The young women of Star are a handful, to say the least. In season 1 alone we’ve seen them tell off Naomi Campbell, escape a hospital, and turn on people who have hid literal dead bodies for them. As Big Trouble’s freshman run winds down we were pretty sure no one would be able to wrangle these ladies into a functioning girl group.
Then, Paris Jackson appeared. The King of Pop’s daughter made her big TV debut as social media “wizard” Rachel Wells in “Saving Face” and everyone forgot their egos for the good of the band.
After months of sniping at each other, Star (Jude Demorest), Alexandra (Ryan Destiny), Simone (Brittany O’Grady), and a scratched-up Eva (Sharlene Taulé) fake smile for the camera like they’re at a middle school sleepover. Michael Jackson's daughter doesn’t have time for these lies.
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Rachel starts out her Big Trouble dressing down by reminding Star she isn’t the only beautiful member of the group. Then, the glove-wearing digital expert calls out the goody two shoes "Disney crap" and notes how Star and Eva are clearly "already hating on each other."
This kind of raw, real honesty is exactly what this now-quartet needs, as opposed to manager Jahil Rivera (Benjamin Bratt) and his shady, cocaine-fueled machinations, or Miss Carlotta’s ignored sermonizing.
While we do hope Rachel and her unfiltered real talk return to whip Star & Co. into shape, she definitely deserves better in the dialogue department for her comeback.
Real-life Paris is all about feminism, activism, and gay rights. Her character, however, hasn’t jumped on any nasty woman bandwagons yet.
The social media star refers to Latina woman Eva as the offensive nickname “Cha Cha,” which is already bad enough. The uncomfortable commentary doesn’t end there, as she then urges the Big Trouble ladies to get “dirty” with each other, leading an uncomfortable Star to straddle Eva for sexy promotional photos.
If Star and Eva wanted to flirt with each other themselves there wouldn’t be a problem here. But the pair was forced to play up their sexuality to cash in on bigger success. While that’s a sad reality in the music industry, it’s not cool to watch one young woman put others in that position.
Hopefully Paris will get to put more of her own progressive politics into the role next time.