Master of None
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Afterthe dissolution of their marriage, Denise and Alicia are now divorced and out of each others lives.
The first, most jarring scene to set the stage for this emotional rollercoaster happens in a fertility clinic.
At 37, Alicias fertility is declining rapidly and time is not on her side.
Her best chance is IVF, but even then her chances of pregnancy only hover around 30-40 percent.
No matter what, shes looking at ten thousand dollars in out-of-pocket costs.
It leaves Alicia with a choice to make.
Should she go for broke, literally, and take a stab at have this baby?
Or should she focus on opening a retail space for her growing business?
Its a crushing blow that leaves Alicia exhausted and sobbing offscreen.
Once again, shes at an impasse.
After some consideration, Alicia decides that shes not willing to let her life pass her by anymore.
She wants a child.
Not for her mother or for a wife, but for herself.
This is her goal and shes going to achieve it.
The second round of IVF renders 13 eggs and 5 embryos.
But after a few weeks, her nurse calls to tell her the good news.
Theres a deep melancholy to this episode that is hard to work through at first.
Ackies performance brings Alicias pain and trepidation to the fore.
And compounding that, shes undertaking this journey alone.
This is a journey shed wanted to take surrounded by love and support and joy.
And instead, shes battling her body, her finances and her own emotions.
Its a devastating portrait of just how hard-won queer families can be.
Alicia spends most of her time alone.
She ferries herself back and forth between her home, her work, and the clinic.
The mundanity is just as apparent as it was in her life with Denise.
The setbacks are discouraging and upsetting but theyre still just a matter of course.
All she really has control over is her own resolve.
Its also hard not to see it as commentary on the strong Black woman trope.
Because then what is she good for?
Thankfully, she never has to answer that question.
Ackie plays Alicias final joy at getting pregnant like a revelation.
Quaking and crying as she gets the good news, the disbelief is naked on her face.
Its a triumph for her body, her will, and her spirit.
As she told her doctor before her second course of treatment, Im a bad bitch.
Her body did not make her a liar.
And with this deeply personal goal achieved, theres nothing else she cant get done, too.
