Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Have you finally finished the first part of The Get Down? The first six episodes of Baz Luhrmann’s electric ode to the birth of hip hop have been on Netflix for two weeks now — giving you more than enough time to watch them all. Whether you binge-watched the whole half season or slowly savored each moment, there’s still a lot to unpack, particularly in what we’re calling “the mid-season finale.”
“Raise Your Words, Not Your Voice” was bursting with sensational musical numbers, gorgeous moments, and scandalous twists. Here were the biggest scenes and revelations from that episode — plus a look ahead at what might be in store in The Get Down Part Two.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
That Rape Scene
We’ve already given a more in-depth spotlight to the shocking female-on-male rape scene in the first act of this episode, but here’s what you need to know: Back in his younger, even wilder days, Jackie Moreno abused his power as a producer to force young interns to give him sexual favors. He fired one of them after she gave him a blow job and years later she’s now Leslie Lesgold, the gatekeeper of NYC disco. Leslie uses her new power to exact revenge on Jackie in precisely the same way he degraded her years before.
The Boy-on-Boy Kiss
The first few episodes of The Get Down dealt with poverty and racism, but there was nary an LGBT character in sight. The only mentions we got of 1970s New York City’s vibrant gay underground culture were in homophobic slurs lobbed at Shaolin Fantastic. Episode six finally gave us a peek at a more open and accepting world.
Thor invites Dizzee to a secret party of “artists” in the city and he discovers an subculture of transgender, transvestite, and pansexual party-goers. He sees voguing in its infancy and is finally encouraged to act on his desires for Thor. The two exchange a kiss. Our only question: Was the strangely quick editing meant to enhance the dreamy “free love” feeling of the moment or did Will Smith’s infamous anti-gay kiss stance trickle down to his son Jaden?
'The Power Broker,' Part Deux
Have you read The Power Broker? I’ve read The Power Broker. And if you’ve read The Power Broker, the entirety of Zeke’s internship subplot takes on a wholly more insidious tone. To make a long, long, long story short, The Power Broker: The Rise of Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is a Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece about the life of reformer-turned-despot Robert Moses. He was an idealistic youth who sacrificed his morals to get ahead so he could mold New York City into the city of his park-loving, minority-hating, highway-obsessed dreams.
Papa Fuerte is psyched to meet the enigmatic civil servant Mr. Gunns because, as he spills, he “came up under Robert Moses.” Gunns is a Moses Man through and through and wants Zeke to join the cause. In this episode, we watch Zeke declare that he is interested in sacrificing his morals to gain the power he needs to “make change.” We may know that Zeke becomes a famous rapper in the end, but this is our first big signal that sweet little “Books” might be willing to through everyone under the bus to achieve a great goal.
Shaolin & Annie
Lest you think everything is going to be sunshine and roses for The Get Down Brothers, Shaolin Fantastic has made a deal with the devil. That devil? Fat Annie. It may have just seemed like she was convincing him to kill The Wolf as a strangely morbid rite of passage, but it was also a moral contract. Shaolin is in over his head with Annie and will be peddling more drugs for her than ever going forward. Something tells us that this isn’t going to go over well with Zeke and his ambitions…
Mylene Is A Disco Queen
“It came true!” That’s what Anne Hathaway said when she won her Academy Award and it could also be what’s going through Mylene’s mind at the end of episode six. Thanks to Dizzee passing her record to the hippest gay DJ in NYC, “Mylene and the Soul Madonnas” are legitimate disco divas. Now she’s got plans to hit the big city and move on up out of the Bronx. Time will tell if stardom will change Zeke’s sweet songbird. History tells us that it was very hard to spend time in disco clubs in the ’70s without developing a drug habit. History also tells us that disco is on its way to imploding, making way for the rise of hip hop, punk, and later new wave.
The Final Number
OH MY GOD THIS WAS SO GOOD, RIGHT?
Stop what you’re doing and go to Netflix. Queue up “Raise Your Words, Not Your Voice.” Skip ahead to about 47 minutes into the episode. Let the opening fanfare of Star Wars lead you into a dizzyingly exuberant celebration of friendship, creativity, and hip hop culture. And then it turns into a real rap battle! It’s wonderful! It will make you happy! Just do it! DO IT NOW! IT’S THE BEST!
Where Do We Go Next?
Things might seem pretty tied up for Zeke, Shaolin, and Mylene at the end of Part 1, but we still have six more episodes to look forward to in 2017. What could possibly happen?
Well, as we’ve laid out, Mylene is going to see herself tested as a legit star in the disco world, Shaolin is going to be getting even closer to Fat Annie, and Zeke is still in line to rise through the ranks of the NYC bureaucracy. Somewhere in the midst of all that, Zeke has to transform into the serious rap star he grows up to be.
So, obviously there’s still going to be a lot more music and a lot more drama. Can we also offer up one crazy theory for Part 2? Mylene and Shaolin are going to hook up. Hear us out! The acrimony between the two borders on intense physical loathing…which as we all know is just a mask for secret shameful lust. As Zeke pulls away from the old crew, we can see Shaolin and Mylene getting into cocaine-fueled mischief in Studio 54. (ALSO: IT’S JUST A THEORY.)
