'Dear White People' season 3 is Netflix's brilliant ad masquerading as a hilarious comedy series
Netflix has figured out the exact recipes that make its audience binge-eat shows over the span of just one day and they are not shying away from channeling that in the upcoming season three of 'Dear White People'. On the brink of the third installment finally premiering after a year-long wait, the official trailer that released around July end has been able to shed some light on the upcoming season's themes. And while we know there will be a massive shift in focus from activism to individual plots getting explored, it is the countless Netflix show references the trailer put forth that has got us thinking that Netflix is not messing around in self-advertising. And what better way to present it to us than in the form of a show that shot to immediate success and popularity with its refreshingly unique plot.
In the official trailer for season 3, our leading lady Logan Browning's Sam White announces to those around her, and by extension, the viewers too, that she's done with her titular radio show. The host's position is being replaced by Joelle Brooks (Ashley Blaine Featherson) who warns us: “So the show’s gonna be a little different with your girl." Well, thanks for stating the obvious, but also no thanks for the massive understatement that 'a little' is when it comes to what makes the whole season visibly different from its previous seasons. Sure, the tone of snark and sass is intact as the all-black students' union at Winchester University advocate against the bias and racial tension, but it is also saturated with Netflix references, setting a tone for the season.
The very second scene, less than five minutes into the trailer, has Marque Richardson's Reggie asking the big question: "Is this some 'Black Mirror' sh*t? Everyone is acting so different than previously established." Meta announcements aside, it is the 'Black Mirror' mention that sticks with you because of how unnecessarily drawn that reference is. The UK series which became a Netflix original from its fourth season is an anthology with standalone episodes all focusing on the impending doom that technology will shower upon humanity. The show soared to immediate success because of its gripping plots and terrifyingly real futuristic prospects where technology rules the planet, so it's understandable why Netflix would drop its name to crack a silly joke.
The other big hit that Netflix incorporates in the trailer for season 3 is its makeover reality show, 'Queer Eye', which again has been received with humongous popularity. A spin-off of the original 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy', Netflix's 'Queer Eye' sees five gay men go around the US, not only making over the style quotient of straight men but also women, alongside the entire expanse of the LGBTQ community. Season 3 of 'Dear White People' channels all that queer energy into a hilarious parody along the lines of their signature tone of activism, by staging a similar process of five elegantly dressed men pulling up at racist white men's houses and shading them for hoarding KKK outfit and masks in their closet. One of them copies 'Queer Eye's fashion guru Tan France's British accent, and uses the hair-expert Jonathan Van Ness's signature term 'Hunty' and it's all kinds of hilarious. But also a bit too shoved in our faces types
But in an acutely self-aware manner, one of the scenes sees the characters discussing this massive shift in the story's plot, and one of them justifies the change saying "If everyone stayed exactly the same, life would be tedious and predictable, like the third season of a Netflix show." I mean, we get it Netflix. You love your shows and you know that we love them just as much, so you're not being sneaky here!
'Dear White People' season 3 premieres this Friday, August 2, only on Netflix.