‘The Other Black Girl’ Review: A Painfully Real Messy Thriller

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This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.

As someone who grew up in predominantly white spaces, Hulu’s The Other Black Girl, written by Zakiya Dalila Harris, made me feel seen and uncomfortable. But it was the good kind of uneasiness that made me reflect on my past experiences with the other black girl.

The TV series is a comedy-drama thriller based on the novel of the same name. When the show’s first trailer was released, I rolled my eyes because I thought it was another series making “racism” the horror factor of the show. In addition, the book reviews on Twitter didn’t help. Most people were discussing the big spoiler in the end but had hoped the series would do better at telling the story.

I didn’t read the book, but I read the premise and thought, “This is going to feel too real,” and it did. The show’s protagonist is Nella Rogers (Sinclair Daniel), and she is the only Black employee at Wagner Books until Hazel May McCall (Ashleigh Murray) comes along.

Harris nails the many microaggressions Black women experience in the office. Her white co-workers’ comments got a chuckle out of me but also made me cringe. Then, combining that with the cheesy horror and thriller scenes admittedly made the show hard to get through. However, Hazel made me want to continue watching the show because her character captivated me.

I couldn’t hate her, but I didn’t love her either. Hazel’s first incident with Nella made me want to understand what was wrong with this girl. It’s the same thing I experienced when another Black girl got hired at the previous companies I worked at. I related to Nella’s excitement of finally not being the only person of color in the office, but the other Black girl doesn’t feel the same way.

In an interview with Esquire, Harris discusses her experience working at a publishing company and how it inspired the book. Harris ran into the other Black girl in the bathroom, and she didn’t acknowledge her. Harris said, “I’m actually glad she didn’t acknowledge me because I went back to my desk and started thinking. I was really excited to see her. Why was I so excited? Why didn’t she respond to me? Did she owe me a response? All of this percolated in my brain, and I started writing the book at my desk.”

I don’t know if it’s a universal experience to have the other Black girl just flat-out ignore you, but it made me connect with Nella’s character more. I highly recommend checking out the interview after you watch the show because it makes you understand what frame of mind Harris was in when she was writing the book.

In conclusion, The Other Black Girl is an interesting, if cheesy, character-driven story that explores workplace relativity while digging into its mysterious plot. I like my horror subtle and the series could’ve brought on more suspense. However, once the mystery kicks in, the show gets easy to watch and divulge. I really like how I knew the big spoiler and was still questioning where the show was going.

★★★½

The Other Black Girl is now streaming on Hulu.

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