I understand the point-of-view about her being young - not too young for Andre, IMHO, but just young period. When you’re that age, you are still getting to know yourself - and what you want. But, Nessa has lived in the middle of a gangsta kinda life, and you don’t grow up in that without developing some maturity. It’s a necessity. She’s not afraid to speak her mind, go against Shyne, tell Hakeem that his clapback song sucks, tell Dre that he needs to manage his illness for himself. And, at the Hakeem-goes-ballistic Xtreme show, you can hear her say to him that when it comes to being disrespected, don’t let these earrings and this dress fool you.
I don’t think she’s a black Rhonda. Empire’s writers aren’t that shallow. And we haven’t seen them peel back the layers of Nessa’s character yet. I’m not saying she’s a goody-goody. She’s obviously not. All Empire characters are shades deep. You don’t survive in the Lyon’s world by constantly taking the moral high ground.
For me, Nessa doesn’t coddle Andre. (No shade to Rhonda, cause she was ride-or-die) But I feel like Rhonda propped Andre up out of love (and ambition), while Nessa challenges Andre to do it himself. (That said, I’m still shocked they killed off Rhonda, but the Andre that we are seeing as a result of the turmoil is sooooooooo much more interesting.)
And yes, the circumstances that you mention surrounding Andre and Nessa are real threats, but that’s what’ll make it interesting to watch. I personally think Andre is playing both his father and Shyne. And, I think it’s about time for Empire to have a real threat to Lucious’ reign. Lucious winning all the time? ZZZZZ. How ironic would it be if the most unappreciated, underestimated, out-of-favor, and perceived-as-weak son would be the one to out-Lucious Daddy Dearest.
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