Ask, and you shall receive. After seven episodes of wishing for more context and depth from the show instead of having to refer back to the text, Kindred takes us on a final wild ride. I keep thinking back to Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s quote about the show not replacing the book but driving people back to it, which I respect and encourage. Literature and television are two very different mediums that work well hand in hand but have separate capabilities and impacts. But as I watched, I felt like there wasn’t enough substance for the show to fill its own shoes, let alone Octavia E. Butler’s, especially since the promotion so heavily tied it to the book. And the expectations were high, with it being the first time any of Butler’s work had been adapted onscreen. Both the story of the text and the new series got lost throughout the season, but this finale feels like a glimmer of what the show could’ve been.
Finally, Kindred’s Black characters are allowed to exist outside of plot points. Starting with Olivia, we dig deeper into the motivations of these women, peeking behind the veil that erupts when in the presence of the Weylins. Olivia opens the episode in a scene where she’s at the beginning of her pregnancy with Dana, discussing motherhood with her mother-in-law, who tells her that “a child is an opportunity to think outside yourself. There’s no better, more mysterious love.” It’s interesting she’d say this, as what we’ve seen of Olivia hasn’t been particularly maternal, at least not toward Dana. She’s more attached to Alice, which (somewhat) confirms my theory that I didn’t want to share too early in the season. There’s a reason Olivia is fiercely protective of Alice that we don’t know yet, but I’m assuming it has to do with what Dana finds in the family Bible.
Without the protection of Kevin, Sarah suggests that Dana run away that night. She gives her version of a blessing, saying she doesn’t have a problem with her leaving. At least I thought it was a blessing, but Dana tells her she has no idea who she’s dealing with. She packs a bag, rushing to escape the Weylins, but Nigel stops her on the way out, wondering where his dad is. They go to Winnie’s cabin to speak freely, and she doesn’t specifically disclose that Luke has been sold, but she tells Nigel he needs to stay strong and keep learning how to read. As Dana tries to leave the plantation, Olivia arrives early in the morning to try and save her. She asks Sarah to get Carrie to deliver a message to Dana inside the house. Sarah admits to never liking either Dana or Olivia, suspicious of their troublemaking and saying they might as well be kin.
Then, in the type of twist I’ve been waiting for all season, Sarah admits to not only knowing that Dana and Olivia have been trying to keep Rufus alive but also to being the person who kept trying to kill Margaret’s babies in the first place! She’s the one who turned Rufus over in the crib! She says that if Dana and Olivia hadn’t interfered, Tom would’ve eventually divorced Margaret because of her infertility, and the people on the plantation would “have a chance.” There could be a chance that Tom is a more fair master (whatever that means) without his wife, and Sarah definitely wants revenge on Margaret for selling her sons, but I have a sense there’s even more. This is pure conjecture, but something about the way she spoke about Master William, the man whose room Kevin is staying in, and the memories in the walls, makes me wonder about how deep her ties to the Weylins really go. She also looks like she could be biracial … but I could be reading too deeply into it.
Sarah tells Olivia that Dana should already be gone. Tom walks in on the two women speaking and asks where Dana is, as he can’t find her in the house. Sarah directs him to Winnie’s cabin, a place where Dana used to hide out when avoiding chores, believing that she should be on her way to Olivia’s cabin by now. But she is actually in Winnie’s cabin, talking to Nigel. He heartbreakingly asks to go with Dana, but she tells him that being strong is what his father wanted. Nigel’s able to escape before Tom bursts in, but he catches Dana with one of the books. Trying to save herself from being punished, she … tells Tom she’ll teach him how to read?! I don’t know why in what world she thinks this would be an appropriate thing to say to him; Black people weren’t allowed to have such audacity, and she reaps the consequence of this statement.
Tom drags her outside, rips open the back of her dress, and whips her over and over again until Olivia intervenes, grabbing the whip. He pushes her down, and she falls on top of her daughter. Just as he goes to whip Olivia, they disappear. Tom goes to Olivia’s cabin for answers regarding the sudden disappearance. There he finds Kevin, who has been hiding out with Alice since Tom abandoned him in the forest. Winnie is officially gone, stealing Kevin’s clothes and running away after Kevin tried to stop her. Alice is sitting guard, armed with a gun she’s strangely confident with handling. Tom bursts in, asking Kevin about the “witchcraft” behind Olivia and Dana vanishing, revealing to Kevin that they’ve left him stranded in the past.
Dana reappears in her 2016 house, screaming for Kevin and bringing us full circle to the season premiere. She soaks in the bath in a dark room while strobing light flashes off the fresh wounds on her back, and she counts the time on the clock out loud — another shot that hints at this series’ potential. It’s one of the rare shots where the show’s directing, acting, and story line combined simultaneously for a powerful moment. With the police at her doorstep, she sends a rushed message to Denise, letting her know she’s returned. Denise has no choice but to believe the unbelievable after witnessing Dana and Kevin vanish from the closet and comes to Dana’s house. Dana is able to provide the police with answers sufficient enough for them to leave her alone, and Denise arrives a few hours later.
Denise, who has now seen the wounds of Dana’s back with her own eyes, gives her niece full support, even if she doesn’t understand what’s happening. Dana explains everything she knows thus far, and Denise mentions the family Bible since Dana says she believes Rufus to be an ancestor. Many descendants of enslaved Africans took copious records of their ancestry to try and keep a recorded history of our existence. These records were so precious they were often recorded in family Bibles. Dana’s grandmother kept one that happened to be left in the brownstone. Dana packed the book in the move, and they flip through it, looking for Carrie’s name. There is a Carrie, but she’s born too late to have a direct tie to Rufus. However, she sees the name Alice. This coincides with my theory that Olivia knew she was related to Alice this whole time and was trying to keep her alive in the same way Dana was trying to save Rufus.
While Dana confides in Denise about the experience, she breaks down about her guilt for leaving Kevin in the past. There’s still no way to tell how much time passed in the other timeline — Kevin could’ve experienced five days or five years in the past by now. The emotions spill out of Dana in a performance that proves Mallori Johnson is ready for major roles, even if she’s just freshly on the heels of her Juilliard graduation. The anxiety, guilt, grief, and fear flowing from Dana were more intense than the emotions I felt from Dana in the book, showing how television can pierce viewers in a way literature can’t with the right actors. The mental anguish of her circumstances culminates into manic hysteria as she does everything she can in the limited time she has to prepare for the next time Rufus summons her.
Dana believes that once she ensures Rufus stays alive and their next direct ancestor is born, it’ll end. Now that they’ve found Alice’s name and date of birth, they have more information to work with and a concrete time parameter to ensure their bloodline continues. She immediately gathers her things and counts down in front of the clock again, maybe believing that there’s a pattern happening regarding the time she gets pulled away. Alan calls Denise and reveals that NYPD has found Olivia, meaning she, too, was brought back to 2016 when she was holding onto Dana.
I wish this were a mid-season episode instead of the finale. The bulk of the season should’ve been condensed into a few episodes, with this part of the story line happening way sooner. Mallori Johnson’s performance and Dana’s revelations when she returns to 2016 this time would’ve worked so well to keep people invested instead of the plethora of scenes of Kevin and the Weylins. The rest of the episodes could’ve explored more about Dana, Olivia, Sarah, Alice, and Winnie, but instead, the best was saved for last in the worst way. We get a rushed peek inside their heads, and then the episode ends. The finale provided a great cliffhanger, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough to keep it from being categorized as “just another slave show.”
Time-Traveller’s Diaries
• Penny tracked Kevin’s phone, which Dana was able to grab before being shunted to 2016 and arrives outside Dana’s house, where she meets Hermione and her husband. Penny and the neighbors swap information before they invite her in for coffee. Of course, the couple adds a little razzle-dazzle to the story, saying drugs may be involved, so I can’t imagine how else they’ll escalate the situation.
• Alice was a badass character in the book and an even badder character in the series. Olivia and Hagar raised her well; the confidence and grit she has are undeniable, though unfortunate to have to develop at that age. It’s great to see that Kevin is taking care of her while Olivia and Dana are in the present.
• Sophina Brown, as Sarah, had so much potential to take her character to another level. Who knew Sarah was doing all that plotting? Then the delivery of the line, “What I’m gonna do with shame when my life is confined to this cookhouse day in and day out?” made her a more interesting character than Tom and Margaret ever were. I need more!
