Awkward Black Girl ‘The Group’ review: All work and new job

I promised you this would happen, that I would begin to review this web series on an episode-per-episode basis. How can I not after Queen Issa Rae herself said I “get” her? Okay, ass kissing aside, that’s not exactly why I’m doing this. Truly, I believe in the web space as a medium to tell compelling, rich, and oft entertaining stories. In fact, I’m banking on it. And Awkward Black Girl just happens to be one of those great examples. How else can we truly show the world that this is the case if we don’t begin a dialogue about them? That’s what they deserve — to be treated as well (and sometimes as awful) as their mainstream counterparts. Obviously, others have profiled the show — people much more important than I ever will become — but no one has talked about the actual intricacies of web series. People review mainstream television shows episode-per-episode because it’s a story and every episode is a unit in itself that commands to be analyzed.

For some reason, people don’t afford that same privilege to web series. What the writers of Awkward Black Girl are doing here is not throwing something at the wall and hoping it sticks (though I’m sure that happens in any writers room at some point). No, they’re weaving a story, one I would say is most certainly deserving of being compared to the greats of comedies on television. Though everyone has a perception that web series are comedy bits thrown together hastily or serving incredibly niche markets, maybe in 2013, we can start to see them in a more compelling way. Sure, ABG was probably born about speaking to a niche: black women who are not TV stereotypes. But completely owning that niche is what makes the series mainstream. I’m not black. I’m not a girl. (I’m more than a bit awkward.) But somehow the show speaks to me. I’m not a gamer but I watch The Guild. Like Girls — I’m not an upper-middle class white girl post-grad seeking who she is. But it embraces that niche so well that it becomes a story, a peek into what this world is. Otherwise, I’d be watching my life. And that’s boring.

Am I babbling too much? Did I just spend most of this review writing about web series in general and not this episode? Sorry.

Truly, what this episode did for me was concretely establish that I don’t want season two to be the final season of Awkward Black Girl (not saying it is, but it could be, I’m sure). And it’s not just because I love the show and get plenty of laughs from it, even though I do. A lot of what worried me going into this season is that the show can’t live beyond the confines of its Gutbusters office. I love the entire cast, but what the previous two episodes showed was that the series doesn’t need everyone to be entertaining and funny. And while this episode was basically showing an appreciation for those characters by making J be stuck with them the entire episode in one room (it was almost a bottle episode, by design), it really was about proving to you that there’s more here the show can, will, and needs to explore. I can’t say that I’m bored by the coworkers, because I’m not. Personally, Patty’s schtick can never not be funny to me.

The coworkers are great, and they were great this episode too, but that’s not really why this episode gets a better grade from me than the previous one. Though the series seems to be taking a personal life one episode, professional the next episode approach to creating J’s arc this season, what made this episode great was that there’s a whole world out there. Yes, that cliché made this episode the best. Because if you were scared that Awkward Black Girl couldn’t work outside of the Gutbusters office, guess again! Gutbusters is keeping J down, it’s restricting her, it’s holding her back. She expresses it so vehemently this episode, more so than episodes past. It’s not just that her coworkers are indirectly the most annoying people she knows, it’s that they are what’s in between her and a better future, and grandeur opportunities. It’s only now that J realizes she’s better than this that it feels so suffocating.

Actually, J has always known she’s better than this. But she never thought she had the ability to do something about it. Not season 2 J, however. Get the hell out of that office, J! It might take the entire season, and we may never see another environment permanently beyond Gutbusters, but I’m no longer afraid that the show can’t keep up. This episode, to me, seemed like a way to reassure everyone that the dynamic that’s been set up for this show has been both a blessing and a curse.

And just when you think everything is fine and dandy with J and White Jay, it turns out he has friends. What? I have to say I was sort of shocked because stupid me has never actually thought he might have friends. But that just reinforces what this episode was about: outside forces. This season, we’ve gotten to meet J’s mom, we’ve seen her in a potential new workplace, and now we’ve met new characters who are inherently a part of J’s world. Truly, that’s ultimately who we care about.

This show isn’t the Gutbusters office. This show is J’s journey, and we’re willing to ride along, wherever that may lead.