Posted on Thursday, August 20, 2015

Dying Alone & Other Single Lady Fears: ‘Born Again Virgin’ Season 1 Episode 4 Recap…

Hello World,

Remember the single lady who was dead alone in her London apartment for three years before anyone found her? Her body was so badly decomposed that she could only be identified by her dental records. Amazingly, when she was found, the television was still on…As a single lady, when I heard that story, I understood how such a tragedy could take place…I mean this is an extreme example, but if someone is not close to their parents or other family members and doesn’t speak to their friends every day and or out of work, I can see how someone could be dead and or injured for at least 2 to 3 days alone at home without anyone realizing that person is missing. So dying alone and not having anybody even notice was one of my fears when I was a single lady although my mama called too much to let that happen…

So that was a long introduction to last night’s episode of “Born Again Virgin.” The show was titled “Slaying Your Dragons” and was about the fears that ladies, particularly single ladies, have. The episode begins with Jenna and Tara debating which one of them is brave enough to kill a humongous bug that has landed on the refrigerator. Confession: One of the perks of being married is not having to be on bug duty anymore. Men totally get into being the protector of the home against evil forces including bugs 🙂 Anywho as the women are scared to even get near the bug, Kelly comes into the kitchen and promptly uses a high heel shoe to smash the bug right on the refrigerator!

In the next scene, Jenna is at a coffee shop when she overhears two women discussing one of their favorite bloggers, a woman who is chronicling her journey as a celibate single woman. Obviously, Jenna thinks the women are discussing her until she continues to listen to them and realizes that another blogger actually had the same idea that she had. Finally, Jenna cannot stand the suspense of waiting for them to reveal the identity of the other celibate blogger and crashes their conversation, asking the identity of the celibate blogger. When the women oblige and show her the celibate blogger’s website Chaste & Chill with Chelsea, she is shocked because she realizes that she knows Chelsea and had even discussed the idea of her blog with her when they worked together at a life and style magazine!

Meanwhile, Tara, the actress, is excited about auditioning for a new part as a teenager, particularly a “promiscuous young woman with Daddy issues” hence wearing a blonde wig styled into two ponytails. However, her ego is hurt when she discovers the director actually wants her to portray a mother in the production. That transition from being seen as a carefree, sexy single lady to being thought of as old enough to be someone’s mother when you are not is pretty scary. This realization happened to me when I started watching Empire…Check out my post “Why ‘Empire’ is Causing Me to Have a Midlife Crisis…” if you are interested in the specifics…

Kelly, the pr exec, is elated when she lands a huge account until her boss simultaneously praises and denigrates her! He tells her he is glad she is not married so that she can focus on her career and reveals that one of his fears is that someone will marry her and “put a baby in you” thereby decreasing her commitment to her job. Wow, the struggle is real for a woman who dares to have it all: a successful career, marriage and motherhood. Now, Kelly can no longer focus on her score at her job and instead focuses on the fact she has not scored so to speak in her personal life.

So what do single ladies do when suicide is not option and the “rainbow is enuf?” (My shout out to for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange) Head to the club of course because as we all know a deejay can save your life (My shout out to the song Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life) Yes, as a woman of a particular age, my pop culture references go back to the ’70s and ’80s…hence my midlife crisis mentioned above…

While at the club, Jenna, who mistakenly took one of Tara’s valium pills instead of an aspirin she intended to take for her headache, is a complete mess. That mess is exacerbated when she runs into Chelsea, her blogger copycat. Instead of confronting Chelsea, who seems to be high on something as well, the women end up dancing together and making out while taking pictures of themselves to post on her social media accounts. During the girl on girl action, Chelsea reveals that she is not actually celibate and her blog is actually a lie. Tara attempts to ignore texts she receives from the production director as he is trying to convince her to take on the role of the mother. Worst of all, Kelly runs into an old boyfriend Andre, whom she broke up with, at the club. And not only does she run into him, he introduces her to his fiancée. Ouch. She attempts to forget about the run-in by dancing with another dude at the club. Her moves are impressive until she runs of the dance floor in tears as she is unable to dance away her heartbreak.

How does it all end? Because the show is only 30 minutes and has to wrap it pretty quickly.

The next day, Jenna discovers she has the video evidence to blow up her blogger copycat’s spot as she videotaped Chelsea’s confession without intending to do so. However, she doesn’t do so because she wants her blog to blow up on its own merit rather than by her tearing down other bloggers. Her fear (yes, back to the premise of this show) is that the risks she has taken in her career opting to be a blogger rather than having a traditional career won’t pay off. Somebody pass the offering plate because church was had in that moment…at least for me…

After shutting down the director’s requests to take the role of mother instead of the daughter, Tara decides to take the role thereby confronting her fear: aging as an actress and being invisible altogether. She takes off her blonde wig to reveal her hair: an adorable close-cropped cut at least to me. Long hair is seen as more youthful, but I’ve always loved a jazzy short cut. I’m not an actress, but I will say this. Not being seen as attractive as you age is a very real fear, particularly after you have children. I don’t know this firsthand as I’m not a mother, but I like what Kerry Washington from Scandal recently had to say about going back to her pre-baby body in Self magazine after having her first baby about a year ago. “My body is the site of a miracle now. I don’t want to be pre-miracle.”

Finally, Kelly meets with college sweetheart Andre after he realizes his club introduction to his fiancée may not have been the best timed introduction. During their conversation, she asks him why she wasn’t the one after she thought he was the one. Deep. He couldn’t give her a clear, definitive answer except to say that he wasn’t ready to be married when they were together because he didn’t have a good job and blah, blah, blah. When he met his fiancée, he was in a different mindset with a good job. Over my years of being single, I noticed that again and again with men. They can date a slew of wonderful women who are all marriage material, but baby, if they are not ready, it’s best to keep it moving. Then all of a sudden, those men wake up one day and decide they are ready…I swear the next woman they date, who may not even be as wonderful as the women they previously dated, ends up being the one…So after the conversation is over, Kelly has to confront her fear of not finding love again after “The One” got away.

So there you have it: my recap of Season 1 Episode 4 of “Born Again Virgin.”

I liked this episode better than last week’s episode, but I’m still not feeling the characters the way I want to feel them. When I really love characters, whether on television or on film or in books, they feel real to me, like I’ve met them before or want to know them. I still see them as actors. I love the premise of the show because it is so counter cultural, but I need more depth to really immerse myself in their world. On the plus side, the women look like friends and are adorable.

What do you think?

Any thoughts?

Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2015

Secrets Are Meant To Be Revealed: ‘Born Again Virgin’ Season 1 Episode 3 Recap…

Hello World,

Guess what? I’m fresh from celebrating my second wedding anniversary with my hubby in Jamaica and have renewed energy to tackle all things at the cross section of faith, relationships and pop culture i.e. the focus of this blog!

So I watched the third new episode of TV One’s “Born Again Virgin” last night. If you did not read my recap of the first two episodes of this new show, please check out “Born Again Virgin’ Recap: Did You Watch Last Night?” But below is a the succinct premise of the show:

Jenna (Danielle Nicolet), the central character of the sitcom, is a born again virgin meaning she is taking sex off the table so that it won’t cloud her decision in making the right choice of a mate. The writer and blogger, who is in her 30s, decided to become celibate after realizing that her “body count” has surpassed her age. She lives in Atlanta with her roommate Kelly (Meagan Holder), a hard-driving pr exec and her other roommate Tara (Eva Marcille), who is an over-the-top actress.

The official title of this episode is “Back on Top,” and I’m not sure why since this episode is about secrets. Anywho, Jenna continues her dangerous flirtation with her hot neighbor and lawyer Donovan (Durrell “Tank” Babbs) and decides to hang out with him in his apartment. And the reason why this is dangerous is two-fold. First of all, if you are trying to be celibate, in general, one should avoid being behind closed doors with a hot guy for too long. Secondly, although Donovan claims to support Jenna in her decision to be celibate, his actions in the first two episodes demonstrate that he would certainly not mind if Jenna slips up at least once with him…And that is another key to successful celibacy. One must date men who truly support you in your celibate journey…Although Jenna is able to remain celibate behind the closed doors of Donovan’s apartment, she cannot resist searching through his things when he leaves her alone for a bit. I will neither confirm nor deny that I have taken the opportunity to search for “clues” about a man’s character when left alone in his home LOL. Jenna finds a video of porn movie “Chocolate Shake” and her chocolate shake of a temptation Donovan is the star of the movie. Obviously, she is intrigued about this juicy secret and wants to ask him about it but cannot because she is not supposed to know about it!

Meanwhile, Tara is starring in a new film “Peachtree Massacre.” The title alone doesn’t suggest this is a high brow film. The fact that the film is likely not very good aside, Tara is secretly scared that she is also bad in it. She reveals her secret fear to Kelly on the night of the movie premiere. Kelly, on the other hand, has a secret relationship with a struggling Mama’s boy Rick (Jackie Long).

Unable to contain her secret, Jenna blurts out the fact that she found “Chocolate Shake.” Donovan is justifiably upset that his privacy has been compromised and the date is over. As a peace offering, she brings her early diaries to him so that Donovan can find out all of her “dirty little secrets.” He is intrigued but ultimately resists searching through her diaries like she did his apartment. And furthermore, Donovan reveals that he did not star in the movie that she found. It was his doppelganger, and his friends gave him a video of the movie to him as a joke. So let me be honest: I found that hard to believe, and I think this particular plot twist was on an old episode of “Living Single.” If I am remembering correctly, Overton happened to see a stripper who looked just like him and who was the star on porn videos. I don’t know anyone who has a doppelganger who starred in a porn video. Do you know anyone? However, Donovan and Jenna make up and all is well that ends well.

Tara is devastated when Twitter roasts her for her role in the slasher film. One of the hashtags is #dietaradie. But her reputation is redeemed when she ends up showing her bosom to fans at an event. A new hashtag is created to pay homage to her twin peaks so to speak. Okay, confession: this part of the show happened a bit too fast for me to fully grasp what happened hence the following sentence. I’m not sure if Kelly’s secret relationship with Rick is resolved, but I’m guessing a few more episodes will be devoted to them.

Overall, as I said in my previous post, I like the show, but I can tell the show is still finding its way. The characters still seem like they are saying lines to each other ran than naturally interacting, but that is to be expected when a show is new. Also, since Jenna is supposed to be blogging about her experiences being a born again virgin in Atlanta, I hope to see her in more situations worthy of being blogged about.

What do you think?

Posted on Thursday, August 6, 2015

‘Born Again Virgin’ Recap: Did You Watch Last Night?

Hello World,

I have a confession. Although “Sex and the City” went off of the air more than 10 years ago at this point, I still watch at least one rerun a week. I’ve been on the SATC tour in NYC, and I even have the SATC board game. I truly feel like I know Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda & Samantha, and the girlfriends are really a part of my life even now.

That’s why when I heard about a new show featuring 30-something girlfriends (Not “Girlfriends”…another confession…I only discovered that wonderful show after it went off of the air, but that is another post for another day.) looking for love, and one of those women is choosing to do it (or not do it actually) while celibate, I knew I had to least watch once. “Born Again Virgin” is not a Christian show. Let me get that out of the way. Jenna, the central character of the sitcom, is a born again virgin meaning she is taking sex off the table so that it won’t cloud her decision in making the right choice of a mate. She decided to become celibate after realizing that her “body count”has surpassed her age. Ouch. Although “Born Again Virgin” is not a Christian show, however, I still think it has the potential to introduce many women to the best way of making a choice in a mate. And many of these women may not have considered this style of dating before…

The pilot episode of “Born Again Virgin” originally aired in February, and the feedback to the innovative show was so positive that the show is now back for a full season. The new season debuted last night with two, 30-minute episodes…

Episode 1: “No New Friends”

In the first scene, we see Jenna (Danielle Nicolet) dreaming about having sex…While Jenna is not doing it in real life, she can at least dream about it! So Jenna gets mad when she is awakened and thereby deprived of the only sexual experience she can have since she declared herself celibate four months ago…

Once she completely wakes up, she realizes that long-term celibacy is going to be hard, and she decides to join a Modern Day Virgins celibacy support group to the ridicule of her roommate Kelly (Meagan Holder), a hard-driving pr exec and her other roommate Tara (Eva Marcille), who is an over-the-top actress. During the first meeting, it becomes clear to her that the group is not made up of born again virgins. The group is for actual virgins. But she keeps her secret opting to stay in the group for the support she thinks it will give her particularly as she is constantly being tempted by one of her neighbors fine-as-wine Donovan (Durrell “Tank” Babbs). In fact, Jenna was dreaming about Donovan in the beginning of the show. How many of you know that when you are trying to walk on a higher path, the devil will set up a roadblock! At the end of the meeting, the group leader encourages the virgins to either call Jesus or her if they get weak in between meetings. Amen!

Jenna decides to host the next meeting of the Modern Day Virgins at her home, but her friends, who are curious about the group, crash the meeting. A random remark from Tara, who has no-filter (Think Samantha on SATC), reveals that Jenna is not an actual virgin. The group leader goes crazy and yells, “She’s been deflowered” while making the rest of the virgins evacuate her home like a bomb went off. But one virgin stays behind. She is intrigued that Jenna has actually been where she wants to go and asks for her help, saying that she is going to have sex with or without her help. Jenna makes up the plain Jane virgin with “hair and makeup,” and she is ready to go get her blessing so to speak. And before she even leaves the building, she encounters Donovan who is willing and able to bless her. The next day, her hair askew and her makeup smudged, she bumps into Jenna as she getting on the elevator to leave the building as she never left in the first place! She recounts her experience to Jenna who realizes that her temptation has deflowered her new friend. She is not pleased and decides she needs “no new friends.”

Episode 2: Go Hard or Go Home

Another reason why I like the show is that Jenna is a writer and has committed herself to blogging about her no sex in the city experience (I think the setting is Atlanta). (Sound familiar? Think me two years ago.) Although her blog seems to be successful as it is, she decides to take it up a notch by adding vlogging to her site. During her first video which she makes in a luxurious bedroom (sidebar: Why does every writer on TV seem to be doing better financially than most of the writers I know in real life?), she gets up from her laptop to show her audience something and realizes that she is wearing granny panties! Why wear sexy panties if no one is going to see them? Jenna’s vlogging, however, does attract new visitors to her site, particularly one 15-year-old girl who wants to stop having sex with her boyfriend but worries he will leave her if she does. Jenna is able to give some good advice to the teenager based on her own experiences.

Meanwhile, Kelly is working hard to get a new client, an NBA basketball player who is interviewing pr companies to market and promote his new video game. Kelly, who is very competitive, beats the basketball player at his own video game so to speak but simultaneously loses the account. The male ego is very delicate. But she won the account back by pretending she cannot play actual basketball very well, and his male ego is restored.

Tara, on the other hand, is trying to get the attention of Lisa Wu, yes Lisa Wu from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and now “Hollywood Divas” as she is trying to position herself as a reality star. When Tara and her roommates meet for dinner one night, Tara, who is secretly video recording the dinner, manufactures a crazy fight with her girlfriends and knocks all of their food of the table in “anger.” She shows the video to Lisa expecting to impress her with her antics but instead the reality show star encourages her to not sink that low! The irony is that Lisa was taping their conversation for her reality show…

So that is my quick and dirty recap of the first two episodes of “Born Again Virgin.” The show airs on TV One on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST/9 p.m. CST.

FYI: I didn’t take the best notes this time around because I wasn’t sure that I would like it, but I will be back next week with a thorough recap!

Will you be watching?

Any thoughts?