S1: 70, S2: 68, S3: 50, S4; 62

Intersectionality: The Show. Probably the most important piece of Netflix Original Programming ever made. It deals with loads of important topics (Race, gender, class etc.) with a level of nuance and depth that I've never seen any other film or show match. My biggest gripe however, is that the show approaches these topics with such a high academic level of English that it becomes inaccessible to many of the people who would benefit most from hearing what the show has to say.

The pacing is strange, sometimes it's good, sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow, it keeps changing over and over. Sadly they got it right by season 4, but that's also when they decided to end it (on a high note!). Pretty good show with talented actors and a solid ending.

Intriguing show tackling and dissecting important topics with a cast of interesting and multifaceted characters. The character-focused episodes style hits more often than it misses, although it might take a bit of getting used to in S1. Enjoyable, captivating, uncomfortable, satirical and contemporary "college life show", dare I say the best so far, shining a light on the systemic issues affecting people of colour - excited to see how they're gonna wrap it up in S4.

(post s3) I was a fan of the film, but this is even better, cause it gets to dig in deeper. What I love the most is the characters. All of them are so great and vivid and it gets even better in season 2 when Joelle and other side characters get more screentime. Love the wittiness of this, the pop culture parodies in-universe, the huge diversity and then the episodes about grief and depression and hoteps and films.

Smart, (pop) culture references were great, more than decent characters, but tackles institutionalized racism in exactly the way that won't ever resonate with me. Maybe I'm just lucky I don't live in the US.

Without conspiracy stuff in second season this would be more. First season 95/100, second season 89/100.

It's not that Dear White People doesn't hit - it just misses far more often.

[thru season 4] In the first season, it's POV-per-episode structure doesn't work; episodes are far too uneven because not all characters are equally interesting or well-developed. In general, the best parts are those that were already in the movie. In the second season, it seems to realize it needs a new direction, and does some interesting things to attempt that. However, the direction and editing frequently hold these ideas back. By the 3rd/4th season, it's all working together wonderfully.

The filler episodes felt like they slowed down the plot to almost a crawl and for a series taking on instituionalized racism as the main subject that definitely hurt. It was still very engaging and the cultural subject matter definitely elevated it above most shows in the intelligence category. Hoping for a season 2 and hoping for more overall progression within that season. There is a lot of ground they can cover and most of it was already touched upon.

2 issues with DWP. First, the episodic POV format is too reminiscent of 13 Reasons Why, but serves less purpose, and suffers for it; providing longer spans with less interesting characters. Second, the amount of content; covering police discrimination, gun safety, and relationships alongside its premise of institutionalised racism results in pacing that feels contrived. Nevertheless, a lot of the jokes are quite funny and the series promotes discussion about an important topic. Watch the movie.