Queen Sugar: Season 2/ Episode 16 “Dream Variations” [Season Finale] – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Collected Quote(s) Marred by challenges but exalted by triumph. Hurt fuels me. I don’t let it sit and fester, I let it drive me. I let it save me. Dreams are funny things. They morph and reshape in an instant. If you set after doing something and learn a lesson on the way, even if…
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Collected Quote(s)
Marred by challenges but exalted by triumph.
Hurt fuels me. I don’t let it sit and fester, I let it drive me. I let it save me.
Dreams are funny things. They morph and reshape in an instant.
If you set after doing something and learn a lesson on the way, even if you lose, it’s still a victory.
Rumors usually start with a seed of truth.
Highlights
Aunt Vi and Hollywood
I’m not sure how and where this sudden influx of money storyline may go, but I’m here for an Aunt Vi and Hollywood wedding. Just as long as there won’t be some network TV nonsense, like the “Blue may not be your child” storyline. Such as Aunt Vi fainting at the wedding, us learning she was diagnosed wrong and it is something worse than Lupus and etc. For while I get there has to be drama and the show can’t be all about representation acclaim, there is this fear inside me. The kind where, to keep ratings high and even mainstream the show a bit, they start tapping into the kind of storylines that make many a network TV show a hit.
Bianca Lawson & Kofi Siriboe
Though perhaps unfair to say, it is pretty much these two who are making Queen Sugar their breakout roles. At the age of 23, Kofi Siriboe probably has the most compelling role a Black man has right now. He is shown as a caring and devoted father; an often terrible boyfriend who tries to use grand romantic gestures to make up for his immaturity and tantrums; and all the while he is dealing with this cloud of his past hanging over him. Something that through hard work he has been trying to clear up. Including by going to school, his least favorite task which could better the farm.
In this multi-dimensional role, he gets to play every trope we know for Black men and remind us that, at one time, these tropes, these stereotypes, they were once considered just part of being human. As perhaps the latest special of Iyanla: Fix My Life shows, you can be an ex-con and still have feelings. You can still want a close relationship with your family and kids, and some of your community can accept you back after a long time away. Yet, do you ever really pay your debt to society when everyone has a different price of what they think you owe?
Something we see with how Bianca Lawson plays Darla in the finale. No matter what she does or says, there are all these children’s toys on the floor and she is walking barefoot. Tell the truth, and she gets hurt. Speak respectfully and not go off, still getting hurt. Making it surprisingly, and sort of a cathartic release, when we finally hear Darla yell. Something she had yet do this entire series.
But even with the way she yells, there isn’t this vibe she is going to lash out. Everything is internalized with Darla. Unlike the Bordelon family, there isn’t this need to push the blame on external figures and take little to no credit. Which is perhaps part of the reason she could never really integrate with them properly. Darla’s maturity, thanks to her parents and actually seeking out help to end or manage her destructive desires, has made her a more mature person. Meanwhile, everyone else ducks and dodges from their own hypocrisy or need for reflection.
Which is perhaps why Darla stands out so much on this show. Like with Ralph Angel, it isn’t necessarily because she represents a rarely seen person, especially a Black person. More so it is because with Darla we got growth and she has kind of been dragging Ralph Angel, pushing him with all her might, to grow as well. For despite the best intentions of Ernest, maybe even Aunt Vi, the Bordelon children are all stunted in their ways and unsure how the hell to get out of their own way. Yet, through almost toxic validation of each other, including Aunt Vi co-signing, they think there isn’t a single problem with how they live their lives. Never mind how they treat people who even do them the slightest bit wrong. For, at the end of the day, everything is very much an ultimatum. Either you ride or die or you are someone getting in the way of me lying to myself about my part in this messed up situation.
The Future of Charley
With all that goes on between Darla and Ralph Angel, as a couple and individuals, you have to give props to Charley and Ms. Gardner. Despite those two having the most drama, she is still able to carve out a large enough piece of each episode to keep Charley relevant and noteworthy. This episode was no different. In this battle with the Landry family, which has long since been tiresome, things have reached a new level.
Charley, switching tactics, seems willing now to play along with this game of, “Who can sleep with this high yellow chick first.” Hell, in a way, Charley damn near has made it into a slave auction. Which maybe perhaps taking it a bit far. However, she is the one selling herself, and all that comes with her, to the family which used to own hers. Yeah, she may get some overseer, Uncle Tom, kind of position, but she is trying to be within the family’s trust to destroy them from within.
A process which, in my bones, I feel will lead to some attempt to humanize the Landry family. Something I have mixed emotions about, since they have been absolute demons but it also seems long overdue. The Bordelon family has been given vast opportunities to show they are complicated people, so why not the Landry family too? And being that Charley’s life has always been about working between her Black identity and code-switching to deal with a white corporate environment, it should be interesting to see how she handles that.
Especially now that she has no one really in her corner. At least when it comes to the business anyway. Ralph Angel may vouch for her and Nova and Aunt Vi may give vocal support, but now the mill is all Charley’s problem. So here is hoping she decides to add some admin and clerical support. Hopefully losing all those farmers since no one was picking up the phone acted as a wakeup call.
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