"Joelle has been my favorite since season one of DWP, but season two felt like such a revelation into her character and why she moves the way she does. Brilliant, perceptive, and funny as hell, Joelle is a queen among queens. She's not afraid to speak up and fight for what's right, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have her moments of insecurity like everyone else. Season two provides Joelle her own episode where she explains that even though she was the IT girl of her high school and her class's valedictorian, college has been the social reset that she didn't expect. She's still thriving: she's top of her class, found her posse of like-minded individuals, and even goes outside of her comfort zone to befriend Gabe (behind Sam's back). But still, her friendship with Sam brings up feelings of inadequacy stemming from the age-old colorism that inspires comparisons like Joelle being "the Kelly Rowland" to Sam's Beyoncé.
But Kelly is f*cking fire and so is Joelle! While Joelle's journey to feeling "seen" does involve the attention (and beat down) of her romantic interests, it's the way she learns to stand up for her own validation throughout the season that inspired me. Advice (more like tough love, but I digress) from Coco reminds her that she is complicit in Sam's frequent inability to pay attention to Joelle's wants or needs past her own. Hopefully, this changes the dynamic of their friendship into the next season and we get to see a lot more of Joelle being a boss like she's meant to be."
— Mekishana Pierre, assistant entertainment editor
