‘The Get Down’ Recap, Episode 5: “You Have Wings, Learn To Fly”

“Free together until the end of time, right?” Mylene whispers to Books.

I was worried, I’m not even going to lie. To be selfless and selfish is a fight. To love yourself as much, if not more, as you love someone else, is a fight. To nurture another’s dreams while also nurturing your own, is a fight. It’s a fight worth having, but a fight nonetheless, especially if it’s during a time in your life when you’re learning what it is you deserve from yourself and from the world–a world that tends to be heartless.

Books and Mylene are going to make it. I have hope! As in the previous episodes, there are a few fumbles in their relationship, but fumbles that I would say are normal. After all, they’re both dreamers that are getting to know each other on their way to success. After Mylene records her soon-to-be hit “Set Me Free” at her father’s church —an idea drawn up by Moreno, while coming back to life from a drug overdose last episode— with Books behind the piano and backed the church choir, she plays the record for her parents and Cruz. Moreno lets them know that in order for the song to blow up, it needs to get in the hands of “the real tastemakers,” “homosexuals.” Not surprisingly, a statement like this makes Mr. Cruz uncomfortable due to his religious beliefs.

It’s crucial to the success of The Get Down that issues like homophobia are explored, and as I stated in my Episode 4 recap, that LGBTQ characters be introduced. You can’t have a story about New York City in the late ‘70s —especially one that’s taking place uptown— and not include the voices of gay Latinos. Also, I’m interested in seeing if a storyline that involves the intersection of religion and homophobia will unfold; it’s certainly, just as much now as it was then. One of the things that I love about this show thus far is how it interweaves messages that apply to our society in 2016. Things like the necessity of solidarity among Latinos and black people, the presence of destructive political figures, and movements such as Black Lives Matter and what’s brewing among Latinos. To many, this series will be a history lesson about music, but it also offers keys on progression, or sometimes lack thereof, in our culture.

Before attending a meeting with tastemaker, a “nice Jewish girl,” Leslie Lesgold (played by Alexis Krause), the girls set off to share the song with Books and the rest of the guys.

The girls walk in as they’re rehearsing to soon battle Kool Herc’s crew, the Notorious 3. They’re rehearsing the rhymes that Books has written for each of them, discovering their strengths. In the back of Shaolin’s minds is DJ rule no. 1, a lesson that Grandmaster Flash taught him. “In order to fly, a DJ must trust his wings.” If he doesn’t, if they lose, Shaolin’s ban “is reinstated.”

The girls and the guys go back and forth on what defines “music,” without exactly realizing that they’re doing so. One side sees the magic in the singing, while the other sees the magic in the soundscapes. Mylene is offended when Shaolin scratches her record, not realizing that it’s also an art form. Books’ puts her on, though. It’s obvious by the moves that Books makes, and how he makes them, that he’s taking into consideration the needs of his crew and his girl, as well as his own. But, as we see time and time again in The Get Down, it’s still a struggle.

After being late to his interview, his aunt Wanda (Judy Marte), his uncle Leon (Brandon J. Dirden), and his English teacher lecture him. “She wasn’t preparing you for comfort. She was preparing you to be a man, to blaze your own path,” Leon tells him about his late mother. Determined, Books goes back to Mr. Gunns’ (played by Michel Gill) office, and waits all day for him. He’s very forward, and tells Gunns that Gunns needs him, a “minority, ghetto mascot who looks good for community relations.” It’s all about “the right alliances.”

As I learn more about male characters on The Get Down, though, I find myself craving this kind of character development surrounding the show’s female characters. I want more of their backstories, especially Regina’s. She’s a tough cookie whose eyes scour the land farther than others. In episode four, we find out that Regina knew how to help Moreno during his drug overdose because she’d seen her mother do the same for her father. Her and Yolanda (more so Yolanda) look to Mylene almost as a savior, as among the guys, and as between Books and Mylene.

“I’m gonna set us free. We have a plan to be free,” Mylene tells Books as the episode ends. But not before we get a glimpse of Dizzie’s admiration towards graffiti artist, Thor, and and an encounter Savage Warlords’ street gang member, Napoleon, their archenemy.

[Watch the “You Have Wings, Learn To Fly” episode of The Get Down on Netflix]

Erika Ramirez–born in San Jose, CA and based in Brooklyn, NY–is a freelance writer, editor, and producer. She’s the founder of digital magazine, ILY, which is about love. She’s held editorial positions and written for various outlets as Billboard, ROOKIE, NPR, Milk Studios and more. Follow her on Twitter: @3rika