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'P-Valley' Episode 5: Fans surprised Keyshawn's abusive boyfriend is White, root for Diamond to ‘whoop’ him

While Diamond can look threatening, he is actually gentle with Keyshawn, while Derek, who is seemingly non-threatening, is violent and possessive

The anger against Keyshawn's abusive baby daddy has been building for some time. The state that Keyshawn has turned up in at the club several times, covered in bruises and lacerations, made most viewers assume that he was a big, hulking guy. But episode 5 brought a surprise that few were expecting -- unless they had watched the episode trailer that is. In both the trailer and the episode we are given a brief introduction to Derek, Keyshawn's boyfriend, who looks anything but intimidating. One user predicted the reaction others would have, tweeting: "I’m not tryna spoil P-Valley for anyone BUT, when y’all see Mississippi’s baby’s father y’all gone SCREAM! Or atleast, I did."

His tweet got similar responses from several others after they watched the episode, with one user on the Twitter thread posting a gif of a confused bunny, commenting: "I had to sit up like wait?"

Others made comparisons between what the show had been building up the abuser to be and subverting those expectations. One user commented: "finally watched the new episode of P-Valley whole time I thought Mississippi baby daddy was a buff drug dealing dude ... it’s a white man."   

Derek is certainly no match for Diamond (who most fans are rooting to see with Keyshawn). Remember, when Diamond lifted a man up by his neck when he disrespected Keyshawn? Derek doesn't look like he's capable of anything like that but we can see him whaling on someone like Keyshawn who is a slender, petite girl. One tweet even compared Derek to a boy band member, specifically Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter, saying: "P-Valley just pissed me off..you mean to tell me this Nick Carter looking mf the one putting his hands on Keyshawn". The user added he wanted Diamond to "whoop his a**", replying to his own "Nick Carter" tweet thread.   

The user added he wanted Diamond to "whoop his a**", replying to his own "Nick Carter" tweet thread. Other users praised the show's ability to play with audience expectations of how they picture a typical abuser.

While Diamond can look threatening as a bouncer, he is gentle around the girls, especially around Keyshawn. Derek, on the other hand, who looks non-threatening, is a violent, possessive man who has reduced Keyshawn's confidence to zero.

"P-Valley did well with having us think Mississippi/Keyshawn’s child's father was a big black man. They gave us a little shrimp white man with some possessive and crazy vibes. Lol," commented one user.

Diamond is definitely itching to give Derek the beat down he deserves and he is humming with tension as he watches Keyshawn speak to Derek in Episode 5. Once Keyshawn goes inside, Derek and Diamond cross paths in the narrow alleyway leading to Pynk's back door. It is a tense moment because we see that Diamond is holding himself back with effort, close to exploding with rage. Derek thankfully doesn't say anything and just walks out into the main street. 

This might be why Keyshawn is not okay with Diamond "taking care" of her problem because the optics of a situation would favor Derek and Diamond would risk going to jail. What we are wondering is that given Keyshawn's upper body strength and her pole training, why isn't she taking a few self-defense classes and knocking out the punk herself?

The next episode of 'P-Valley' airs on August 16 at 8 PM ET on Starz.