Queen Sugar: Season 2 – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Highlights Continued Remy Though his relationship falls apart with Charley, you cannot deny what he did for her and the family up till then. It is basically because of him and Prosper the family was able to get the farm and mill started. As noted in a recap, he opened the doors of the community…
Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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Highlights Continued
Remy
Though his relationship falls apart with Charley, you cannot deny what he did for her and the family up till then. It is basically because of him and Prosper the family was able to get the farm and mill started. As noted in a recap, he opened the doors of the community to Charley and fashioned her a seat at the table. He may have ultimately been a rebound, but the way he seemingly helped Charley heal so that she wouldn’t perhaps remain burned as Aunt Vi was for decades, may make it so her next relationship may last. Also, you can’t discount how Remy tried to extend a helping hand to Ralph Angel beyond his seed. With him letting Ralph Angel audit a class, he was trying to push him to be better. Which may have led to Ralph Angel having a bit of a tantrum, but like Hollywood, all Remy has done was with a good heart. So when things went wrong, and he had to walk away, it was rare you could see Remy in a negative light.
No Flashbacks, But Witnessing Filling Us In On What Really Went Down
Sadly, Queen Sugar still avoids flashbacks to push its narrative. It keeps us from experiencing the then and there emotions, but with nearly all participants alive and in their right mind, we get the full view of what happened. It all began with Lorna and her revealing Aunt Vi has been lying her ass off. She didn’t steal Ernest. Dru basically handed him over. Ernest wanted marriage and a family and Dru wanted to be without those kind of ties and obligations. So, Ernest went off, found Lorna, and fell in love. And while his heart always sort of belong to Dru, he found room for Lorna as well.
Of which Aunt Vi gets confronted about, by Nova, but nothing really comes of that. But, speaking of Aunt Vi, the queen of secrets and information these kids should have been known lets a few cards slip from under her sleeve. Be it why she sold her part of the land to Ernest, to keep her house after her divorce, or how she and Darlene knew of each other, and she accepted Darlene’s money, after Darla’s health went downhill. Plus, from what it seems, she was also keeping tabs on Darla and reporting back to Darlene! Which makes it even stranger, perhaps sinister, that you took this woman’s money all these years and while you found love for her grandchild you looked at her daughter as straight trash.
Blue
While sometimes just the tie that bound, you cannot deny Blue’s role in the second season. Though often just used as a device to foreshadow, be it him questioning if he is the reason there is distance between his parents, him asking about his family tree for a project, or even him noting what he overheard Aunt Vi said about his mom in the end, you cannot deny Blue’s place in all this. Like Darla, he is what raises the character of Ralph Angel up and gives Kofi Siriboe the tool he has utilized to command such a strong performance. And this is all coming from a 7-year-old. Someone who, if he was just a little older, you could fully imagine going toe to toe with his parents for dominance of Queen Sugar.
But, considering what is to come, who knows whether Ava Duverney, creator, writer, and director, may put more on Ethan Hutchison’s young shoulders. Especially with the heavy investment we have already seen in his character’s parents.
Low Points
Nova
The main reason Nova is a low point is because the character is as committed to a storyline and development as she is to anything which requires a long-term commitment. We begin with her job asking her to write fluff pieces and then her journalism goes silent as she pursues activism. Her activism is done here and there but Micah and Davis get more of a boost out of it than her. Her relationship with Dr. DuBois seemed like just what the character needed but thanks to Aunt Vi’s poison, that ended. Then, to make matters worse, Aunt Vi never gets addressed for the lies she told. The lie which led Nova to Calvin, which made her unable to trust Dr. DuBois, and has made it seem she can’t maintain not one single relationship in her life. That is, outside of with Aunt Vi.
Dropped Storylines
What seems off about this show is how much it reshuffled things so that certain characters could come to the forefront or storylines could be pushed off to maybe season 3. For example, the Blue paternity storyline seemed to utterly put so many storylines on pause or off the table. Be it Darla’s opinion on how Blue should be raised vs. Ralph Angel, Micah pretty much got demoted once that storyline started rolling, and Aunt Vi having Lupus, the reveal of that to the family, got pushed into season 3.
But you can’t blame everything on the almost unnecessary storyline of Blue’s paternity being questionable. Charley was in therapy for one or two episodes but then that got dropped. A Bordelon FINALLY was in therapy but then she suddenly stopped going. Also, the woman who Ralph Angel robbed in the first season pops up and nothing comes of that either. Lastly, and most importantly, nothing comes out of Lorna revealing the truth about her relationship to Ernest! It is treated as an interesting anecdote more so than something which rocks the relationships on the show. For, in my mind, that should have been the major drama vs. Darla revealing Blue might not be Ralph Angel’s.
After all, for Nova, Aunt Vi’s lie is what led to her messed up relationships, her issues with Charley, and part of her issues with her father. On top of that, for Charley, Aunt Vi was her connection to St. Jo before Remy really integrated her in. She was the one Charley stayed with since there was no room in Ernest’s house and Nova didn’t make room in her space. Yet, there is no addressing on how she lied on her mother and basically made it so her siblings had little to no love for her. She was treated as a stranger.
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