This week starts off with Ralph Angel going through it. He's still in a deep depression and asks Hollywood to round up the family, because he only wants to share the words he has to say once. He gets the family together, and then — he can barely utter the words through tears — he tells them: "He ain't mine." Everyone looks just about as shocked as all of us viewers were when we first found out Blue might not be his son. Violet and Hollywood both comfort RA, but when I really lost it was when his sisters — who have both been a little bit estranged from him this season with all the farm drama — both come in for a hug.
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Jacob Boudreaux makes a surprise appearance at Charley's office with an offer for them to forget their families' history and partner together. Charley, thankfully, tells him that there's no way in hell she would ever even consider it. (I have to admit, I was worried for a second there. We all know Charley can get a little power hungry.)
At the High Yellow, Violet is catering a breakfast to mark the official beginning of the harvest. Violet reminds Charley and Nova that no matter what happens, Blue is their child. Ralph Angel shows up, and though he's clearly down and out, he still manages to give an inspiring speech about this being the first harvest on Bordelon land since his father's passing.
Darla is leaving the farm house now that the crew is there to harvest — she tells Hollywood that she'll be staying at her sponsor's house until — or if — Ralph Angel is ready to talk. Hollywood offers to pick up Blue from school while she's at work. Darla says that she wanted to keep this away from the family, but she just couldn't go through with the wedding without being honest.
Darla then heads to work at Charley's office, and when Charley walks in, she looks less than happy to see her there. "You've been bald-faced lying to my entire family for seven years," Charley says before telling her she'll give her two weeks severance, and Darla needs to be gone within the hour. Yikes. I really hope this doesn't all send Darla down the road of addiction again.
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Nova is on the phone with Charley when she gets a mysterious e-mail. She hangs up and calls a friend of hers, Lizzie, who works at a local news outlet and received a pitch for a story about all the internal issues at the Queen Sugar Mill. She wanted to give Nova a heads up. Lizzie tells Nova that if she doesn't cover the story, someone else will, and asks Nova if she can interview Charley so that the story is at least more balanced. Violet calls her editor, who tells her that she can't — it's a conflict of journalistic integrity.
At Violet's house, Nova goes to check on Violet, asking her how she is. When Violet says blessed, Nova points out that that's the standard Black person's greeting for everything (so true!) — but she wants to know how Violet really is. Violet says that she's sad. She raised Blue from diapers to kindergarten like he was her own son, and this moment is a reminder that this isn't just a major blow to Ralph Angel, but the rest of the family, Violet in particular as the matriarch.
One of the local farmers is meeting with Charley and tells her there have been rumors about the mill breaking down, and he needs to know if he can trust her before he agrees to continue working with her. Even though Charley assures him that everything is running fine, he still won't work with her. One of Ralph Angel's farm workers tells him that his sister's in trouble; he doesn't want to end up with harvested cane that can't be processed at the mill. Ralph tells him he thinks that this is all just the Landrys and Boudreaux spreading rumors so that farmers will get scared and move away from working with the Queen Sugar mill.
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Over at his school, Micah posts a letter on each of the students' lockers protesting the confederate display. He gets called into the principal's office, who tells him trustees have been calling with complaints because these confederate symbols are part of their history. She has some good news and bad news: She's going to be removing the confederate sword and memorabilia, but the school board did take issue with him posting that letter on school property, so they'll be suspending him for 30 days for vandalism. "Next time," she tells him, "be more careful." Ugh.
Hollywood brings Blue back to Violet's house and they have an adorable moment where Blue talks about how much he would miss Violet's cooking if he were to move to Italy, which he saw photos of in school that day. Violet then asks Blue for his favorite meal. He says fried crispy chicken wings with honey barbecue sauce, and he thinks real hard about his sides: Red beans, rice, and shrimp all mixed together. My kind of kid. It's a heartbreaking scene, because we're reminded that Blue is just a kid — he has no parts in all of the drama going on with his mom and dad, and at the end of the day, he's still family to the Bordelons.
Back at the farm, Ralph Angel and Prosper are having trouble getting a hold of Charley. Something is up, it seems, if they have all this harvested cane and they can't even get in touch with their mill. But Charley is MIA because she and Remy are meeting with Nova to discuss how to handle this story that's circulating. Nova believes they can fight this and reposition the story. Charley agrees that she'll set the record straight, and she's not going to start until they can convince more farms to work with her. Ralph Angel finally sees Remy and asks him what's going on, but Remy promises his sister knows what she's doing — she'll figure it out.
The episode ends with Violet asleep in her room with a book on her lap and Nova walking in with some pills and water. "So much for privacy," Violet says. Aha, so looks like Nova has figured out that Violet has Lupus. Nova tells her that she knows it's bad, but that it can be managed, and she wants to help her go the organic route with one of her own regimens. And then we switch to a shot of a crying Ralph Angel looking in on Blue's bedroom. He then lays on his son's bed, and I am crushed.
Next week is the season finale. What do y'all think will happen? My prediction is they'll get a paternity test on Blue and find out that he actually really is Ralph Angel's son. Is that wishful thinking? Yes. But we'll only find out the truth next week, hopefully. Until then...