Black Cake Season 1 Episode 5 Review: Mother
An added family branch gives new life to Covey’s family and story. Black Cake Season 1 Episode 5, “Mother” is the first episode without young Covey and very little usage of the older version. Despite Black Cake Season 1 Episode 4, “Mrs. Bennett” suffering from her absence, this one you barely notice.
The lost daughter chapter deserves credit for keeping the story interesting.
Mabel offers a refreshing new dynamic and element to this family saga. She’s a compelling character whose mere existence adds layers to Covey’s journey, struggles, and family.
Additionally, “Mother” starts with one of its most fascinating openings. We watch as Mabel faces accusations of cultural appropriation and manages to offend several cultures with her lack of remorse and understanding.
It’s a standard response by many in the media.
However, the twist of her heritage makes this scene especially delicious and ironic. Also, this puts Mabel’s character into question even before we get to know her. This is an interesting narrative choice because it doesn’t automatically turn the audience against her.
Instead, it creates a bit of sympathy.
You could see Mabel’s appropriation of food and heritage as her being a clueless culture vulture. However, there is a more mystical viewpoint of her love of food from different cultures.
It’s like her ancestors and lineage call to her through food. There is a spiritualness to this love of it. She may not know her true roots but something deep inside her knows, and that’s why she’s drawn to food in this way.
Many white characters in Black Cake are presented in less than favorable manners.
Therefore, it’s a welcomed change to meet Mabel’s family. Her adoptive parents have made some mistakes, but they love their daughter. Overall, they also seem like kind people.
This nicely contrasts with all the terrible or dubious white characters (usually men) that we’ve seen in the last four episodes. It emphasizes that this Hulu drama wants to show race issues but isn’t simply suggesting it’s a white versus black battle.
These white men are cruel and abusive because of their privilege, power, and choices. This is not an all-white men issue.
Byron also has a captivating journey on “Mother.” It does an enthralling job of telling the story of his rage from start to finish. It bubbles at the beginning and turns to a full boil at the end.
The minute you see him fully fight Steve, you know he will face major consequences. Black Cake doesn’t always state things. It trusts its audience to know without everything being spoon-fed to them.
Byron fighting Steve represents one of those moments.
It’s simply a fight but for a Black man in America, it could end his life, career, or reputation. It doesn’t matter that Steve’s the abusive and violent one in this situation.
This charged scene represents so much without needing explicit explanation.
It also represents Byron finally giving in to his rage and grief. Unfortunately, the consequences could become so dire for him.
“Mother restores Black Cake to its compelling nature with a heavy lean on melodrama. The new addition to Covey’s family adds some excitement to the present-day stories.
Stray Thoughts
- I want to like Benny but she often comes off as self-involved. Seemed like a stretch to say she’s been competing with Mabel her whole life.
- I can’t wait until Gio and Mabel meet Byron and Benny. The interaction could be juicy.
- I thought Lynette was being a little unnecessarily cruel with her conversation with Byron.
- It surprised me that Black Cake introduced us to Mabel before showing Covey’s pregnancy journey. However, I like the change.
What did you think of this episode of Black Cake? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Black Cake streams Wednesday on Hulu.
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Jerrica Tisdale
Jerrica Tisdale is your favorite neighborhood pop culture junkie. She will annoy you with random TV and film facts, while complaining about whatever is the hottest new book. She has been a TV fan all her life but writing about it for over a decade. You may find her work all over the internet especially reality TV rants. She is a senior writer at Tell-Tale TV.