The Showtime series I’m Dying Up Here returned earlier this month with the start of the brand-new second season. However, it has still yet to move past the awful low-brow humor that plagues the series. Once again, it’s back to taking a swipe against the Christian faith through a new character.
The May 20 episode “Bete Noire” introduces us to Dawn Lima (Xosha Roquemore), the newest comic to hit Los Angeles. Like the other characters, she’s edgy and eager for work, but unlike the others, she seems to have a religious background. She’s described as the “daughter of a preacher” and even before her show says a small prayer to calm her nerves. Of course, since this is a Showtime series, nothing can be clean for long.
[Warning explicit language.]
Dawn: Jesus, I know without you, I can do nothing. But with your strength, I can do it all. Amen.
Ralph: -If there's such a thing as fresh from Philly, but give it up for Ms. Dawn Lima!
Dawn: I fucked a bum today.
Dawn is quickly showing herself to have every single drama trope that a pseudo-Christian character gets in these shows. She has a disapproving preacher father who shows how stuffy and judgmental the faith is, she maintains a sexual relationship with one of the other comics to show her edginess, and she even flirts with a girl at a bar to show how she’s more expressive than those other backwards believers. It’s almost like the only way for television to accept a Christian as a protagonist is if they don’t act like a Christian.
Unfortunately, with seven episodes left in the season, we’ll likely see more of Dawn and less of anything resembling the faith of millions. But what else is new?
