When Love Kills
TV One finally made the debuted When Love Kills on August 28th, 2017. This was a cautionary tale about Falicia Blakely. Falicia Blakely was a young woman in the Atlanta area who ultimately lost her life by the hands of her own naivety. Blakely is not dead in the physical. After seeing what happened to her, she might as well be. The story is about a young girl who got crossed up living the fast life in Atlanta, Georgia. She began dancing in clubs at the age of 16 and ended up pregnant. It got worse after that. She fell in love with a pimp that set out to break her soul. At the end of the day, Blakely lost the last bit of Innocence that she possessed. She allowed this man to manipulate her into selling her body for him. Sadly, that wasn’t enough. Things finally reached a head when she became a murderer all in the name of love. She ended up robbing and killing a total of three different men to please her pimp. She threw away her life for this man.
When Love Kills is the directorial debut of Tasha Smith. It aired on TV One. The main characters were played by Naitia Kirkland (Lil Mama), Lance Gross, and Tami Roman. They all did a great job. I was convinced that they were the characters that they were portraying on film. We have never seen Kirkland in a roll like this. We knew she had pretty decent acting chops from the TLC biopic but this solidifies her place as an actress. She has a right to be here. This woman can act! At one point, while watching the film I thought that she was the real Falicia Blakely. Lance Gross was convincing as the pimp “Big Dino” as well. It is funny watching the Chocolate heartthrob play a role that is opposite of his usual characters. He was not the noble good guy in this flick at all. He showed his range as an actor. He was convincing and I appreciate that. Tami Roman also played the mother of Falicia Blakely in this film. Her role was a little hood but towards the end, her character showed a vulnerable side. Her character apologizes to her daughter and tries to make things right. But at that point, it was far too late. Felicia had already made up her mind on what her fate would be.
