Stung
Episode 1 of Swarm opens with a montage of Ni’Jah, as Dre looks for passes to her show. Dre uses her new credit card to purchase tickets.
Marissa, Dre’s flatmate and sister, is thrilled about the opportunity to apply make-up for Drama Queen’s performance in Houston. She requests Dre to step in for her despite their apparent enthusiasm.
Later that day, Khalid tells Dre that Marissa’s birthday is approaching. She informs him she purchased tickets for the Ni’Jah concert when he tries to set something up.
The following day, when Dre is late for work, Marissa panics. She helps clean her up and ends up taking her to the restroom. She advises her to remain calm since Erica would never allow Marissa to delegate responsibility to Dre.
Shortly thereafter, Khalid comes to work to enquire which perfume Marissa prefers. She returns to the stand, which has been totally looted, before receiving the call and is understandably not happy.
Marissa informs Dre that she will spend the night at Khalid’s apartment when they get back to the house. When questioned by Dre, Marissa retorts that she believes it may be time to make the decision to move in with Khalid. Dre attempts to redirect the talk by stating that she purchased Ni’Jah tickets for them to celebrate her birthday.
Marissa, on the other hand, informs her that she will be celebrating her birthday in Atlanta with Dre. This causes Dre to sob and inform her that her boyfriend is just not good for her. Marissa eventually storms out, leaving Dre alone.
When Ni’Jah releases a new song, her pain fades. She gets dressed up and goes to the club. A video clip of Dre dancing, kissing, as well as enjoying himself in the club follows. The next morning, she awakens in a random person’s bed. She later discovers that Marissa contacted her several times the previous night in order to convince her to take her home since Khalid had been cheating on her.
Dre returns home and opens the mail, in which she discovers the Ni’Jah tickets. She intends to comfort Marissa by breaking the news. Once she settles into bed with her, she notices that she isn’t moving. We follow her to the clinic, where she discovers that Marissa has passed away.
A swarm of movers show up at Dre and Marissa’s home, removing items. Dre is shopping and she casually drops a glass on the ground but Dre picks up a piece of glass and crushes it into her arm, causing her to bleed.
Dre then starts watching old clips of Marissa in her flat. She messages the girl, “I miss you,” and as her mobile vibrates, she sends the same message using Marissa’s phone.
Dre goes to Khalid’s apartment after being kept away from Marissa’s funeral. Dre snatches a lamp and strikes Khalid in the back of his head when he’s making tea for her. As soon as he tumbles, she climbs on top of his body and repetitively hits him with it. As the episode ends, we see her standing up, covered in blood and struggling to breathe.
The Episode Review
The title of this episode complements the show’s intriguing name. The words “swarm” and “stung” bring to mind representations of bees, and in the episode, pop icon Ni’Jah resembles Beyonce, who is affectionately referred to as “Bee” by her followers. We can’t help but think that maybe this legendary Ni’Jah is a fictionalized version of the popular star.
This episode does a fantastic job of introducing the premise and setting the plot in motion. We learn about Dre’s erotomania, her relationship with Marissa, her obsession with Ni’Jah, and her first murder.
Dre murders Khalid in his apartment as the episode wraps up and that alone makes for a very interesting case to see where the show heads from here.
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Episode Rating
(3.5)