The Other Black Girl (2023) s01e05 Episode Script

Previously, on The Other Black Girl
I was wondering if you
wanted to come over for dinner
- on Saturday.
- Yes, I would love to.
If we pull everything the
sensitivity reader flagged,
there won't be a book left.
How would you feel about
meeting Diana Gordon?
Instead of a rerelease,
what about a memoir?
Maybe this is something
we can do together.
Jealousy's not my style.
I'm happy when good things
happen to my friends.
It is so fake and I can't
believe you don't see that.
How is she fake?
Nella and I are working
closely together now,
so I suggest you get used to that.
- Her name isn't Hazel, it's Eva.
- What the fuck?
Hey, hey!
- Owen?
- Babe.
- What's wrong?
- You haven't been answerin' my calls.
I was worried.
I was on the subway. Aren't you at work?
School was canceled. We have asbestos.
What? Oh, okay. Look, I'm
about to head into work,
and I really can't have
this conversation again.
You shouldn't even be at work
at all. You're bein' followed.
Babe, I'm okay.
Sure, that woman was scary, and,
yeah, I didn't sleep last night,
but I told myself at 3 A.M.
that her problem was with Hazel,
who she thinks is Eva for some reason.
Just promise me that
you won't go see her.
I promise.
As soon as I see Hazel, I'm
gonna get some answers, okay?
I love you.
No, no, that is not what I'm saying.
I'm saying it is
absolutely under control.
Um, handle this. Nella!
Nella! Oh, finally.
Oh, this morning's been
an absolute nightmare.
I couldn't even get my
eyebrows on straight.
Thank God you got my coffee.
Oh, um, that's actually
And you're done.
- What's going on?
- There's no time.
Colin's book.
It was leaked.
Leaked? By who?
The sensitivity reader, we think.
Doesn't matter. Point
is, the book is out there!
And the response is
Well, well, see for yourself.
Oh, my God, Jesse
Watson canceled Wagner?
How did this happen? I have
Google Alerts for all those words.
Well, the internet moves fast,
and, apparently, the consensus
is that Wagner is racist.
Right Who knew?
Look, I should've listened to you.
Not about the sensitivity reader,
that person screwed us all over,
but about the book. It was bad.
So, why didn't you do anything about it?
I was trying to do the
right thing for Wagner!
I was doing what was right
for Wagner and the world.
And somebody leaked it,
and now we're both drowning.
And, and they want us to drop Colin.
He's our biggest asset.
He single-handedly keeps Wagner and
the pageboy cap industry in business.
Look, I need your help.
Oh No, no, I'm not very
good at that kinda stuff.
My friend, Malaika, is
the one who does the
I need you.
Oh, my God.
'Kay.
Hey, listen, um,
I begged Colin to save your job,
and
now I really need your help to
save everyone's in this building.
Richard has gone to talk
to the board, and I am here.
I'm left in charge of damage
control until he gets back.
But Nella, Nella,
Nella, I cannot go down like this.
Please.
Okay.
Thank you.
Vera Parini will see you soon.
Okay, thank you. Bye.
Holy crap.
Can you believe this? Do you
think our jobs are in trouble?
Yes. Have you seen Hazel?
I need to talk to her
about something else.
She called in sick.
Seriously?
I can't blame her.
Being affiliated with any kind of
racial injustice makes me sick, too.
Totally.
Hi, Trish, this is Nella
in Vera Parini's office.
Vera wanted me to let you know
that Wagner is gonna be
handling press for the time being
and that we have
everything under control.
Nella!
Will you get me another coffee?
I gotta go, Trish. Thanks, bye.
Get one for yourself because
you need to stay caffeinated. Mm!
Nella.
Glad you're free. We have a crisis.
- Yep, I'm dealing with it right now.
- Oh, not that.
Today is Shannon's birthday,
and Hazel signed up to help.
But she's out sick, so I'm gonna need
you to get everyone to sign the card.
All right, okay. I'll do
it, all right? I'll do it.
Oh, and don't worry. I'll
handle the crepe chef.
Crepe chef.
Nella. Oh, God, thank you.
I need you to gather everyone
in the conference room
for an all-hands meeting. Hurry up!
Okay, and don't forget
the card for Shannon,
and don't mention the crepe chef.
- It's a surprise!
- Okay.
Did I
- Maisy?
- Yes.
- You okay?
- Yeah, I'm fine. I'm
Oh, I'm just fine.
Did Hazel not come in today
because she thinks I'm racist?
What? No.
I think.
I am a good person.
I volunteer, you know, when I can.
And, and now I have all of these authors
that I've been nurturing
for a very long time
calling me and telling me that
they cannot be associated with me.
All of my assistants have been POCs,
and now this is happening, to me!
- Like, they're
- Okay, um, are you angry?
Am I allowed to be?
Okay, listen This is not about you.
And if I, of all people,
can buck the fuck up
and do my job today so can you.
- You're right.
- Yeah.
You're right.
Oh, God Thank you.
Oh, okay.
Did you just take a picture of
me? "Hashtag support Black women."
You know, I'll delete
it. I'll delete it!
All right, everyone.
Richard is on his way,
but I want you all to rest assured
that I have everything under control.
Colin knows that he has to come
here immediately to the office,
but in the meantime,
we are going to focus on composing
his public apology.
- A public apology?
- Maisy.
It's, like, isn't
this a little too late?
- What?
- I mean, let's be honest.
Colin has always been a problem.
We were alone in the elevator one time
and he looked me straight
into the eye while he farted.
He's allergic to everything.
It happens all the time.
- Problem.
- Okay, focus your mind, Bridget.
Focus your mind!
Who has a good idea? We would
like to start this apology well.
What's going on? Are you okay?
Whoa, I'm good.
You the one with the stalker.
No, that's Hazel's stalker.
And can you blame me for
being worried? You said "911."
With a dancer emoji
to emphasize that this is
a 911 of spicy, hot tea.
Yeah, and on any other day,
I would really appreciate that,
but today has been kinda rough.
I saw.
Black Twitter plus Sophie is goin' off,
but it's about to get better I think.
- What're you talkin' 'bout?
- You will not believe who is havin'
lunch at my third favorite bougie spot.
I don't care where A-Rod eats.
No, no. Richard Wagner and Hazel.
What?
Shit, they gettin' up.
No, no, no. That's, that's impossible.
- Hazel's out sick and Richard is
- A zaddy. Pfft!
But wait isn't he married?
To a Kennedy!
I told you that company was a hellhole.
They all rotten to the core, even
though I don't believe in monogamy.
I can't believe
she's pretending to be sick.
And what is Richard doing?
Hazel is an employee.
Or is it Eva? Isn't
that what the stalker called her?
Clearly, this girl has a lot of secrets.
Oh, my God, this is so fucked.
You know, maybe that stalker was right.
- You not meetin' with her tonight, right?
- Nella!
- to reassess that
- Oh, I gotta go.
Nella? Nella?
She hung up on me.
Where's my seafood tower?
Let's not lose focus. We
really have to get this done.
Oh, thank you for joining us.
Okay, besides some
slight complications,
we are going to go forward with my plan
for the public apology, so
I need you to take notes.
Maybe Colin should take notes.
Excuse me?
I mean,
Colin clearly has no idea
that he's done anything wrong.
So, what is this apology for?
Nobody's gonna believe a word of it.
And if we wanna write an apology,
it should be on behalf of
Wagner and this entire department
- for letting this mess happen.
- I have been doing everything that I can
to get us out of this mess.
Actually, I wanna know what
Nella thinks we should do.
Oh, well.
I think we should cancel the release.
But Richard wants the book to go out.
So, do you like your jobs?
Fine, end of discussion.
You said the book was bad and
you don't wanna release it.
It's not about what I want. It's
about what other people need!
If you were thinking of other people,
you wouldn't have buried
the sensitivity read.
That's not exactly what happened.
You are so afraid of losing
this book, about losing money,
that you didn't see how offensive it was
and that we might all
just lose our jobs anyway.
And now Colin's gonna make a fake
apology and it won't change anything.
And I'm gonna be stuck in this bad dream
where we're all just sitting around
eating crepes for Shannon's birthday.
- Really?!
- It was a surprise!
Enough!
You're wrong about one
thing. Change is afoot.
Because while we may
be here eating crepes,
you will be fired.
Please go collect your things.
Nella isn't going anywhere.
Richard! Ah!
Vera, let's talk outside, you and I.
Oh, no. I, uh, I don't
think that's necessary.
Um I have everything under control.
So, whatever you wanna
say, you can say here.
Well, in that case, I have news.
In light of the inherent
and glaring problems
with Needles and Pins,
we will be dropping the
book effective immediately.
Well, you can't be serious, Richard.
I am, yes.
But just this morning
you told me to save the book.
That was this morning.
I've been listening to some of
the concerns raised recently.
I want this company to
reflect the diversity,
the inclusivity, and the values of 2023.
Values, which by the way,
do not include burying
the negative results
of a sensitivity read
for one of our most important releases.
I don't know what people
have been telling you
People, Vera?
This isn't about anybody but you.
I thank you for your many
years of devoted service,
service which must now come to an end.
I need to ask you to
collect your things and go.
Col-Collect my
You can't M-Me?
What the actual fuck?!
- Okay.
- Oh, shit.
Okay, fine. Fine.
Maybe I wasn't always as
conscientious as I could have been,
but I worked my ass off
for this company, for decades,
and everyone in this room knows it!
I gave, I gave up everything!
Ha!
Well,
I'm not gonna let this
little bump in the road
compromise my dignity.
I am walking out
of here with my head held high.
Nella, my bag.
Nella doesn't work for you anymore.
Right.
Mm.
Well,
Nella,
looks like someone turned you
into a force to be reckoned with.
You're welcome.
Ugh, you have got to be kidding me!
I'm sorry if that was
uncomfortable for anyone.
In the midst of the chaos today, I
was thinking a lot about the past,
specifically about Burning Heart,
a book which represents
both this company's past
and its future.
I think we should pause
work on Diana Gordon's memoir
in favor of Nella's brilliant idea
of a dedicated rerelease
of Burning Heart.
I've spoken to Diana
about this and she agrees.
Nella, you will be running point
on this as assistant editor.
Hazel will be there to
help you along the way.
Not only that,
Diana will be launching a new imprint
focusing on and
celebrating diverse voices,
and the Burning Heart rerelease
will be the centerpiece
of that imprint's launch.
We have been ignoring
the problems here for t
Hm.
I have.
I've made mistakes,
and for that, I'm sorry.
But I am so proud
to be steering this
company down a new path.
Let's all make Wagner Books
a place we can call home.
Hazel, this cake is so good.
- I can't stop eating it.
- Yeah, the place that I got it from
uses some special kinda spiced rum.
- Hm.
- Actually, it was my grandparents' wedding cake.
- Aw.
- Yeah, yeah.
Basically, if you got married in Harlem
in, like, the last hundred years,
you had this cake.
Well, it's incredible.
- Oh, and I love that you share it with us.
- Vera! Vera!
Vera! Richard, what's going on?
Why is there cake and
crepes? And w-where is Vera?
Happy birthday, Shannon.
Thank you so much, Richard.
- Colin, let's talk in my office.
- What? No.
I'm not gonna be summoned to your
office like I'm a naughty child.
My books paid for all of this.
They, they, they, they paid
for these desks, and that chair,
even these stupid fucking balloons!
Thank you for making this
so much easier to say.
Colin, you are no
longer a Wagner author.
- Somebody call security.
- Oh, I-I'd love to.
Hello, yes, we need security.
No, not dangerous. Just some
clown who doesn't get it.
Nella! Nella.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- Hi.
- Congratulations! Aren't you excited?
- Yeah.
You haven't even said anything
since we heard the good news.
Yeah. No, I'm super
excited. I'm, I'm just
I'm tired, and I, I
feel kinda blindsided.
- Ooh, in a good way?
- Yeah.
Okay, 'cause somebody had to tell
Richard about that sensitivity read.
And once I did, it was
pretty safe to assume
that he'd do somethin' about it.
So, you weren't sick?
Look, someone was gonna have to
take the fall, and I made a move.
Vera has never done
anything to me personally
- She was my boss for two years.
- But she wasn't promoting you.
And we both wanna be editors, right?
So, I genuinely feel sorry for anyone
who was unfortunate enough
to be in our way.
Ooh! You know what? Wait a minute.
I have something that I wanna give you.
Oh. Oh, God.
Can't
Ah, here it is.
It's a crepe.
They're delicious, and
I saw you didn't get one.
Oh, thanks.
You know, everybody was
fawning over the cake,
- so I really only tried that.
- Ugh, that fuckin' cake. I hate that cake.
It, ugh, reminds me of
pukin' up Captain Morgan's.
I mean, honestly, it's my fault because
I told 'em to send the last thing
- they had in stock.
- W-Wait, wait, sorry.
So, that wasn't your
grandparents' wedding cake?
Girl, no! What?!
I don't know what my grandparents
ate on their wedding day,
let alone all of Harlem.
Sometimes, you just have to be the
person they want you to be, right?
Anyway,
congratulations.
It's gonna be a wild ride.
Her name isn't Hazel. It's Eva.
Hey, it's me. Everything's fine.
I just got held up at work,
so I'm gonna be a little late.
Okay. Bye.
Name.
Oh, um
Nella?
This way.
This is your room. Enjoy.
Hey!
The craziest
thing about this whole situation is,
is, is, i-is that I
am, in point of fact,
the least racist person that I know.
I mean, in truth,
I, I, I, I, I, I don't even see colors.
I see characters.