‘Queen Sugar’ Recap: Nova Calls out Charley & Darla Returns

Charley is proud of Micah as he begins his first day of public school.

Micah his laying out his outfit for his first day at public school.

“I’m putting a lot of trust in you.” – Charley

“You know I am a straight A student.” – Micah

“I want you to keep it that way.” – Charley

Charley lightens the mood by saying she’s shocked he unpacked his room.

Nova learns bad news from her publisher.

While on the phone with Deborah, Nova tells her that she’s no longer with the paper.

“It was time.” – Nova

She gets a consequence from her quitting the paper; she isn’t able to use her stories she wrote for the paper. However, Deborah is happy and knows Nova can come up with fresh ideas. When the phone call ends, Nova looks over to her wall board with a poster of Ida B. Wells and her article clippings.

Ralph Angel is getting off work and is offered to hang back to play spades. Ms. Phan is disappointed he leaves early.

Hollywood is listening to his barber’s business proposal when Aunt Vi walks in. Aunt Vi questions the idea of investing in a barber shop. He tells Aunt Vi he’ll make a good decision and investing in a shop could be a good idea.

Hollywood changes the mood when he casually gives Vi a new engagement ring.

Blue sees Ralph Angel with another woman.

Ralph Angel walks out onto his porch to introduce his new guest. Blue wakes up and sees the woman in the room. She looks kind of like Darla, and Blue calls out, “mom” in confusion.

RA walks up, as she’s still getting dressed and takes Blue back to his room.

Micah and Keke are walking together as she’s helping find his classes. She’s disappointed that they don’t have any classes together and asks if he can transfer into one of her classes.

He tells her he will work on it and they share a kiss.

Ralph Angel meets a man out on parole looking for a job on the farm.

Ralph Angel is at the farm and meets Benny Williams. Benny showed up 20 minutes late because he doesn’t have a car. As RA shows him the farm, Benny is impressed that he’s running it.

When Benny walks off, he tells Ra he needs a flapper for the tractor exhaust.

Charley meets with black farmer that’s leasing the land from Sam Landry. Sam is kicking them off the yard and they are forced to break their contract with the Queen Sugar mill. Knowing that they had no choice in the matter, Charley tells them she will wave all penalty fees.

“Ernest was a good man. An honest man. You are definitely your father’s daughter.” – Black Farmer

RA and Nova are at the High Yellow recapping the interview with Benny. He’s unsure but Nova reminds Ralph that he was in Benny’s shoes not too long ago. Another farmer walks in and tells RA and Nova that they are staying with the mill. They say that Charley’s efforts got Sam Landry off their backs.

Nova asks how this happen. Ralph plays coy but tells Nova to trust Charley.

“Charley has a plan and the Landry’s ain’t gonna see it coming.” – Ralph Angel

Micah hangs with the students from the protest at lunch.

Back on campus, Micah enters the cafeteria, where they have an armed guard. Micah finds the students from the protest and they ask him to sit with them.

The guard approaches them because one is sitting on the table. He asks him to get up and sit correctly but he just stands up, confronting the guard.

When the guard walks away, he mentions that the guard wants to grab him like the officer in the videos. They all then agree to hang out after school.

Nova confronts Charley about her Sam Landry plan.

Later that day, as Aunt Vi and Hollywood are dressed for a reunion party, Charley, Nova and Ralph Angel stop by for an impromptu meeting. When it begins, Nova dives right into figuring out how Charley worked out her deal with the Landry’s.

“Are you doing business with the Landrys?” – Nova

Things get silent and Charley says she sold the mill for 1% equity in Landry Enterprises. This news shocks Aunt Vi and continues to anger Nova. Nova wonders why she would do something like that.

Charley tells Nova and the family that Sam Landry’s smear campaign was going to ruin the mill.

“I almost lost everything. But now, my 1% is the first step to taking back the power.” – Charley

“So you betray our family, get in bed with the enemy, and all you got was 1%? That’s what we’re worth?” – Nova

Aunt Vi and Nova question why Ralph Angel didn’t try to stop it. He tells them that they aren’t seeing what Charley’s really doing.

“If Charley got a chance to change things, and take down the Landry’s, I say she do it.” – Ralph Angel

Charley then tells them that her ownership into the operation gives her access to financial records and other shady dealings.

“…Everyday, that access gives me information needed to bring that family to their knees.” – Charley

She then tells them that Sam has been in serious debt for years, and does other unethical and/or illegal things. When she learns it all, she’s going to use it to force a takeover with her in charge.

“And when I have all the pieces, I will destroy every shareholder, one by one, until I own that company.” – Charley

However, Nova doesn’t grasp what Charley’s doing, and thinks she’s just going to lie to black farmers in the county. Despite that, Charley emphasizes that she’s going to be, “Standing on the ashes of the Landry empire,” before they realize what happened.

“You really think people are gonna care how I did it? Or are they just gonna say thank you?” – Charley

“You need to wake up. The game’s rigged. You can’t win this way.” – Nova

“I don’t plan on winning the game, Nova. I plan to eliminate it. It’s what daddy would’ve wanted.” – Charley

Nova then says that the Landrys killed their father, to which Charley replies that she’s going to make them pay. Charley then emphasizes that she knows what she’s doing.

Hollywood jumps into the conversation and tells Charley that the Landry family is a cancer. He tells her that he quit his job because, “Sam’s hands was all in it.”

When he says he’s not a Bordelon, Charley replies, “You’re right, you’re not a Bordelon.”

This causes Aunt Vi to scold Charley.

“You aught to pay attention when folks are trying to talk some sense into you.”

This causes Charley to leave in anger, but Micah won’t leave with her. That causes an even further sting to Charley. When she leaves, Ralph Angel follows.

Ralph Angel meets his bosses’ daughter Trina.

Darla FaceTime’s Ralph Angel, but he hands the phone to Blue as he goes to pick up a check. While there, he meets Trinh. They make small talk over Trinh’s brother.

He teases that she’s too hard on her younger brother.

“Big sisters know the potential little brother’s have.” – Trinh

Overall, Ralph Angel and Trinh seem to hit it off.

Aunt Vi escort’s Hollywood to his Class of 93 reunion. Things get awkward when Hollywood’s high school girlfriend Charmaine sees him. He gives her an empty hug.

Back at home, Charley is distraught that no one approves of her plan except Ralph.

“When it come down to it, you’re the only one on the battle lines.” – Ralph Angel

Charley tells Ralph that she doesn’t want Micah to hate her. He assures her that won’t happen and consoles her as she breaks down in tears.

Back at her home, Nova opens up her last pay check from the newspaper. On the check, Steve, her former editor, wrote a message.

“I should’ve had your back.” Steve

Nova then takes down her old clippings, leaving a poster of Ida B. Wells behind her along with her photo of Ralph Angel.

At night, Ralph Angel hears a noise. He gets up and sees Blue scrambling for more PJ’s. He had an accident for the second night in a row. He tell Ralph he didn’t tell him about the previous accident because there was a woman at the house.

“Everybody has accidents. Ain’t no shame about it.” – Ralph Angel

He then tells Blue they’ll clean it up and he can sleep in his bed.

Hollywood shuts down Charmaine’s advances.

Back at the reunion, Charmaine walks over, shading Aunt Vi.

She assumes that Vi is Hollywood’s mother.

But when Hollywood introduces Aunt Vi as his fiancé, she changes her tune.

“You don’t look over a day over 25.” – Charmaine

Hollywood then declines a dance and heads over to the dance floor with Aunt Vi instead. As they dance, Hollywood’s friend crashes their party, so Vi goes off to get a drink. But as she drinks, she begins to feel woozy.

Micah hangs out with Keke and his other friends as they ride around on a 4-wheeler. While Keke takes a ride Micah is asked why he left private school.

“I never really been around my people. Fight for whatever you believe in…” – Micah

Eventually Keke returns from her ride.

Aunt Vi is sitting by the pool, grabbing her hands. Hollywood walks out, separating away from his friend Earl. He asks Aunt Vi if they can call it a night and head home. This makes her smile and she agrees to his plan.

Micah is at Nova’s place. Nova tells Micah that Charley’s plan came from a good place.

“I don’t agree with your mother’s methods. But, this ain’t new.” – Nova

Nova explains that there are civil rights activist from the past who have used Charley’s method.

But Micah scoffs at this, and openly wishes Charley was more like Nova. Nova tells him to be proud of his mom and what she accomplished.

When Micah leaves, Nova writes story ideas on post-it notes and pins them to her board.

Darla returns, surprising Ralph Angel.

At home, Blue is sleep in Ralph Angel’s bed. RA receives a text from a woman, who is on her way. He opens up the door for her but doesn’t let her in. He tells her that they can’t hang out tonight. He also tells her that he’s falling back from their situation.

“Go on and be a good dad. I’ll see you.” – woman

The next day, Charley apologizes to Micah about dinner the night before. She also tells him that he wasn’t supposed to find out what she was up to so soon.

Micah tells her that he trusts her but to be sure that she comes out on top.

Later on, Ralph Angel sits with Benny on the farm. Benny tells him that he was in prison for stealing and scrapping cars.

“I ain’t looking for no short cuts. I ain’t going back.” – Benny

Ralph Angel gives him an application to fill out and tells him to show up on time the next day, signaling he hired Benny.

The episode ends with Darla showing up on the farm, to the joy of Blue. However, Ralph Angel isn’t happy to see her and they exchange cold stares.

What are your thoughts on the episode?