1. Robert Glasper’s 30 second cameo as Art Tatum.
2. The scene with the pizza box on top of the piano.
3. Courtney B. Vance’s phenomenally slicked back hair wig.
4. The real footage of Aretha with Annie Lennox.
5. The actor who played, and looked remarkably like, Clive Davis.
6. The actress who played Aretha’s sister Erma. Goodness.
7. The young actress who played young Aretha. Bravo.
8. Pauletta Washington and Courtney B. Vance looking more like siblings than mother and son.*
9. The padding in the fat suit in Episode 8.*
10. How Cynthia Erivo compensated for having to tackle an American accent by simply having Aretha talk in a monotone and coming up painfully short while mimicking Aretha’s singing voice for eight hours of television.*
11. T.I. and Luke James continuing their stellar departures from making music by displaying authentic acting skills.*
[*The first seven were sincere loves. The final four were posted because I literally ran out of nice things to say. Good times.]
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