Season 6 | Episode 3
This week’s episode opened with a little bit of joy. Mr. Propser is home. Praise the Lawd! And since Billie Ann aka BAD lifted the ban on the Bordelons, all of the fam was able to welcome him home. Billie brings Prosper home and it’s a whole party. Ballons, banner and all. Billie stands away from all of them, just watching the rest of them love on her dad. Charley notices her distance and goes to talk to her. She realizes that this new dynamic may be hard for Billie. Billie is bothered by how open he is with the Bordelons. Charley tells her to give it some time. Prosper loves her and talks about her all the time. It’s interesting because when Charley came back, people kept telling her the same thing about Ernest. He loved her and he was extremely proud of her.
VI + HOLLYWOOD
Vi still sneaking around and packed up another huge order for the mysterious customer (Celine). She tries her hardest to throw Wood off the trail, but he sees her put money from the cash register into the box of food. Wood surprised her outside. He was waiting for her to leave. Now she has no choice but to tell him what’s up. And she did. And they made the food (and money) delivery together. Vi introduced Celine and Gabriel to Hollwood and it was a nice first meeting. Gabriel immediately took to Wood and it made Celine happy. Vi assures her that she’s going to be ok.
After the drop off, Wood wants to know why Vi was keeping this secret. Vi claims its because Hollywood is always riding her about how she always helping people. Even though Wood is basically doing the same thing with The Real Spot – helping everyone but himself. She ain’t wanna hear his mouth, so that was that. I feel like this is weak. Like…that was it? That’s why? I think Vi just like to have a spare secret in her pocket. She’s lived like that for so long, it just don’t seem right unless she has something just for herself.
Now that Wood knows about Celine, she and Gabriel come to the diner. I’m still a bit confused because I’m not sure if she should be in public or not, but whatever. Anyway, Gabriel and Hollywood hit it off and Vi is pleased but looks sad. Hollywood is young and he did want kids. Vi has to be thinking about all of that.
RALPH ANGEL
At City Hall, Ralph Angel takes a call. Presumably it’s from the mill. Both of his sugar cane hauls have a low sugar index. This isn’t what RA needed. Charley arrives and RA tells her that something needs to happen with the arbitrations. They need those remedy checks soon. Charley tells him that if he needs anything…and RA cuts her off. He tells her it’s more than that and they wouldn’t be in this situation if it were not for the USDA. Nova joins them…and so does Billie. She’s standing in for Prosper. And we find out that Billie is a paralegal and she’s done a substantial amount of work in the area of redlining. Hmmm…now that’s interesting. Nova and Billie barely speak. Nova then tells her siblings that they can’t trust Billie. RA was like…I ain’t gonna get into yall lil beef. Inside, our favorite rural sheriff greets the Bordelons. He’s heard that the BLACK farmers were meeting and the WyT people have a problem with that. He’s there because he CAN be there. RA turns to Charley and asks her what this is because it feels like a setup. And I just wanted to know why he thinks Charley knows what’s going on. Why she gotta have all the answers? Yall walked up in that room together and ran into the sheriff. Honestly, they shouldn’t have been surprised. After all of the drama over the vaccine drive, they should be ready for anything.
The rep from the USDA tells the farmers that it’s taking longer than anticipated because they have to take every allegation seriously and investigate every claim. The farmers don’t care. They want to get paid NOW. And on the other side of the room, we have some white residents who claim that what the Black farmers are asking for is reparations and it doesn’t make sense. Charley points out that this money is from the fund that was setup to address generational discrimination. Nova says its not reparations. Our ancestors are actually owed $5.9Trillion. I agree with Nova, but her very presence at this meeting is like gasoline on a fire. It gets out of control for a minute. The USDA man says that they will continue to investigate all of the claims. But then paralegal Billie tells USDA man that there’s precedence for these types of cases (and cites the case – go ‘head Billie) and that they need to just pay these folks what they are owed. Nova is bothered. Charley is impressed. And this is an interesting dynamic. Will Billie end up saving the day in the long run? Is she a Charley, Jr? The guy tells the farmers they can expect to hear from them in another SIX weeks. Yall, RA ain’t got 6 weeks. He needs a check now.
Darla is forging ahead with her home birth plans. They met with a doula and they really like her. But they will also need a midwife because they go hand in hand. One takes care of the baby, one takes care of the mommy. Double the love…and the price. After they find out about it, Darla tells RA they just need to have the baby at the hospital. Will harvest cover all of these bills? RA acknowledges that the harvest isn’t panning out. They have maxed out on payday loans. Maybe they should swallow their pride and…RA cuts her off. He tells Darla not to give up on him. He just needs some more time. She agrees. They are in this together.
CHARLEY
Per the usual, Charley calls to check in with her baby. Micah is walking down a street and drinking a soda. But I get the feeling that he’s drunk or has been drinking. He seemed really unsteady to me. He answers the phone with, “yeah, what” and Charley was like…I raised you better. Anyway, she was just calling to remind Micah about dinner. THE DINNER. The last supper. I kid. It’s dinner with his father and the family at Aunt Vi’s. Micah says he never thought he’d ever hear that sentence in his life. Uh oh. And just then, Davis walks in with some tea for his girl. Charley gives him the signal to be quiet. She has Micah on speaker and asks if he wants to talk thru whatever he’s feeling. His feelings are valid and important to them. Micah says he just wants Charley to be happy. He wants Davis to be happy, too. And if that means that they can be happy together, then so be it. However comma…I don’t want you to get hurt again. Neither of us can take. Whew! That statement knocked the smile right off Davis’ face. Charley thanks him for his concern and assures Micah that she hears him. After the call, Charley is a little surprised. She thought Micah would be happy about them reuniting since he used to talk about it all the time. Davis isn’t that surprised and tells Charley that Micah won’t be the only one with doubts. He’s anticipating that her family will be among the dissenting crowd. But Charley isn’t. She believes that they will be surprised, but not opposed. Either way, Davis has his arguments ready and he’s ready to face the Bordelons. They are optimistic.
That night, the family is assembled and they help set the table for dinner. Davis and Micah aren’t there yet. RA says he can’t believe Davis is about to be up in this house again. Charley can’t either, but she tells them that life is about change and Davis has changed. Darla hasn’t met Davis before so she asks what he was like. Vi rolls in with the roast and says that some men don’t understand what they got till its gone (I concur). RA says that people need a chance to make mistakes. And all Wood is concerned about is getting the hookup again. Back in the good ole days, Davis used to hook Ernest and Prosper up with courtside seats. Ernest used to be so proud. Charley tells Wood that he won’t be able to get front row seats anymore because he’s not a player. BUT, if he gets this new coaching gig, second row could be his. Coaching gig, you say? Interesting. And then the door opens. Micah and Davis come in and the house it’s dead silent. RA breaks the ice. Eyyyyyy, if it ain’t the man himself, Davis West. Wassup, man. RA calls him big brother. Davis congratulates him on the baby and the wedding and tells him he’s proud of him. RA welcomes him back. Wood was next. They hug and Wood ushers him in. Davis greets Nova and she tells him it’s good to see him again. No hug, but it was cordial. He says hi to Darla. And now it’s time for Vi. I was high key nervous because I just KNEW Vi was gonna be all outta dambs. Davis brought flowers for her and thanked her for the invitation. She thanks him for the flowers, doesn’t say anything else and Charley finally exhales. Sis been holding it in since Davis walked thru the door. Before anybody had a chance to say anything to him, he offered up an apology. He apologized for breaking the trust. He talked about how he doesn’t have a family, but when Charley brought him home for the first time, they immediately took him in as one of their own. He thanked them for the second chance. And thanked Charley for the second chance and told her that he loves her. And with that, it was time to eat. Hollywood said the grace and it was everything! Everybody at the table was touched. I kinda was too. Davis was looking at his son and his ex-wife/girlfriend with much gratitude and love while the grace was going on. I was totally surprised at how this dinner went down. Totally.
Later, the two lovebirds are chilling in the back yard with some wine. Charley makes a toast to Davis. Cheers to him for picking up the pieces, making amends, humbling himself, studying, networking, stepping out on faith and getting the job as the new head coach of the LA Dynasty. Before Davis takes a drink, he wants to make a toast to Charley. Cheers to her for not letting his mistakes take her down, rising about the mess, starting a new life in St Jo and helping her family, to finding her purpose, running and winning an election AND becoming a rising star in the political world. So here’s to the both of them. They look at the stars and Davis asks Charley if she would give up her life out here for politics. And Charley made me proud. She said she’s not giving up anything anymore. She wants it all! Yes, girl. Say that. Davis says he loves that. He loves her fearlessness. He’s anxious about the feedback that’s coming after the announcement of his new job. He hates that Charley has to deal with his mess as it relates to her political aspirations. Charley is unbothered. They will get ahead of it. I reminded yall last week that Charley is a PR wiz and strategist and this week, we see that she hasn’t lost her touch. She is ready to PR her way into this senate race. She tells Davis that the press will think what they want them to think because they will set the tone. Their story is a feel good story. They fell from grace, worked on themselves, reinvented themselves and found their way back to each other. That’s the story. Davis is impressed, but he doesn’t want Charley to do any of this. He doesn’t want to depend on her to rehabilitate him and his image. He doesn’t even want an image. He just wants to work and do a good job and come home to her. Charley wants people to see him the way she sees him, but Davis doesn’t care. He only wants to make Charley proud. But this job is in LA. He wants to fix up their old house and make it a home again. He asks her if she would consider moving back. She would not. St. Jo is her home. She has a calling and purpose….in St. Jo. However, she’s game for long weekends in LA with him. Davis is cool. Charley tells Davis that there will be bumps in the road, but just leave the image stuff to her. And the PR blitz starts now. They take a selfie and post simultaneously. #blackloveneverdies with a black heart emoji. And it starts working almost immediately. She puts her arms around him and tells him to pick her up. And he does. She tells him it’s gonna be ok and they kiss. And he carries her off. Just like in Season1, Episode 1. Charley was worrying about Micah being spoiled. Davis came to her and told her that everything was good and that she just needed to let it be good. Later, after the initial news of the scandal, Charley told Davis that everything would be ok. She straddled him and he picked her up the same way and carried her off. I got a lil emotional on this one because my girl done been thru some thangs. But now she’s happy and Charley+Davis 2.0 is official.
LADIES NIGHT + MEN’S NIGHT
At the grand opening of The Real Spot, things are in full swing. RA invited a friend from prison, which activates Hollywood’s side eye. Gotta keep an eye on that one. Micah comes thru with Prosper on FaceTime so he can say hey to the fellas. This place is just for them to talk and just…be. So whose first? No one volunteers. Why am I not surprised? Wood calls out Micah. Micah says he will say something if he can get some cognac. This is actually the second time Micah has tried to get some alcohol from Wood and I do believe that he’s drinking for real. Micah never did open up. Wood told the men about how he met Gabriel at the hotel and he reminded him of himself at that age. Gabriel is also his mother’s favorite from the Bible. Gabriel was clinging to his mom just like Wood used to. They went hat shopping and the saleslady wouldn’t let his mom try on a hat. To the world, his mom was nothing. To him, his mom was everything. As things were winding down, RA walks his boy out. Prisonfriend noticed that RA seemed stressed out and offers him an “easy way to make some cash.” He’s whispering about it, so that’s red flag #1 that this is something RA shouldn’t be entertaining. Anyway, Prisonfriend keeps talking. It’s real easy, bruh. We unload the truck, you drive it off. There’s computer equipment for office rentals in the truck. Prisonfriend says ain’t nobody gonna miss that stuff. Oh…and the warehouse is owned by Landry Enterprises. Red flag #2. RA declines and Prisonfriend bids him farewell, but not before putting a $100 bill in RA’s hand…a gift for the baby.
Meanwhile, the Bordelon women are having a ladies night of their own. Vi admits that she and Wood are in bumpy territory right now, but it’s no biggie. Charley is relieved that her business is now out in the open..at least to the fam. Nova wants to know if the political people know yet. Charley says how she feels about her man is none of their business. I hear you, girl. And although that’s kinda true, we all know that it’s not that simple. Darla was like…but how do you feel about him? You in love? Charley says she’s close and all in her feelings. Vi tells her that she and Davis are public figures and everyone will have an opinion. In other news, Darla feels like she’s getting a second chance, but can’t shake the feeling that something is going to happen or go wrong. Vi tells her to let that go. That’s how the world wants us. We need to trust in joy. TRUST JOY. They started talking about Billie. Turns out Billie and Nova were like a sister and they were inseparable. Charley wants to know what happened. Nova says when people show you who they are, believe them. Billie caused a lot of damage for Nova…and then Vi says Billie caused a lot of damage for her, too. Say, whet now? There was a rumor that Billie was messing around with Jimmy Dale while they were married. Of course, JD was always trash and chasing the women, but that whole Billie thing almost broke her because Billie was like family. Nova says some things and some people should remain in the past. Yall let this simmer and we gon talk about it later. Mmmmmkay?
NOVA
Nova his headed out of her door and picks up an envelope from off the front porch. Her new neighbors are walking by (Dominic and his sister, Loretta, I presume). They saw Nova’s live convo with Tarana Burke. It was insightful. It got him thinking about intersectionality and it’s a lot to process. She tells him he needs to check out The Real Spot, the place where men can go to process things — and then come back and tell the women what’s going on over there. Dominic declines. What happens there will stay there. They leave and Nova opens the envelope. It’s her picture with a shooting target around her face. Uhhhhh ohhhhhh. When is Nova going to accept that she is indeed a target and start protecting herself accordingly? She needs to get that same security detail Charley had for Micah. And I’m dead serious.
Vi sent Nova over to Prosper’s house with some leftovers. When she got there, Billie was on the porch and said that Prosper was asleep. Nova was like…ok, cool. Here’s the food and tell him I came by. Billie was like…this is childish and we need to talk about things. How would you like to start? Nova tells her that she can start with an apology. Billie says that what happened happened when they were kids and it was an accident. So it turns out that Billie told Ernest that Nova liked girls. As a result, Nova’s relationship with Ernest was never the same. Billie outed her before she was ready to be outed. Nova wasn’t ready to answer all of the questions after Billie put her in that situation. To do that, on purpose, is vile. Put a pin in this one, friends. We gonna talk about it later. Billie was like…you wanna know what’s vile? You abandoned me, your best friend, when I needed you the most. And when was that? When all of the stuff about me and Jimmy Dale was circulating. You are high and mighty and crusade for justice and women’s rights but you couldn’t see what was happening. Billie was 18, Jimmy Dale was over 33. There was no “relationship.” He went around town telling folks she was good in bed and not a soul could see what was going on. Or not a soul wanted to see what was happening. No one tried to find out what was really happening. She tried to tell them all, but no one believed her. It wasn’t her choice. No one would listen. She left town as soon as she could, but on the way out, she stopped to talk to Ernest. He did listen to her and he was kind to her. She believes that Ernest believed her. She saw in Ernest a father who listened – unlike her own father, Prosper. Chile. But because Billie was so mad, she decided to out Nova to Ernest. And then she dipped. And I don’t blame her.
In other news…
On campus, a security guard went running past Micah and it triggered a full blown panic attack. His friend helped him calm down and told him what was happening to him. He asked if he could call somebody for him and Micah said no. I really hoped he would call Charley to come and get him or at least talk to her on the phone, but he didn’t. I really want him to get help NOW.
Let’s talk about it…
RA’s harvest isn’t very bountiful. So that check he been waiting for ain’t gonna be what he thought. So now what? Charley gave him an opening. She knows he’s waiting on the USDA check and it’s delayed. She has offered and he pretended like he didn’t hear the offer. I’m just tired of this. On another note, who are the farmers milling with these days? The Queen Sugar Mill is still a pile of ashes. And Charley doesn’t seem too pressed to rebuild. Questions that need answers.
Speaking of questions that need answers…we need a Queen Sugar Most Wanted List. Where have Tia, Calvin and Quincy (Darla’s dad) gone? Inquiring minds wanna know. Now.
So Billie came back to St. Jo and may actually have some expertise that can help the farmers. The parallels between Billie and Charley are interesting and compounding.
Why wasn’t dinner at Vi’s more spicy? I knew that in the end they would take Davis back because the Bordelons are good at forgiveness. But I feel like the writers failed us. We needed to see that whole road to forgiveness. Or at least see how and when Charley announced that they were reconciling. We skipped over a whole lot and I don’t like this QS hop scotch. The only thing I was happy about was that Nova was supportive and silent. Because that’s the way she need to be.
And now…Billie and Nova. *insert deep contemplative sigh here* I don’t even know where to begin with this one. Remember last week when I asked why Vi had called Billie “fast-tailed?” Now we know why. Billie was crowned the town whore based on Jimmy Dale’s tales about his experience with her in the bed. The problem here is that Billie was 18 and Jimmy Dale was 33 and that was rape. But Vi swears that Billie was the problem. And Nova didn’t listen to Billie. Prosper didn’t either. It’s a dayum shame. But yall. How is Nova gonna be writing about rape culture and using her sister as a prime example and totally skip over this story? Didn’t she go off on Charley about not believing women when they say they have been assaulted? And didn’t do that to Billie? Oh. Ok. And here’s more. The only person Nova saw fit to find and interview was Jimmy Dale. Shouldn’t he have been asked these questions? I’m confused.
So Nova is mad that Billie outed her to her dad. She didn’t have the chance to ready herself. She wasn’t ready to answer all of these questions. Really, now? When Nova dropped her book, nobody was ready either. Charley had to address questions from a reporter about a book she hadn’t read, written by a sister who didn’t think it would be a good idea to give her family a heads up. Darla and RA weren’t ready to tell Blue about the paternity issue. Darla wasn’t ready to have her life turned upside down either. So now Nova wants to cry to Billie about not being ready? Oh. Ok.
And now for #CharVis. You know what made me feel better about them this week? The fact that Charley is doing this on her terms. This relationship is happening because SHE wants it to happen. Davis came, took care of her and dipped. SHE wanted to talk to him more and see what was there. This time around, she is not going to lose herself in him or move heaven and Earth for him. He has a new job in LA that he got on his own. She is happy about his job and doesn’t feel the need to move (now or ever). He is different, too. He doesn’t want to be “the gentleman” or anything else anymore. He doesn’t want an image. He just wants a job and her. And they are walking into this new thing together, knowing that there will be some bumps ahead. You can say they are both stronger and wiser now. Charley said that she’s not giving up ANYTHING and I am here for that. I can see them as an Oprah+Steadman kind of relationship. They don’t have to get married again. Just live and love.
See yall next week…
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