The Other Black Girl – Episode 8 “Caught In The Rapture” Recap & Review

The End Of Love

Episode 8 of The Other Black Girl starts with Nella unable to sleep thinking about her encounters with Hazel. She makes a voluntary and involuntary board with the photos she took from Hazel’s house. She falls asleep on the sofa, and Malaika startles her.

Owen calls Malaika in the morning, worried about Nella. She says that Hazel might be collecting these women for something, and Owen wonders what the women are voluntarily and involuntarily involved in.

Nella notes that the women’s past lives are all gone, and their Instagram accounts only go back one year, just like Hazel. Owen asks about Shani, and Nella says she has not heard from her since the karaoke bar. Malaika wonders how they can reverse-stalk someone. They start by going to all the places she ran into Shani, but nothing turns out.

Malaika and Owen urge Nella not to go to work to avoid meeting with Hazel. However, Nella is curious to find out Hazel’s connection to the other girls. Owen thinks she must have people in high places, and Malaika thinks their cult probably pays for their PhDs.

Nella comes across something: Richard Wagner made a donation, making it possible for Ebonee to become the youngest associate professor of literature at Columbia. Secondly, Camille works at a subsidiary of Wagner Industries. Nella thinks Richard uses Hazel to recruit women, turn them into influential people, and farm them out. Now, she believes she is his next target. 

Richard brings in a reporter to interview Nella, but she is not at work, and he orders Hazel to find her. Back home, Nella is disappointed that she did not see Richard’s motive. She put Diana’s imprint in danger by using it to rebuild Wagner’s reputation as a man using diversity to control docile black women and use them to his advantage.

Nella is frustrated that anything she ever wanted was a lie. Nella remembers that Jesse warned her that the only way to beat a system is to work outside of it, and she says she will take Richard down. 

Hazel brings Nella chicken noodle soup since she called in sick. Owen tells her that Nella is sick and it is contagious, so he cannot let her in. Hazel hopes Nella will feel better in time for Diana’s book imprint party, and she seems worried that Nella might miss it. Owen asks if the soup might be poisoned; Nella and Malaika point to the trash in unison. 

Next, Nella meets Jesse and tells him about Hazel and Richard turning black women into corporate pods. Still, she does not know how they are doing it, and she thinks it might be mind control or something. She asks Jesse for help uncovering what is happening and uses his platform to go public. Jesse apologizes for being mean and says he is glad she realized it. Shani watches them from a nearby table. 

Nella wants to go to the party, but Owen and Malaika raise their concern. Nella insists that she needs to get one more person into her team, and she will leave the party soon after. Vera calls to apologize to Nella and congratulate her on the re-release. Nella insists that she needs to go to the party to warn someone if Richard and Hazel are as dangerous as they think. So she decides to head there.

Meanwhile, Malaika visits Vera. Nella finds Diana in the bathroom, and she tells her about Hazel and Richard changing black women and turning them into corporate trolls against their will. She says they are trying to do it to her and asks Diana to believe her. She also thinks they were trying to do it to Kendra, and they might have pushed her over the edge.

Diana says she always felt something was wrong from the moment Kendra went missing; the pieces were not adding up. She says Kendra tried to warn her about Richard, but she did not listen and needed someone else to help her see it. Diana tells her to try to get through the night and make sure that Richard does not sense something is wrong, and they will discuss the plans later. 

Malaika tries to fish out for dirt on Richard from Vera, but she does not have much to give. At the party, Richard attributes Wagner’s success to Diana Gordon’s book Burning Heart. He introduces the first signee of the Ascendent Books imprint, Jesse Watson.

Nella is surprised, and she listens to Jesse talk about how Wagner is aligned with his goals and values due to its commitment to creating an inclusive future in publishing is inspiring. She thanks Nella for helping him see the light. 

Nella runs after Jesse and asks him what is going on. He says that after their talk, he thought about it, got a haircut, and thinks Nella got Richard all wrong. Nella thinks Jesse might be deep undercover, but he says he is joining the Wagner family. Jesse tells her that he changed his mind after hearing Richard’s pitch. Wagner could be the place where they make real change, just like Nella said,

Hazel approaches Nella, but she tells her to get away from her. Just then, Richard calls out for the both of them to appear on stage just as Hazel drops a bomb, information that Richard might not be in charge and the person behind it all is right in front of her. 

Elsewhere, Vera gives Malaika another crucial piece of information. Richard has been cheating on his wife for close to 40 years with Diana. Malaika sprints out of Vera’s place, knowing that Nella might be in danger. 

At the party, Hazel and Nella approach the stage, but Nella is unable to go on. She attempts to leave, but Diana blocks her exit, and Nella realizes that Diana is behind it all. Diana forces her to join Hazel on stage. 

Nella has had enough. When Hazel says they are like sisters, she calls her a lunatic and says and asks them what they did to Kendra Rae. Nella looks out to the crowd and realizes they think she is crazy. They make her look like the crazy one, and she leaves.

Elsewhere, Malaika is desperately trying to call Nella to warn her of Diana’s involvement. She calls Owen to ask if he has from Nella when a car hits her and drives away. Shan is in the driver’s wheel. Meanwhile, Nella frantically leaves the party and tries to call someone when two people kidnap her, and the episode ends. 

The Episode Review

The episode picks up from the slump of the previous two, building on suspense and making the series feel more like a thriller. The major plot twist revealed here is that Diana might be the mastermind behind the scheme, and whatever they are doing is bad enough to even result in murder.

 Richard and Diana are doing something sinister all over New York, involving the black community. How could they change Jesse and Shani’s minds in just a day?

The plot has become interesting, but it is still difficult to understand the purpose of transforming black women, putting them in high corporate positions, and controlling them. There is still a mystery that needs to be explained, and I hope the last two episodes try to explain the relevancy of farming out black people. Also, is Malaika dead?