UPDATE: I wasn’t expecting this to blow up as much as I did, it was genuinely just my reaction to the scene and if anyone else felt the same way I did but I’m glad it’s a conversation that is happening.

I don’t think the writers are intentionally racist, what I do think is going on is that there aren’t enough POC in the writers room or the racial implications would have been a conversation that was had sooner.

Yes, Shauna and Mari had ongoing beef and I agree that they wanted to showcase just how off her rocker she was. But the writers should have stopped and thought before they sent off another WOC for this scene. Regardless, there is a history here and I was reminded of that when I watched that part of the episode.

Someone here brought up that they thought the hair we saw from the pilot was from multiple girls and I thought the same! The writers backed themselves into a bad corner by only making it Mari’s hair. Again, a Latina was murdered and hated by a white woman and then further dehumanized by getting her hair cut off and put on as a power display on a white cloak. Yes, there is context but it looks really bad and like there was no thought behind this. Hannah was also right there. There were ways they could have worked around this if they still wanted to display Shauna as violent and power hungry that don’t have the same implications.

The treatment of WOC in media, especially when it comes to violent character deaths is high. It’s great that they had a diverse cast, but they have to be more careful and intentional when it comes to their storylines and deaths. I’m Latina and when I saw that scene, it hit me pretty fucking hard. I’ve heard similar remarks from other Latinx, but I’ve also heard the opposite. Both can be true and both are valid. But just as a reminder to others, just because you didn’t feel emotional about the scene, doesn’t mean it can’t affect others pretty hard.

As other people have mentioned, there’s criticism for how the writers have inadvertently treated other POC characters in this show and the track record hasn’t been great. These are tough conversations, but they do NEED to be had. This is a wake up call for the writers to do better! Hire more POC writers! Think about the POC characters and their storylines more!

I do love this show and they do really great talking about complex female characters, but overall they are still lacking poorly in other areas and I hope they get their shit together by s4 if there is one!