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‘A Black Woman Got Them Judy Blume’

Mara Brock Akil reimagines a controversial tale of teen sexual awakening in the sumptuous new Netflix series Forever.

We’re sitting on a bench on the Lower East Side on the last day of March, having the sort of conversation that usually takes place in a bar bathroom between 12 and 4 a.m.: rangy and emotional and encouraging, crackling with cackles and punctuated by an immediate Instagram follow. It has all the trappings of a classic romance — the shy rich boy, Justin Edwards (played by newcomer Michael Cooper Jr., with the cutest butt you’ll ever see), falls in love with the cool poor girl, Keisha Clark (a luminous Lovie Simone). Simple miscommunications have ruinous outcomes; physical bonds are easier to maintain than emotional ones, all updated with modern teen problems: a sex tape texted to the wrong people, an ADHD diagnosis, and whether or not to take an Uber.

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