"Hibiscus" Brings A Welcome Perspective Shift in 'Get Millie Black’s Second Episode

The second episode of Get Millie Black lands Curtis in the hospital for emergency surgery following his shooting. Millie finds Curtis’ boyfriend, Daniel, fighting with a nurse about being allowed to see him. The nurse snidely says the hospital doesn’t recognize “that kind of family,” Millie steps in, calling the nurse ignorant and dismissing her. But Daniel is upset with Millie, too, feeling she should have protected Curtis from harm.

Hibiscus: “(Millie is) a lonely woman in a house of ghosts, trying to raise an old family from the dead.”

Unexpectedly, Hibiscus takes over the narration for this part of the tale. She tells us most people think she’s lost, but she’s confidently known herself all her life. As we see Hibiscus turning tricks in a ruined building filled with other sex workers, she defiantly says it’s “better to be Hibiscus here than Orville everywhere else.” Fade to Hibiscus standing over Deltreece, who is dead after her beating last week. She leaves, hobbling down the road barefoot and bloody. Hibiscus insists she doesn’t need saving – she needs a big sister. She’s angry and has nowhere to go except Mama’s “dead house.”