Creator Raamla Mohamed cringed at the thought of seeing her beloved character Jax Stewart lick the remnants of a pain pill off of a public bathroom sink in “Reasonable Doubt.” But she knew that discomfort was part of the uncomfortable reality of addiction.
“I’m a fan of the show, right? So I was like, I ain’t trying to see her like that sink. Oh my god!” Mohamed said in an exclusive interview with theGrio. “But for me I’m like, it does really get us to understand where she is, and to be honest, if you hadn’t seen something like that before…seeing the behavior it had to feel bad.”
For the “Reasonable Doubt” creator, showrunner, and executive producer, the addiction storyline in this season felt inevitable. In fact, it’s a topic she always knew she wanted to explore through the show. And while in earlier seasons it is blatantly shown through Jax’s father, Eddie (played by Richard Brooks), and her client, Ozzie Edwards (played by Kyle Barry), Mohamed has teased the prominent lawyer’s addictive personality throughout the past three seasons.
“Even in the pilot, Jax asks for some Ambien when she needs to sleep, and we see her smoke cigarettes. She has an addictive personality. So obviously, then with the trauma of being shot, it felt like an inevitable storyline, “ she explained. “It’s not until you really see it through Jax that you see that it can happen to you.”
While some social media users have shared mixed feelings about seeing the show’s leading lady fall into the cycle of addiction, others have applauded the how Jax’s storyline this season exposes one of the realities of being a “high-achieving” Black woman.
“In my mind, an addict is in an alley, smoking crack. And I think that, unfortunately, that is kind of how we think of Black people, if they’re addicts… It’s also what we’ve seen on television,” Mohamed shared. “But the truth of the matter is that now we are also part of a high-functioning community where there are lawyers, doctors, plenty of people who do well and become addicted to [substances].”
“So it’s not about how strong you are or how smart you are,” she added.
And part of the reason Jax’s storyline hits so hard that it is almost hard to watch at times is a result of the work done behind the scenes. Just as Mohamed has been intentional about creating a world that feels unapologetically and authentically Black on and off-set, the “Reasonable Doubt” team has been intentional about spotlighting the realistic escalation of addiction through careful research, bringing in Black addiction consultants like Dr. Candice Washington, and having an on-set mental health coordinator at all times. This is paired with the creative decisions amplifies the layered truths of addiction and how it impacts not only addicts but also their loved ones.
This is especially seen in the show’s explosive episode 7, which Mohamed wrote and Anton Cropper directed. Beyond the dialogue, Mohamed said she wanted it to feel “silent and intense,” which explains the decision to feature very little music in the episode, aside from Beyoncé’s “Save the Hero” closing it out.
While not all viewers can relate to the specifics of Jax’s trauma and addiction, many Black women can relate to the weight that she’s carrying. Like many Black matriarchs, Jax is balancing showing up for everyone professionally and personally and keeping up with an image people have grown to know. Jax is the dependable one, the strong one, the one who can solve any problem and still come out of the trenches looking flawless. But this season, viewers are getting a front-row seat to what happens when you spend so much time running and maintaining everything but your mental health.
“There are two lines in the season so far that I think are the most important,” Mohamed shared. “The first is from episode three, when Jax tells her therapist she’s tired of being sad. [She’s like] I’m over it. I just want to be the baddest bitch in the room. The second is when she says, ‘I’m tired of being strong; it’s exhausting.’ To me, that’s a bit of the arc. It’s like, I want to be strong, and then it’s like, oh gosh, it actually is exhausting.”
Which is why sometimes you need to tell yourself to “sit down,” the same way Lewis told Jax to and the same way our parents did when we were kids. Though this season is uncomfortable, Mohamed hopes it reminds women to that it’s okay to slow down.
“You don’t have to keep chasing more of the things, “she reminds us. “I think as women, it’s hard every day we always feel like we’re failing at something. But look around and see what you have, and [ask yourself] what you really want and what you need.”
As far as Jax, the “Reasonable Doubt” creator, described her future as “aspirational.”
“I know that there were people who were questioning this journey, but I hope that by the end of episode [7], and definitely by the end of the season, that it’ll make sense [to them].
