If you've been paying attention to the real news, you already know what happens next: The producers' conceit turns sour, and when the police pull over the car, they wind up shooting Romeo, Darius's cousin and personal manager. His lies on the ground, unable to move, while Rachel and Coleman — who have captured the whole thing on video — look on, horrified.So what are we supposed to take away from this sickening scene? Maybe the sequence means to show us something about the way white reality TV producers don't actually understand the reality of police violence against people of color, that they somehow underestimate how serious it really is. Or perhaps it's supposed to convey that wealth or status (both of which Darius has in spades) can't save you from bigotry.But — at a very basic level — what the "Ambush" episode really shows us is that the producers of UnReal have no problem borrowing from Black devastation to make for dramatic television, without intending to follow through and make a point. UnReal capitalizes on the cultural zeitgeist, but it doesn't take that next step by circling back to examine the consequences police violence has on the Black community at large, or even on the show's Black characters.Romeo lives, by the way — unlike Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and the countless others whose names have not made headlines. But the fact that he survives is only mentioned in passing, and his medical condition isn't further discussed. The way in which the show treats Romeo's shooting wouldn't have improved had he died, but at least that might have forced Rachel and Coleman to reckon with the consequences of their actions. Instead, they both enjoy that particular gift of white privilege wherein wrongdoings are simply swept under the rug. Ultimately, UnReal absolves Rachel and Coleman of the part they played in Romeo's shooting, focusing on their regret instead — and immediately turning its lens back to their sagas, like whether or not Romeo's shooting might jeopardize the show, and all the other white people who work on it.It's as if — by featuring the police violence itself — the series thought it had done enough, added to some conversation, or done right by the Black characters. But it didn't. UnReal's writers touched on an endemic issue that plagues Americans today. But they were not so brave or conscientious as to show us the ripple effect, or to dig deep into what it means that Black people are shot by police officers all the time. Instead, the shooting on UnReal was just another Black experience seen through the lens of the white gaze, before the camera predictably panned away.