'Dear White People' season 3 turns into a hot mess after Coco's mom comes into the picture
'Dear White People' tackled a unique portrayal of racism through Coco Conners (Antoinette Robertson) and her views on how to channel her ethnicity and lead her life as a young black woman. She goes out of her way to disagree with the show's protagonist, Sam White (Logan Browning), who has had her own radio show discussing the injustices black people at their Ivy League school struggle with, while also addressing issues faced by the community in general.
Despite being former best friends with Sam, Coco — an economics student and the leading treasurer for the Coalition of Racial Equality student union — chooses to settle mostly around a group of white women on campus. For the last two seasons, we have wondered why Coco chooses to do so, and we have had some briefing on that department on discovering her childhood traumas, but in season three, creator Justin Simien really takes us to the heart of the matter. We find out that Coco is that way because of her mother.
In season three, we get to see Coco's mother (Yvette Nicole Brown) visit the campus and it's not a hard mystery to crack that this is why Coco tries to fly against the current so hard. MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) caught up with Brown on the red carpet of the Netflix premiere of 'Dear White People' and she gave us insights on the "tough love" Coco has gotten from her mom in her formative years. "There's definitely some trouble, it's rough," Brown told us, quickly adding that "Coco would say it's trouble, but I think our mother thinks it's tough love."
Brown also explained her character's strict parenting noting how different Coco and her mom are from each other. "She (Coco's mother) is nothing like her daughter, or rather, her daughter is nothing like her. So if you think you know who Coco's mama is, you're going to see some mess. It's a hot mess."
As for bringing her mother into the picture after three seasons to dissect Coco, Brown credited the shift in the narrative's focus saying: "I think Coco is the way she is because she's pushing against who her mother is and I don't want to say too much because I want you to see the episode." That said, she also teased that Coco "is definitely a reaction of how she was raised and how her mother is. Once you meet her mother you'll go, 'Oh. Okay...' It'll make perfect sense."
Speaking about how Coco's mother's upbringing has shaped her, Robertson (who plays Coco) says: "Yes Coco's mom visits this season and it's going to turn her world upside down. She's so used to presenting this idea of perfection and not necessarily letting people know where she really comes from. So it's nice that we get a dose of reality. She gets a little bit of a reality check when her mom comes to town."
'Dear White People' season three premiered on Netflix on August 2.