Forever, one of Netflix’s newest releases is the teenage love story that we needed. This coming-of-age budding romance is sweet, sappy, slightly irritating, and entirely inspirational. It highlights the highs, lows, good, bad, and ugly aspects of being a teenager in love.
Created by Mara Brock Akil, the creative mind behind the popular television series, Girlfriends, The Game, and Being Mary Jane, Forever delivers all the feels. A reimagined version to the 1975 novel written by Judy Blume, Forever follows Keisha Clark (Lovie Simone) and Justine Edwards (Michael Cooper Jr), two teenagers on a quest for individuality while navigating family, school, drama, and a world that seems determined to challenge their young love at every turn. This narrative is a beautiful, yet raw take on Black adolescent love, packed with moments of vulnerability, pain, tears, laughter, and overall growth.
From the very beginning of the series viewers are snatched into two very different and extremely chaotic worlds. On one end there’s Keisha who is almost ridiculously intelligent and driven, yet eager to bury her past mistakes, but unfortunately those mistakes haunt her and define the perspectives of how many people view her. On the other hand we meet Justin, a student athlete with talent, ambition and absolutely no plan. As their two worlds collide, we see them experience so many of their firsts together: first love, first heartbreak, first confrontation with who they are and who they are striving to become.
What makes Forever stand out is its willingness to display the awkward, uncomfortable, and sometimes ugly truths to growing up – alongside the beautiful and heartfelt moments. From having sex for the first time and not knowing what they’re doing, to the pressures of college applications, and having those hard and unwanted conversations with parents. Forever feels both authentic and refreshing.
Forever is not just another teenage love story. This one is a love letter to Black youth, a form of representation that has been missing from the coming-of-age genre. Keisha and Justin are not perfect, and they face many of the struggles that we already experienced, are experiencing, or may experience soon. Watching Keisha breakdown in her mother’s arms as her mother soothed her after a tremendous heartbreak felt raw and deeply real. Witnessing Justin learn how to show up for Keisha not just as her boyfriend, but as a friend, and a young man growing into himself was powerful and touching. Watching these two young teens fall in love, learn, fail, and grow in a society that often denies grace to people who look like us was heartwarming.
If you have not already I would highly recommend watching Forever on Netflix. Drop your opinions on the series in the comments!
