Giants Ep. 5 Recap

The mess continues. Let’s get into.

So if you remember where we left off last week, Malachi is heading home from his buss down appointment when he runs into two guys that proceed to rob him.

One of the guys pulls out a gun when Malachi refuses to empty his back pockets. It turns out the gun has no bullets in it. Once Malachi realizes this, he fades one of the guys. But since there’s two of them and one of him, he gets his ass kicked.

They take pretty much everything Malachi has one him except his clothes.

Phone = gone

Beats = gone

Money from nice white couple = gone

It’s hard out here for Malachi.

Malachi heads to Ade’s house after all of this. Ade, like any other friend would be, is concerned and trying to understand why is friend’s face looks like the personification of Remy Ma’s “shETHER.”

Malachi goes straight into Ade’s bathroom to get cleaned up. While looking in the mirror he has flashbacks of talking to the artist from episode one. They are discussing how Malachi ended up in LA.

After getting himself together, Malachi exits the bathroom in nothing but a towel to ask Ade for some shorts.

If there was any doubt that Ade had some feelings (whether sexual or romantic or both) for Malachi prior to this episode, that doubt is now gone because as soon as Ade seen Malachi in that towel, homeboy was shook. Ade could not keep his eyes off of Malachi’s body. It was a look of longing, mixed with lust, with a little anxiety (and maybe even fear) sprinkled on top.

Sidebar: I need a skincare routine from Sean Samuels (Ade) because his skin is flawless.

The next scene we see Ade catching up with his friend/coworker, Casey. They are having a conversation about work and relationships, and then the conversation goes left. In short, Casey is trying to ease information out of Ade regarding his sexuality. Casey is two-stepping her around asking, “Do you like men?” Ade can sense this and automatically becomes annoyed and defensive. During this conversation, we find that messy ass Mel (Ade’s date from episode 2) told some people that work with that Ade about the whole gay party situation and that he might not be into girls.

Sidebar: This is foul. Never ever out somebody, especially when you don’t have all the facts. But even if you do, it’s never okay to spread someone’s business like that. It’s not your place. Someone needs to sign, seal, and deliver Mel an ass whoppin’.

Anyway, Casey can see that she has upset Ade, and ends the conversation with, “As long as you know who you are, that’s all that matters.”

Ade doesn’t know who he is, though. That’s the problem.

Ade gets home to find Malachi laying on the floor. He makes them both some pasta. Over dinner, Malachi asks to stay a week and Ade agrees. Then he asks to stay a month, Ade agrees again. After dinner, Malachi asks to get a package shipped to Ade’s apartment, Ade agrees yet again. This concerns me, but I’ll circle back to this.

Malachi finally accepts Journee’s call and Journee is going OFF because Malachi has not accepted any of her calls since the incident! This is when I realize that Journee is me. I’m the friend that goes off, and my friends just let me have my moment the same way Malachi did for Journee in this scene. It was cute, and again, another honest portrayal of friendship on this show.

Malachi is chillen on the couch after dinner when he has another flashback of him and Journee. Journee asks, “If you could be anything, what would you be?” Malachi replies, “A spoken word artist.” It turns out Malachi used to write poetry but became uninspired stopped. “Just ran outta stuff to say.”

Uneasy, uncomfortable, and probably unable to sleep, Malachi goes on a run and that’s where episode 5 ends. Thankfully, there’s no wig snatching cliffhangers this week.

Malachi is clearly going through it. Nothing seems to be going his way as of late. He’s been broke for a while, and the little bit of money he came into (that wasn’t a pun, I swear) gets taken away. His car is MIA, and from the looks of it, he no longer has an apartment either. While I feel for Malachi, this arrangement with Ade is giving me slight pause.

I would hate for Malachi to exploit the feelings Ade has for him in order take advantage of Ade’s kindness. At this point, Malachi has to know that Ade has some sort of feelings for him and I’d hate for Malachi to use that to milk Ade’s resources.

Part of me feels that Malachi loves Ade too much to do that, but I tend to be glass-half-empty so I’d be lying if I didn’t cross my mind.

Ade is having some serious identity issues that we have seen developing since episode one. First with his career change, and now with his growing attraction to his best friend. Giants is doing a wonderful job of telling stories that often go untold in Black spaces; with Journee’s mental illness, and Ade’s sexuality.

Next episode, Wednesday, March 1st!