Created by the iconic Spike Lee, She’s Gotta Have It brings a fresh and modernized perspective on the life of Nola Darling (DeWanda Wise) as she searches to find herself through her relationships and her art. While the first season’s narrative closely follows Nola’s love life and affairs, the second season of She’s Gotta Have It, occurring 18 months later, brings us closer to the characters that surround Nola while this time the focus is on her self- realization as an artist and on her personal development.
In spite of there being much virtue in the themes and topics discussed during the show’s 2-season run, some fans seem to have been alienated by the lack of depth and the insufficient quality of the show’s relationships, which seem to raise more questions than answers. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons why Netflix canceled the show, leaving these many questions to remain unanswered. In this list, we’ll go through all the topics and relationships left unexplained by the show’s abrupt ending. These are the 10 Questions we still have after season 2 of She’s Gotta Have It.
Why do the three men want to be around Nola all the time?
With the conclusion of the first season, Nola leaves her three lovers in a resolve to focus on her monogamous, homosexual relationship with Opal Gilstrap (Ilfenesh Hadera). However, during the events of the second season, Mars Blackmon (Anthony Ramos), Jamie Overstreet (Lyriq Bent), and Greer Childs (Cleo Anthony) continue their involvement into Nola’s personal life despite their presence being redundant for both Nola and the plot as a whole.
Perhaps the only exception, Mars seems to care most about Nola, and his closeness to her seems to tie in better with the plot. Still, for some unknown reason, after she broker he ties with these characters in the first season, they still cling to Nola in the second season, which begs the question of how important they actually are to her,—and for that matter, to the entire plot of the show.
What´s going on between Nola and Opal?
Almost two years into their seemingly happy relationship, Nola and Opal experience an abrupt break-up only a few episodes into the second season. The barrier in their relationship seems to be the increasing closeness between Nola and Opal’s daughter Skylar (Indigo Hubbard-Salk), who end up spending too much time together engaging in “childish” activities, much to Opal’s discontent.
This behavior poses a problem to Opal establishing credibility and authority as a parent as opposed to Nola who wants to see Skylar as more of a sister figure. In response, Opal starts bashing Nola with of accusations of irresponsibility and childishness, which results in the couple seemingly breaking up.
However, at the end of the season, Opal appearance at Nola’s art show thrills Nola and the two hit it off like there’s no bad blood between them. This leaves viewers to ask what is really going on between the two and whether Nola views Opal as a friend or something more.
What’s Divine´s background?
We’ve learned a few things about Papo da Mayor (Elvis Nolasco), aka ‘Divine’ along the way. He’s an aspiring artist, veteran, and apparently homeless. The block which he calls home seems to buy into his persona, calling him the “mayor of the block.” That is, everyone except a caucasian woman named Bianca Tate (Kim Director) who recently moved to the neighborhood.
We also know that this is the woman responsible for Divine’s 18-month incarceration due to a trivial crime of graffiti. However, in the second season, we gain a glimpse of his personal life with the appearance of his alleged 22-year-old daughter looking for her father. We see their relationship, Divine’s marriage, and his veteran background as areas that could stir a lot of emotion, but that have yet remained completely unexplored.
What´s going on between Jamie and Cheryl?
Cheryl (Sydney Morton) and Jamie (Lyriq Bent) seem to have it figured out. They no longer wish to be married and are now getting an amicable divorce. Still, their relationship seems to be more complicated than that. They’ve been buried in arguments since the inception of the first season despite making constant efforts to diffuse the situation so their conflicts wouldn’t negatively affect their son Virgil (Brandon Niederauer).
He’s actually the glue that has kept them together for so long. We know that Jamie has been having an affair with Nola. Why, then, would he be so shocked about Cheryl moving on and go so far as to have her boyfriend attacked? If by some miracle the show returns for another season, we have no idea how the situation with Jamie and Cheryl would play out.
What´s Clorinda and Mars’ Story?
Clorinda (Margot Bingham) seemed to have been cool with Mars breaking ties with her to see Nola. She still seems to have remained close to Mars, as, in the 6th episode of the second season, she allows him to move to her apartment. This is where she reveals that she’d been pregnant and aborted his baby. After this, the viewers are left in the dark in regard to their relationship until the end of the season. Even more bizarre is the fact that, despite all this, Clorinda had still managed to stay close to Nola.
What’s up with Mars?
Mars is one of the few characters who receives more attention with the second season. However, despite all the new information we’re provided about his life, his relevance to Nola and the entire show, in general, remains low. Apart from the drama surrounding his relationship with Nola and Clorinda, we also learn that his real father is Mookie from Do The Right Thing—something Mars himself simply shrugs off.
For the fans, this is a clue that the show might be set in the same universe as other notable Spike Lee feature films, and may even feature cross-overs. Back to Mars—a person who’s father has been kept a secret from him—who somehow yet fails to display any semblance of emotion to the news of his father’s identity. More curious is his relationship with music; in the first season, virtually no attention was given to his musical talent, yet in the second season we follow him as he tries to further his musical career almost out of the blue.
How is Shemekka dealing with her past decisions?
Once an exotic dancer, Shemekka (Chyna Layne) spends the show’s entire 2-season run recovering from her botched body-enhancement surgery which left her confidence and self-esteem ruined. Ironically, the same self-esteem and body-image issues prompted her to take butt injections in the first place.
With no apparent clues or warning, as the second season came, we see Shemekka with Winny (Fat Joe). This begs the question of whether she’s using him as a coping mechanism for her tragedy and emotional trauma or whether there’s something more between them. If it’s the latter, then why were the viewers not made aware of her desire for Winny—and vice versa—earlier?
Who’s Raqueletta Moss?
Another character who receives no proper introduction is Raqueletta Moss (De’Adre Aziza), Nola’s employer and the principal at the inner-city school where Nola taught art. In the first season, Raqueletta tells Nola about the tribulations and problems that the children attending her school face on a daily basis. In the second season, we see Raqueletta appear again, welcomed as a close, old friend, hiring Nola once again to decorate the fence along her school with a vinyl mural.
We never get to see the mural nor how their relationship plays out for the rest of the season. That is, until Raqueletta appears with her man, whom fans had no idea about, at Nola’s art show. The show again leaves us clueless as to the relationship between Raqueletta Moss and manages to introduce yet another character that brings no value to the plot arc.
Who are Septima and Stokely Darling?
Nolas Parents: this, and only this, is what they’ve remained throughout the show’s two-season run. We learn little about them aside from the fact that they’re both artists. We know that Septima’s (Joie Lee) an actress and Stokely (Thomas Jefferson Byrd) a musician. We also know that Stokely disagrees with his wife’s acting career.
Yet, the show fails to connect Nola’s parents to the narrative in any way that would stir up emotion or impact the plot in any significant way. Many questions remain unanswered in regard to Nola’s parents and their effect on the protagonist. Were they the reason she decided to become an artist? Perhaps we would have a better understanding of, and in turn involvement into, Nola’s life and motives that guide her decisions if we knew the background that helped shape her.
Who is really Nola Darling?
Okay, Nola is a lot of things; a deeply sexual, passionate, complicated, and, in many ways, immature artist with a firm and unapologetic stance on showcasing her true self to the world through her art and political affairs. But who is she really?
The second season set out to answer this question, yet, for all intents and purposes, it failed. While the main focus of season two is on Nola career, decisions, and turmoils, we don’t see any significant character development or insight into the inner workings and motivations of the protagonist. This is where the third season would come in, although we’re not sure it ever will.
