Critic Reviews

Season 2 is a statement of understanding as much as it’s a means to help viewers engage with what’s happening in American culture. Simien and his talented writing staff, directors, and cast are more confident with a season under their belts, and that conviction burns through the screen.

In the astounding third season, creator Justin Simien pushes his characters toward thrilling new beginnings. ... Dear White People really is an exploration of humanity and beauty and people and places, damn it. They should teach it in college.

The series maintains a perfect balance between joy and trauma that exemplifies the duality of the black experience; its writing is sharp and contemporary. Even the moments of parody feel relatable as opposed to over-the-top.

Dear White People gives you an abundance of characters to care about and entertains with its inspired, hilarious storytelling. Simien keeps and hones the heightened reality style of his film. The meticulous compositions and meta-awareness are reminiscent of the Coen brothers and Spike Lee.

The entire cast is outstanding, and Simien’s script is masterful. On the one hand, he is dealing with very complicated identity issues with intelligence and directness. On another level, though, he’s writing exceptionally funny comedy, crackling with credible wit that often packs a not-so-secret weapon: thought-provoking points of view about how we deal with issues of race and identity. Or, in some cases, how we don’t deal with them.

Identity is a prominent theme in the story of college kids struggling to discover who they are and what they stand for, and the series’ first two episodes feel deeply unifying. The premiere episode is a streamlined effort with an impressively strong voice; the next half-hour is equally affecting and vocal, an ideal split between entertaining and illuminating.

DWP does want to be provocative, just not too provocative. Mostly it just wants to keep an open mind and open heart. Mostly, it succeeds.

Maybe Dear White People isn't sure yet how to also be a generation-spanning mystery. Watching the show built over two seasons leaves me with little doubt that Dear White People can grow into that genre as well. In a Too Much TV landscape, Dear White People is a show I didn't write about at all in its first season, but it has become one of the best things on TV and deserves to be discussed as such.

The season does sag a bit around 206-7, but it’s forgivable given how fascinatingly it ends, with a series of episodes that are moving, funny, and brilliant.

Dear White People has leveled up in quality during its second season--no small feat considering how consistently strong it was during its freshman outing.