CREW MEMBER:
He's not a king! He's a little ass boy.
If you meet him, you better run. He'll waste your time.
And he won't even be able to--
(CHUCKLES)
(BOTH CHUCKLING)
Okay, cool.
I mean, what could be worse? (CHUCKLES)
(CHUCKLING)
(CHUCKLES) You have to be mean to your characters!
DIRECTOR:
♪ (AMBIENT MUSIC PLAYS)
From the very beginning, the idea for this show
was to build out a series of stories,
where each season is sort of a self-contained character study.
It really has so much the same heart of season one.
(EXHALES) Thanks!
SAM BOYD:
and then we pick up with someone else,
and learn everything about them.
Marcus Watkins.
'Sup, Marcus Watkins?
Marcus has made a lot of decisions based on
what people expect of him, what he thought he wanted.
His first marriage was an easy marriage.
It was sort of the path of least resistance.
But, it was never quite right.
Marcus Watkins is someone who's kind of lost,
and needing to make a change and kind of not knowing how to.
RACHELLE WILLIAMS-BENARY:
filling the audience with hope that it can be done.
In season two, we come and ruin all that, and like,
no, like sometimes, "the one" isn't the one.
-You're in my hiding spot, dude. -(LAUGHS)
BOYD:
that blew his mind.
♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-My wife, Emily. -That makes sense.
WILLIAMS-BENARY:
"What's up with you? Do you date Black women?"
-We doing this now? -(CHUCKLES) We are. Yeah.
MARCUS WATKINS: All right.
And him actually thinking about it, probably for the first time in a long time,
it does send Marcus into a spiral.
Who am I similar to?
Van Jones.
SPEAKER:
The Black George R. R. Martin.
Obama.
BOYD:
and shakes him out of this stupor.
Mia calls something out of him that he hides.
I met someone else... I think.
What do you mean you think?
-Like, she's a ghost? -No-- no.
Shut it down. Go home to your wife, bro.
Marcus already has made up his mind
and is kind of seeking advice emptily.
That dumb night blew up my whole life.
BRIDGET BEDARD:
going against him.
(GROANS)
♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
Should we get out of here?
If we want this guy to have to lie in the bed he's made,
what's the realist but still deeply embarrassing outcome?
Please tell me you're in grad school.
Not yet.
First two women that he dates, those are really about his ego.
Wassup smart guy? (GIGGLES)
Destiny looks like a quick, bad choice.
And it just goes south.
Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh-uh!
BEDARD:
"This has gotta be it. She checks a lot of boxes, and maybe this is what I need."
In forcing that, things get too serious, too fast.
You know what I'm looking at right now? Black love.
Supportive, strong, beautiful, Black love.
WILLIAMS-BENARY:
to be in love with a Black woman.
And it has to go perfectly. You have to be the Huxtables.
You have to be Barack and Michelle.
Holy shit, Marcus?
Mia!
When he finally runs into Mia again,
it's like, "There she is."
(CHUCKLES)
BEDARD:
He can't go back and pretend with Ola anymore.
MARCUS: Oh, shit!
Nothing worse than when you go from being somebody's hero
to being their villain.
You're not a king. You're a little ass boy.
WILLIAMS-BENARY:
And so therefore, we put a lot of confident characters
in his path.
(SCOFFS) Boy, you just on time. I was craving a grape Fanta.
You hush. I look good.
Punkie is amazing. She improved everything we wrote.
Aw, that is really sweet.
Their energy and chemistry was just so funny.
-Get the fuck out of my fridge! -All right, damn!
MIA HINES:
Nothing serious.
(SLAPS)
BOYD:
Only to, of course, have the flip side be this pregnancy.
Wow. Uh...
It goes to a place that neither one expected.
I don't wanna be tied to you for the rest of my life.
Then what do you want?!
He's really angry that this will be like a mark against him.
You cannot tap out right now. You gotta see this shit through.
BECCA EVANS:
WILLIAMS-BENARY:
and return to that person that you are.
I'm on my way.
But in the midst of all that, Marcus gravitated towards Mia.
BOYD:
Mia kind of won't go away.
(MIA LAUGHS)
Mia sees him, and there's something about that
that allows him to relax.
I really like you, Mia.
I really like you, too.
We always had hoped that there would be
this instant connection between Marcus and Mia.
To see Will and Jessica lock in and sparkle.
They just play off each other so well.
It's just so explosive and so emotional,
and so wonderful.
It's clearly two Black nerds
just enjoying time with each other.
♪ (BOTH VOCALIZING)
♪
-(PHONE RINGS) -LEON HINES:
Leon, it's Suzanné.
WILLIAMS-BENARY:
fear of ending up like her parents.
(BOTH LAUGH)
BEDARD:
and it's just such a subtle, painful, powerful story.
BOYD:
he's with the person that he wants to be with
and it seems to be working.
(GROANS) I can't believe I'm doing this.
Don't propose.
Like... (GROANS) It's such a knife in the heart.
It's a wake-up call for Marcus.
This isn't working for me.
BOYD:
you do just feel, it's like, "Oh, my god.
That's someone just having their heart broken just in a second."
YOGI:
Oh, come on. No one even makes that association anymore.
You sure?
They might. They might.
Well, next time we'll go in your Honda Odyssey.
(MARCUS AND KIAN LAUGH)
BOYD:
you're always hoping that they can be funny
but also feel real.
Working with CP was a dream.
I remember seeing his audition and it just was like,
"This is the guy."
His mind goes to so many places. It's like an improv game.
YOGI: Took her to get her nails done last week
and they gave me a pedicure too, right?
They have like fish that eat the shit off your feet.
But I didn't know I was stepping on them motherfuckers. Killed like seven fish.
The guy was like, "Oh, you gotta pay."
Eight bucks a fish.
(ALL LAUGHING)
BOYD:
Being able to key into that chemistry,
it felt really fun.
Look at us, bro. Becoming one with nature.
FEIG:
that everybody wants to let everything out.
I'm dating Emily.
And it's so tense. It feels so real and ultimately,
Will just made a choice there that resulted in
my favorite piece of his acting from the whole season.
I think it's beautiful, man.
KIAN PARSA:
-(MARCUS SCOFFS) -She's my girlfriend now
and I have to undo the damage that you did to her.
What he's allowed to do is finally let go.
Let go of the burden for having hurt Emily,
and know that she found her path and that likely, he will also.
MARCUS: So, ya dating anyone?
(EMILY CHUCKLES)
-ALL: Happy New Year! -(CHEERING)
MARCUS: Hey.
Don't worry. We were six feet apart.
Blah, blah, blah.
BEDARD:
It's over. (LAUGHS)
I'm sorry, Anjali.
(SNEEZES)
As someone who is kind of so consumed
by what other people think of him,
in the pandemic, all that goes away.
It's just you. Now what happens?
(PHONE BUZZES)
MIA HINES:
I think I'm all set.
Marcus gets a backbone.
It really is the story of Marcus' inner strength.
-(PHONE RINGS) -MIA: Hello?
Him being at a point in his life to forgive her is very powerful.
I always wanna be there... for you.
FEIG:
you try to talk yourself out of it,
but then clearly knows she's the one.
(BABY CRIES)
MARCUS: Oh, there we go.
WILLIAMS-BENARY:
no matter how much you love someone
or care about someone.
It's work.
(MUMBLING) Can I sh--
I am shitting.
Woah!
(CHUCKLES)
Once you become a parent, it never goes back to normal.
Yeah, that would be nice, but no.
We just dive into some of the more thorny things
that make romantic love so interesting
and complicated and messy.
I love you so much.
I love you, too.
WILLIAMS-BENARY:
two people of color fall in love on screen.
BEDARD:
go through hell and back.
And so, we knew they were right for each other by the end.
You have to earn love. You can't just stumble into it.
Back when we first met, I remember walking away just being like,
"Why did this woman even talk to me?"
And look at us now.
BOYD:
We just wanted to lean into that and say that, "It ended happily,
and then it keeps going and there are more problems.
And if you're lucky, and you're with the right person
it gets easier."
DIRECTOR: And cut. Background!
Bye, babe.
-Ain't no "bye." I'mma join you. -Bye.
(LAUGHS)