Howdy! Welcome to another recap of Season Two of Woke, the show based on Keith Knight‘s comix. Last time, Keef (Lamorne Morris) learned he’s exceptionally bad at work-life balance. Beware, this recap of Woke Season Two, Episode Seven, “Black Trauma V” is chock full of spoilers.
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“I’m gonna take a s*** ton of mushrooms.”
We open on Ayana (Sasheer Zamata), who’s checking into a Western-themed motel. She took the BART to the end of the line and this is where she ended up. (So, she’s either in Milbrae, Antioch, San Jose or Richmond, all firmly urban/suburban towns, but whatever … )
Ayana word vomits on the motel clerk (Savannah Rose Scaffe) about how she can’t go home because she’s living with the guy she’s in a fight with — a guy who, btw, she’s not even screwing! — and she lives with two other dudes — one of whom doesn’t wash his legs! And all of this happened, Ayana says because she was working her butt off trying to keep her newspaper afloat because she’s a strong Black lesbian and she is f***ing exhausted.
The receptionist sort of blinks at her and asks if she should write whether Ayana’s staying for business or pleasure.
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Back in San Francisco proper, Keef is waiting for Laura (Aimee Garcia) in her office. And LOL the sandals he is wearing. Nope. There’s absolutely no way you could sneak 5G in those. He wants to know if he’s scared Laura.
She’s not scared, just confused. Ah, she asks, did he come in early to celebrate his photo in the paper? Laura asks Keef where he went off to last night.
“A gas station, so I could pick up $0.99 fl-ip fl-ops.”
Mainly, many places to get v. drunk. Then, he came to Laura’s office to confront her about the 5G.
She wants to know if he’d like to continue being dramatic or if he’ll allow her to explain. UGH. So she knows.
Back at the commune apartment, Gunther’s (Blake Anderson) calling Ayana in a panic for what we can only assume is the umpteenth time. He begs her to call him back because it’s an emergency. When Clovis (T. Murph) walks in, Gunther wraps him into a hug and thanks the “Abrahamic God” that he’s all right.
Clovis tells Gunther to chill, Ayana’s probably just out hooking up with someone. Gunther assumed that at first too, but when he went into their quasi-shared bedroom, he found an empty fist? Oh … he found that his bag of shrooms was missing.
Again, Clovis says, whatever, she’s probably just off getting high somewhere. But, that’s actually the problem. Gunther’s shrooms are Amanita muscaria, and they get you “Johnny Depp‘s Willy Wonka high” — “visually stunning, but overall awful.”
Cut to Ayana’s trip. She seems to be doing OK so far.
“OK, but why hide it?”
Meanwhile, Laura’s showing Keef a Sunlink ad about how the WiFi company creates a brand, a connection around the world. The commercial openly states they have shoes with WiFi in them.
It’s not just shoes, they’re putting 5G in everything, and the KKP was the company’s beta test. She hadn’t planned to use his project, but when saw the opportunity, she took it. Without bothering to tell Keef. Or the unhoused, who became the guinea pigs. This is so gross.
She’s ecstatic because the success of the 5G sneakers means they can bring free WiFi to all of SF, to all cities all over the world. This is so messed up because, in theory, this had the potential to be an amazing project, but if she’d just been open about it …
I know there are people who are wary of 5G and rightly so. I can think of myriad ways tracking the unhoused could be abused. So, they could have made shoes with and without the 5G to distribute to people. Anyway, Laura insists she wasn’t hiding the 5G, rather the project moved too fast for her to say anything. Right.
Then, she turns it on Keef, saying he’s been off with his publicist, giving himself awards. Oh, come on! Laura insists they’re still partners. In fact, she has a meeting with the Sunlink team in a few hours to figure out how to properly disclose the 5G fiasco.
She invites Keef to join them — after he’s showered.
“I am a revolution, I am a revolution, I am a revolutionary!”
Over in Motel Mushroom, Ayana’s tripping away in the mirror, affirming to herself that she was here before Keef and she’ll be here long after. She hallucinates civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin (N’dia Lamar), who tells her to calm down.
Ayana doesn’t even let Claudette speak. She knows why she’s here: Rosa Parks overshadowed Claudette, just like Keef has overshadowed Ayana. That means, she should be spending more time with other Black women, instead of spending time alone at a motel. So, she manifested another Black woman activist.
Claudette is not impressed. Ayana isn’t interested in what “CC” has to say; she isn’t at the motel to play “Christmas Carol with ghosts of activists past.” Again, she cuts Claudette off when she tries to tell her why she’s actually there.
Ayana asks her if they can’t just have a good time. Fine, says Claudette. Then, Harriet Tubman‘s Secret Girlfriend (Angela Davies) arrives. LOL. The writing on the screen says: She was real … PROVE ME WRONG.
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Ayana is thrilled. This is her fifth-grade fantasies come true. Harriet Tubman’s Secret Girlfriend goes on to describe the makeshift sex toys they made back in her day. Claudette pipes in that they sound a bit uncomfortable.
“I mean, she’s smart, she’s gay, she’s horny.”
At the apartment, Clovis is trying to figure out the mystery of where Ayana went while Gunther lights his bong. Gunther is trying to help, though, by recreating what helped him in the stairwell last episode.
Keef walks in and tells them he’s working on the shoe situation. Then, they ask if he’s seen Ayana. He hasn’t, but he informs them of their fight, in which he acted like a total ass. Clovis then calls Keef out on his recent behavior.
Clovis asks Keef who he thinks he is. Gunther tells them that Keef is acting like George Lucas. You know, “the rebel filmmaker who fought the power and conquered Hollywood only to become the empire.”
Keef continues to act like an ass until Gunther says Ayana took his mushrooms. Then, Keef springs into action.
“Damn. I thought minstrel shows was f***ed up.”
Meanwhile, Ayana and co are watching a horror film called Black Trauma V. Claudette doesn’t get why they ended slavery only to watch Black trauma films fifty years later. Ayana says that, believe it or not, these films are part of progress. Back in the day, Black people could only play servants; now they can play murder victims.
Then, Ayana makes a really meta-comment that the three of them, enjoying each other’s company is what needs to be on screen instead. Oh, Woke. Then, Claudette gets hungry. No worries, Ayana brought popcorn.
Ayana is surprised and impressed that her two new friends aren’t bitter like she is about Keef. Harriet Tubman’s Secret Tubman suggests Ayana smother Keef in his sleep. Ayana concedes that she has thought about strangling him on multiple occasions, which is just a byproduct of our capitalist society. That’s why she doesn’t f*** with capitalism.
Is that true? asks revolutionary Black businesswoman Annie Malone (Donna Biscoe), who’s now entered the picture. Annie has come to teach Ayana a lesson, but nope, no lessons today, especially not from “haircare millionaires.” Fine, says Annie, and suggests they do hair instead.
“I’m not sexism, you’re sexism.”
Clovis and Gunther head to The Bay Arean offices to see if Ayana’s there. She’s not, so they look for clues instead. Gunther starts to get a wee bit uncomfortable when they start to rifle through her things, which include face cream and tampons.
Clovis muses that maybe you’re supposed to respect the privacy of your female friends when they runoff. Gunther says it’s a special situation because drugs are involved. But, Clovis says, he wouldn’t run after Gunther if he ran off … he probably wouldn’t notice or care.
Gunther’s a bit hurt but then realizes that neither Keef nor Clovis came home the night before and he too neither noticed nor cared. Clovis says that this might be a case of The Sexism. OMG. NO. It’s not. Your friend, a woman, a Black woman, didn’t come home? You have reason to worry. (I mean, Gunther should probably worry about his Black male friends too … )
So, Clovis sends texts to Keef that he can stop looking for Ayana, which relieves Keef. Then, Keef walks by a homeless encampment that the police are ransacking. He gets flashbacks to the police beating him up.
Of course, Tomás (Miguel Pinzon) lives at this encampment. He’s freaking out because he can’t find his red sketchbook, the only thing of any value to him. Keef finds it. Tomás says the police are getting better at finding them; it’s like they have a tracker on them or something. That’s why he doesn’t have a phone, he doesn’t want anyone to be able to find him.
Yup. That’s where I thought this was going. Ugh. This is so shady. Keef notices the unhoused people in the encampment are all wearing KKP shoes. He yells that they all need to take off the shoes and runs to Laura’s meeting.
Like, I absolutely believe that this is a thing that would happen. However, this encampment is in a park in the middle of the city. I don’t think the cops needed 5G trackers to find them here.
“It’s gotta last through time travel.”
Back at the Memory Motel, Ayana tells Annie she doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as an ethical rich person, since you can’t become a millionaire without compromising your integrity.
Annie takes total umbrage with that. Yes, there were compromises, but she fulfilled a need in the community and gave Black women jobs; she deserved her success. Further, Ayana clearly knows that or she wouldn’t have manifested Annie. And, if she doesn’t acknowledge that, she’s gonna be overworked and unhappy forever.
Ayana accuses Annie of “opting out of the struggle,” and asks Claudette for backup. Claudette is all, I mean, you can have a good life and fight. Also, you realize I’m still alive, right?
Even Harriet Tubman’s Secret Girlfriend says that sure, she struggled, but in the end, she was sleeping with Harriet Tubman. Ayana breaks down. She realizes she could be happier, but that she gets in her own way.
The ladies tell her it’s OK. Ayana says, no, it isn’t and no, she isn’t. The manifestations disappear. She’s alone in her motel room.
“What’s wrong with me?”
Oh! They’re back. Harriet Tubman’s Secret Girlfriend returns. She asks Ayana to talk to her, tell her what’s wrong. Ayana says, “I’m a failure.” She thought being a strong Black woman was enough, but her manifestations are all “strong and Black and happy.”
They’re not trying to tell her there’s something wrong with her. In fact, she’s perfectly normal (despite her very active imagination). Ayana disagrees; the ladies before her are all super women, and she can’t do that anymore.
Claudette assures Ayana that no Black woman is a super woman — they all have their “things.” The only thing they want Ayana to know is that she shouldn’t make herself miserable living up to an impossible standard.
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But, Ayana doesn’t know who she is if she’s not struggling. Harriet Tubman’s Secret Girlfriend reminds Ayana that her first obligation is to her own joy. What would bring Ayana joy?
Water. And a meaningful job that pays her decently. Oh, and some box braids.
“Stop blaming capitalism!”
Next, Keef storms into Laura’s office once again. He asks her point-blank if she’s selling unhoused people’s data to the cops. She’s taken aback, but then says, well they do have a preliminary contract with the city.
Laura assures Keef that if the city is doing something “nefarious with their metadata,” the two of them can do something about it. He doesn’t understand why they’re selling the city anything in the first place when they should be helping people. Laura reminds him that they need money to help people and money doesn’t grow on trees.
She tells him that she’s in this for the same reasons he is, but true change involves compromise. Keef cannot believe that her idea of compromise is capitalism, especially one that allows the police to kick people out of their homes.
Laura says she knows the police are a sensitive issue for Keef. He, of course, doesn’t react well to that wording. Keef tells her she has no idea and that there’s a good reason for that. He quits and pulls the plug on their project. Laura says he can’t do that over a problem with one “infinitesimal part” of the KKP.
She says even though the project bears his name, it doesn’t work like that, since it’s her money; so, as long as he has a good reputation, their partnership is gonna continue. Um, is that a legal thing?
Clovis and Gunther return home, patting themselves on the back for having eschewed worrying about Ayana in favor of tacos. Then, Gunther wonders how long they should wait before filing a missing person’s report. Clovis doesn’t believe they should call the police on a Black person.
It’s a moot point, ’cause Ayana’s back home. They rush her with hugs. Gunther momentarily uses his “dad voice” to tell her never to run away again. Clovis also admonishes her.
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LOL. Apparently, Ayana did tell Gunther where she was going and what she was doing. Gunther didn’t remember because he too was high on the Wonka shrooms. Also, sometimes, he sleeps with his eyes open.
“Oh my God, it’s Shoe-Anon.”
No one really cares about Gunther’s faux pas. They’re just proud of Ayana when she announces her new career plans. Keef comes in and gets down on his knees to beg Ayana’s forgiveness. He tells her about the 5G scam.
Clovis quits the KKP.
Then, Keef asks a favor of Ayana. At first, she says she’s not doing any more favors, but then he asks her to kill Keef Knight. She’s in.
What a fantastic episode of Woke. This has really been the season of Ayana, and I’m here for it. Her struggles are very specific to that of a Black woman, and I don’t want to take away from that. Even so, I can relate very heavily to the push-pull of finding rest and joy as a marginalized person.
Regarding the 5G shoe thing, it feels super realistic to me that a company would abuse the unhoused that way. I’m still waiting, though, for Woke to offer an alternative to the capitalism-based structure of activism. It still all feels a little nihilistic, but I don’t know, maybe that’s the point?
RELATED: Read all Woke recaps here!
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/18-black-female-tv-characters-we-love-and-support/
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