So I have found a lot of new talent and new people breaking into the industry on Amazon Prime Video. Today I found a web series that Amazon UK picked up called Delayed Gratification written and directed by Todd Inman. The tagline is “2 Women. 2 Stories. 1 HBCU. 1 City.” with the genre being Drama.

“Two professional young women living in downtown Philadelphia travel the path of self-growth as they encounter challenges by men, family, work and personal issues like addiction” -IMDB

I have to say I had mixed feelings about the show, but then when looking deeper realized that this started as a YouTube series.  This show has two best friends, and the issues touched in this show are very important especially to the black community, this director went to a lot of dope spots in Philly and gave them recognition including the Black Panther comic strip at a black comic store and a book on hip hop lyrics in a black bookstore called Black Nobel. I definitely think thats dope to send out love to both.

I will say the first episode that was supposed to introduce you to the characters was a little choppy along with the story line for the season. I stilled don’t know what the title has to do with the show. Its starts off with Homecoming at a local HBCU coming up and both need to get their hair done by their beautician and friend. I couldn’t tell if it was the script or the actresses that made each scene just a little awkward, but it got better over the two seasons.

I did learn that Milan, played by Dominique Janelle, was a shopaholic, alcoholic who was financially unstable and working at a dead end job as a tour guide. She has a budget issue, because her card is always getting declined but yet she always has the new stuff. She ends up later dating this guy Reggie and has run into difficult situations twice. Once she almost began stripping on the side, and the other she was doing drug drops for random guys in a support group. Milan’s character was not set and she did a lot of things that didn’t seem realistic for what her personality type was. I haven’t seen enough of her acting to speak on it, but in this series, you couldn’t tell if it was the script or her.

Zara, played by Naya Somanya, was a spoilt brat, who her parents were paying for her to get a good education. She has a sister who is estranged from the family and parents who treat her like a child. She was “dating” a guy who wasn’t exclusive to her, which her parents told was not good enough for her in his face. She also was introduced to many educated brothers but downed them for reading books. Her character was unreal because as an educated black sista who goes to an HBCU and was upset her ex was married to a white girl, would know where the black bookstores and black businesses are in Philly. She is on her Masters degree and would appreciate a brotha who introduced her to something different if she didn’t.

The episodes were 6 mins long, so it didn’t give the change to have smoother transitions and good shots, and according to IMDB the budget was only $10,000. I think with that budget though, there is still a little work that could’ve been done because the angles and the saturation of the scenes could have been better, but once again for a YouTube series starting off, it has time to improve. The characters backstories could be done and I think that way in the future, it will make it guarantee that the characters are always doing something that could be done.

There were some scenes I think that could’ve been a little more realistic as well, like the beautician having a mental breakdown, and the fact that they went to visit her – unrealistic. She either needs to be a third friend in the show, or that could’ve been done a little better. Also, when Milan almost took a drink as an alcoholic could’ve been a little more emotional. It was done too quick and with no breakdown or tears.

The story had a lot of unanswered hangers, and a lot of scenes that straight up didn’t make sense, but it had a lot of culture and showed the beauty of Philly. I think it was a good base but definitely could be flushed out a lot more. Perhaps since Amazon has picked it up, make Season 3 with full episodes and better transitions. I haven’t checked out any more of Tinman Creative Productions projects, but I can definitely say this is a company to watch…