Debbi Morgan has a message for “Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black” fans who are still reeling after that epic finale: Buckle up.
“If you think part one was explosive, just wait until part two,” the actor tells TODAY.com over Zoom.
Morgan stars as Olivia, matriarch of the wealthy Bellaire family, in Tyler Perry’s new series, which recently premiered on Netflix. Part One of Season One includes eight action-packed episodes that culminate in a jaw-dropping finale.
“Usually with a lot of shows, you’ll have a big beginning and then you have to get all the way to the finale to get the cliffhanger. This series is a cliffhanger after each and every episode,” Morgan explains.
“Beauty in Black” follows the Bellaire family as they navigate family rifts, infidelity and a lawsuit against their hair care company. Along the way, several members of the family find themselves mixed up with a corrupt strip club that has trapped its employees in an endless cycle of illegal sex work.
The series of shocking events that take place in the Part One finale begin at the end of Episode Seven when Olivia’s son Charles (Steven G. Norfleet) is shot at by assailants as he drives down the family’s private road. His car subsequently explodes and viewers are left to wonder if he survived.
After filming the series, Morgan admits that she “forgot” about the explosion and was surprised once again while watching it.
Morgan’s character may have a complicated relationship with her sons, but the actor says Charles’ accident will send her into true mama bear mode.
“Olivia is a proud churchgoing woman on Sundays and maybe a few days during the week. But if you come after her or harm either one of her sons or do anything to mess with her, listen, you better shut the front door and close all the shades. I’ll leave it at that,” she says.
So what else happened in the Season One, Part One cliffhanger of “Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black”? Read on to learn all the juicy details.
What happens at the end of ‘Beauty in Black’ Part One?
In the Part One finale, several shocking moments occur. Here’s a look back at all the drama.
What happens to Horace?
Throughout the first half of the season, Olivia’s ex-husband Horace (Ricco Ross) has been frequenting a local strip club. Though he requests private time with a female exotic dancer named Kimmie (Taylor Polidore Williams), he really has his sights set on a male dancer named Angel (Xavier Smalls).
As he gets to know Kimmie and learns that her friend Rain (Amber Reign Smith) is in the hospital, he agrees to go visit her since Kimmie’s pimp forbids her from seeing her. Meanwhile, Kimmie arranges for Angel to dance privately for Horace.
When Kimmie goes to Horace’s house one day, she realizes he’s rich and suspects that he’s involved in the strip club operations since he’s pictured with her pimp who manages the club.
Kimmie later finds out from patients at the hospital that Rain has died and she suspects that Horace never visited her.
Frustrated by the news, Kimmie agrees to Angel’s idea to rob Horace so they can both escape their torturous lives at the strip club. However, their plans are short-lived after a group of masked men enter Horace’s house while he’s entertaining Angel and Kimmie.
Horace shoots the invaders before they can rob his safe and demands answers from Angel and Kimmie, since he thinks they’re involved. They explain that they work for a pimp named Jules (Charles Malik Whitfield) who has forced them into sex work to repay their debts since he got them out of past legal trouble.
Horace then lets them go and calls Jules, who also happens to be his security guard. He asks him about a judge he once knew, presumably the one who helped Jules get his dancers pardoned from legal charges.
What happens to Kimmie and Body?
When Kimmie returns to her motel room, she encounters Body (Tamera Kissen), a stripper and low-level boss who works at the strip club with her.
Body, who is convinced that Kimmie is trying to take her place, reveals that she’s kidnapped Kimmie’s teenage sister and will be making her work for her. As she sees her sister being driven away, Kimmie starts fighting Body and then runs over to her car, where she jumps in and drives it into her nemesis.
What happens to Rain?
Early on in the season, Body encourages Rain to get a Brazilian butt lift from a shady lady who performed Body’s procedure. The surgery goes horribly wrong and Rain ends up in the hospital. When Kimmie goes to visit her one day, other patients who were in the same hall as Rain say that she died.
As Kimmie prepares to rob Horace, she gets a call from Rain and is shocked to hear that her friend is still alive. Rain is in a top-notch hospital (all thanks to Horace) and Angel and Kimmie eventually go visit her there.
What happens to Mallory?
Mallory has been sneaking around with her driver Calvin (Shannon Wallace) and her husband Roy (Julian Horton) begins to suspect something when they’re in the car together and he notices that his wife isn’t wearing underwear.
On the ride home, they come across an accident and Mallory realizes that it’s Charles’ car that’s on fire. She then calls her father-in-law to come to the scene.
When does ‘Beauty in Black’ Part 2 air ?
With so many unanswered questions looming, Morgan understands why viewers are so eager to see Part Two of Season One, which will premiere in the spring and feature another eight episodes.
“Tyler knows his audience and he has his pulse on what his loyal and faithful fans want to watch. And it’s always these over the top, thrilling, sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to see what’s going to happen next (moments),” she says.
What happens in Part 2 of ‘Beauty in Black’?
Though it’s still uncertain what will happen in the Season One, Part Two of “Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black,” Morgan teases that as the season progresses, viewers will get to see more of Olivia.
“This role is so delicious, so juicy,” she tells TODAY.com. “And for an actor, it’s always so much more fun to play a bad, flawed character. But also in playing a character like this, I wanted to make sure that you saw there was a soft spot somewhere, some vulnerability.”
“And you see that with her love for Charles in protecting him,” she adds.
After the finale aired, viewers began to share memes of the characters on social media. Several X users applauded Morgan’s performance, including one who wrote, “OLIVIAAAAA! I just love seeing Debbi Morgan on my screen & I better see more of her in season 2.”
Another shared the following reaction alongside a GIF of her character: “Debbi Morgan has been pretty all her life. She IS #BeautyInBlack.”
Morgan is entertained by fans’ reaction to the series and that some have went as far to share memes of her on social media.
“I think anything that keeps the audience interested and entertained that they want to be making all of these memes (is wonderful). It just (shows) how addicted they are to the show, which is great. That’s exactly what we all want,” she says.
As is often the case, the show has received some mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 51% and Decider called the show “about a subtle as a slap in the face.”
Essence, meanwhile, bemoaned the series’ sexual content, saying it “often feels unneeded,” and said “much of the series can feel hollow.”
Morgan says she doesn’t let the critic reviews get to her.
“To me, it’s not about the critics. It’s about what the fans love, what they want to see,” she says. “It seems to me you shouldn’t necessarily ignore (viewers’ opinions) if people are loving the show (just) because it’s not a show for you. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good show.”