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I'm glad Taylour Paige did what was best for her, and not the show, nor the fans. I will say, Paige has really done some interesting and successful work since Hit the Floor. I'm really looking forward to "I Love Boosters!"

I will also say, I wasn't a fan of how the show dragged Ahsha, especially through Derek, German & Pete... considering all of the awful things those characters have done, least of which was a murder, LoL!

If he'd come back in season four and she'd stayed throughout the entire eight episodes, then yes a reunion would have been perfect!

Ooh! I like this question. In my humble opinion, the most underrated Dersha scene is this:

Here’s why - We’ve seen the physical attraction between Derek & Ahsha build for the 3 previous episodes, but that was just harmless flirting. In this episode, they crossed the line.  Ahsha wandered into Derek’s bedroom and that was not by accident. She is drawn to all of his mysterious, sexy, forbidden manliness. If Ahsha was really about that German life, she would have made her exit when Derek emerged from his bathroom in just a towel.

Derek just had triplets in his bedroom, but seems to get more satisfaction from seducing Ahsha.  After some serious, eye-sex, double-ententres, suggestive flirting and heavy breathing, Ahsha gets “coached” on how to be sexy and proceeds to put all her moves on display for Derek. They had eyes only for each other during her photo shoot.

So here we are at the end of the day, after all the flirting, teasing and lusting after each other. It’s the culmination of the inevitable –

  You can see when Ahsha realized that Derek had crossed from teasing to serious. He  was probably feeling lonely, and was probably very turned on by all of her sexy dancing. To put some distance between them Ahsha said she was going home to her boyfriend. I like that she didn’t make it easy, because at this point, Derek was still just running game.

This scene is very underrated, but  it marked a progression in Dersha’s relationship. They Shout out to Taylour and McKinley because their acting was superb in this scene. They nailed it – all of the subtley, understated sexual tension,  and the yearning really looked authentic.

I agree that Taylour Paige and McKinley Freeman have the chemisty and solid acting chops to make me fall in love and root for them. It's all very, German, who?

Besides, it's tumblr - white, male and gay is worshipped on here, with the loudest fanbase.

That being said, I think Ahsha/Derek and Jelena were equally important to the show's overall success. Black women made that show a hit from the beginning.

Then gay men and white women jumped on board due to Jude and Zero later in S2...

Oh, and the racism that reared its ugly head in S4 when Jude got with Noah, an East Indian...

my main advice is character study: literally rewatch any L&O episode he is in/ones he is featured prominently in, and just… study him. Why is this such a good episode of him? What does it say about him, his values or his personality? What about characteristics? What codes does he give off? Try to imagine having a conversation with him - what do you think he would say or respond? I also enjoy reading fanfic of him written by other writers, because they might see him in a light that I have not thought about, or noticed something that I missed.

Obviously this can work for any character - even OCs - but for a show like Law and Order where we barely see the characters personal lives (especially in the early seasons) we have to pick up on the literal crumbs we get.

I will say I side eye (mostly) white writers who say it's a form of "activism" if they include/write a Black character into their fic or if they complain that they don't want to be an "activist" by including one if their readers want it.

You are not registering voters, protesting or leading a boycott...

⟢ PEOPLE DON'T FINISH SENTENCES! IMPORTANT! they interrupt themselves, they trail off, they start talking about eggs and somehow end up confessing their deepest fear about becoming their mother. Your dialogue should derail like a drunk train conductor took the wheel. "I was thinking we could—no wait, did you feed the cat? Because last time you said you would but—actually never mind, what I meant was—" SEE? HUMAN. Beautiful chaos.

⟢ Contractions exist??? USE THEM. Nobody says "I am going to the store" unless they're an alien spy or your grandmother leaving a voicemail. It's "I'm gonna" or even "gonna hit the store" or if they're really casual "store run, back in 20"

⟢ LISTEN TO ME! Said is NOT dead but said is also boring sometimes. Yeah yeah, "said is invisible," the writing teachers chant while burning incense. But you know what? Sometimes people mutter, snap, whisper, drawl, bite out their words. Your character just found out their partner sold their vinyl collection? They're not "saying" anything, they're HISSING like a Victorian ghost

⟢ People repeat themselves when emotional!!! "I can't believe you. I just—I can't believe you did this." Not poetic. Real. That's the point!!!

⟢ Subtext is doing heavy lifting, what people DON'T say matters more than what they do. "Fine" is never fine. "Whatever you want" means "I will remember this betrayal forever." Your readers are smart; let them read between the lines

Jelena Howard || Hit the Floor

Date Posted: February 8, 2026

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