And When Great Souls Die

Season 7 | Episode 1

My beloved Queen Sugar is nearing the end of the road, and the season premiere picks up six months later. The most noticeable difference is the absence of Charley (played by Dawn-Lyen Gardner) and I will have plenty to say about that later. Let’s get into the recap, shall we? Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly.

🖤The Good

The titles of the first 2 episodes are from Maya Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall.” I love it when they choose poems and this is the second time they have chosen a Maya Angelou poem. Episode 1 is “And When Great Souls Die” and Episode 2 is “After a Period, Peace Blooms.”

Ralph Angel and Darla have a beautiful baby girl, named Tru. They have kept all of the traditions alive with a christening for Tru. Tru wore a gown that’s been in the family for decades and Ralph Angel wrote her name in the family Bible. Charley and Blue joined the family via Zoom. *insert deep sigh here* Since I am grasping at straws for things to smile about, I’m going to go with how cute Tru is. Yes. I shall dwell on that.

Prosper and his nurse are a thing and they are looking to make it more of a thing. Yay for Prosper. He deserves love and companionship. ❤️

😩The Bad

Queen Sugar without the QUEEN

We are being forced to take flight without Charley. I ain’t here for none of it. They continually mention her and FaceTime her for family things. I guess I should be happy that they aren’t pretending like she never existed. I don’t know. I’m beyond bummed about this development. Her story is that she’s running for office and living it up in LA with Davis. Ok. It’s giving Good Times without James. Sanford and Son when Grady moved in. A Different World before it was a HBCU. The last season of Living Single. The 2nd Aunt Viv on Fresh Prince. Girlfriends without Toni Childs. The first Lionel on the Jefferson’s. The Young and the Restless without Drucilla. It just ain’t right. Charley was an integral part of the story and as the family continues to fight for the land, her absence is almost amplified.

The more things change, the more things stay the same. 

RA is working on the shrimp boat to make ends meet – AGAIN. 

RA is trying to convince the farmers to stay the course with the co-op and be part of the revolution – AGAIN. And RA gave the farmers a speech that was basically a wash and repeat of the speech Charley gave at the end of Season 1 when she was trying to convince them to help her build a mill. I been tired of the farmers since they bailed on Charley at the last minute. At this point, I’m all the way over them. They don’t want a revolution for real. They are aggy and they make me weary. 

Nova got a good man in Dominic, but she’s 🤏🏾 to squandering it – AGAIN. There’s a new chic (her name is Mo) that’s helping RA with the co-op. My husband asked if she was Charley’s replacement.😬 I mean…is she? Hell. I don’t know. But when Nova saw her, she became a possible for the never-ending list of Nova lovers. So here we go…AGAIN. And the previews show that Calvin is coming back and Nova all teary-eyed over him. So…yeah. There’s that.

Micah ran into Keke and now they looking at each other like they were when they first met after Boogie brought her over to the house to help clean up after the storm – AGAIN.

And…my favorite deja vu moment goes to *drumroll please* Nova’s book!! AGAIN. Yes, friends. The book is back. But this time, they want to adapt it for the big screen. A movie, yall. They are offering 6 figures, which ain’t nearly enough to sell your family out – AGAIN. She was celebrating – AGAIN…until she realized that this time she better find some act right and talk to her family. SMH. Soon she will be crying and praying to the ancestors to give her permission to do what she knows she doesn’t need to be doing.

😱The Ugly

Sam Landry – The OC (original colonizer). I usually don’t wish death on people, but a development that I could have gotten behind is Sam being taken out by COVID. But, alas…he lives. And he decided to roll up to the farm to congratulate Nova on her article and all the work she (and Dominic) did to save the land. However, his Black daughter, Parker will be petitioning for a reversal. So the fight continues. Per the usual, Vi got up in Sam’s face talkin ‘bout how she was finna fight and how it was on (AGAIN). Listen. If Vi got all these secrets in the vault, she should have and could have unleashed the beast by now. Like…before they torched her niece’s mill. But she didn’t. Since the series is ending, I guess we will finally find out what the hell she got on Sam. I’m guessing it has to do with Parker’s Black mama. Since everybody and they mama showing up this season (except for Charlotte Prescott Bordelon), I expect to see ole girl in the flesh. And I hope it will be Parker’s mama that makes Parker get some do right.

👁The Odd (and things we need to keep an eye on)

😏Bennie tried to step to Billie. 😩 Ain’t he RA’s age? Aint she Nova’s age? Do Bennie got a job? Don’t Billie have a marriage she need to handle? Will they be Vi + Wood 2.0? I don’t think I’m interested in seeing that.

😏Whose trying out for the Charley position that’s WIDE open? I see some contenders. Billie or the new co-op girl, Mo? Somebody in the QS FB group said they hope Charley left behind some YouTube tutorials for St. Jo. I cackled. 😂 Whew, Chile. Gotta laugh to keep from crying.

Until next week…