She's Gotta Have It 1.08

#LoveDontPayDaRent (IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY NOW)

The episode opens with the day after the 2016 election. Everyone is down in the dumps. No one is pleased with the results. The moment passes. Life goes on.

Greer calls up Nola and then follows that up with a visit. She meets him on the stairs to her building. She is in a good mood over the sale of of one of her paintings. She isn't eager for Greer's company but this time he is able to work some magic. Part of the spell he casts involves a plastic phallus that he is wearing when he shows up. She finally invites him in but she accidentally calls out Jamie's last name, Overstreet, in the middle of sex.

Cheryl visits Jamie at his office. Virgil went into Jamie's room looking for a tie and found Nola's painting. Cheryl wants answers. Jamie is evasive. She also found out about the $10,000 that Jamie paid for the painting.

Nola finds out later that day that there's no money in her account, while she is at an art supply store. She is confronted by Miss Ella, her landlady, who gives her 2 days to get caught up with her rent payments or else. Nola scrambles. She walks dogs. She gives art lessons. She knocks up her parents for some help. She calls Jamie and leaves him a long, angry, rambling message about his check bouncing. She gets some advice from Mars. She manages to scrape together enough money to pay Miss Ella.

Mars runs into Clorinda and tells her that Nola needs financial help. He also mentions Nola's street art, which Clorinda didn't realize was Nola's. Jamie goes to see Winny Win. They go way back. He knocks Winny up for 10K. Winny isn't happy about it, he gives Jamie grief but he eventually coughs the money up.

Nola comes home after paying Miss Ella and finds the painting she sold to Jamie returned along with $10,000, in cash.

Thoughts

That opening sequence really got me down, especially with the 2020 election less than a month away. I was so happy to see that it was just a moment and wasn't the focus of the whole episode. The first season of She's Gotta Have It dropped on Netflix in Nov 2017, a year after the 2016 election.

I just found out that the actress who plays Miss Ella is Pauletta Washington. Her husband's first name is Denzel. She worked on a couple of his films but not in front of the cameras.

This episode marks the first time that there is any hint that club owner Winny Win and Jamie Overstreet have any connection.

I have my doubts about Nola being able to scrape together enough money to pay all the back rent she owes to Miss Ella in 48 hours but it's a little vague exactly how much she owes.