From Virgin To Vixen – The episode opens with a series of rapid-fire scenes, showcasing Queenie Jenkins (Dionne Brown) fully embracing her newfound sexual freedom. The transformation doesn’t go completely unnoticed at work and while Ted Noman (Tom Forbes) jokingly welcomes it, Gina Hargadon (Sally Phillips) keeps a close watch on Queenie. She even treats herself to a new set of nails during which time she shares her recent activities with Kyazike Myagenda (Bellah). The manicurist appears to be a bit appalled and intrigued by the open discussion.
Sometime later, Queenie finds herself bathing at Grandma Veronica’s (Llewella Gideon) house due to a malfunctioning boiler at her place. A brief yet troubling childhood memory (Nyah Majaliwa) and Veronica’s open intrusiveness immediately make Queenie regret the decision. Things only get worse when she fails to sneak out of the house dressed in a skimpy Playboy bunny outfit.
Not long after arriving at the Daily Reader’s Halloween skate party, Queenie realizes she should have paid closer attention to Darcy Pike’s (Tilly Keeper) instructions on costumes. Her night appears to improve when she hits it off with Guy Carew (Joseph Ollman), who just so happens to be dressed as an undead High Hefner. Things turn awkward the moment Darcy interrupts and passive-aggressively jumps onto Queenie for slacking on her promises to help with the party. Darcy sarcastically encourages Queenie to have a good time as she skates away. This leads to Queenie making the rash decision to invite Guy back to her place where he introduces her to an all-new sexual experience.
Queenie shares her experience with her mailing list later that night and again the following morning with Darcy at work. Although Queenie raves about Guy’s ability to go three times in one night, she internally claims that once with Tom was always something special.
Several days pass and Queenie is still bragging about the experience at another work function. During this time she lets it slip that she can’t wait to see how Tom reacts to the news of her sleeping around. This leads to Darcy reprimanding her but they aren’t allotted much time to debate the issue thanks to the arrival of a co-worker, who pulls Darcy aside for a chat. With Darcy away, Gina approaches and offers rather bluntly scathing advice about Queenie’s habits as of late. She even encourages her to take a few days off, which leads to Queenie’s overindulgence of the free alcohol. It’s not long before Queenie is drunk and Darcy seeks out the assistance of Ted to get her home safely. Darcy attempts to spare Queenie the later embarrassment by claiming she’s had an allergic reaction.
Despite Queenie’s now combative state and not even remembering her address, Ted manages to get her home safely, changed, and into bed. Queenie is later woken by Darcy’s text about Ted taking her home and tries to go back to sleep but is immediately besieged by the blaring doorbell. As soon as Queenie sees Diana Jenkins (Cristale De’Abreu), she realizes that she’s forgotten she was supposed to be watching her younger cousin today. Diana realizes it also, although Queenie denies it.
After a bit of a debate about food and money, Queenie finds herself in her room with Dian, eating takeout and watching videos on her laptop. Diana later harshly comments on Queenie’s ignoring her mother’s text messages. Diana goes on to point out how messy Queenie’s life is and although she plays the comment off, she later debates the insult internally and vows to make some changes, starting with cleaning her room.
Much later that evening, Queenie joins Kyazike, Darcy, and Cassandra Stone (Elisha Applebaum) for a fireworks show in downtown Brixton. Kyazike uses her connection with a Security Guard (Ralph Adeniyi) to get the group access to a rooftop where they watch the show, drink, and discuss Cassandra’s new love interest, who she apparently has vowed to not have penetrative sex with. When the conversation segues into Queenie’s latest conquests, Darcy once again points out that sex isn’t necessarily the best way for someone to make themselves feel better. Queenie quickly ends the discussion by suggesting they just watch the show.
Before Queenie returns to her apartment, she invites Guy over. He immediately accepts the offer but later hurts her feelings by not spending the night. Queenie returns for a follow-up visit with Dr. Ellison (Laura Whitmore) that doesn’t go as expected. Ellison immediately notices the vaginal tearing and wrongfully assumes that Queenie has been raped. Queenie vehemently denies the claim which to Ellison asking if she’s in an abusive relationship. Although she denies that as well, a brief flashback to her childhood reveals that Queenie’s mother was in an abusive relationship.
Queenie Review
This episode took the series much deeper than I imagined it would have gone. As I’ve said previously, I am not familiar with the literature, so this is like a new experience for me. This was without a doubt one of the deepest episodes thus far and opened a whole new look in Queenie’s mind. Despite the lackadaisical way some of these issues are approached, there are some real complex character flaws. I enjoyed learning more about Queenie’s relationship with her mother and look forward to more of that. I also appreciate that each episode only lasts a little over 20 minutes. I feel that greatly eliminates the need for fluff. I’d give the episode a 5.4 out of 10.
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