'Bob Hearts Abishola' S3E7 Recap: Fumble In The Dark

Episode summary: Morenike drops  a bombshell on Kemi. 

This week's episode is the 7th episode of Season 3, and we still don't see the focus being on the titular couple. Last week, it circled back to Kemi's (Gina Yashere) weird 'trouple'  story arc with her pharmacist boyfriend Chukwuemeka (Tony Tambi) and Abishola's young cousin, Morenike (Tori Tanner); Kemi dating Terence,  a radiologist from the hospital, just to spite Chukwuemeka for squiring Morenike around. 

'Fumble in the Dark' was expecting to open with Douglas (Matt Jones) going on his first date with the pretty bus driver he met at the end of the previous episode. Instead, it was about Kemi again,  pleased her antics have been upsetting Chukwuemeka enough to send her 16 texts. However, she gets a bombshell from Morenike who reveals... *drum roll* she's gay; hence not a real threat, yet needs Chukwuemeka as a beard to satisfy her family's expectations. Kemi is mortified (this reveal making her look like an idiot) while Abishola (Folake Olowufoyeku) while not condemning, wastes no time advising her young cousin to "stay in the closet." This is another instance of art imitating life as Gina Yashere who plays Kemi and is  the show's co-creator is gay herself and while she didn't grow up in Nigeria, does know about the country's stance on homosexuality, which is against the law,  and wanted to remain authentic in terms of Nigerian culture. 

"For me, it's all about authenticity," Yashere said in an interview with TVLine. "Because our cast is half Nigerian, we wanted to do a story about something that is effecting a lot of Nigerians - in and outside of the country."

Maybe so, but it was treated in a rather tastless  manner. Abishola was alone in the living room with Morenike discussing the matter; why did she have to look around her before whispering the word "gay" accompanied by canned laugher, that part  just had the writers looming for cheap laughs. It looks like gay characters in sitcoms are still being used as a joke and there should be no surprise if the LGBT community complain again, even with Yashare's intentions.

 

Plus, Abishola and Kemi were being ridiculous  encouraging Morenike to keep up with the arrangement; Kemi especially for selfish reasons. But Bob (Bill Gardell) soon made them see what hypocrites they were for expecting Morenike to follow expectations; Abishola reminded by marrying him, she followed her own path and Kemi, with no filter and dating a younger man, nor caring what people think. 

The sub plot showed Bob's sister Christina (Maribeth Monroe) finally leaving MaxDot to explore other opportunities, as she has been long unappreciated  in the company. I hope we still see her in subsequent episodes, and with a better story arc. However, her departure from the company has immediately caused fiction between Goodwin (Bayo Akinfemi) and Kofo (Anthony Okungbowa), as Bob hands over Christina's vacant position to Kofo, much to Goodwin's fury. At least Kofo will finally be able to move out of Goodwin's garage apartment!

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