Dear White People: Don't Be Alarmed, You'll Actually Like This Show a Lot

Knee-jerk rage is not that surprising in 2017, of course, but then, mild trepidation towards the show wouldn't be all that shocking either.

Because while we know we "should be talking about race," as pundits say, we kind of don't want to.

Netflix's adaption of Simien's 2014 movie is hilarious, smartly written and deeply engrossing entertainment that presents race and the ways we deal with it (and don't) in the most upbeat, even fun way we've seen on TV in a long time, if ever.

Tighter and more layered than the film from which it's adapted, the satire respects all its characters -- the militant black people, the gay people, the token Asian, the "can't we all just get along" people, the immigrants and yes, the white folks -- as much as it lampoons all of them.

A powder keg is erupting, as Pastiche, the (white) campus humor magazine, unintentionally played host to a "Dear Black People" party wherein white people dressed up as African-Americans.

The party, and its aftermath, is told through the POV of the motley crew in her orbit, including Lionel Higgins (DeRon Horton) a shy and gay news reporter who keeps uncovering damning information; Troy Fairbanks, (Brandon P. Bell) son of the dean and a goody two-shoes who's not really sure how to navigate his identity; Sam's equally militant crush Reggie Green (Marque Richardson); and Cocoa Conners (Antoinette Robertson), Sam's ex-roommate and sometimes adversary who's more comfortable with white people partially because of challenges her dark skin presents.

Characters can at times feel a bit cloying, yet the fact that they're college students grants them a pass since, well, you know college kids: idealistic, impassioned and just as naïve as they are agents of change.