‘Queen Sugar’ Recap: Charley Breaks Down + Ralph Angel Comes Clean

Nova and Ralph Angel are visiting the family memorial.

Nova and Ralph Angel are at their family memorial on the farm. Nova takes the picture to send to Charley who is not there. Charley is preparing to open the Queen Sugar Mill.

As Nova heads to Ernest’s office, siting in his chair, she admires the furniture. Then, she begins to mentally reminisce about her father.

It’s the day of the grand opening of the Queen Sugar Mill.

Charley is observing workers preparing the press conference to commemorate the mill. They are proud as they are watching the Queen Sugar Mill sign hung.

Back at the farm, Nova is in the office looking for a certificate when she finds a paycheck that belongs to their father. She shows the check to RA who is cleaning a spill from their broken fridge.

Charley has a reporter come in to profile her. He asks about why she moved from Los Angeles to Louisiana. The reporter is asking questions that allude he’s focusing on the tragedy of Davis’ s*xual assault case. Before things get too intense, Darla interrupts with a vendor on the phone having issues with delivery of a part for the mill.

Aunt Vi is busy baking her pies when Hollywood comes in with supplies. He is concerned that Aunt Vi isn’t joining the rest of the family, who are going to visit Ernest’s grave at the family grave site. He wonders why and she says she isn’t willing to grieve again.

Nova learns more about Ernest’s struggle with the farm.

Nova heads to the place that sent the check she discovered earlier. She learns Ernest worked there, and she is surprised. Ernest’s supervisor then gives Nova of a box of his possessions. This includes a pair of gloves and a picture of Blue.

The journalist returns to profile Charley.

Remy and Charley are with the journalist walking through the mill. The journalist seems to be more interested in their relationship rather than the mill itself. Remy says that Ernest was a father figure to him. However, the journalist seems to think there’s more to their relationship than they lead on.

RA is with Blue in a convince store and they come across the clerk whom RA robbed earlier. The clerk recognizes and says, “you’re the reason I lost my job!” When he says he doesn’t know her, she calls him a liar.

RA panics and runs out of the store after he lays out money on the counter.

Darla is juggling a phone call, coffee and paperwork for Charley in the office. She spills her coffee on her shirt as a result. She then runs into Charley and Remy and Charley has her go into her place to find another outfit.

Darla is amazed at Chalrey’s clothes when she arrives at her quarters. As Darla is admiring the clothes, looking for something to wear, Micah comes in looking for his blazer. Darla notices he’s struggling with his tie and helps him with it. Micah is amazed at how she easily she tied his tie.

Charley then calls Micah, and he rushes to get to the mill.

The journalist tries to dig but Charley isn’t budging.

Back in Charley’s office, the journalist, Ben, continues to probe into Charley, asking why she is opening the mill, especially when she’s the only black person doing so. She says she’s doing it to honor her father. Once Ben turns off the recorder, he expresses frustration with her answers, saying she’s towing the party line.

“So this is how it’s gonna be? No matter what question I ask, you steer me back to the party line.” – Ben

Despite this, Charley insists she is being open with Ben and is opening the mill to honor her father.

Aunt Vi is with Hollywood at the Mill opening ceremony as things are prepped. Hollywood is still working on Aunt Vi, trying to have her go to her bother’s headstone laying.

“Have you even thought about what this would do to the kids?” – Hollywood

Aunt Vi replies, “I’m not their mama. And they ain’t kids. They grown, you said it yourself.”

Hollywood tells Aunt Vi that she’s Ernest’s sister and she would be doing their family wrong if she doesn’t show up.

Darla finishes changing into one of Charley’s dresses and receives a bouquet of flowers. She then takes the rather large bouquet to Charley, who takes the card and sees they came from the Landry family. The card reads, “Welcome to the club.”

Prosper and RA are walking in the sugar mill amazed at what Charley built. Nova meets them in the mill, angry over the news that their father was a Janitor. Prosper reveals that he knew Ernest was moonlighting because of the struggles on the farm but he had no idea where he worked.

Nova says, “He was ashamed not to be farming.”

As the mill officially opens, alarms go off, sending Charley over the edge.

Charley gives her speech opening the mill, dedicating it to her father Ernest. She also honors the fellow black farmers who are using the mill. She lastly has two political representatives cut the ribbon and then have Ralph Angel and Blue lead the way of farmers dumping their cane into the mill.

After the speech, Aunt Vi finds Charley to congratulate her. Next, Ralph Angel sees Darla and rags her for wearing Charley’s dress. After Darla explains what happened, he says she looks good.

As Prosper heads over to talk to Charley, the mill alarms go off and Charley runs off inside to mill. She sees Remy with the mill supervisor. As the Supervisor says they have to clear the cane jam out by hand, Charley, who is frustrated with keeping things perfect, digs her hands into the shoot.. Nova pulls her away and Charley breaks down crying. Ben witnesses this and Nova tells him to leave, saying he’s not allowed back there.

Charley opens up about the pressure on her.

When Nova and Charley are by themselves, Charley express her frustration with everything involving the mill. She wanted to be perfect to compensate for her not coming to Louisiana when Ernest asked her to.

Nova consoles her, and tells Charley about the last time she saw their father before his passing.

“I’m not sure the last time I talked to our father. When I eventually got to the hospital, he could no longer speak.” – Nova

Micah is nearby concerned about Charley. Nova approaches him, checking to see how he is doing. He says to Nova that he’s never seen Charley act the way she did. Nova tells him about the magnitude of pressure on Charley’s shoulders.

“This just isn’t another business project for her. This is about you… about me, your grandpa, the farm… all of us.” – Nova

She then tells him about the magnitude of what her mother did by opening and owning a mill.

“You know your momma. Failure is not an option. But she did it. She’s the first black woman to own a mill in the state of Louisiana.” – Nova

Meanwhile, Aunt Vi and Blue are back at the reception. As they see a large photo of Ernest, Blue mentions to Aunt Vi that he can still feel Ernest’s presence.

“I feel that I could reach out and touch his skin, like he’s for real. I miss him.” – Blue

Charley offers Ben a proposition to keep her outburst private.

When Charley comes back from the back, she runs into Ben. He is completely frustrated with the way Charley is trying to control her image and tells her he saw the freak out over the system clog.

Charley tells him not to run that and to just run with the positive spin of the mill. If he does that, she’ll give him an exclusive about her divorcing Davis.

He’s enticed.

Darla reveals a milestone about her sobriety to Charley.

When everyone leaves, Charley retires to her new place. Darla comes in shortly after and lets her know that everyone has been paid. Charley grabs two wine glasses and a bottle of red wine. Charley and Darla share a long pause. Charley forgot about Darla’s sobriety and apologizes. Darla then invites Charley to a ceremony celebrating the fact that she’s been sober for two years.

Ralph Angel tells Charley and Nova about Ernest’s revised will.

The next day, the family meets to place the stone. Aunt Vi and Nova console each other. They mention to each other that they miss Nova’s mom.

At the ceremony, the pastor blesses the headstone laid on Ernest’s grave site. As the pastor is speaking, Blue drops his doll. He then realizes that the doll isn’t Kenya. He holds in his emotion but he is distraught about this.

Next, Nova prays over the grave site and says that they will do all they can to honor their father’s wishes.

“We are all here, Daddy. We’ve respected your wishes… done as you’ve asked. We will pour our love and labor into the land, and keep the farm going.” – Nova

Back at the farmhouse, RA looks for Blue who is sobbing behind curtains. When he finds Blue, Blue tells him that his doll isn’t Kenya. RA regretfully tells Blue that Kenya was thrown away.

Blue asks what Kenya did wrong and what he did wrong to warrant Kenya being thrown away. RA tells him that neither he nor Kenya did anything wrong.

Blue then asks why the clerk called RA a liar. He hugs Blue and promises he will now be honest moving forward.

The family sits down for dinner and RA prays over the dinner. As the prayer is going, RA cuts himself off, saying, “I can no longer lie.” After the prayer, RA lets everyone know about the letter Ernest left in the lock box.

“The farm, he left it to me. Just me. It’s all in the letter. It’s because I needed it the most.” – Ralph Angel

Charley angrily responds, “So you’ve lied to me.” She then questions Aunt Vi, who reveals that she knew about it.

“I uprooted my life, my son, all because of a lie? And the mill… Do you have any idea what I did to get that mill?” – Charley

RA tries to plead with Charley, saying he did not know about this the whole time, but Charley wasn’t hearing it.

“But you were happy to use my money.” – Charley

Darla speaks up in defense of RA, saying he wasn’t using Charley for her money. Hollywood interjects, telling Darla, “It’s best we stay out of this one.”

Suddenly, Nova speaks up, telling Charley about Ernest’s job as a janitor.

“Daddy cleaning floors and scrubbing toilets to keep your child in clothes and food. He was working as a janitor before he died.” – Nova

RA breaks down in tears.

Nova tells Charley that she found out the day of the mill opening but didn’t want to rain on her big day.

Nova and Charley gang up on Ralph Angel, angry about this revelation. Feeling betrayed, they try to leave but Aunt Vi stops them, demanding that they work this out.

 

What are your thoughts on the episode?