I've seen the first 3 episodes and find LOTS of problems BET's series REBEL. Schizophrenic is the best way to describe it. I wonder if the writer and John Singleton have issues creating three dimensional female characters we can empathize with??? The only character I have empathy for is Rebel's father played wonderfully by actor Michael T. "Mykelti" Williamson, who conveys the father's pain of losing not only his wife but his son through isolating alcoholism and bitterness. When the father tells Rebel Malik was "a part of him that is now gone", his eyes and tone reflect that pain and I automatically connected with which stands in stark contrast to character deficits seen with Rebel. In episode one, her brother, Malik is killed by ex law enforcement partner and ex lover, Thompson McKintyre. The mourning of her brother was the worst piece of dramatics and I'm surprised John Singleton, who I know didn't write the script but has written screenplays with well crafted male characters, didn't send up red flags about the lack of character development here? Through all of this Rebel is not given the breathing room to grieve, reflect and process or reveal character flaw/weakness, but is very capable of sipping tea like a satisfied monk, keep her hair did, clothes on point and heartily laugh with friends as if her problems are champagne bubbles in a glass! What? Huh? AND have lighthearted conversation with THE ex partner/lover, Thompson, who, remember KILLED HER BROTHER, somehow has the big balls to shove a sentimental jump drive with a video of he and Malik rapping (virtual Hallmark at it's best-yeah!) to remind her he liked Malik. But so what!!! Tell me WHY, tell me HOW you could do this to my baby brother, to me? And by the way, Thompson's dialogue trying to explain how he didn't mean to shoot Malik is vacuous, vague verbiage I can't believe Rebel's character wouldn't demand more clarity of. But no, she's seen laughing reminiscing over the good ole days which appears as if Rebel is on heroin. Even if she is laughing with Thompson, couldn't she have conveyed some pain once she walks away from him so the audience can see into her interior life? Can we see what's behind her mask when she knows she's laughing with her brother's killer. For it is the subtle, nuanced crumbs of interior complexity of any character that creates a connection, empathy for a protagonist. All of this is missing and/or given only "drive-by attention". Even with stoic characters, for example, Annelise Keating (How to Get Away With Murder) and Olivia Pope (Scandal), both characters from these shows are pretty stoic women who are aptly portrayed as strong, messy, weak, sexy, complicated wrecks and audiences can relate and root for each of these women yet Rebel is a hologram of the 1970s characters of blaxploitation films like Foxy Brown. And no, we never got to see Foxy cry into her Pink Champale after a day of kicking ass but today, in the 21st century, we want and deserve a bit more introspection about Rebel's emotional and psychological baggage because this helps us to understand each other and ourselves. Rebel only gives lip service, not soul-service, to her pain which only creates a wall between the audience and Rebel. She's seen laughing like it's the 4th of July everyday and then uh- oh....like a community acting 101 class, on cue, she patronizes us with "her pain" and then is off for more Oakland Ass Kicking. ....a paper doll with guns, hip hugging jeans, belly button shirts and a book full of poetry. Nah, I'm good, send her back to the 70s.