The breakout BET+ crime dramedy, Diarra From Detroit, has returned for season two under its new Paramount Plus banner. After successfully saving her Tinder bae from a gruesome fate, Diarra Brickland (Diarra Kilpartick) and Chris (Shannon Wallace) are ready to move forward. That is if she survives her latest mystery.
We open in a flash forward with our protagonist struggling through a Tomb Raider-esque sewer, solving riddles to get through a door. She’s fallen down another rabbit hole of danger. Before any more explanation, we travel back a few months to where this story begins.
On the verge of ghosting her new boo over his emotional imbalance, Diarra instead opts to help Chris heal with a family barbeque. His mother and a host of unknown relatives try to ease him back to normalcy. It’s also a chance for Diarra to finally identify the Chief, the elusive boss that had Deonte kidnapped twice. With the vital evidence mysteriously walking out of the precinct, and no real help from Detective Holstien, the divorced teacher is on her own.
Her attempts to gain this knowledge involve breaking the code to a locked room in Vonda, Chris’s mother’s (Phylicia Rashad), home. This is humorously balanced in-between Diarra dodging family members’ odd requests to solve frivolous dilemmas. Anna Marie Horsford is a hoot as Vonda’s drinking buddy, Ora, who is bent on hiring a hit man to shoot her philandering boyfriend in the dick. And Glynn Turman plays Ron, Vonda’s ex-brother-in-law, who needs an armoire found.
Once her friends Aja (DomiNque Perry) and Tea (Bryan Terrell Clark) quit fishing for the four-digit code, Diarra has an epiphany. She searches Vonda’s recipe box and finds passwords written on an index card. A simple “4-3-2-1” opens the door, leading to Chris’s childhood bedroom. Diarra finds a photograph confirming the Chief as none other than Detroit’s Black Warren Buffet, Walter Harley (Harry Lennix).
Vonda catches Diarra in the act and comes clean. Walter was sweet on Vonda in high school, but she never gave the younger man a chance. Years later and happily married, she and her husband are hired at Walter’s plant. Long work nights turned into an affair with Vonda getting pregnant. Walter is Deonte/Chris’s biological father! Vonda denies his involvement in their son’s kidnapping, but Diarra isn’t so sure.
Diarra confronts the deadbeat millionaire with the accusations, only to have him threaten her and her loved ones. Walter owns the city — including the police — which explains the disappearing evidence. Diarra has no choice but to call the case closed. That night, she lies and tells Chris the Chief is dead. Instead, she jokingly suggests he help her find a missing armoire. The episode closes with Ron being tortured and questioned about said the lost piece of furniture.
Returning to Kirkland’s ingenious series is a welcomed breath of fresh air. Not only is it funny, with great comedic performances from our lead and supporting cast, but its dramatic and mystery peaks hold equal weight. It also addresses the very real mental strife a character like Chris would experience. The series could have skipped that aftermath with a multi-year jump and TV magic. Instead, Kilpatrick and the writers take time to investigate the myriad of emotions and sandwich with great comedic flare.
It’s also invigorating to see veteran Black actors such as Rashad, Horsford and Turman, continue delivering grade-A work. Many actors of a certain age, yet alone Black actors, can be reduced to certain roles or eliminated from screens altogether. The same can be said for Lennix, who is fiercely terrifying as Harley.
Rating: 8/10