Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘Miss Governor,’ Antoinette Dunkerson has to fight on several fronts to hold her ground as the first Black lieutenant governor of Mississippi. The second half of the season focuses on her rise as Governor Harper is hospitalised due to a health issue that leaves him incapacitated, giving Antoinette the opportunity to do some real work. She receives the task of giving pardons, which brings her face-to-face with an enemy she thought she had left behind a long time ago. SPOILERS AHEAD.
LaWanda Jackson is Antoinette’s Bully from Childhood
While Antoinette might be the lieutenant governor now, there was a time when she was just another shy, awkward kid in school. It made her an easy target for bullies, and LaWanda Jackson took charge to turn her life into a living hell. The first mention of LaWanda comes in the second episode. It is the morning of Antoinette’s first day as the lieutenant governor, and while she tries to scrape up enough confidence for the day, her mother reminds her of the bully who used to terrorise her in school. It turns out that LaWanda would find ways to make Antoinette miserable every day, but her mother didn’t do anything about it because she was having an affair with LaWanda’s father.
Eventually, her mother gave her a necklace, and as expected, LaWanda tore it off her neck, which angered Antoinette such that, for the first time, she stood up to her bully and beat her up, putting an end to her reign of terror. Or so Antoinette thought. Years later, as Antoinette uses her position as the lieutenant governor to issue pardons, her mother comes to her with a favour. It seems that Antoinette’s mother has reconnected with LaWanda’s father, and the biggest impediment to them spending time together is LaWanda, who is currently living with her father. She was arrested for public intoxication as she was found smoking marijuana outside a school. Due to the stain of an arrest in her record, it has become difficult for her to fend for herself, as she cannot seem to get a proper job anywhere.
Antoinette’s mother asks her to issue a pardon for LaWanda so that the latter can finally move out and the old couple can continue their romance. Antoinette agrees to her mother’s request, but she is still terrorised by the idea of facing LaWanda again, and her fears are proven right when it turns out that LaWanda has only gotten worse. She twists the story and makes Antoinette the one who bullied her and created such psychological trauma for her that she ended up getting arrested and has to go to therapy to resolve her childhood issues. She is so good at telling these stories that even Antoinette’s friends believe her, which goes to show that LaWanda’s powers of lies and manipulation have only gotten worse, and she can still inflict a lot of damage on the lieutenant governor.
Ernestine Johnson Brings the Deceptive LaWanda to Life
There are a lot of two-faced liars in the world of politics, and LaWanda Jackson gives them a run for their money in a single episode in which she appears. The impact she has on Antoinette in such a short time is a testament to how well Ernestine Johnson plays the role. While she has only one scene in the entire show, she inhabits the role so well that she makes others like Governor Harper and his chief of staff, Jed, feel like amateurs when it comes to fabricating stories and manipulating people to suit her purposes.
Ernestine Johnson, born and brought up in Los Angeles, has been working in the entertainment industry for a very long time. She started her journey with some background work, but she has since stepped quite high up the ladder. As a child actor, she started working as an extra on ‘7th Heaven’ and went on to appear in ‘The Parent Hood’ and ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch.’ She continued her education, getting a major in theatre from the University of Nevada, and found roles in projects like ‘Think Like a Man Too.’ Her more recent projects include titles like ‘Beyond the Gates,’ ‘Ruthless,’ and ‘Love and Murder.’ Additionally, she also performs spoken word pieces, most notable of which is ‘The Average Black Girl,’ which she performed on the Arsenio Hall show. Having caught the eye of the viewers with LaWanda’s mischievous side in ‘Miss Governor,’ Johnson has several projects lined up for release, showing that she keeps herself quite busy.
Read More: Miss Governor Season 1 Part 2 Ending Explained: Does Antoinette Become Governor?
