Beauty, darkness, and ambition collide in Beauty in Black, Tyler Perry’s first mature-rated drama series for Netflix. The show aims to expose the sordid underbelly of the beauty industry through the intertwined stories of Kimmie, an aspiring cosmetologist moonlighting as a sex worker, and Mallory, the icy queen bee atop a sprawling beauty empire with shadowy ties to the criminal underworld. But does Perry’s provocative premise deliver more than skin-deep thrills?
A Rough Cut Above the Rest?
On paper, Beauty in Black reads like Perry’s bid to corner the market on raw, unfiltered Black content in the streaming era. All eight episodes of the TV-MA rated series were solely written, produced, and directed by the billionaire mogul, flexing his creative control like never before. Within the first ten minutes, viewers are thrust into a lurid strip club scene, accosted with gyrating bare flesh and dangling g-strings. Visceral violence soon follows when Kimmie’s best friend nearly dies from a botched butt lift procedure. And before the credits roll, Kimmie is viciously assaulted by a VIP client – who happens to be Mallory’s husband.
Clearly, Perry is trading Madea’s family-friendly fare for edgier, more explicit territory. Media outlets have even dubbed Beauty in Black as the mogul’s belated attempt to hijack the gritty success of Tubi originals like The Dirty D or The Rapper Who Got Shot in the Heel, which cater to Black audiences hungry for raw, uncensored stories from their communities. But while those Tubi gems compensate for their rough edges with heart and authenticity, Beauty in Black feels oddly hollow beneath its titillating surface.
All Flash, No Substance
The fatal flaw of Beauty in Black lies in its one-dimensional characters. Kimmie, allegedly the heart of the story, is repeatedly derided as dumb and incompetent by those around her. And frankly, her actions do little to counter that impression, making it difficult to invest in her underdog journey. Likewise, Mallory comes across as little more than an icy caricature of a ruthless boss bitch, lacking any nuance or depth. When the two lead characters feel more like rough sketches than living, breathing people, it’s hard to care what happens to them.
Lots of Bark, Little Bite
The haphazard plotting further compounds the show’s character issues. Subplots are hinted at then abruptly dropped. Shady dealings are alluded to without meaningful follow-through. At one point, Kimmie’s boss tries to run her over in his Range Rover but is foiled by the vehicle’s nanny measures – an absurd sequence shamelessly cribbed from a Top Gear bit. These disjointed scenes are loosely strung together with overwrought, aimless dialog that pads out the runtime while doing little to advance the narrative or flesh out the flat characters.
You’d have to be blind not to see the play here. Over the past decade, Tubi, a free streaming service, has emerged as a digital media powerhouse by serving Black audiences rough-cut gems like The Dirty D, a scattershot series that centers on a Detroit strip club; or The Rapper Who Got Shot in the Heel, a sendup of the Megan Thee Stallion-Tory Lanez incident. These amateur auteurs operate totally outside the Hollywood system, funding their passion projects with their own money while churning out work that ranges from so-bad-it’s-good to hold up these people are actually trying to do something here. It was only a matter of time before Perry came round to steal their lunch.
– According to a close source
All That Glitters Isn’t Gold
The series’ saving grace is its lush production quality, with certain settings exuding such idyllic beauty that you almost forget this is supposed to be Chicago, not some pastoral paradise. But stunning visuals can’t compensate for shaky fundamentals. They only throw the undercooked characters and storytelling into sharper relief, like a cracked phone screen garishly illuminated by a dazzling screensaver.
Some outlets have speculated that Beauty in Black represents Perry finally embracing his freaky side after years of maintaining a family-friendly, church-approved brand. But the show’s mature content often feels less like authentic creative expression and more like cynical pandering – a heavy-handed attempt to be provocative for provocation’s own sake. Without strong characters, coherent storytelling, or meaningful themes anchoring the graphic sex and violence, Beauty in Black’s salaciousness rings hollow.
Ultimately, Beauty in Black exposes little about the dark side of the beauty industry, and even less about the human condition. More lurid than illuminating, it’s a wasted opportunity to tell a gritty yet substantive story in an intriguing setting. Perhaps Tyler Perry’s loyal flock will flock to his latest offering out of morbid curiosity or brand loyalty. But discerning viewers craving quality Black content may want to look elsewhere for their binge-worthy fix.
