Family in all its forms is complex, and so are the ties that bind us.
We learn how tangled a web has been woven on Our Kind of People Season 1 Episode 2 as more secrets spill and dimension is added to many characters.
Ms. Eve isn’t who we thought, and it seems everyone is keeping things from Angela, including Piggy.
The hour threw all the things at us. Threads to more convoluted plot points were dangled in front of us left, right, and center.
Despite all the confidence that a girl can muster, Angela is the one who is operating in the dark and at a disadvantage everywhere she turns.
You’d expect the Franklins to keep things from her, but Piggy? It’s a shock.
Angela got a lead when she expertly worked her way into speaking to Leah’s mother alone.
The woman appears to be suffering from dementia, and she mistook Angela for Leah. It was the only way that Angela managed to get some information about her mother, nearly yanking the woman’s hair out in the interim.
Eve gave Angela up for at least six months. A woman named Deborah bought Angela for $50 thousand.
We’re unaware of the story behind how that came to be, but Angela is on the quest to honor her mother, and she’s learning that she didn’t know the woman either.
Teddy mentioned that his relationship with Eve was an affair. In some ways, it seemed like there’s more to the story, and he did something horrible to her.
And Piggy knows so much more than she’s letting on and has a history with Teddy that she hasn’t shared.
Eve is the driving force behind Angela showing up at Oak Bluffs, and she wants to honor her mother, but it’s still unclear what Eve expected Angela to do.
Did she want Angela to shake things up and reveal the truth? It seems like there is more to this than starting a successful hair care line.
In some ways, it sounds like Eve liked her time in Oak Bluffs even though she was a maid to the elite. But there are so many pieces to this story we need to learn.
She seemed to befriend people there. She had a history with others, and it’s apparent that someone set her probably set her up with the drug charge scandal that rocked Oak Bluffs.
Did Teddy ever love Eve? What happened that put Eve in such a dark place that she gave up Angela after she was born?
Did Piggy really use all the money up, and what kind of bind cost that much?
And how did Eve get Angela back?
The hidden room Angela’s mother left her is bound to contain more pieces of the puzzle.
Everything surrounding Eve is a mystery, and it feels like the audience, much like Angela, is in the dark.
Everyone keeps mentioning that Eve was some disruptor and that Angela is the spitting image of her, but we have no idea what that means.
Piggy: You get the hell out!
Teddy: Now, now. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?
Interestingly, many of the people know who Angela is. It turns out Leah is aware that Angela is her sister after all, but that factoid doesn’t change how she regards Angela.
She remembers the day when she accompanied her father to Boston and the little girl they left behind. She also knows that Teddy reacted to leaving Angela behind.
And Teddy knows that Angela is his daughter and that she is in town.
Both fear what will happen if Angela uncovers truths, but it makes you wonder how they don’t get ahead of things by playing nice. You get more bees with honey and all that good stuff.
Angela didn’t get to confront Teddy as she hoped. She lost her nerve and got a bout of anxiety when the moment came. I can’t wait for the moment when they get to speak.
Angela is a force, but Teddy is intimidating.
The more we learn of the Franklins, the more you root for Angela to get a piece of what she deserves. She’s trying to pave a way for herself, and she’s putting in the work to do, but it’s her birthright regardless.
You would think it would be much easier to cut Angela in than fight and ostracize her in these petty attempts to keep her out.
The sad thing is Angela and Leah could be good friends and sisters. Their moment of commiseration as mothers was so special.
They could be genuine sisters if they set their differences aside. Something tells me Leah has never had an authentic friend in her life.
Angela is real, and she could be everything Leah could dream of in an ally, and combined, they could unite against Teddy.
The potential for these ladies as a combined force teased was delicious.
But Leah is so determined to go at everything alone. It’s baffling that she thought she had a handle on Teddy and successfully pushed him out of the company.
How did she think a man as ruthless, conniving, and power-driven as Teddy would accept it?
It was hilarious when he crashed her Forbes photo shoot (and you already know they’ll use a photo of them together for the cover) and made his grand announcement at the ceremony that was honoring her.
He also undermines her achievements as a successful businesswoman by taking credit for mentoring and teaching her everything.
Angela was too premature in her victory, and even Raymond will pay for it.
The marriage between these two is an odd one. You can sense the tension there. But holy hotness, their chemistry was off the charts during their sexy celebratory scene together.
Any reason to see Morris Chestnut shirtless is a gift.
Raymond doesn’t seem as enamored with his wife as you’d expect. He wants to get from underneath the Franklins.
And the reveal that Teddy used Raymond’s company as a shell company, and Raymond would go down if Leah goes against her father suited Teddy and his ways.
Raymond’s company is under Teddy’s control, and if it’s not bad enough that he has to deal with Teddy, his partner, and brother, Jack seems to be more of a liability than anything else.
Raymond and Jack’s relationship is an intriguing one. The union between their families must go back over a century if they’re speaking about their great grandfathers forging an unprecedented bond.
They consider themselves brothers, but Jack is a colossal screw-up who has gotten them in all sorts of binds because of his risk-taking.
Jack: You know I consider you my brother, right? We grew up together, in and out of each other’s homes, we played ball together, we would always change classes so we were in the same one. You want to blow all that up, or did you forget?
Raymond: Oh no, I remember. I remember you never having to take life seriously. I remember me busting my ass while your father let you use the corporate credit care like your personal bank. And every time you messed up, which was a lot, you never had to suffer any consequences.
Jack: Maybe I’m just a lucky guy.
Raymond: You were a privileged white kid raised in America. Meanwhile, I had to do everything damn near perfect to survive. Yes we were raised together, but no, we’re not the same.
Raymond’s moment of reminding Jack that even with their similar wealth, they live in two different Americas where Jack’s white maleness afforded him luxuries and privileges well beyond luck was a great and illuminating one.
It puts their relationship into perspective on many levels. And it also meant that Jack kissing Leah by the end of the hour wasn’t that surprising.
It’s peak soap opera, but it’s such a juicy scandal. Leah is someone who has all the pressures in the world of upholding a certain image.
Being the Black elite in Oak Bluffs comes with a hell of a lot of responsibility. I imagine that comes with marrying the right man. Marriages are probably more like business deals than love.
Do you think Jack genuinely holds a torch for Leah, or was he getting back at Raymond? Is this the start of something, or is there more to this story?
Leah getting involved with Jack would not be ideal for the Franklins or their image if Teddy had any say about it.
If Teddy finds out about a potential affair, he’ll use it to destroy his daughter.
But it would be interesting if Leah didn’t get to be with a man she loved, and she’s inflicting a similar fate upon Lauren.
Leah: I’ve seen pictures of the two of you. You look at her like–
Lauren: I love her? Because I do. You told me you’d love me no matter what. Here I am.
Leah: Of course, I love you, but I can’t support this.
Lauren is not doing well since Taylor’s accident. Instead of expressing genuine concern, Leah and her mother and law are more concerned about how her behavior could affect their pristine reputation.
Lauren all but told her mother flat out that she’s gay, and Leah didn’t even know how to react appropriately.
It must kill Lauren to know that her mother is having an affair while she can’t love Taylor out loud. But the shock of her mother and Jack kissing is put on the backburner when the cops arrest her for Taylor’s attempted murder.
Whew, the scandal! The cops were dead wrong for making such a public arrest in front of the paparazzi.
The gossip is going to be so good, though.
Now Leah has to rely on her unscrupulous father to do what he does to get Lauren out of trouble. But did Lauren really push Taylor overboard is Taylor claimed, or is Taylor a jilted lover retaliating?
Teddy can fix things for her, but it’ll come at a cost.
In addition to those secrets, there has to be more to this shooting, right?
Tyrique’s father took a bullet for Teddy as his head of security. Teddy has looked after Tyrique throughout his life as a result.
Tyrique: You know when I lost my pops, I used to do this thing to forgive him for dying on me.
Angela: What?
Tyrique: He talked to me every time I floated. You need to learn to float.
But everything with Teddy is shady at this point, so there has to be more this story, too.
Angela isn’t the only one who will be learning new things about her family. Tyrique probably will too. Finding out that Tyrique’s father was also the help is another thing that bonds them.
Their chemistry is off the charts. Their relationship happened quickly, but you can’t complain when both of them look like that and are so good together.
Tyrique is such a genuine and good soul. I love how much he’s invested in helping her with Eve’s Crown and getting it off the ground.
Somebody asked what my first memory of hair was. I was sitting between my momma’s legs, getting my summer braids, looking cute, screaming bloody murder because I was so tender-headed, and one day she put the comb down. She told me a story that back in Africa hair patterns were as good as fingerprints.Braids could tell you a person’s tribe, marital status, and social positions. Our crowns were our identity. When the slave ships came, one of the first things they did was shave our hair so we couldn’t tell kin from kin, so when we landed here a new hair culture needed to be born. We grew our hair back, we took back what was stolen. We used our hair to communicate. We found power in hair. That’s what my momma taught me, that no one could take your identity or make you forget who you really are.
Angela
He jumped into contract work with no questions asked. And now that we know about his father, it makes sense that he’s a more down-to-earth elite member of the community who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty.
He had such a soothing and effective voice when he encouraged Angela to breathe and float. They’re magic together, but it’s too peasant right now, which feels foreboding.
Gossip Time:
- Angela going through Raymond for the incubator program was her best bet. He really does admire her hustle.
- What does Piggy know about Teddy, and what’s the extent of their history?
- Piggy continues to be a gosh damn gem, her loud candy-eating, livening up church, and that quip about kissing cousins to Nikk killed.
- Are we going to get a Teddy soliloquy every installment? I’m not complaining. When you have Joe Morton performing them, why wouldn’t you take advantage of the monologue king?!
- The voiceovers and commentary about Black hair add something special to the series. I loved that Eve taught Angela about the historical and cultural components of how hairstyles linked to identity.
- The women reciting Maya Angelou while scattering Eve’s ashes was a beautiful scene.
- Who was in that photo that Piggy burned?
- We got shirtless Morris Chestnut and Lance Gross in the same episode. Bless!
Which bombshell shocked you the most? Are you surprised that Leah knows who Angela really is already? What are your theories and predictions?
Don’t be shy, hit the comments below.
You can watch Our Kind of People online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.