SUPER(BLACK)CUT: STARTUP (S1)

**THIS IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY**

I created this supercut simply because I found myself going through the same conversation. It would begin with, "Hey, what are you watching?" Somewhere in the middle: “sounds good. Does it have any black folk?” There might be a yes, but most often, there would be a mention of a sub plotted black character in the B or C line story. While sometimes interesting, it would eventually end with: "Im not watching a whole show just to get to that storyline. Tell me the end". There was one show that always came to mind, STARTUP. After watching season one, I was hooked. The setup sounded pretty typical of a crime drama. But, I quickly realized that the creators gave real storytime to the black character Ronald Dacey played by Edi Gathegi. Being a first-generation American myself, I was interested to see how deep they would get into Ronald's story. The general of the Zoe pound street gang LH7 is trying to be apart of a crypto startup. Episode after episode, I realized that this wasn't just a B or C line story. Ronald Dacey's storyline included his whole family, including his son ( Kelvin Harrison Jr) and wife (Kristen Ariza). Amongst a gang (no pun intended) of strong black male actors, one of which went to my alma mater Howard University (HUUUUU ….YOU KNOW !!!) Kamahl Naiqui.

After watching a quick youtube interview with the creator Ben Ketai, I realized that instead of writing one protagonist, they decided to make three protagonists. Including the fact that they let Edi Gathegi make changes where need be —I couldn't find any evidence of black writers in the writer's room. SIGH.

After continuously recommending the show, (which is free to watch on crackle), I decided that if the creators did in fact, plot three arcs for each protagonist. I could carve out Ronald Dacey's story into one super cut. The result is the above.

Please note that while there are spoilers, cutting only Ronald's story arc does leave out story and many outstanding performances by Adam Brody and Otmara Marrero. While I encourage you to watch the entire season, hopefully, this two hour & thirty min supercut jumpstarts you into season 2.