if they succeeded in doing that lies in the eye of the beholder), even if said black culture of 1999 only consisted of gangster rap that kids listen to. As if the writers not only wanted to make sure that viewers do not see them as racist, but the writers would also use every cliche in the handbook.
Then again, the involvement of Coolio makes this episode seem like the intent was serious. You do not just get one of the greatest of 1990s rap music into your story for the purpose of stunt casting (although that is also the case), but you also want to tell your audience that you consider them intelligent enough to realize the potential of the story. It has to be said that this episode was written by a black woman (this was Attica Locke's only episode she wrote for EARLY EDITION, making me think she wrote it as a freelancer, and was therefore hired by the production team to write an hour specifically about the black community), but because this is still the 90s, the director was a white man. In the end, EARLY EDITION still white-ified the black experience, mainly by including all of the black cliches into the story, including gang violence, gun violence, kids listening to gangster rap turning into (accidental) killers, and the usual amount of aggression coming from some of the black characters. Writing About Black Characters 101, the best TV writing course Hollywood had to offer in the 1990s and before.
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| Rappers always have to look at the violence they rhyme about. |
It is interesting through that the second black episode of a very white show I can remember has faith written all over it, at least when the change of nature of some of the characters become an issue in the show. The other episode I remember as similar to this one is UPN's SEVEN DAYS episode “Mr. Donovan’s Neighborhood,” which would air the following year. Both episodes had a predominantly black cast, focusing on both gang violence and faith (both contrasting each other within the story), with faith coming to the rescue for the characters in the end, because it cannot be that black people are the ones dying during the climactic scenes of the episode.
Julius was a solid character, and
I came to realize that Coolio was actually a pretty good actor, making me
wonder why he never broke out in front of the camera while being the gangster rapper behind the microphone (could he have delivered an Eminem-like performance in an 8 MILE-type movie?) Julius went through a major change in his life, and
he had a heart-to-heart with himself about how his pubic persona was not doing anything good for him, and continued to make him feel miserable, especially after witnessing kids copying his music video persona. There was a nice moral dilemma in Julius' story arc – keeping on with the gangster rap music career, or changing it up into something that would make the fans and the audience feel more secure and safe? It is a shame that the episode did not particularly focus on that a lot and instead went with a premise that was already being done in the previous episode: A crappy agent/manager who does not have their client's best interest at heart. Now you know that Attica Locke wrote this episode as a freelancer, because a writers' room would have noticed the repeating premise in back-to-back episodes.
Not only did Julius go through that change because he realized that gangster rap is evil and rappers should maybe think about rhyming words about something that does not convince kids that life as a gangster is a healthy career choice, but there was a moment during which Julius was joined by some of Chicago’s finest in blue uniforms, and all I could think of was how much of a miracle it was that the club did not experience actual shootout between armed black people and uniformed cops. It was one of those moments that showed how fictional EARLY EDITION is as a series, and I have no idea if it was a good idea right now for the show to be family-friendly, so that it can distort the actual reality for black communities in America.
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| This is an argument between friends. |
Meanwhile, some story choices and relationships were extremely constructed. First of all, I do not believe that Gary did not know what Marissa was doing on her off days (I do appreciate this episode showcasing what Marissa does when she is not working at the bar) – the two have been friends for years, and I cannot imagine that there was not a single day the two met for a social hangout for at least one day, to have a drink, to enjoy some barbecue (like they did in the final minutes of the season premiere). Secondly, the final scene with Chris almost shooting Julius to death looked horrendous, beginning with why Chris would have a gun in the first place, and continuing with why he would excitedly shoot someone because he saw it in a music video once. There was another moment of gun violence in this episode, and the characters just "shrugged it off" by embracing one another in hugs. No one is traumatized by what just happened, and everyone is happy that everyone is still alive. Just quickly finish a story and make sure that the viewers think gangster rap is the devil and should be made illegal. That is what the episode was trying to tell me during the final minutes.
