The ludicrously spoofy and arguably problematic political satire sitcom by Tyler Perry, Miss Governor, continues with its 1st season, with 8 new episodes released in part 2. The season structure and the release schedule are not the only confusing things about the series, as it has also undergone a name change from part 1 to part 2 because of a lawsuit. Originally titled She The People, the production was sued by a nonprofit political action group that works for women in politics, as it had the same name. Therefore, we now have Miss Governor, the entire season 1 of which is streaming on Netflix, and the show remains as superficial and unsatisfyingly lackluster in Part 2 as it has always been.
Spoiler Alert
What is season 1 part 2 about?
Miss Governor had begun with the protagonist, Antoinette Dunkerson, unexpectedly winning the elections to become the new Lieutenant Governor of her home state, Mississippi, the first Black woman to ever hold the position. Although this win brought Antoinette immense joy, as she hoped to sincerely serve the state and especially the people of her community, who have always been ignored and neglected, she soon came to a sad realization. Governor Irwin Harper, who was technically her only professional superior in office, had already arranged a setup to frustrate and demean her at every step. Through his secretary, Jed Bonds, Harper had ensured that Antoinette would only be given menial and insignificant tasks, while he would still control the real administration.
Eventually, after a lot of struggles, a real change of fortune seemed to come Antoinette’s way when Governor Harper suffered a massive heart attack and seemed to be dying, following a heated argument with her. Season 1 part 1 had ended at this very juncture, and now, at the very beginning of part 2, it is confirmed that while Harper is still alive for now, he has to step away and be under treatment at the hospital. However, his minions at the office, led by Jed, do not reveal this news to the public and simply state that the governor is taking a break from office due to personal reasons, and deny that he is physically unfit. This measure is clearly taken to stop a woman of color from stepping up to the position of governor for the time being, as is the law, and thus, Antoinette Dunkerson’s uphill battle to become the governor and be taken seriously still continues.
How does Antoinette’s plan with Basil backfire?
At the beginning of Miss Governor season 1 part 2, Antoinette is confident that Harper has been hospitalized and is under treatment, as she herself witnesses him being carried out on a stretcher. Therefore, she believes that exposing news of the man’s sickness would be enough to get her promoted to his position. However, getting proof of Harper’s condition is almost impossible, and she quickly realizes that if she can somehow get her hands on photographic evidence, then she can use it to exert pressure on Jed. Thus, she cooks up a plan to somehow get a photo of the governor in the emergency ward, and she obviously chooses Basil for this risky mission, as nobody else would be gullible enough to do it. Basil also initially refuses to be a part of the plan, but he quickly comes up with a demand in exchange for the massive risk.
Basil has a criminal record for having been caught with illegally high amounts of marijuana, and because of this taint in the official records, he cannot fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer. Therefore, he wants Antoinette to pardon this previous charge against him so that he can apply at the police academy, and the protagonist eventually agrees. Thus, Basil sneaks into the emergency room by taking the disguise of the janitor, who also happens to be his friend, and clicks a number of photos of the unconscious Harper. He then hands them over to Antoinette, who uses the photos against Jed, making him aware that she has proof of her claim and that she can expose the photos anytime to the media, which will be scandalous.
Jed quickly agrees to let Antoinette do whatever she wants under her professional position and especially allows her to grant pardons to citizens, which is usually done by the governor. Using her new ability, Antoinette pardons a number of people, including Basil, who can once again make attempts to become a police officer. However, trouble strikes when her daughter, Lola, sees a photo of Governor Harper in the hospital on Shamika’s phone, as Basil had taken the photos on his girlfriend’s phone, and decides to expose her mother’s secret. Antoinette had not told anyone else about these photos, including her friends from Harvard, and so it comes as a shock to everyone when the photos and the news that she had orchestrated their capture leak on a website. Ultimately, the truth about Governor Harper’s health becomes common knowledge, and Antoinette can no longer exert control over Jed by using them. Instead, the fact that she had gotten photos of her professional superior taken in such an unprofessional manner, and that too to technically blackmail his secretary, is also used against her by her rivals. The situation completely backfires, and Antoinette is left reeling for a long time.
Why does Lola act out against her mother?
One of the most prominent troublemakers for Antoinette’s political career in season 1 part 2 turns out to be her own daughter, Lola, who acts out against her. Lola had already had a misunderstanding with her mother in part 1, when Antoinette had stopped her from seeing her good-for-nothing boyfriend. While the teenager seemed to have ultimately come to terms with how her mother only wants to help her, she does develop vengeful tendencies against her once again. Lola just seems to be at that rebellious age when everyone wants to take action against all the injustices of the world and particularly against the hypocrisies (as they believe) of their parents. Therefore, she does not hesitate to dig up dirt against her mother and create a series of problems for her.
It is Lola who creates a website to publish leaked news and rumors from the world of politics and calls it GovLeakster to make it sound professional. When the crew from a national media channel visits their house to interview Antoinette, Lola very openly states that she does not follow mainstream media because of their biased and tainted reporting. Yet, she then tells the media personnel about the scandalous news on GovLeakster because she knows very well that people would never find her page otherwise. In a way, it is Lola who initiates the ultimate challenge in Antoinette’s career when she is subpoenaed for a deposition hearing. We see Lola stumbling upon her mother making love to her head of security, Michael Davies, and despite her brother, Titus, asking her to keep the matter a secret, the girl does state that she will tell everyone about it. Soon, Jed learns about the illicit affair between the two government employees and gets it confirmed by the national media channel, since they had recorded similar conversations between Antoinette and her friends. But unlike part 1, part 2 does not feature any confrontation between Antoinette and Lola, with the former not even acknowledging her daughter’s ill intentions for the most part.
What does the Southern Governors’ Retreat imply?
The Southern Governors’ Retreat is a fictional closed event organized every year in Miss Governor, and being the acting governor of Mississippi for the time being, Antoinette Dunkerson gets invited to it. Her team is initially confused about whether she should attend the event, considering that there is no information about it on the internet, and it seems to be a hush-hush affair. Besides, the fact that all the governors from the Southern states will be present means Antoinette will have to be amidst all political rivals, as everyone except for her is a Republican. However, the protagonist refuses to give up on this chance for two specific reasons.
Firstly, and more importantly, she will get to spend time with Twyman Hill, the Governor of Louisiana, whom she needs to convince about the pipeline deal that is still in the works. Secondly, Antoinette also wants to get acquainted with the Governor of Texas, Antonia Anniston, simply because she is a fellow woman politician. Although Anniston is a Republican as well, Antoinette hopes to strike up a friendship with her because of the fact that she is also a woman of color. She decides to take her former chief of staff, Henry Clatterbuck, with her, but the retreat ends up a horrific experience for the most part. Her wish to be friends with Anniston is quickly quashed, as the latter very clearly states that she does not specifically identify as a woman of color, and neither is she concerned with the woes of the people of her community. But the most glaringly difficult part about the retreat is the overly racist undertone that prevails over it, with the governors themselves partaking in it. Twyman Hill, particularly, is extremely rude and demeaning towards Antoinette for her identity as a Black female politician. He makes it clear that she does not belong at the retreat and goes on to question her morals and family values as well. In this segment, Miss Governor really stresses on its political satire, particularly implying how a significant number of the Southern states, including the political figures there, still feel proud of their racist Confederate history. When Governor Hill is first introduced, he is seen emotionally gazing at a portrait of Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States.
Antoinette even remarks about Hill having a special fondness for the Trail of Tears, of which Jackson had been one of the key planners. The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement and slaughter of thousands of Native Americans and their slaves, carried out by the United States government between 1830 and 1850. The white population, led by President Jackson, directly called for the ethnic cleansing and displacement of the Native tribes in order to free lands for white people to settle in and make use of the natural resources. This is not the only historical event referenced in this segment of the series, with the governors even having a ritual of reenacting the Battle of Vicksburg from the Civil War.
The Battle of Vicksburg was an important event from the American Civil War, in which Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant led a Union army to the city of Vicksburg, in Mississippi, to defeat and drive out the Confederate army holding the place captive. Believing that this would be a nice chance to openly show her disdain of the Confederate army, Antoinette decides to partake in this ‘team-building’ exercise, only to realize that the governors, who all play parts in the Confederate army, literally pay the Union soldiers to die and pretend like the Confederates won the war. This preposterous mockery of history is actually symbolic of the childish and nagging desire of Confederate supporters to somehow change history and bring back their old, racist values.
Is Governor Irwin Harper dead?
Eventually, Antoinette is able to make use of her time at the retreat to her benefit, as she blackmails Governor Hill into granting her wish of changing the route of the pipeline. She then also has to face a deposition hearing, as news of her intimate relationship with Michael is exposed. Ultimately, Antoinette survives this hearing as well, with all allegations against her technically dropped, but she still does not get to become the governor at the end of Miss Governor season 1. Turns out, Irving Harper is still alive and recovering at the hospital, but more importantly, Jed just refuses to let the protagonist get the professional promotion, even for a short period of time. He feels that a senile and unfit (both physically and mentally) Harper would still be a more useful governor than Antoinette, who will obviously try to bring reforms to laws and society in general, which would go against the will of the majority of the white population. Thus, at the end of the series, Irwin Harper is brought back from the hospital and almost forcibly reinstated to the position of the Governor of Mississippi, despite being completely senile.
Are Antoinette and Michael together in the end?
Previously in season 1, Antoinette had decided to intentionally stay away from Michael, despite learning that he was as interested in her romantically as she was in him, for she knew that their romantic involvement would be against the rules of the government office. For this reason, Michael had even left Antoinette’s security detail and taken up some other position at the office, but at the beginning of part 2, she brings him back to lead her security team after Harper’s illness and the mounting pressure on her. Eventually, they are unable to hold back their urges, and this results in the disciplinary hearing against them.
Although they come out of this hearing unscathed, Miss Governor does not confirm anything about Antoinette and Michael being together in the end, although the suggestion is that they have broken up, not directly after conversing with each other, but simply as a result of the circumstances. However, when Antoinette’s head of communications, Danny, had earlier suggested that she should not get associated with Michael ever again, she did seem unhappy about it. This means that Antoinette does genuinely want to be with Michael, and his admission earlier during the hearing also makes it evident that he seriously loves her. Although the ending of Miss Governor season 1 does not show Antoinette and Michael to be together anymore, it is extremely likely that they will get back together sometime in the near future.
