‘Blindspotting’ EP Talks Chronicling the History of the N-Word Through Dance in Episode 3

thewrap.com:

Starz comedy’s second season follows Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones) and her son Sean (Atticus Woodward) as they go on their first family weekend visitation to San Quentin State Prison, where husband and dad Miles (Rafael Casal) is serving a five-year sentence.

The installment is packed with nuance, as viewers get an inside look at what the families of incarcerated individuals go through as they try to maintain relationships with their imprisoned loved ones.While Ashley and Miles try to make the most of their circumstances, Sean throws a curveball at their plans when the young, mixed-race child unexpectedly blurts out the N-word in conversation with his parents.Though they first try to sweep the topic under the rug — knowing their 7-year-old couldn’t begin to understand the nuances that come with the word — Sean’s insistence on understanding the topic forces them to talk him through the history of the word, from slavery to the 1960s civil rights movement to present-day issues of police brutality.Rather than showing the conversation, the show chronicled Sean’s perception of the history through an elaborate dance number — a common storytelling approach for the show and a massive undertaking for Calder as a first-time director.“It was definitely one of the most terrifying tests I’ve ever had to do, because of the weight of what that word is,” Calder told TheWrap ahead of the release of the episode Friday.“This was Miles and Ashley’s attempt to tell Sean the most complicated, nuanced bedtime story of all time.

Because of that, it was important to try to retain that innocence that they would try to keep [in telling the story], because he is seven,” she added. “So for me, keeping that magical feeling alive was important.”Read.