Hi! Welcome to another Woke Season Two recap. On the previous episode of the show based on Keith Knight‘s comix, Clovis’s (T. Murph) dad came to visit. Keep in mind, this recap of Woke Season Two, Episode Four “Sole Train” contains spoilers.
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“Next, you’re gonna tell us you pee in the shower!”
So, we open this episode of Woke with the main trio in the apartment. Keef (Lamorne Morris) is showing off his new “KKP” (Keef Knight Project) kicks, for which he did the artwork, though Clovis did design them. Clovis and Gunther (Blake Anderson) like the shoes.
Now, the entire unhoused population of San Francisco will have access to these shoes. Also, the shoe’s ugly thick soles help them last longer.
Then, Ayana (Sasheer Zamata) comes in to the living room. While she understands that she’s the newest member of household, she can’t abide with her washcloth spot — it’s above the toilet. Gunther can’t believe they use washcloths. He just lathers the soap in his hands.
They ask him for a demonstration on how he washes. Gunther does some nice charades, first showing himself washing his pits, then his groin. But that’s it. His friends are horrified. Doesn’t he wash his legs? No, he just lets the soap trickle down and take care of it.
Ayana nods knowingly — Taylor Swift apparently outed this white people habit online. Gunther doesn’t see the big deal, legs don’t even get dirty. His friends tell him that yes they do. Yeah … especially in the summer, especially your feet dude.
Dude, Gunther, I’m not gonna debate about peeing in the shower, but I think most people will agree that if you share your shower, just don’t do it.
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Next, we head to Keef’s KKP launch. I like that since starting his project the show has switched to using the word unhoused for “the homeless.” I wonder if that’s a reflection of Keef’s awareness or the show’s team’s awareness as they continued to write?
Keef tells the people gathered that the unhoused are some of the people most affected by police brutality, and while he knows his foundation won’t solve everything, he hopes it’s a start.
Awkwardly, when Keef gives Clovis a nod of respect, he heads to the front and grabs the mic from Kee to self-promote. That causes both Keef and Laura (Aimee Garcia) to put on some serious WTF face.
“That’s a gentle mic drop.”
A member of the crowd asks Keef why he chose to focus on the unhoused — aren’t there bigger issues? Honestly, in California? in San Francisco? The crisis in the SF Bay Area has its own Wikipedia entry apart from the state‘s.
Keef answers that most people are much closer to homelessness than they think — usually just one job loss, one hospital bill or run-in with the cops.
Later, the quad + Hype (Marquita Goings) are celebrating with some drinks. Ayana asks who’s in charge of the actual distribution of shoes to people. It’s some distribution company that Laura has previously invested in. Ayana is, as ever, skeptical.
Keef gets that Ayana’s predisposed not to like Laura, since Ayana whole-heartedly believes “all rich people are trash.” Gunther interrupts their debate before it starts to ask Hype if she washes her legs.
Hype commiserates by saying, “You just found out about washcloths, huh?” Gunther doesn’t understand how after living with Black people for so long, he still doesn’t know stuff like this. His friends tell him not to worry, he still has a whole list of white people s***.
OK, I had to check with people about this washcloth thing since I grew up in a family of Turks and have used them or loofas my whole life? I own multiple washing apparatuses. My totally unscientific poll showed that most white people use loofas and wash their legs.
Keef’s not gonna bother listing all the WPS that Gunther has, so he goes to check on his distribution people. Gunther tags along because he’s feeling depressed and needs to smoke some weed.
“Don’t transfer your biphobia on to me. I love that my girl is liquid.”
Ayana, Clovis and Hype remain in the bar. Hype is momentarily distracted because her ex walks into the bar. We cut to a (presumably) male-female couple, so Clovis asks which one is Hype’s ex.
Ayana is surprised Clovis is so cool with Hype’s bisexuality. He tells Ayana not to assume he’s biphobic like her and that he loves that Hype’s “liquid.” He leans in for a kiss. Hype pulls back and together, Ayana and Hype correct him by saying “fluid.”
Clovis still wants to know which was her ex. They both were — they were in a throuple. She drops that, which is clearly a bomb for Clovis and heads off to go say hi to them. He’s left thinking she’s making up words.
Ayana assures him a throuple is a real thing (no matter how much WordPress keeps trying to correct it to “throttle!”), but to Google it in Safe Search mode. Clovis is struggling in his relationship with Hype — he’s having to look up new words every week.
Outside, Gunther’s asking Keef if Triscuits are a WPS. While Keef can’t speak for everyone, since the crackers are bland, seasonless and without taste, it’s quite possible. But, Keef wants to know why this even matters to Gunther.
Well, Gunther thought he was an ally and now he realizes that “even in [their] own home, [they’re] showering along racial lines.” Keef tells him that while he loves him, this is something for him to go talk to other white people about. So, naturally, Gunther jumps on the first white person he sees on the street.
“Ooo, looks like you’re taking your first obstacle in stride.”
Then, Keef sees someone throw his KKP shoes away in a trash bin. The can (Cedric the Entertainer) just laughs about the impact his shoes are making. Why are people throwing them away? Do they not like the shoes? Do they not like Keef? Is it not his place to execute this project?
Back at their apartment, Clovis is wondering if maybe the shoes need an air bubble. No, Laura told Keef the distribution platform just picked the wrong distribution spots.
Ayana’s about to head out to distribute her paper. Gunther’s headed to a whites-only event, which he promises isn’t bad like it sounds. And Clovis wants to know if Snap, Crackle and Pop of Rice Krispies are doin’ it … “Who needs Pop? Why does Hype need Pop?”
Turns out, the people who distribute Ayana’s paper are unhoused, which Keef hasn’t really remembered till this moment. Ahhh so that’s why she’s been so salty about all of this.
“Maybe instead of gifts, you can ask for donations and give the money to me.”
So, Gunther’s at some kinda White Ally Support Group thing. Like, they introduce themselves like this: I’m [name] and I’m a white ally. Paula (Helen Abell), for example, is freaking out about throwing her 40th birthday bash during February ’cause it’s Black History Month. The cult group tells her they accept her struggle. Gunther can’t even. Same, same.
The leader of this support group is a Black guy named Craig (Paul B. Johnson). He tells Paula she can go ahead and celebrate her birthday in February. I love how these white people cannot tell how ridiculous their leader thinks they are.
The leader asks Gunther to introduce himself and share his struggles. Gunther introduces himself. He tells the group he’s there because he just found out that white people don’t wash their legs. It caused him to freak because he no longer gets how people are supposed to understand one another when they’re all so different. Instead of providing any kind of advice, the group just tells him they recognize and accept his struggle.
“Voulez vous un croissant? Merci, mais no.”
Over at The Bay Arean, Ayana’s team is working away to get the paper ready for distribution. Her workers, who are unhoused, then sell the papers and get to keep whatever profits they make.
Laura bursts in the door with what is definitely not enough croissants to feed the team of people working. Ayana asks where Laura’s camera crew is, because she can’t conceive that Laura might possibly have good intentions.
Keef again insists that Ayana’s got Laura all wrong. Now, I’m not sure where this is all going and Ayana totally has cause to be wary of the rich, but this is reading way too much like jealousy. It’s making me a wee bit uncomfortable.
Back at the White Ally Support Group, another man (Sean Hankison) is whinging about how Aunt Jemima breakfast foods practically raised him. He can’t stop thinking about how he’s “got her delicious, oppressed blood on [his] hands, that’ll never wash away … and not just because it’s sticky.”
Gunther very quickly realizes that he’s the only white person in the group who knows a Black person who is not Craig. When Gunther tells the circle he lives with three Black people, Craig pulls him aside for a little chat.
“I just don’t like people who uphold a capitalist system that empowers a few and disenfranchises the rest of us.”
Meanwhile, at The Bay Arean, Laura tells Ayana how interesting it is that she still does a print version of the paper. Well, Ayana says, not everyone in SF has access to a computer, not that she’d expect a tech person like Laura to understand.
Then, Keef sees Tomás (Miguel Pinzon) from the season premiere! And boy, does Keef put his foot in his mouth. He can barely look Tomás in the eye when he mumbles that he hadn’t realized Tomás was homeless, as he himself puts it. Keef says he was going to say “unhoused,” but terminology doesn’t really matter to Tomás, who also didn’t realize he needed to announce his housing situation to everyone upon meeting them.
Back to Laura and Ayana. Laura gets why Ayana doesn’t like her, but she tries to assure her that she’s not like all the rest of them. Laura tells Ayana all the good places she puts her money, but Laura zooms in on her expensive shoes, criticizing that they meant one less scholarship for someone.
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OK, so I hate this, but it’s so natural. It’s easier to get mad at the people who are doing something and feel like they’re not doing enough because they’re more inclined to listen than the Jeff Bezoses of the world. But when we make the goal so hard … ugh. Also, obviously thrifting is the best thing for the environment, but if you’re buying new, ethical fashion is more expensive.
Ayana and Laura keep arguing. Are they gonna end up making out?
Keef corners Tomás and wants to learn his story because … he doesn’t seem unhoused, I guess? Didn’t Keef just make a speech earlier this episode … I give up trying to make sense of that. Tomás says his story is a classic SF artist’s story: he had a grant, it ran out, then his landlord wanted to turn his apartment into an AirBnb …
Keef tells Tomás he’s exactly the type of person he wants to help, but he’s struggling with how best to do that. Tomás was at the launch, along with all the cameras that won’t be back until someone in his community dies. Keef wants to know why no one wanted the shoes. Tomás says it’s because help always comes with a catch, so it’s hard to trust someone.
Clovis interrupts them to say that LauRRRRRRa just broke her nail.
“This is like f***ing white confession.”
So, Craig and Gunther are having their little chat. Craig tells Gunther he needs to leave. Gunther’s mostly confused ’cause he thought this was an anti-racism meeting, but it’s more like some kinda confession circle.
Craig is like duh!
Craig: I absolve them of their white guilt and they keep going. Some white people are so fragile that if you call them out, they’ll give up being an ally completely. That’s why I started the group.
Gunther: Well, that seems like a lot to take on.
Craig: And that’s why I’m charging ’em.
Yaaas. Craig tells him to GTFO before he messes up the whole game by calling his fellow white folx out on their s***. He says the only thing Gunther’s doing wrong is not washing his butt.
Next, Keef and Laura are at the bar. Laura can’t believe she ripped her own gel off, saying Ayana brought her back to her “hood days.” Keef tells Laura that at least he realized that in order to “move the shoes,” he’s got to actually spend some time with unhoused folx, just like Ayana has.
“She doesn’t think the Monopoly man hunts people.”
Laura can’t believe Keef would think following Ayana’s business model would be successful, considering The Bay Arean is failing. Also, Ayana is arrogant and thinks Laura is evil.
Laura doesn’t want to get in the way of Keef’s and Ayana’s friendship. However, she says, “these activists” are always complaining about how change takes forever. She says that’s because they don’t have money or resources, but Keef has both. Hmm, I guess the shoes didn’t cost that much.
Oh. Hi Clovis and Hype, I’d forgotten you had a storyline in this episode. They’re at Hype’s, playing video games. Clovis shouts out “Raven-Symoné!” Really, he’s just trying to figure out Hype’s type, you know, for the threesome she has never expressed she wants.
She pauses the video game to tell him that polyamory and group sex aren’t the same thing. And Clovis tells her he wants to be monogamous, which she’s OK with. For now.
Next, Keef comes across a man going through a dumpster. He offers to help him and dives in, but while searching for another bottle, he comes upon another pair of his shoes.
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Keef asks the man why someone would do that. The man just says he wouldn’t climb into the dumpster if you paid him. So, Keef buys the shoes the man is wearing for $60 and gives him a pair of his KKP shoes in exchange as well.
Back at the apartment, Gunther is showering. He sees the washcloth hanging (Dude, that’s not yours!) and tries it. For whatever reason, he has a viscerally negative reaction to using it.
Over at The Bay Arean, Keef has officially launched his buy-back program. Even Tomás is wearing the KKPs, though he does wish they looked a little cooler.
Ayana is skeptical about Keef’s motives when he says it feels good to see people wearing them. Then, he pulls out some croissants and asks Ayana to snap a photo of them for his socials. UGH. Keef captions his Insta photo “Mission Accomplished!”
I really appreciated the points about unhoused people being, well, people that were starting to be raised here. It feels like so much of the time people act like the unhoused or people receiving aid should just take whatever’s given to them, like they don’t deserve to have preferences or ethics or religious beliefs.
But, like, does Woke actually have opinions or is it just here to raise questions? I love that none of its characters are perfect, but the show’s nuance is uneven. Currently, I’m a little wary of how the show is dealing with its non-Black characters of color. This is a show about Black people, so I fully expect it to be centered on those characters and their issues. It’s the background world of Woke and the side characters that I’m not totally buying.
IRL, the SF Bay Area has demographics that are really different to what’s being shown here. From 2010 data, the three largest groups are Asian (23%), Latino (23%) and white (42%). Black people make up just over six percent of the population. Something like one-third of Bay Area residents were born outside of the US.
So, it’s a great start that they’ve added Laura and Tomás, but I hope the show takes the specific issues and oppressions they face seriously, even if our main characters brush them aside.
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Thanks for joining me as I recap Season Two of Woke, here on Geek Girl Authority!
Season Two of Woke is streaming on Hulu now.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/television-academy-presents-homelessness-in-storytelling-panel/
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