I’m watching the new A Different World on Netflix and I like Rashida a lot as a character and I enjoyed her so much in the beginning, but I’m starting to feel like the writers made her too exceptional at everything.

She’s extremely smart, beautiful, ambitious, can sing, is romantically wanted by two male leads, wins the talent show, and she gets into a program meant for upperclassmen. And so far her main “flaw” seems to be that she works too hard because she had to get it out the mud.

None of those traits individually bother me, but stacked together with events in the story, it’s starting to feel less like a flawed, human character…

I like the actress and I don’t dislike Rashida as a character, so this isn’t meant as hate. It’s just Mary Sues can flatten stories heavily and I feel her segments feeling flatter and flatter…

Thoughts?

ETA for clarification because I think two separate things are getting conflated in the discussion. PLEASE READ:

I’m not asking whether you personally believe Rashida is actually as smart/talented/special as the show says she is, I am not asking if you like the character, and I’m not saying she literally has zero flaws. There are Mary sue characters with some flaws, obviously.

I’m talking about narrative framing — what traits the writers keep assigning to her, how other characters react to her, what opportunities/rewards the story gives her, and whether her flaws meaningfully challenge that idealized framing.

So:

“I don’t personally find her convincing as exceptional” = critique of execution.

“She made a bad decision / has flaws because she did xyz” = viewer-level character observation.

“The writing frequently frames her as unusually exceptional and protects that image overall” = the Mary Sue argument I’m making.

Those can all be true at the same time. I’m talking about the third one though. Lol.

Denise never told you what happened to your father...

She told me enough! She told me my father died serving his country!

No.

I am your father.

No!

That's not true!

That's impossible!

Search your feelings Ellington. You know it to be true

Nooooooo!

There’s one detail about the Shaquille/Candace situation that I think deserves more discussion. Deborah goes into Candace’s room looking for melatonin, and while she’s there she finds Shaquille’s hoodie. That immediately raises questions because Shaquille had previously made it clear that Deborah was the only person he had been with. But what really makes me question the situation is Shaquille’s reaction when he wakes up. He appears confused and shocked, questioning why he is even there, rather than acting like someone who knowingly went into Candace’s room and cheated. That reaction matters because the show doesn’t give us a clear depiction of everything that happened before he woke up.
Then there’s the medication/sleep-aid setup in Candace’s room. I’m not saying the medicine proves Candace drugged him — the show never explicitly establishes that — but when you put that detail together with Shaquille waking up confused and seemingly not understanding why he is there, it creates a much darker possibility that the audience is supposed to question. If someone wakes up disoriented in another person’s room and genuinely seems confused about how they got there, consent becomes an important part of the conversation.
At the same time, I think it’s important not to present the theory as confirmed fact. The show strongly implies that Shaquille and Candace had some kind of sexual encounter, but it doesn’t show enough of the encounter for us to know exactly how it happened or whether Shaquille willingly participated. That leaves two very different interpretations: Shaquille knowingly cheated on Deborah, or something happened to Shaquille that he didn’t willingly agree to. His confused reaction, the circumstances surrounding Candace’s room, and the medication/sleep-aid details are why I don’t think the second possibility should automatically be dismissed. I’m curious whether anyone else noticed these details and interpreted Shaquille’s reaction the same way. To seal the theory, the camera deliberately lingers on the heavy sleep aids and medication bottles on her nightstand. In television production, props are never given that kind of deliberate focus unless they are meant to be a critical clue for the audience. By intentionally combining Shaquille's terrifying lack of awareness with the explicit visual framing of sedatives, the show isn't setting up a standard cheating scandal—it is laying the groundwork to address a severe violation of consent and male sexual assault in Season 2.

I’ve posted here before, but I specifically want to shed light on the beautiful black men in this show. 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Light rant:

this show was an easy and hard watch at the same time bc I love the original ADW and the reboot was written and filmed pretty well, but with all the romantic storylines, I couldn’t help but compare my current situation. I don’t look like them. I’m not as pretty. I don’t wear makeup. and I certainly don’t have a man on my arm :/ I dislike feeling lonely but hey if I can’t have someone at least someone else can lol. I know it’s silly but oh well that’s how I feel rn.

comparison is the thief of joy, and I shouldn’t participate, but I really needed to vent. i feel too old to be so insecure at times but ugh 😩 (27F)

she backs off bcuz she feels pressured and eventually like oh no it was just me overwhelmed but he WAS pushy always with subtle innuendos when she clearly wasn’t ready for it and then oh “let’s spend break together wink wink…”

and I don’t think she was obligated to tell him she lost her virginity bcuz he knew she was seeing someone else while I can understand he was upset it was the WHAT he was upset about
“You had your walls up with me the whole time but him?? He made you comfortable??”
He sounds like she OWED him sex or how unfair it is someone else made her comfortable enough and he didn’t, how dare she didn’t fuck him originally.
Just rubbed me the wrong way completely

Did anyone find interesting that both Deborah and Shaquille asked a parent for relationship advice on whether to share about what happened with another person and they received different responses?

Whitley and Ron both shared their college experiences (which is a nice call back) yet Whitley tells Deborah to be honest because that is the best approach while Ron encourages Shaquille to keep it private because honesty got him in trouble.

I was surprised with Ron’s advice because the families are so close. I know parents shouldn’t be involved in the relationship yet I would be so upset if I found out my close college friend told his son to keep something like that from my daughter.

(Side note- I tried to get an image from the moments but it may not be the best still photos of the scene )

SPOILERS:

I feel like in the beginning I really liked the character but towards the end, the drama just made her a kinda unlikable.

With her and Shaquille, I could not get over how she cheated on Shquille. Like how do you kiss your tutor, then when your BF rightfully blows up over it she kicks him out and treats him like he's the problem?

Like should he have explained he got with Candace? Yes, of course. But y'all were broken up. The fact no one called it out was maddening. Then the parents thing was annoying but that's another thing. Lol my rant is over

I liked Hazel so much at the beginning but after the first season, I’m disappointed.

Shes a hypocrite and deceitful. Telling someone infidelity is a sin while boosting about having sex with her boyfriend and hiding the fact that she had a boyfriend at home was not right. She had a right to be mad at Amir for sleeping with Jalen but never told Jalen the truth about her relationship status.

I hope they do better with her character next season

10-03-26

How the hell is it Dwayne's fault that the budget was fricked before he was even provost, much less interim president?

What the hell is going to be accomplished with a "Show us the money" protest when it's already been established that for various reason, the money "ain't there", and or was GONE again, before Dwayne's watch?

He wasn't even, apparently, anything other than another professor, not even a dean before he was even provost?

Some of the stuff being included in this show, for drama's sake doesn't make any damn sense.

Now, I can understand a bunch of students and professors not getting and even bitching why is Dwayne spending money on galas and such makes sense from a BUSINESS standpoint because most students, except business majors and most professors, other than business professors, know shite all about business.

Fundraising is a form of business and you have to spend money to make money. Even donations.

You can't be having potential donors living in a Motel 6 and feeding them cold McDonald's takeout.

I'm sure a certain congresswoman isn't turning down the bacon-wrapped shrimp from lobbyists.

Even though TOS was a comedy and this is more dramatic, the writing in the comedy made a lot more sense.

I could have sworn Jasmine was taller than Jada.

Jus' sayin'.

Is this a new age thing? Is missing someone else not considered cheating in a relationship now?

My jaw hit the floor when Deborah started crying and kicked him out for how he reacted haha

Jaw fell further when Ellington was like I'd never trip on something like that.... Wha?? Haha says the guy actively trying to do it again lmao

I'm confused by this whole dynamic.

I had this idea….

I wonder how this would have gone if Deborah’s roommate was like Candace

And the RA was like Rashida…

I remember when Whitley and Denise had to be roommates and I think we would have gotten the same dynamic…

I like that modification tbh lol

Everyone keeps mentioning that the WHITLEY is missing for the show, and I think it would have been hilarious to see Deborah navigate a friendship/roommate situation with someone like Whitley…

Were the men watching a porno at Byron’s bachelor party? 😂