The start of this episode immediately reminded me of season three, episode three where the dorms become co-ed. Remember, Quincy got in trouble for hiding his girlfriend Janetta in his room. This causes Jaleesa and Walter to get into it. Jaleesa ends up winning this fight. Quincy was also played by Hugh W. Allen who is Debbie Allen’s brother.
The boys talk about their dating life and Shaquille mentions he’s not great at having one woman. Amir hits him with a, “We fall down,” to which Shaquille finishes “but we get back up.” This is a famous gospeel song by Donnie McClurkin released in 2000. Funny enough, being that Hillman is located in Richmond, it could be somewhere near Virginia Union which is a theological school.
Deborah mentions she works at “The Pit” much like her mom did under similar circumstances in season two, episode 19. She hit Mr. Gaines car and owed him money, so in order to pay it off, she works at The Pit.
Shaquille gets interviewed in the Marshawn Lynch Serenity Garden. Why does this man have a garden here? He didn’t even go here! But, Marshawn has been in a couple films that are now on Netflix. He also had a close relationship with Seahawks’ fullback, Michael Robinson. Robinson is a Richmond native who played at Varina High School in Henrico, VA and later when to Penn.
I feel like the light skinned Shakespeare comment has to have something to do with Drake. I can’t prove it, but I know it does.
Season two, episode seven is when the ladies do their iconic step show routine, and is also when Walter blackmails Dwayne into tutoring Hillman’s star offensive lineman, Meat Locker. Dwayne successfully gets him to pass his test, but because of his excitement, he injures himself so he can’t play in the big game. When he mentioned that Shaquille was their savior, I feel like Walter said that about Meat Locker in that episode. If he didn’t, he sure made it seem that way.
We get back into the classroom with Professor Baptiste. I immediately thought of the healer character in “Overwatch,” but I know that’s not where they got that from. He’s played by Norman Nixon Jr. who looks JUST like his dad. He’s, of course, Debbie Allen’s son.
Back at The Pit, Deborah says she organized the pantry which is what her mom did when she worked at The Pit.
Ellington sees Deborah outside taking out the trash, and I feel like I forgot to mention that he really looks like Leslie Odom Jr.
Moving to the football team, Andre foreshadows leaking the fight video later down the line. Kojo, Rashida, AND Amir go to a spoken word night. Remember, when Ron owned that club with Mr. Gaines? I don’t know why they reminded me of that. Candace sits on the couch, trying to have peace but Hazel and Deborah cut into that. I can’t help but notice that she has on pink and green pants. I want to dig into if the actress is an AKA.
Hazel is working the guys as she interviews them as potential boyfriends and getting them to sign her petition to be Mrs. Gilbert Hall. In Season six, episode 20, Freddie was running around campus trying to get signatures for a cause. She had a total of three.
Rashida and Deborah get into a fight about Deborah’s lack of work. This reminds me fondly of season four, episode 13. Whitley is upset about Dwayne and comes into Kim’s room to vent but she’s putting together a model heart for class. In the midst of the fuss, the model heart is broken and Kim gets ready to fight! It was so funny to me.
We move back to The Pit where Andre is giving his order to Rashida. He catches her calling him Magellan. He recognizes it’s from the anime “One Piece.”Rashida is not exaggerating when she says “One Piece” has a 1,000 episodes. The show has 1,180, each around 24 minutes. You can view “One Piece” on Netflix.
Deborah sports a “Love & Basketball” shirt which we talked about earlier in the season when Shaquille asks to stay with her like old times. This is also a film written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. Prince-Bythewood was a writer on the original series and is an EP on the sequel.
As Deborah runs into Shaquille’s run like she’s in “Dirty Dancing,” you can see above Shaquille’s bed is a Lamar Jackson framed jersey. Jackson is a QB for the Baltimore Ravens.
Alright, y’all. I think I’m doing a great job with these breakdowns, but what did I miss?
