Soul Food: The Third Season is one of the better shows that I’ve seen simply for the reason that it doesn’t over sensationalize nor does it attempt to reach out to a pop culture generation by splicing and dicing in adverts and or images.  The show revolves around people with real problems and those problems aren’t resolved by some analytically smart hero in the final hour or by some small miracle just when things look their bleakest. The characters on the show do their best to live amongst their problems until they can figure them out, if they can figure them out, and that’s what makes them so human and the show so uplifting. What your looking at is hypothetically ourselves if we can associate with the character problems, and most of us will be able to identify with some of them, and that’s the appeal that I think makes the show so familiar.

The acting is considerably strong and only feels contrived occasionally but only for a few moments because the storylines are so moving or sometimes so uneventful that you feel that this is life, people sometimes act contrived in certain scenarios in real life, and you get over it. The breakout character is a toss up between Ahmad, a smart kid caught up in his parents separation and class issues; money, car, home. Then you have Nicole Ari Parker who is an intelligent woman whose been dealing with sexism in the workplace and suddenly finds herself sitting above the rest of her co-workers. She has to learn to balance professionalism with personal issues, sex issues amongst her peers, and weather or not she can stand to part with her dignity to get ahead in her field. There are a lot of real issues dealt with on the show and even though the cast doesn’t always get through them their there for one another regardless. It’s a real feel good show that is definitely not for the younger crowd but grown ups can appreciate the sophistication and reality of watching someone else go through something you can relate with without trying to make a joke out of it or trying to make the solutions look simple. Definitely worth purchasing or a rental. Enjoy.

(Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions. Some music has been changed for this home entertainment version)