00:00Hi, Essence family. This is Yolanda Sanguini, Entertainment Editor at Essence.com. Welcome
00:08to Coffee Talk, your weekly dose of what's hot on Essence.com. This week, we were lucky enough
00:14to catch up with the lively cast of The Game, who told us everything there is to know about
00:19Season 5. Let's see what they had to say. Okay, this show, you're always on some ride. I mean,
00:25when we're off the ride, I think that's when the show is over. When things are good and
00:30normal, we got a problem. Okay. With Melanie this year, she's going to grow up a little
00:37bit. I think in the past few seasons, she's, you know, she's handled things a little immaturely,
00:42I think. This year, it's all about her finding her voice, finding her independence, finding
00:48out what really makes her happy. You'll see a little bit of drama, but a little bit of
00:53more comedy, more fun. Yeah. Somehow, this opposite, complete
00:57opposites, as you can see, you know, in the beginning, where Jason's coming from and where
01:01Chardonnay's coming from, you know, superstar football player, bartender. Someone that doesn't
01:08really care that he's a superstar football player. But yeah, for some reason, they beat each other.
01:13For some reason, it ends up working. I think Jason, she puts him in check, and no one really
01:20does that. So there's something he likes about that, I guess.
01:24For us to have season five and pick up where we left off with great work, great writing,
01:29and it was never a dumb moment on set. So I think that what you're going to see is a little
01:35bit of what we saw in our first four seasons, but a lot more newness and magic and energy.
01:40I think it's a wonderful blend of both the comedy, the drama. We've gone back to a lot
01:46of funny, but we still have those very serious issues, you know. It opens up immediately,
01:52you know, dealing with abortion. The one thing that I do love about this season is,
01:58you know, Melanie, she wants to get away from the lies. We have this thing where Derwin and
02:03I, we say truth moments, and it's all about putting everything up front. So with that said,
02:07we do talk about the abortion in the beginning of the show, but it doesn't linger. We just
02:13get it out. We talk about the situation. We talk about what happened. We also talk about
02:18whose baby it was. A lot of that stuff that people talk about or are afraid to say in public
02:24or kind of like, man, I wonder who else is going through this, and like, who game touches
02:28on that? The Chardonnay relationship is pretty much all my single with Brandi. We had a blast
02:32working together. We learn, and we kind of go into why Jason has the issues he has with
02:40race, and I thought the writers did a wonderful job of that, because that could be pretty dicey
02:44and pretty, you know, that's a sketchy subject, and I thought they handled it well.
02:48There is a part of me in that. I've grown to that place. I wasn't always owning my own voice
02:56and taking control, but now I have a nine-year-old daughter. I'm 32. It's time, you know, to continue
03:04to put some people in check when need be. In a nice way, though. Not as sassy and feisty
03:11and attitudish as Chardonnay. Everything becomes full circle. You actually, you know, Tasha,
03:19her character, she starts to realize why she is the way she is, why she sometimes, you know,
03:25was a bully, and her layers are kind of, you know, she's kind of opening up to herself,
03:31and she learns from it, and then Melanie learns from her situation, which allows both of us
03:36to kind of like come together and just to kind of trust one another with our feelings and
03:41our emotions and kind of be there for one another, because in the end, you know, it's
03:45all about us having each other's back and, you know, being there for one another.
03:49You get to see the result of all of his trials, tribulations, and lack of knowledge, and stubbornness,
03:54and selfishness, and even lack of real parental skills on Tasha's part. You get to see all
04:01of that come to a head this season. This is, I like to call it the result season for my character.
04:06You know, it's interesting. Tasha gets several men, but more than that, she gets to the issue
04:13of why there has to be the supernumeraries. Why does she need so many, and what's really missing,
04:19and what is she really dealing with? Because I don't want to put out a message either of,
04:24you know, promiscuity and, you know, but it all comes together.
04:28You're going to see a lot of, uh, funny, you're going to see a lot of drama, you're going to
04:34see a lot of, uh, indifferences, and a lot of resolve. I also think you're going to see,
04:39I mean, I haven't seen a lot of your stuff, but is it fair to say a little vulnerability
04:43with you? Because I saw that in the premiere, and I really, really liked that with his character.
04:48That's interesting, because it's really the result of him, you know, humility. You, you,
04:53you know, the guy was on drugs, you know, uh, substance abuse, and, you know, all this money,
04:59and losing everything brings a sense of humility to a lot of people that don't know what being
05:04humble is. We were in Atlanta for a couple of months, maybe three to four months. They were
05:10there for four, we didn't start until like October, so like three months. Yes, so three months. It was
05:16great. Atlanta's dope. Atlanta's awesome, and it was great for me, because I had been in LA for so long,
05:22so it was a great change to, you know, get a different vibe, a different environment.
05:27That's some living the dream, you guys. Right, it's like, pinch me. I'm having fun. It's like,
05:31we go to where, the hours was crazy, because we're having such a great time, we got through it.
05:37We got through it together as a team. Yes. Yes. You know what I mean? Yes. Yeah.
05:41We're a championship team, straight up. Like, when you assemble a team, you assemble a team to win,
05:46and I think that's what Mara Brockakill did. Hey out there, I'm Wendy Raquel Robinson.
05:50What's going on, everybody? It's your boy, Foo Taw. I play Derwin on the game.
05:53Hey, what's up, guys? I'm Jose Achanchez from the game.
05:56And I'm Tia Moore from the game. Hi, I'm Brandi.
05:59Who are you? You just snuck that in so fast, I wasn't ready.
06:02Yeah, because last time you got it. I'm Kobe.
06:04And you're watching Essence TV. We like this place.
06:08Yes. It's good.
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