Queens

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Those who might be missing FOX's Empire might find a new TV guilty pleasure here. This is the story of a female rap group called Nasty B**ches, who were the hottest thing on MTV back in 1999. The girls have decided to reunite in order to perform on the BET Awards. Brianna (Eve) is now married with five kids and dealing with the fact that her husband is simultaneously cheating on her and dying of cancer; Jill (Naturi Naughton) is a preacher's daughter who is married but cheating on her husband with a woman; Naomi (Brandy Norwood) is trying to revive her career going country while trying to make a relationship with her daughter work, who hates her and lives with her mother; Butter Pecan (Nadine Velasquez) is awaiting unfinished vengeance coming from the girls from 1999 while having been fired from her job as a daytime talk show hostess accused of poisoning her co-anchor. The show is a little busy, plotwise, but if they could trim the storyline fat a little, this could be a whole lot of fun. I haven't seen Eve since her standout role in The Woodmen and haven't seen Brandy since Moesha went off the air, but these two are killing it. Also loved Naughton, who was the best thing about the 2008 remake of Fame. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on this one, if they keep up the quality of the pilot, this could be seriously fun.



Just finished ep 2, which revealed just enough backstory to keep me interested but didn't spill everything we want to know. We learned almost immediately that two of the Queens never want to return to San Diego, but what we were told about San Diego just didn't feel like the whole story. I was a little confused by the fact that JoJo, Naomi's daughter wanted nothing to do with her in the pilot but this episode opened with them thick as thieves. LOVED that scene with Jill's husband, Darren, trying to reclaim his territory, didn't see that coming at all. Does this guy have to be hit over the head with a brick or what? Loved Naomi's solo "Wrecking Ball", but her trying to go solo and continue to be a queen is never going to work and neither is that slimy manager, Eric.



Ep 3 was interesting....that battle between Brianna and Naomi was "de bomb" and they could have had the entire episode centered around that. Loved JoJo's audition and I keep thinking about the fact that Naomi doesn't want to help JoJo find out who her father is and the conclusion she's come up with is that she already knows who her father is, but I hope it's not Eric. I was really feeling the chemistry between Eve and RonReaco Lee as Brianna and Jeff, though i still didn't feel like she could trust him, but their problems were a little too neatly resolved at the end of the episode. I also don't get why Jill is hanging with all of these other women trying to learn how to be gay...she's already got a girlfriend who's hotter than any of these other women. She needs to leave these other women alone...why go out for hamburger when you've got steak at home?



Ep 4 found this show really hitting its stride with a deliciously entertaining 42 minutes. Really felt Brianna's conflict trying to write a eulogy about Jeff but she did the right thing. Trashing their father in front of her kids would have been wrong. Loved Brandy's take on "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone", wish she could have done the whole song. Jill and Tina's breakup was no surprise, but I disagree with Tina when she said Jill's problem is not the cheating...I think the cheating is definitely her problem. This girl seems to have issues with commitment that will keep her from having a real relationship. The confessional scene was a little convenient, but i went with it. I don't know what Valeria was thinking going to see Alexis, she had to know that Alexis would show up at the funeral and the final reveal was perfection. This could become a seriously guilty pleasure for me.



Ep 5 had equal parts of fun and contrivance. Loved Muffin's "I'm that chick" video and the scene in the supermarket had me falling on the floor. Jill's ex-husband is straight up insane...I don't understand why a man whose wife cheated on him with a woman would still want her. Eric and JoJo getting to know each other as father and daughter is going a little too smoothly and the stolen chain story was stupid. I knew Alexis wasn't going to abort that baby and Jill has really gotten too big for her britches and how the other three could still go on at the AMA's with her made no sense.



Ep 6 was a lot of fun, I'm all in on this show, seriously becoming my next guilty pleasure. I think Valleria needs to watch it with her mother; her story was a little too pat and contrived and rehearsed to be believable. Love the video director who is trying to come between Eric and Naomi and doing it with such slickness that Naomi doesn't even see it. I hope Darrin is done, but I can't believe Jill had no idea how wrong what she said was...she deserves any consequences coming her way regarding that remark. Loved that video of Jill's victim explaining what happened. This could get seriously ugly enough for Jill to still be a Queen. Brianna's son was out of line, but I understand it to a point. Natauri Naughton nailed that talk show scene...I didn't believe a word she said on that talk show. As the son of someone famous, I'm sure the kid has dealt with his share of neglect, but it's no excuse for talking to his mother. My mother would have knocked the taste out of my mouth if I said something like that. I hate the way Muffin is being heaped upon straight out of rehab, but it's sure realistic. Even when you're struggling to get clean, the world around you continues to rotate. The show is a little top heavy, in terms of story, but I'm enjoying it, but I have a feeling whenever this wraps up, the Queens will be imploding or at least minus one of the four girls we're behind here.



As I wrapped ep 7, I realized this show needs some serious forward motion, storyline-wise. There is decent story here, but the writers spend the first ten minutes of the show recapping what has already happened, I guess to attract new audience, but when you've only got 40 minutes of screentime, you can't afford that luxury. First of all, he's basically a good guy, but Eric is also kind of an idiot, he's a lousy business man who's putting these ladies in all kinds of trouble. If the Queens want to make this world tour and album work, they need to find new management. I knew Valleria's mom was full of crap, but Valleria may have really messed up, this woman seems all kinds of dangerous. Loving Naomi and Rodrigo together...Jose Moreno Brooks, the actor playing Rodrigo? Serious sex on legs. Tina was harsh with Jill, but she had that coming and I don't see how the Queens can still trust her, trying to launch a solo career behind their banks. They need to let Jill go. I'm glad Brianna saw that tape, so maybe she can move on with her life now. Jeff wasn't exactly the husband of the year and it's time for Brianna to have closure.



Ep 8 was a little corny and melodramatic, but watchable. Really didn't understand the necessity of all the flashbacks. I knew we hadn't seen the last of Jill's ex-husband. I guess we're supposed to be feeling sorry for Jill now, but I really don't, with all the dirt she has been doing to everyone in her life. What happened to Brianna was straight up wrong. Can't believe Valleria is still talking to fake Mommy.



Ep 9 initially made me want to give up on this show. I understand how the grief and shock over what happened to Brianna made them want to maybe cancel the tour, but give up on Queens permanently? Muffin is going to law school? Seriously? Can't believe Muffin's entourage just turned on her like that. Why can't this Lady Z frenemie of Naomi's join Queens? And Valleria's quickie marriage to that hottie from Grey's Anatomy has trouble written all over it. And all of a sudden Jill is a drug addict now? And who are Eric and Naomie to be giving Valleria relationship advice? Loved Muffin's Infringement rap. Muffin actually got Jill off? Am not buying this transformation of Muffin from rapper to attorney?
OK, they want to start a record label, but what they're planning sounds a little complex. Nice surprise at the end. Looking forward to the explanation.



Ep 10 had a lot of drama, but this is not Law and Order SVU, it's time to get off all this sexual harassment stuff and get back to Nasty Girl Records. That whole thing seemed to wrap up a little too quickly though. That radio interview at the beginning of the show just seemed to be another way for the writers to recap for those coming to the party late. They totally telegraphed that Muffin had a past with Frank Black as well. I hate to see Valleria drifting into another bad relationship but there's something not right about Thomas. Everything that happened with Jill and her father was heartbreaking but provided insight into who Jill is, a character I've gained sympathy for.



I liked some of ep 11...I had a little trouble buying the fact that after all of these years of playing classical piano that all of a sudden JoJo wants to be a rapper. Didn't like the fact that she went against her mother's wishes, knowing her father would be more sympathetic just because he just found out he's a father. When he asked he r to step in the booth, I had the feeling that even if JoJo was terrible, he wasn't going to tell her that in a million years. This whole teenage sitcom star trying to get out of her conservatorship was just a little too Britney for me and I'm not sure if it's a fit for this show. Britney has been going through this for years and this character got out of it in one episode?



Some interesting stuff went on in ep 12...Something about Valleria's husband is just too good to be true...he's just a little too perfect and Gaius Charles is playing the character with just enough mystery to keep us guessing. I always thought Jill's ex was a little crazy, but I never thought it was going to go to the level that it did. and has anybody else noticed that all of a sudden Muffin has a brain and the vocabulary of a Rhodes scholar? Loved the appearance of long-absent-from-the-screen Robin Givens as Eric's ex-wife, but the whole thing initially went down too easy, but the slightly overheated confrontation between Robin nd Naomi was effective; Jill's reunion with Tina was silly...don't know what she was looking for from Tina because Tina owes her nothing. Loved her rap about Tina though. And what happened to the white girl they saved from her stage mother from hell in the previous ep?



The season one finale was a disappointment because all it did was recap what had already happened and wrapped up storylines prematurely, which probably means the show has already been cancelled. The whole morphing of Muffin from spoiled princess rapper to defender of justice was a little hard to swallow. I was a little disappointed that Valleria chose her tour over her hunky husband. And what was up with Bryanna? She texts the girls that she's in on the hall of fsme, then says she not, then appears on videotape. Very odd that Bryanna didn't appear at the end of that final scene. This show provided sporadic entertainment but storylines moved at a snail's pace that just didn't grab an audience. An "A" for effort though.