'Beauty In Black' Netflix Season 3 Review: What’s The Point?

I think the 3rd season of Tyler Perry’s insane series, Beauty In Black, was meant to be the last one, but Netflix made him split it into two seasons, just for a fourth and final one. Beauty In Black is the kind of family drama you’ll need to do yoga to get over. It doesn’t leave a second for you to breathe and relax, because something or the other is going to go crazy at the drop of a hat. The first two seasons had a lot going on, and even ran sixteen whole episodes to cover all subplots. However, season 3 feels the most undercooked, in my opinion. The show was meant to be wild, but this ride isn’t wild at all; in fact, it makes you wonder why you got on in the first place.

Season 3 follows the Bellaries as half of them are in prison while the other half plot their descent. Kimmie is now like Mallory 2.0, and they actually seem like friends, but will this friendship cost her? In the meanwhile, Mallory is all over the place after getting caught up in some crazy things. The only plotline that seems to make sense is Charles’, and Rain has completely lost her mind this season. Anything interesting that happens takes place in the second half of the season, leaving you wondering in the first half why it was even greenlit. I can see what the show is going for, but the problem is it’s not really taking you all the way there, leaving you feeling like you wasted a lot of time watching this whole season. 

It’s not like I was all praise for the show earlier. Tyler Perry is just not my style, and there’s something almost stereotypical in the way he presents his characters – the nouveau riche African Americans. This series found its success in the story of the underdog, whether it be Kimmie’s story, Charles’, or even Mallory’s. Sure, their starting points were different, and their current situations are entirely different, but these are characters you want to root for. Rain too, but this season makes you wonder what the point of any of that was if they were all just going to change. Eight episodes of nothing is what this season felt like, especially when it came to the main plot, and getting to the bottom of the truth. There’s some minor reveals till the finale of the season in which most of the action takes place. Also, watching Mallory getting dragged by the legs was not fun; I hope it doesn’t happen again, nor her trying to be an exotic dancer.

The best part of Beauty In Black season 3 is certainly the friendship between Kimmie and Mallory, but for some weird reason, it feels rushed, because of which I am not exactly emotionally drawn to it. In the meantime, Rain might’ve become a despicable character, and I don’t even know why. The only thing that genuinely mattered this season was Charles’ plotline and character development. Spoilers for season 3 of Beauty In Black, so please jump to the next paragraph if you don’t want to know. Charles tries to take his own life this season, and everything changes from that point onwards. I definitely enjoyed watching Charles kill Horace, but unfortunately, it was just a figment of his imagination. Well, if that had actually turned out to be for real, we might not have had to sit through a whole season of nothing.

Is the show still entertaining? Not really. All it is at this point is people arguing all the time, but not giving us reason to believe their arguments or even want to bother listening. This is all because they needed to set things up for a fourth season. Had that been removed from the equation, I do think season 3 would’ve been the final one, delivering on the premise with just as much excitement as the first two seasons. This time around, it feels like the plot is just being stretched thin to make us wait longer for a conclusion that will most likely disappoint because of how long it’s been pushed, if that makes sense.

But this is not to say the show takes a step back in terms of drama at all; even without anything of substance happening, there’s still a lot going on in this show about an exotic dancer-turned-family head. The most confusing thing for me was what was going on with Kimmie and Horace, and then later what Horace was trying to hide from his family. I am seriously not able to understand why Horace won’t just talk to his son, whom he’s hated his whole life. No, really, if all we had got was Charles and Horace’s plot this season, it might not have been such a disaster. Some of the characters feel like they weren’t even needed, and Olivia remains one of the most annoying TV characters I have ever seen. The men are just plain stupid, but when a female character is written like that, it’s too hard to watch.

Ultimately, Beauty In Black season 3 feels like a filler season. And even though the actors try their best to keep their characters alive, if the show makers don’t end things in season 4, and give us all the answers we need, the show may end up being a complete disaster. So I do hope it gets better, and the drama can remain just as infuriating. With that said, I give the third season of Beauty In Black, 2 out of 5 stars. I did appreciate that there was no unnecessary amount of steamy scenes; they always felt tacked on for dramatic effect. But this is not to say it was clean in any way. Sure, the season ends with you wanting more, but that’s because nothing of substance really happens here; it’s not a good thing at all, and I do feel many fans will be disappointed too.