Netflix’s Forever ends on a bittersweet note that leaves us hopeful for a happy ending for our two leads, Justin and Keisha. The show follows two ambitious Black teens in the final years of high school, getting ready to make something of themselves. In Forever, Justin has severe ADHD and gets therapy for it. His grades are not the best, but he certainly has talent when it comes to basketball. On New Year’s Eve, 2018, Justin decides to step out of his box, and go to a party. Here he meets a girl named Keisha, whom he knows from elementary school. They start to talk and immediately hit it off. But what Justin doesn’t know is that Keisha’s been through a really rough time recently, which has led to her switching schools. This is also her first time out of the house in a really long time, so their meeting is extra special, but what follows isn’t a dreamy Disney-coded love story. It’s mountainous terrain that seems to get bumpier by the day. But will Justin and Keisha make it? Let’s find out in the ending of Forever.
Spoiler Alert
Why Is Keisha Skeptical Of Getting With Justin?
Keisha switched schools because her boyfriend at the time, Christian, spread her sex tape around for everybody to see. This is a heinous crime, but Keisha keeps her head held high and pretends it’s no big deal so her mother doesn’t find out. The excuse she gives her mom, though, is that the kids at that school were being racist. Now her mom has to work extra hard to pay for school, because Keisha doesn’t have a scholarship at this new private school. I’m not going to lie, I’ve lost count of the number of times Keisha and Justin have misunderstandings in this show, but it all begins with Christian coming back into Keisha’s life. Justin decides to pursue Keisha, but she feels like he’s going to break her heart just like Christian did, but more importantly, she’s paranoid because she thinks he’s seen the video too. But Justin works hard to tell her otherwise, essentially stalking her to get her to unblock him on social media and actually listen to what he has to say. This works the first time, but then it’s his turn to get mad, because when they’re going steady, Christian shows up, and Justin doesn’t wait to hear why Keisha’s hanging with him before immediately rushing away.
I mean, sure, this is puppy love, eh? But the issue really is that Keisha isn’t able to tell her mom that she’s broken up with Christian, aka the next LeBron, and so her mom thinks they’re still going strong. This leads to several misunderstandings between Keisha and Justin, but mainly when she agrees to go with Christian to his prom simply because her mom is excited about it. Meanwhile, Justin’s mom, who thought it was great that he was dating Keisha, realizes the girl might break his heart, so she tells him to be cautious.
What Does Keisha’s Mum Do?
The entire first half of the show is dedicated to trying to find a solution to Keisha’s situation. But when she tells Justin that there’s no way she can skip the prom, he decides to walk away from the situation and spend the rest of his time being heartbroken by himself. But when Keisha’s done with the prom, she decides to fly across the country to meet Justin and try her hand at resolving things, because now it’s his turn to block her. This works in her favor because she apologizes for the whole Christian situation, and in truth, the duo can’t resist each other. Also, this is right after one of Justin’s childhood besties tries to get him to sleep with her by flashing him, just because she wants to go to college feeling “experienced,” but she saves him from disaster by telling him to check his blocked voice messages, and sure enough, Keisha’s left one.
Things get serious when Justin’s mom learns about the sex tape and threatens to tell Keisha’s mom because she doesn’t want the young girl to suffer on her own. This pushes Keisha to tell her mom the truth. At first, Keisha’s mom overreacts and gets angry rather than worrying about her daughter. Of course, she feels like she’s failed in protecting her. But later, she tells her that she wants her to send Christian to prison because somebody should be held accountable. Keisha then reveals it wasn’t entirely his fault, and the video was taken on her phone. I suppose, in the end, her mom realizes she just needs to be there for her daughter, get therapy, and everything will be okay. This also brings the two moms together.
Does Justin go to Northwestern?
I think what really drew me to Forever is how it basically holds a mirror to Keisha and Justin in the form of the other person. Okay, it’s not in the “I am you, you are me” kind of sense, but what Keisha faces at the beginning of the series through the leak of her sex tape, i.e., feeling lost and alone, Justin starts to feel later, when he’s already made Keisha his whole world. For Justin, basketball is a thing he holds dear to himself because of his dad, and college is something he has to do to make his parents proud. Justin’s mom is certainly a smothering woman (her therapist says her parenting style is “catastrophic”), but he handles her pretty okay. Anyway, after Justin and Keisha get together properly and things are looking up for them, it’s time for them to graduate and split up to go to their own universities. At this time, Justin is making beats because music is something he’s interested in, but of course, it’s not something he can be serious about.
As time passes, Justin starts to realize that he doesn’t care about either basketball or studying enough to keep doing it. But the sad truth is, his parents have worked too hard to push him to the top. He’s the first of his lineage to get into college, and he’s got all the ADHD therapy, the tutors, etc. Now, by the time prom time rolls in, Justin’s as lost as a puppy and doesn’t know what to do with himself anymore. So, he tells Keisha he’ll go to the same school as her, that is, Howard. Interestingly, Howard’s been Keisha’s dream since her childhood, but for Justin, it’s a sudden last-minute change of heart. They have a fight about it again, but they both realize their own faults. The thing is, Keisha doesn’t want Justin to go to Howard, because that’s not what he really wants; he’s just clinging to a lifeline. So, he decides the only way for them to move forward with their own lives is if they break up, and Keisha gives Justin the same advice he gave her: to tell his parents what he’s really feeling. Guess he’d have been a hypocrite if he went to Northwestern instead of following his heart. The reason Justin breaks up with Keisha is that he clings to her too much, and basically, his entire life revolves around her because she makes him happy. But to be able to find himself, he has to let go of everything.
In Forever’s ending, Justin finds the courage to take a gap year and pursue his music while Keisha is all set to go to Howard. They meet just before she’s leaving, and he tells her he’s doing an internship with a music producer, and he’s going to be trying some things out for a year. He then asks to take her out and recreates their first date. At the date, he also gifts her the bag he bought for her on their first date, which she never ended up taking with her after he made her mad. The show ends in a full circle moment, because the date goes very well, just like their first one should’ve gone. But, I guess it works out because they’re now more mature through experience and having known each other for a bit. In the end, though, Justin and Keisha don’t get back together; we’re left hoping that after they’ve both found themselves, they might end up back together because they’re “Forever.”
I think the title of the show specifically refers to the fact that even if Justin and Keisha don’t end up being each other’s forevers, they’ve left an indelible mark on each other that the other can never forget. But we can only be optimistic and hope they’ll find each other again.
