Twenties 2×03 Review: Killing Me Softly with His Song

It finally happened. Twenties season 2 episode 3, ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’, gave us more information about Chuck’s sexuality.

‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’ opened with Chuck and Marie talking about their engagement party. Chuck’s very interested in having the best party ever, even mentioning how they should come up with a hashtag as a couple. On the other hand, Marie’s clearly a bit hesitant about going ahead with the wedding.

The two aren’t on the same page, and I hope they get to talk about their concerns during the second season of Twenties and certain story threads aren’t dragged out. The previous episode showed Marie crushing on one of her clients. She even fantasized about said client when being intimate with Chuck. She’s also, more or less, still flirting with her boss. So, yeah, the newly-engaged couple has issues.

‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’ introduced a character named Chance. Turns out, he was Chuck’s college roommate. I could see the spark between them the moment they appeared together on screen. Even Marie seemed to be picking up on the signals. She’s had her suspicions about Chuck being queer for a while now and seeing him being friendly with Chance wasn’t helping her concerns.

I liked how the creative team handled Chuck and Chance’s relationship. At first, I dreaded the narrative would opt for the most clichéd route and have Marie walk in on Chuck and Chance making out in secret during the engagement party. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. The episode closed with Chuck and Chance talking about their past without physically involving Marie in the conversation.

Queer representation in media can be quite tricky to get right, especially when the creative team wants to showcase well-written queer content instead of using a character’s sexuality to cause drama. I think it was the right choice for Twenties to show Chuck and Chance have such an important conversation alone. From what I could understand, Chuck and Chance messed around a bit (I think they only kissed once) during their college years. However, things couldn’t continue between them because Marie entered Chuck’s life. Chance was the only guy Chuck had been with before committing to Marie. Chuck feeling left out on exploring his sexuality when he was younger made sense.

I do think Chuck loves Marie. However, he also can’t stop wondering about what could have been if he had given some other guy or Chance… a chance. Not only that, being with someone like Marie helped Chuck move around comfortably in society, and in front of his parents, as a Black man due to being in a heteronormative pairing.

I think a lot of queer individuals get to experience what Chuck’s going through. Numerous sexually fluid queer people find themselves going down the ‘heteronormative pairing’ route to avoid making things tougher for them depending on the kind of society they live in, especially PoC because they don’t want to deal with being “othered” due to their sexuality as well.  

I’m looking forward to seeing how Twenties season two continues to handle Chuck coming to terms with his sexuality. Kudos to actor Jevon McFerrin for acting the heck out of that particular scene. The single tear falling from his eye because of his fear of losing Marie if he’s honest with her was quite impactful.

I understand what Chuck’s going through, but he needs to be honest with Marie. She deserves that much. Also, Marie needs to be honest with Chuck, too. She’s not feeling their upcoming wedding and the two can’t move forward in a healthy manner without having a serious conversation about what they want.

I also liked how Chance didn’t come across as a character trying to break Marie and Chuck’s engagement because of jealousy. Yes, he and Chuck still have feelings for each other, but Chance respected Chuck’s decision and didn’t harbor any ill will towards Marie. Such character choices are refreshing to see in queer-centric media.

Hattie’s relationship with Ida B seems to be going well for now. Being with someone older and successful as Ida B was rubbing off on Hattie the right way. Hattie got a new job as a delivery person, and I think Hattie’s also being more open with taking Ida B’s advice about time management and making something of her life. Having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if the two eventually realize that the current relationship isn’t for them. Ida B and Hattie are very different people. Ida B had Hattie playing Jacks at home even though Hattie wanted to go bowling.

‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’ also focused a bit on Lauren’s relationship with Ben. I think Ben’s quite hesitant about publicizing his relationship with Lauren because of what society might think of him being with a white woman as a Black professional moving up in Hollywood. I have a feeling Ben’s interested in pairing up with Nia to give himself a boost on social media and that’s not a stable ground for being in a relationship with someone. Nia better be careful around Ben.

I did like Ben’s conversation with Nia about social media and how it can be used to interact with fans. However, from what I could tell, Ben’s not fully grasping the harm social media can do to a brand. Or maybe he doesn’t care? There’s a difference between accepting constructive criticism from targeted consumers and succumbing to every demand by the fandom. Ben’s too concerned about the opinion of people on social media. He’s already had an argument with Marie over the type of content they should be greenlighting. Catering to social media could blow up in Ben’s face and hurt Nia’s acting career, too. Let’s see what happens.

All in all, ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’ did a good job of showcasing the professional and personal relationships between certain characters. There’s a lot that can go wrong in the remaining five episodes and I’m here for it, especially when it comes to what’s going on between Marie and Chuck. 

What did you think of Twenties season 2 episode 3?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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