‘Queenie’s powerful ending reminds us that feeling uncomfortable is crucial

In 2019, Candice Carty-Williams’ vastly well-liked debut novel, Queenie, had readers attempting to grapple with the advanced heroine, the novel’s titular protagonist. Some have been perplexed, some enamoured, some deeply uncomfortable. Now, with Channel 4 and Hulu’s TV adaptation, Queenie Jenkins is reaching new audiences desirous to unpack her, in all her wonderful messiness.

Queenie tells the story of a 25-year-old Black British Jamaican lady from south London attempting to navigate a quarter-life disaster. Like many ladies, Queenie (Dionne Brown) finds her twenties difficult. She’s estranged from her mom, working in an unsatisfying journalism job the place she’s unable to inform the tales she desires about her neighborhood, and has simply suffered a miscarriage. To make issues worse, her long-term boyfriend Tom (Jon Pointing) requests a break, so she strikes out of their shared dwelling right into a less-than-ideal flat share. Right here, Queenie searches for solace in alcohol and informal hookups that in the end go away her feeling disempowered.

Queenie’s story tackles themes of self-worth, home abuse, childhood trauma, and misogyny. Each the guide and the sequence encourage empathy in the direction of these experiences, a request for reflection that may turn out to be uncomfortable for viewers. But it surely’s the sequence finale that proves how invaluable such illustration will be.  

What occurs on the finish of Queenie?

In direction of the tip of the present, we see Queenie’s unresolved childhood trauma meet up with her — in addition to latest occasions since her breakup. In a brief span of time, she discovers that Man (Joseph Ollman), one of many males she was hooking up with, was additionally relationship her buddy, Cassandra (Elisha Applebaum). She’s confronted on the street by the spouse of Adi (Mim Shaikh), a neighborhood man from Brixon who had been vocal about his crush on Queenie and whom she connected with behind his automobile. Her co-worker Ted (Tom Forbes), who she connected with within the workplace bathrooms, additionally seems to be married with a baby on the way in which. When Ted’s spouse suspects his affair (of which there appears to have been a couple of), he experiences Queenie to HR for inappropriate advances, leading to her suspension. The ultimate blow comes when Queenie has a breakdown, after which she lastly decides to inform her ex about her miscarriage — solely to search out out he has moved on with another person.

Within the ultimate episode, Queenie has transitioned to a brand new area, bodily, professionally, and personally. She’s going to remedy, dwelling in a brand new condo, and she or he posted a video on-line interviewing her grandmother Veronica (Llewella Gideon) about making a house within the UK, starting a brand new sequence exploring underrepresented voices within the Black neighborhood. By the finale, Queenie has realised her self-worth to the purpose that she will be able to forgive Cassandra, acknowledging how “males made [them] each transfer mad”, however not welcome her again into her life. Queenie is ready to agree together with her boss, Gina (Sally Phillips), that she deserves higher than her present job and quits, emphasising how Queenie is exorcising negativity from her life.

Why Queenie‘s energy lies in its relatability and discomfort

Queenie’s grandmother tells her, “You’re not robust since you’re powerful or since you don’t really feel ache. You’re robust since you’re not afraid to say that you’re delicate.”
Credit score: Lionsgate / Latoya Okuneye

For a lot of the sequence, Queenie’s default transfer is to inform everybody she’s superb. However in British tradition, “I am superb” has many meanings. It will possibly imply I’m OK, I’m not OK, or my life is falling aside however I’m nonetheless going to stay to custom, be stoic, and preserve silent till I attain breaking level — which is what it means for Queenie. 

In a number of methods, Queenie actively undercuts the emotional repression deeply ingrained in British society. British individuals’s emotional restraint is usually hooked up to the stereotype that England is a powerful and courageous nation, wherein feelings haven’t any place. A 2007 research by the Social Points Analysis Centre (SIRC) revealed that fewer than 20 p.c of Brits claimed to have “let all of it out” previously 24 hours, although 72 p.c believed that bottling feelings up is unhealthy to your well being. The burden of repressed emotion stays ingrained in Britain’s historical past. This stoicism is mirrored in well-liked phrases just like the World Struggle II motivational message “preserve calm and keep it up” and the way we should “muddle by” in instances of adversity as echoed by  Queen Elizabeth II throughout the coronavirus pandemic as she instructed the nation “that the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling nonetheless characterise this nation,” even in instances of grief and difficulties.

When you’re Gen Z or a Millennial, you are usually inspired to handle your trauma in remedy. A 2023 survey from the American Enterprise Institute discovered that 27 p.c of Gen Z adults had gone to remedy of their teenage years compared to 4 p.c of Boomers, 10 p.c of Technology X and 20 p.c of millennials. Nonetheless, as Queenie’s story illustrates, psychological well being points are nonetheless thought-about very taboo not solely in British tradition but in addition in Caribbean and African households. That is compounded by the societal expectation for Black girls to be “robust Black girls” — a stereotype that’s usually bolstered within the “robust Black buddy” trope in popular culture. Emigrants and their descendants additionally face stress to be reserved, which we see when Queenie’s household reiterates that remedy just isn’t for them. A 2015 ballot by psychological well being charity Thoughts discovered {that a} quarter of 18 to 34 12 months olds really feel that exhibiting their feelings is an indication of weak point. This highlights a disconnect in society that has created a barrier the place people can voice their opinions however not really feel snug sufficient to confess that they could want skilled assist.

The present straight addresses the stereotype of Black individuals avoiding remedy, depicting the older technology studying from the youthful. Regardless of a vow of generational silence being embedded in Queenie’s household, they’re in the end those who assist her transfer ahead. Within the ultimate episode, Queenie’s grandmother tells her, “You’re not robust since you’re powerful or since you don’t really feel ache. You’re robust since you’re not afraid to say that you’re delicate.” The message is: vulnerability takes energy. There are clear parallels between Queenie and her mom Sylvie (Ayesha Antoine), as her grandfather Wilfred (Joseph Marcell) reveals that Sylvie additionally used to assert she was superb regardless of enduring home abuse, illustrating a generational cycle of trauma. It’s what makes Queenie’s ultimate dialog with Wilfred within the finale so impactful as she deviates from her common response to confess, “It’s been onerous however good.”

Joseph Marcell and Llewella Gideon in “Queenie”.
Credit score: Lionsgate / Latoya Okuneye

Queenie’s energy lies in its lack of constructive however relatable illustration. Throughout remedy, Queenie experiences a panic assault whereas telling her therapist, “I can’t not be a powerful Black lady, Janet. OK? I can’t stroll into anywhere and never be a Black lady.” We’ve seen on TV and in actuality that there at all times feels the necessity to tone down Black girls’s experiences, whether or not it’s their errors or their means to really feel weak point. Nonetheless, Queenie shatters that social requirement and rebuilds her life from all-time low.

In recent times, there was an increase of Black girls being allowed to be a multitude on display screen, together with characters like Zendaya’s Rue in Euphoria managing drug dependancy and Kerry Washington’s Paige Alexander in UnPrisoned, who realises having an absent father by childhood can produce unhealthy behaviours as an grownup. However in contrast to Rue or Paige, Queenie hides no a part of herself. 

Queenie unabashedly shows the darkest, most unfiltered sides of her being, which hits so near dwelling that it forces us to reckon with the issues round us — and for a few of us, inside ourselves. Queenie’s uncooked sense of vulnerability is realistically portrayed, as unresolved trauma has the power to have an effect on decision-making, one thing many people expertise however are hesitant to confess.

Why we earn the ending of Queenie

Dionne Brown and Bellah.
Credit score: Lionsgate / Latoya Okuneye

On the finish of the sequence, Queenie’s journey culminates in a cathartic second when she offers her mom the area to apologise. “I’m sorry if something I ever did made you are feeling such as you weren’t sufficient. The world does that already. I ought to have put you first,” Sylvie says within the finale. Sylvie’s reflection on how the world perceives Black girls is critical. Many individuals of color develop up in predominantly white communities, resulting in emotions of insecurity and isolation, in addition to a fractious relationship with their identification.

The present doesn’t conceal the truth that Queenie’s battle together with her identification is rooted in her mom’s abandonment and fixed instruction to make herself smaller. Sylvie tells Queenie to turn out to be invisible to her stepfather, she’s instructed to toe the road at work, and her ex, Tom, tells her she’s “an excessive amount of.” It is what makes the present’s ultimate scene so highly effective, wherein we see Queenie and Sylvie expressing love for one another — and Queenie lastly having the ability to say, “I like me too.” These strains within the sequence emphasise the significance of extracting your self from areas that do not worth you. It is a defining second when Queenie lastly acknowledges she’s worthy of affection and that each one that is occurred to her is not all on her.

The journey in the direction of the ending additionally solutions an enormous query about why Queenie dated sure males. We be taught that her choice so far white males was by no means to do with the truth that she didn’t like Black males, however it stemmed from the truth that Black males had traditionally traumatised her. In Queenie, interracial relationships turn out to be considerably of a cautionary story that it could possibly be argued some individuals want to listen to. It makes Queenie’s journey in the direction of Frank (Samuel Adewunmi) much more poignant as he units out to interrupt the cycle for her. Frank overtly reassures her: “I want you to know I’m by no means ever even practically gonna deal with you want the way in which that man handled your mum. Simply know that.” These scenes are a reminder that girls can concurrently not have all of the solutions and expertise love; we simply want time and persistence to work on ourselves first.

Queenie is a sensible illustration of a younger lady simply attempting to determine issues out. She makes viewers query how totally different from her we actually are. Sure, she is a multitude and will be annoying, however she’s additionally good, humorous, and all of the issues in between, and is not that one thing we will all be? Queenie stresses the significance of portraying Black girls of their full complexity, together with their messy sides. The sequence reminds us that we want extra characters like her, whom we’re compelled to take a look at with nuance and join on a deeper degree — even when that comes with discomfort.

How one can watch: Queenie is now streaming on All4 within the UK and Hulu within the U.S.