The first episode of Single Ladies did not impress me. it seemed like all the characters did was drink champagne and change clothes. I watched the second episode not expecting things to get better. Then the third. Then the fourth. Then I suggested my mom watch, and then I realized: I was hooked. The show had grown on me… and gotten better. I regret reacting so soon… but in a lightning-fast 24 hour entertainment news cycle you forget that there is such a thing as development. Giving something a chance to breathe. Now that the season finale has aired, I feel confident in saying: Single Ladies is good. Not amazing, not perfect, but a fun, soapy summer romantic comedy series that deserves the second season renewal it recently picked up. Does it tread the same ground as Sex And The City? Yes. Of course. Because the quest for true love is eternal. But unlike SATC, Single Ladies depicts a non-segregated world, where white people and black people not only work and socialize side by side, but are friends. SATC‘s version of New York — my hometown — was sadly whitewashed.
At first the characters seemed too similar to Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha, but as the storyline progressed, the single ladies — Val, Keisha, April and eventually intern Christina — proved to be unique individuals with their own agendas and neuroses. Val’s the optimist who dreams of a fairytale ending (read: wedding, husband and kids) even though she was with a man for five years and he refused to propose. Keisha is the player with a checkered past who meets her match, meaning she has to stay on her toes. April is the seemingly happily married woman who cheats on her husband, who finds out when he sees it on the news. And Christina the intern is a sex-hungry psuedo-hipster know-it-all, who somehow manages to charm everyone even as she’s getting busted by cops or coming to work hungover.