Tag Archives: Queen Sugar

Nova’s been getting media traction after her article hit the front page. This episode opens with her and a local activist being interviewed by a couple of morning shock-jocks. Of course, the jocks keep bending attention to Charely and the messy allegations against Davis West. If you haven’t peeped Queen Sugar, Davis is a star player with a Los Angeles basketball team. I’m a bad viewer, ‘cause I don’t even remember the team name. It ain’t the Lakers… And I’m only a fair-weather fan for them, so whatever.

She caught Nova’s response and jumped from zero to pissed a nanosecond flat.

Poor Nova kept trying to keep attention on the injustices her article pointed out, but jokers be jokers. Somewhere in the segment, they asked Nova’s point of view about the Davis West mess. She didn’t get down into Charley and Davis’ biz-nizz, but she DID ask one question: When it comes to rape cases, why is the victim always assumed to be guilty or at fault somehow?

Somewhere on the other side of them-there airwaves, Auntie Vi was listening when Charley moseyed back in after a run. And, of course, she caught Nova’s response and jumped from zero to pissed a nanosecond flat.

Unrelated side note: Auntie Vi changed her hair to a more homely marm-bob. She actually looks like she could be their aunt.

Continue reading More than promised: Charley learns the real deal about Davis in Queen Sugar episode 6 →

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Hard-Headed Charley bumps her head in Queen Sugar episode 5

October 6, 2016 Planet Noun

I’ve had it with Charley Bordelon.

She’s showing all her flaws in this episode. The main one: she doesn’t LISTEN.

Ol-girl visits Davis’ accuser in Houston to up the sit down and shut up price of $500,000 to make the rape case against Davis go away. His accuser asks a valid question. “How do you un-rape someone?” Sex worker or not, that’s a good question. Rape is rape. And there’s a rape kit. No idea if it contains damning evidence against Davis, but sources are saying the kit exists.

Snap, what was that? Oh, it’s big sister Charley snipping off baby Ralph’s cojones.

But Charley also has a good point, too. Sex workers do what they do to get paid. She wants her husband’s accuser to call her when she determines her price.

Well dang. If she’s lying, I’m sure she’ll come up with a figure. If she isn’t lying, she should take this thing through the courts. Famous or not, rape is rape and all-lem fools should go to prison if they did it.

But she calls a figure, $3 million bucks, a face to face with Davis. She wants him to admit what he did. But his accuser says she’ll slide out their lives for good of they agree to her terms. Davis is looking more rapey by the episode. Maybe he’s just a serial liar. Maybe they were all down for the get-down, but his accuser didn’t give explicit consent. I don’t know what to do with this storyline, but I do know what it’s like to have explicit consent circumvented. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Anyway, Davis’ lawyer wasn’t too thrilled Charley went behind her back to see Davis’ accuser.

So Charley finds out about Ralph-Angel’s cane sugar debacle, and says she’s going to take over all farm business.

*Snip, snip, snip* Snap, what was that? Oh, it’s big sister Charley snipping off baby Ralph’s cojones.

Ralph confronts his coworker about the bad seed cane and asks for his money back. No can do, his coworker says.

*Snip, snip, snip* Snap, what was that? Oh, it’s… wait… what else is there to cut? Ralph’s cojones are already gone. Thankfully this is fiction, and in my world—cojones can regenerate faster than starfish arms if allowed.

More snippage in the works for poor Ralph. He picks up his check and finds it’s lacking some ducats. He’s short 8 hours. Ralph confronts the guy passing out checks, and this fool has the nerve to tell Ralph that he’s “been inside so maybe you forgot, freedom ain’t free, bro.”

Continue reading Hard-Headed Charley bumps her head in Queen Sugar episode 5 →

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Smut and sordid dirty-dealings exposed in Queen Sugar episode 4

October 6, 2016 Planet Noun

Charley’s back in Los Angeles getting checked out for every living STD known to mankind. Meanwhile, Ralph Angel’s in charge of getting seed cane for the farm. They’re only going to farm 300 acres of the 800 their daddy left in his will.

Failure. Seems that’s what Nova and Charley expect from Ralph-Angel

Nova’s back pursuing stories—this one exposes the dirty dealings that target young, mostly black, youth in New Orleans’ Ninth ward… A sordid trysting between the police force, the courts and private prisons.

The prisons make money per inmate, which they can lend out to businesses in the area for money. The prisons skim money off the top and funnel it to law enforcement agencies. Seems the courts come in by sentencing the young folks who were brought in on excessive, trumped-up charges and who were also encouraged to take plea deals.

Her story makes the front page.

Ralph Angel goes to buy seed cane for the farm. Meantime, Charley and Nova keep on him to make sure he’s going to get things done. Of course he wants to be the man, to show he’s capable. A co-worker covers for him while he runs to get the seed cane. He learns when he sees Remy Newell in passing that he has to register with the sate before he gets his cane. Ralph Angel seemed a tad bothered, as if Remy’s words were a revelation that he forgot a step. The man who sold the seed cane said it was all out. So since it wasn’t explicitly stated that Ralph Angel didn’t register with the state, it isn’t crystal clear if Ralph Angel really forgot to register with the state or if Sam Landry pulled his snake-like strings to make sure the Bordelons don’t farm their land this planting season.

Failure. Seems that’s what Nova and Charley expect from Ralph-Angel at the end of the day, when hope tuckers out. But he’s also holding hope they’ll do better, too.

A co-worker at Ralph Angel’s job learns what happened and says his cousin knows farming, but won’t be planting this season. He has a bunch of seed cane to get off his hands. So Ralph drops $15-thousand and buys it.

The catch is—it’s worthless. Remy Newell looks it over and shows Ralph it’s infected with smut. No good.

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Queen Sugar episode 3: gun pulls, cheap offers, southern (dis)courtesy

September 21, 2016 Planet Noun

This episode opens with a reading of Ernest Bordelon’s will. Ralph Angel, Nova, Aunt Vi and Charley are present.

Aunt Vi gets the boat. The kids get the land, and Ernest wants them to farm it. Charley and Nova want no part of it. First order of business is to take care of business (i.e., sell the land) so Charley can return to her mess of a marriage in Los Angeles, and Nova can to back to her life in NOLA.

Ralph Angel gets upset because his sisters don’t want it. He’s looking at this inheritance as a chance to start fresh.

As the siblings tiff it out, Charley calls Sam Landry, who says he’ll make them an offer in person.

Vi didn’t purposely shut the door… she just didn’t expend the energy to leave it open for him.

Back at Vi’s house, Davis shows up. Vi ain’t feeling his tail, not even enough for the perfunctory response when Davis says “Hello.” She turns around, puts her watering can down and walks into the house. Davis follows her… and meets a screen door slam. Vi didn’t purposely shut the door… she just didn’t expend the energy to leave it open for him.

Inside, Hollywood offers Davis some coffee. Auntie Vi let everyone know all the coffee is gone… and the sweet tea. She kind of sounds like the cafeteria lady from Cedric The Entertainer’s short-lived sketch comedy show.