Holding The World On Your Shoulders in Queen Sugar’s “Come, Clad In Peace”
Season 3, Episode 8 | Grade: 9.0/10
Writer: Erika L. Johnson| Director: DeMane Davis
Queen Sugar fans! How are you recovering since last week’s shocking revelation? (Spoiler alert for those who missed last week, check out the recap here). Charley’s (Dawn Lyen Gardner) mission to take down the Sam Landry lead to a stunning discovery: he’s uprooting black farmers from their lands and homes to build a private prison in St. Josephine.
It also hit close to home for the Bordelon family as Charley discovered an eviction notice at the home of her late father’s dear friend Prosper Denton (Henry G. Sanders) in episode four. Arriving to his home after delivering the news to her family, Charley finds Prosper who arrived home from church only to leave again for his brunch date with Aunt Vi (Tina Lifford).
It’s his final day in his home and Charley sees he has yet to finish packing up his belongings and questioned why he didn’t reach out for help. “This house is all I got left,” he tells her. It’s heartbreaking and a tender spot as we’ve learned what Prosper has gone through to lease the land of sugarcane to support his wife and daughter only to have it stripped away from him.
Enlisting the help of Nova (Rutina Wesley) and Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), she can’t help but to think of what her and Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) endured to leave behind their old life in Los Angeles for Louisiana by cause of Davis’ (Timon Kyle Durrett) rape scandal in season one.
“Can you imagine having your whole life uprooted in your seventies?” — Charley
On social media, there’s just jokes and observations of Micah coming more into his blackness and political mindset since becoming friends with the teenage activists Ant (Myles Truitt), Asha (Nikko Austen Smith), Malik (Myron Parker Wright), and KJ (SteVonte Hart) from his school — much to the dismay of his girlfriend Keke (Tanya Waivers). Looking over Micah’s photos of a plantation tourist site they visited a few episodes back, they’re plotting on an attention grabbing protest. Director DeMane Davis adding Micah’s triggering memories of his arrest last season, he agrees to join his friends. To be honest, I worry for him as the season progress.
The episode zeroes in on Prosper. His pride in wanting to handle his issues on his own without the help of those who love him and being on a burden on his daughter Billie, whose life he doesn’t want to interrupt. For me, it was deja vu as Ernest, a prideful man himself, once reached out to Charley in the season one premiere to help him but not wanting to interrupt her life as well.
Charley offers him a place to stay after he reveals that he told his daughter Billie not to come and despite his pride, she refuses to take no for an answer.
“Stubborn just like your daddy.” — Prosper
“Why thank you.” — Charley
Darla (Bianca Lawson) has been on a mission of progression since her return from Washington D.C. Fixing her fractured relationship with her parents has opened the gates for them emotionally and financially assisting her to get back on her feet — even helping her buy a new home in St. Josephine for her and Blue (Ethan Hutchinson).While giving Ralph Angel a tour, she shows him Blue’s beautiful new bedroom that she decorated with him. It’s colorful and filled with his favorite things from sharks to dinosaurs and even his beloved Kenya doll is propped on his bunk bed. Ralph Angel is flustered and a little salty. “We’re supposed to be doing something like that too,” he mumbles as he walks around the room.
As they discuss their schedule for Blue, there’s an awkward exchange over having keys to each other’s houses (her quick response: “I can get that back to you” and the pause before agreeing to get one made for him). Darla wants to keep Blue more often but he suggests to take it slow and for her to take him only on the weekends. Once again, as Aunt Vi said in the past of Ralph Angel’s tendency of coddling Blue, he thinks that Blue needs time to adjust. She pushes back by saying they both should have him 50 percent of the time but he continues to block her repeatedly much to her frustration — which is understandable.
“What if you lose your job, huh?” Which was such an insult since she has loss her parking job in the past because of him and was fired by Charley from her assistant job…yes because of the family learning about Darla withholding the secret that Blue isn’t his. Still, it’s an insult. I will say that Ralph Angel has had a tendency of reminding Darla of her flaws and throwing it in her face unjustly. Whether you despise Darla (which I understand) or commend her for admitting her faults and take steps forward, Ralph Angel’s self righteousness and stubbornness makes things more difficult than it has to be. (And yes, I understand that some of his feelings are valid because her lie broke their relationship).
He hits her below the belt when she voices her exhaustion with having the same fight by questioning her, “What the hell you know about being tired, really? Mama and Daddy paying for all your stuff, new house, nice little car out there. Cause I’m working two jobs and being a single parent while you’re out here finding yourself.” It was then that Darla read him with receipts attached. Say what you want about her but when that backbone in her straightens it’s a wrap and Johnson penned that clapback with purpose and precision.
“So what if my parents helped me get this place. Did you pay for that house you’re living in? Or did your daddy give it to you? You can let yourself out.” — Darla
Aunt Vi’s pitch to Rawlings to have her own pie shop is jeopardized when her lupus begins to take its toll during the meeting. Concerned, Rawlings offers to drive her home and she’s visibly embarrassed. Her fighting to breathe, fanning herself and fighting back tears was too much. I want Aunt Vi to win and her health may make that a bumpy ride. She reveals to him her diagnosis the following day and I can’t help but worry if he’ll second guess his business venture with her.
Nova’s connections in Washington D.C. adds an additional piece to the puzzle for Charley as she finds that Sam Landry’s son Colton is friends with an old fraternity buddy named Thomas who works for the Environmental Protection Agency. Nova discovers that there’s nothing wrong with the soil as Boudreaux suggested. Charley urges her sister to steer clear as to not jeopardize her book deal and potentially blow her own cover with Landry and Boudreaux.
I still wonder what Charley can do moving forward without exposing herself and if she can truly save Prosper’s home before it’s too late.
Nova and Ralph Angel’s hard conversation over a bottle of Hennessy in Blue’s room was sobering to say the least. After seeing Blue’s room at Darla’s he doesn’t feel that his home is good enough but Nova reminds him that he doesn’t have to stretch himself beyond his limits like their father did. Nova sadly had to break her baby’s brother’s romanticized version of his father to make him see the reality of their father’s depression from trying to handle it all. That behind his strength and sacrifice was a man on the verge of suicide. She reminded him that he’s doing enough and he has family to fall back on and he takes heed to her word and later tells Trinh (Vivien Ngo) he doesn’t need the extra hours at work.
“Daddy was so busy trying to hide his pain, do it all himself. It damn near broke him…but he survived it.” — Nova
Other Episode Notes:
- You notice the smile on Ralph Angel’s face when his sisters brought up his similarities to their late father Ernest? There’s always a part of him that wants to live up to his father’s image.
- Charley and Nova reminiscing on their adolescent boyfriends and crushes transitioned to Charley inquiring about a possible “mystery man” that of course Aunt Vi brought up. She brushes off. Uncomfortable.
- My heart broke for Prosper, especially when he stood with the picture of his wife in his arms and stared around Charley’s house as if he was out of place. Charley’s heart for him was open as she watched him in a slumber on his blue recliner before helping him to bed.
- The shot of Nova burning sage in the field of sugarcane was so beautiful.
- Moral of the story: you can’t shoulder the burden of the world alone.
- Ralph Angel and Trinh’s (Vivien Ngo) chemistry is still growing on me. I like her as a character and to me it’s only a matter of time until his self righteous attitude comes to the surface and how it’ll effect their new relationship.
