It was the mere suggestion of speaking to a white woman that got Emmett Till killed in the 1955 case that helped galvanize the Civil Rights movement sexual violence was the unarticulated fear in the hysterical call Amy Cooper made in her now-infamous meeting with Christian Cooper in Central Park.

A white woman's accusation of rape by a Black man has been one of the most assured and efficient ways of ensuring their arrest or murder for centuries. Michaela Coel couldn't have known when she wrote and shot this episode that the Black Lives Matter movement would find new resonance and support for criminal justice reform around the world, but this story didn't need a news hook. Moments later, she's at her desk sobbing and claims Ryan raped her at knifepoint.Īs a clueless Ryan sits in the administrator's office, learning the police are on the way, the magnitude of what Theo has done could not be more clear, or more terrifying.

She's in real pain, but our sympathies for her dissolve quickly. It appears likely that this isn't the first boy Theo has done this kind of thing with, as this encounter is by no means a normal hookup between two horny teens on equal footing. 'I really like you,' he says, and he seems to believe it in spite of treating her like a receptacle. Nothing about this looks pleasurable or enjoyable for her she can't even see Ryan through most of it, only revealing her face to him so he can get a better picture of her bent over like a mule. She's rightfully horrified, but thanks to her own cunning and his manipulative ways, a deal is brokered for her to at least get paid for the encounter. At school, she and another boy named Ryan engage in high-risk sex and he starts taking pictures of her without her consent. She's sneaking in from an all-nighter with something she stole, and she's horrible to her parents. They hug and Arabella tells her, 'I wish I'd gotten to know you more in school.' Things take a dark turn from there, though, and in short order we are once again reeling from what this show does best: illustrate the various ways sexual assault dehumanizes people, and prompt more questions than answers.įlashing back to 2004, with some primo retro UK garage music ( Kristine Blond's 'Love Shy') whisking us back to the era of AIM and low-rise boot cut denim, we see evidence that Theo is a girl in trouble. We hope Theo's group can offer her some measure of healing and it sure looks that way at first. We don't know this right away our first glimpse of Theo, a white woman, catches her leading the survivors' group she started, claiming that she believes grooming, sexual assault, and domestic violence are 'the most vile, abhorrent qualities of our species.' She mentions her own experiences with abuse, and as Arabella explains her motives for being there––she has, you'll remember, experienced a second rape this season when her partner removed a condom during sex in a practice called ' stealthing'––our hearts break for Arabella.

Bella, off to herself on her phone, reveals that she's going to a proper survivors' group therapy hosted by a woman named Theodora (Harriet Webb) which immediately sets off alarms for Terry and we soon learn why: these women attended secondary school together, and back in the day, Theo tried to frame one of their friends––a black boy––for rape. Terry, the ball of fun and good vibes she is, has shown up with Kwame to attend some sort of hipster self-care graffiti art exercise alongside Bella. 'The Alliance,' starts out pleasant enough, in the present day. Discover Your New Favorite Show: Watch This Now!

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