Hey y'all! We're back with the Bordelons for Episode 4 this week. Here's what all of our favorite characters are up to:
Nova
She's back to writing, finally, and meets with her new editor to talk about her mass incarceration series. Though he's new, he convinces her to try to start writing about some of the solutions to mass incarceration, instead of focusing on all of the problems. Nova is reluctantly, but agrees to go along to get along.
She's back to writing, finally, and meets with her new editor to talk about her mass incarceration series. Though he's new, he convinces her to try to start writing about some of the solutions to mass incarceration, instead of focusing on all of the problems. Nova is reluctantly, but agrees to go along to get along.
Next, we see Nova with the adorable chocolate drops that are her friend's twin babies (remember the ones she was making tie died blankets for?) She does a sweet protective ritual on each of them that made my ovaries twinge. (Just a tad.) But when her friend asks if she's interested in starting a family of her own, Nova is adamant that she has more than enough on her plate with her current family and community efforts. Why do I have a feeling that might change one season soon?
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Violet & Hollywood
The couple is officially living together, now that Hollywood's no longer working at the rig, but he's having a hard time learning how to enjoy his time off. He ends up so bored, in fact, that he volunteers to help bake pies for a party for a friend of Violet's. Soon, we see Hollywood almost as a house husband, and I'm loving seeing this grown Black man in the kitchen cooking, not an image we see too often on television. But he clearly doesn't know his way around the kitchen as well as he thinks he does, because as soon as he gets a call from Ralph Angel, Violet hurries him on over there. Hollywood later admits though, that his place probably isn't in the kitchen, and though he has enough money to hold him over for awhile, he's simply the type of guy that likes to work. Next on his to-do list is trying to figure out what his American dream is — and then he asks Violet what her dream looks like. When she admits that it would be opening her own business to make people happy with her food, Hollywood reminds her that neither of them are too old to make their dreams come true. Come through, Hollywood! Inspire yo' woman!
The couple is officially living together, now that Hollywood's no longer working at the rig, but he's having a hard time learning how to enjoy his time off. He ends up so bored, in fact, that he volunteers to help bake pies for a party for a friend of Violet's. Soon, we see Hollywood almost as a house husband, and I'm loving seeing this grown Black man in the kitchen cooking, not an image we see too often on television. But he clearly doesn't know his way around the kitchen as well as he thinks he does, because as soon as he gets a call from Ralph Angel, Violet hurries him on over there. Hollywood later admits though, that his place probably isn't in the kitchen, and though he has enough money to hold him over for awhile, he's simply the type of guy that likes to work. Next on his to-do list is trying to figure out what his American dream is — and then he asks Violet what her dream looks like. When she admits that it would be opening her own business to make people happy with her food, Hollywood reminds her that neither of them are too old to make their dreams come true. Come through, Hollywood! Inspire yo' woman!
Charley
Charley and Micah are staying at the farmhouse with Ralph Angel while they apartment hunt. Later, we see Charley and Remy having lunch at the High Yellow, having a big of a disagreement about where Charley should live; Remy thinks she should choose to live nearby in order to be closer to the community members she's working with, but Charley wants to live in the "whiter" areas, using the excuse that they are closer to Micah's school. The two debate over why Black success has to equate with white success — or if Charley's Black card should be revoked if she doesn't live in a "Black" neighborhood. Their argument gets interrupted, but I appreciated that Queen Sugar included yet another all-too-real-life conversations in one of its episodes.
Charley and Micah are staying at the farmhouse with Ralph Angel while they apartment hunt. Later, we see Charley and Remy having lunch at the High Yellow, having a big of a disagreement about where Charley should live; Remy thinks she should choose to live nearby in order to be closer to the community members she's working with, but Charley wants to live in the "whiter" areas, using the excuse that they are closer to Micah's school. The two debate over why Black success has to equate with white success — or if Charley's Black card should be revoked if she doesn't live in a "Black" neighborhood. Their argument gets interrupted, but I appreciated that Queen Sugar included yet another all-too-real-life conversations in one of its episodes.
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Micah
Micah seems like he's still having a bit of tough time, and he doesn't have much patience for his little cousin Blue, who's all up in his big cousins's stuff, of course. The tension is building in the house, and later in the episode, while Micah's doing his homework, Blue jumps up from behind to scare him. Micah reflexively pushes Blue down to the ground; he's clearly still pretty shaken up after his arrest. Ralph doesn't take too well to seeing Micah put his hands on Blue and pushes him up against the wall with a few threats. Yikes. Afterward, Ralph and Charley get into it about what happened, and Ralph accuses Charley of blaming Micah's current state of mind on his jail stay instead of taking responsibility for the way she and Davis raised him. Read: Soft. Ouch.
Micah seems like he's still having a bit of tough time, and he doesn't have much patience for his little cousin Blue, who's all up in his big cousins's stuff, of course. The tension is building in the house, and later in the episode, while Micah's doing his homework, Blue jumps up from behind to scare him. Micah reflexively pushes Blue down to the ground; he's clearly still pretty shaken up after his arrest. Ralph doesn't take too well to seeing Micah put his hands on Blue and pushes him up against the wall with a few threats. Yikes. Afterward, Ralph and Charley get into it about what happened, and Ralph accuses Charley of blaming Micah's current state of mind on his jail stay instead of taking responsibility for the way she and Davis raised him. Read: Soft. Ouch.
At the end of the episode, Micah apologizes to Blue for hitting him by accident. And then he gives him a little art set so Blue can make masterpieces with Kenya. My heart!
Ralph Angel
Ralph finally gets his first loan check for the soy bean crop. But first, we see him and Prosper checking out some of the sugar cane — turns out it's got white fly, which could render 30 acres of the crop worthless, a potential loss of about $1.5 million. Charley agrees to pay for a $5,000 treatment to kill and clean off the flies; meanwhile, with his own finances to worry about, Ralph agrees to let Darla pay for swimming lessons for Blue.
Ralph finally gets his first loan check for the soy bean crop. But first, we see him and Prosper checking out some of the sugar cane — turns out it's got white fly, which could render 30 acres of the crop worthless, a potential loss of about $1.5 million. Charley agrees to pay for a $5,000 treatment to kill and clean off the flies; meanwhile, with his own finances to worry about, Ralph agrees to let Darla pay for swimming lessons for Blue.
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But the white fly treatment only partially worked on the sugar cane, so the family and their workers still need to hand-clean the cane themselves. Ralph calls Darla to ask her to come and help, so she asks her boss if she can leave her toll booth shift early; he tells her she can deal with her love life issues in her downtime. Damn. Still, later, we see that she made it to the far somehow...we don't find out how until later.
Darla isn't the only one over at the farm, though. A bunch of local farmers plus the entire family are on hand with gloves on, ready to work. Things are still pretty tense between Ralph and Charley, and privately, he admits to Aunt Violet that he found the letter written by his father leaving the entire farm to him. Violet warns him against using the letter, because it'll mess up the relationship with him and sisters pretty badly, and she doesn't think family is worth sacrificing for money.
Turns out, though, that Ralph has bigger things to worry about at the moment. Later that night, the police show up at his door with a notice that he's violated his parole. It's about those gunshots that he fired off the other night when the Landrys had sent trespassers to their property. Charley takes the blame, though, explaining to the officers that it's her father's gun, and that she fired off the rifle because she's just a lil' ol Los Angeles girl scared of Southern snakes and rodents. When they leave, Ralph Angel is grateful to her for covering. "No matter what you think of me, RA, I will always have your back," she tells him. It's a sweet moment — finally! — between these two feuding siblings. After, Ralph goes to talk to Micah, apologizing for threatening him and reminding his nephew that he's there for him. Let's hope this truce between Ralph and Charley lasts.
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The End
The episode ends with the family helping Charley and Micah move in to their new home — at the mill! Surprise! Charley jokes that they can't get much closer to the community than that.
The episode ends with the family helping Charley and Micah move in to their new home — at the mill! Surprise! Charley jokes that they can't get much closer to the community than that.
It seems like all is well, until we see Darla over at her job — getting her last check. That's right: She got fired. When we couldn't figure out how she made it over to the farm, it was pretty simple...she deliberately disobeyed her boss's orders in order to be there for Ralph. Sigh. Despite reminding her boss that this job is part of her recovery, he stands his ground, and so a tearful Darla suddenly finds herself without work. Aw, man. Just after she offered to pay for Blue's swimming lessons. I sure hope this doesn't mean she'll relapse...
That's all for Episode four, but I'll be back again next Tuesday! See y'all then.