A Different Word: The odd dynamic between Ron, Kim, Shazza, Spencer and Freddie

Why did Kim and Freddie wait so long?

In season five of A Different World, Ron Johnson (Darryl Bell) and Kim Reese (Charnel Brown) had an awkward dynamic as they realized they had feelings beyond friendship for one another.

In season six, Freddie Brooks (Cree Summer) and Shazza Zulu ( Gary Dourdan) break up and she begins officially dating Ron. Kim and Ron had agreed they had no chemistry plus she was getting closer to her lab partner Spencer Boyer (Michael Ralph).

In episode 8, Baby It's Cold Outside Kim dances with Spencer while at a bar and tells Freddie she already knew about Ron. She smiles as she also said she was not that upset about it and thanks her friend for telling her. The situation appeared to be one of "No harm, no foul" until episode 13, White Christmas.

Many mixed signals

After weeks of everyone getting along Freddie's mother Joni Brooks (Anita Morris) arrives and says she senses bad vibes between her daughter and her friend. There are awkward looks between the two that were not there in the previous five episodes.

When Shazza sees Joni, they bond over past memories, and viewers can tell they have a connection. At one point Freddie, and Zulu kiss outside of The Pit, as Ron looks on. Perhaps the writers believed they had not given proper closure to the situation, but when Kim said she was OK, that should have been it.

Kim kept putting Ron off and would not sleep with him. In season two, she had no problem being intimate with Robert (Brian Wesley Thomas) who she once thought had gotten her pregnant.

What's up with Kim and Freddie?

It was implied but never stated that something may have taken place when Kim returned to Hollman to get Whitley Gilbert's (Jasmine Guy) necklace. She and Ron begin kissing, and later, when Whitley asks why she is late returning to Richmond, Kim says she took the scenic route and will tell her about it later.

In a later episode, Kim and Ron are kissing in her dorm apartment, and they decide it's just not working between them. So why was Kim angry with Freddie?

Kim had been spending time with her lab partner and accepting gifts from him all along, and when she danced with him, she had only just broken up with Ron. Now she is acting as if she caught the two in bed together and is deeply hurt.

Kim and Freddie hash it out

When they are alone in their apartment in the Christmas episode, Kim admits that she does not like the way Freddie and Ron were sneaking around, even though she has been flirting with Spencer. She also asks how long it was before Ron and Freddie got together. Perhaps the series wanted to explore the complexities of emotions with everyone involved.

Freddie wasn't entirely certain she should be with Ron and thought she had unresolved feelings for Shazza. It's unclear why Kim was so upset, considering she made Ron sleep on the couch while Freddie and Shazza were together in her bedroom. Perhaps she did not want him, but did not like the idea of her friend becoming intimate with him.

Freddie begins apologizing and even says she will break up with her new man. The two eventually agree to let bygones be bygones and remain friends. In just a few more episodes, Kim is engaged to Spencer, whom she barely knows.

Perhaps the writers decided that the issue regarding Ron needed more closure. Fans know that when the series ended, Kim and Spencer were planning a wedding, and Ron and Freddie had become a solid couple. Shazza simply disappeared.