Joan Carol Clayton

So we've got Mara Brock Akil, who is the creator and writer of Girlfriends.

Then we have our lead actress, Tracee Ellis Ross, who plays Joan Clayton; Jill Marie Jones, who plays Antoinette 'Toni' Childs; Golden Brooks, who plays Maya Wilkes; Persia White, who plays Lynn Searcy; Keisha Sharp, who plays Monica Brooks.

Please give this woman her flowers.

Reggie Hayes, who plays William Dent.

I love Tracee Ellis Ross.

always loved tracy ellis ross i feel like i've grown up with her she's got a new show out about travel so i started re-watching it i every few years i re-watch it um and then i stop i never finish the re-watch because it gets really thorny towards the end of the series right it goes from being a clear sitcom to being something more akin to like shows like girls you know that come along later but um My theory is that the show's, I guess you would say, narrative engine is grief, particularly for the two main characters, Joan and Tony.

They're two very different types of women.

They're the oldest friends on the show, according to their backstories, and they're both constantly grieving the loss of the lives they thought or that they feel that they were supposed to be living.

It won't let them move on.

So, for a lot of them, it's just like, I'm supposed to be married, rich, happy, living a fabulous life.

That's basically the manifestation, right? It's more like Joan feels that she should be married to her true love.

Yes.