'The Chi' Season 3 Episode 2 Review: A juggle between Keisha's disappearance and La La Anthony's cooking
Spoilers for 'The Chi' Season 3 Episode 2 'Brewfurd'
It didn't take long for 'The Chi' to switch back to the typical part- dark, part-gloomy theme and it couples it with generous doses of oomph, swagger, and sex. While the storyline that deals with the missing Keisha Williams is still the most prominent, the episode also focuses on the major supporting characters without making the episode comes across as a bit too much on the plate. And with all this, to top off something as dessert, it introduces a bunch of new characters to sweeten the episode.
Breaking down the storylines one at a time, Baker's Keisha is still missing and that lands Kevin (Alex Hibbert) in a world of trouble. Even as Dre (Miriam A. Hyman) and Nina (Tyla Abercrombie) search the school and approach the police, Kevin does some snooping of his own and figures out she's dating a new boyfriend, Nuck (Cortez Smith). With a scared-as-hell Papa and a defiant Jake, he sets off to confront Nuck who aims a gun straight to Kevin's head.
Dre tracks Keisha's phone that leads her straight to the homeless community where Ronnie (Ntare Mwine) has built up a reputation of sorts. After a bit of confrontation, Ronnie finds her phone and Dre threatens to come back for him if things go sideways. The missing scene in episode 1 was a shocker and 'Brewfurd' manages to keep the suspense going. It also brings the siblings relationship to light as it connects to another character who's realized his laf-brother is in town.
Jake (Michael V Epps) finally meets Trig (Luke James). The latter after mulling and mulling about taking custody of Jake finally meets his little brother. It may not have been the start he expected, but there's a silver lining and that just might be the love and care Epps was talking about to us ahead of the second episode's premiere in an interview earlier this week.
La La Anthony as a chef. Who'd a thunk it? Introduced as Dominque aka "Dom", she meets Emmett (Jacob Latimore) who finds her after tasting one of her meals. However, it is revealed that Dom already knows about Emmett and they start off on a cooking partnership in the form of a night restaurant with Sonny's as the base. Profits 50-50, says Emmett, but there's that feeling this partnership is more than meets the eye. It's easy to understand why Emmett has a hard time around women.
Charming and handsome as he is, the man also has a weakness for women and that's put him in soup more than once for the last two seasons. By the looks of it, that's a problem that ain't going off anytime soon. That probably is the only part of the episode that evokes a bit of a laugh as the rest of it is relatively perched tense and tight. Speaking of Emmett and his issues, Jada (Yolonda Ross) is in dire need of some company, and it's heartening to see her attempt to find love earnestly.
Except her try at speed dating is a damp squib leading Tiffany to meet a masseuse, Suede (Bernard Gilbert) who while giving her a massage gets a bit of turn-on. No surprises how it ends as a raunchy sex scene follows. Will this go somewhere? Especially after Emmett finds out Suede was his school pal? We don't know, but we can be sure we haven't seen the last of him. 'Brewfurd' just proves 'The Chi' isn't still shaking off the rust. With the season opener tying up some storylines of the previous installment, this one's actually where the real story starts.
'The Chi' Season 3 joins the bandwagon of TV shows that have garnered praise for some great music that richly complements the storyline. If it was Luther Vandross' 'Endless Love' in 'Foe' 'Nem', it was a great follow-up with Solange's 'Crane in the Sky' and Adam Ness' 'Blush'. Speaking of some great soundtracks, anyone remembers Miguel Migs and Lisa Shaw's 'Give Me Somethin' from Season 1?
'The Chi' Season 3 airs on Sundays at 9 pm ET on Showtime.