Maryann Ndungu

The writing is lazy. The characters are hollow. The plot is stitched together with emotional manipulation rather than genuine storytelling. It’s as if someone threw trauma, betrayal, and a few Bible verses into a blender and hit “repeat.” There’s no nuance, no growth, no respect for the intelligence of the audience. Kimmie, the lead character, is written like a ghost—present, but barely alive. Her silence isn’t powerful; it’s frustrating. Her pain isn’t transformative; it’s exploitative. And the men? Either abusive, absent, or saviors. It’s a tired formula that does nothing to elevate the narrative or reflect the complexity of real Black lives. Tyler Perry has the resources to tell groundbreaking stories. Instead, he keeps serving reheated drama that insults rather than inspires. If this is what representation looks like, we need to rethink who gets to tell our stories. Kenyan creatives are out here crafting bold, layered, and authentic narratives. We don’t need trauma to validate our existence. We don’t need suffering to prove our strength. We need truth, and Beauty In Black is anything but. As a Kenyan viewer, I watched *Beauty In Black* with the hope of seeing a powerful, nuanced portrayal of Black stories. What I got instead was a painfully predictable mess that insults the very audience it claims to uplift. From the first episode, it’s clear that Tyler Perry is recycling the same tired tropes: women suffering in silence, abusive relationships, and melodrama dialed up to eleven. It’s not storytelling—it’s trauma porn dressed up as empowerment. The writing is so clunky it feels like it was rushed through a first draft and never edited. Characters lack depth, dialogue is unnatural, and the plot twists are less “twist” and more “trip over your own shoelaces.” The show’s portrayal of women is especially troubling. Kimmie, for example, is written with all the agency of a cardboard cutout. She’s shy, submissive, and barely speaks her mind. It’s heartbreaking not because of the character’s pain, but because of how lazily she’s written. Tyler Perry has built an empire, but *Beauty In Black* proves that success doesn’t equal quality. If this is what passes for representation, we deserve better. Kenyan storytellers, African creatives—we can and do tell richer, more authentic stories every day. This show is a reminder that visibility without integrity is just noise. Puh! Terrible!! Terrible!! Terrible!!