Queen Sugar - S1E11 - All Good

Previously on Queen Sugar, “So Far”

Queen Sugar - S1E11 - “All Good” | Starring: Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Kofi Siriboe, Tina Lifford, Omar J. Dorsey, Dondre Whitfield, Timon Kyle Durrett, Nicholas L. Ashe, Greg Vaughan, Ethan Hutchison, Marycarmen Lopez, Bianca Lawson | Director: Salli Richardson-Whitfield

Some fresh starts are easier than others.

Micah is granted entry to the private school he wanted thanks to a large donation from Davis, and Charley makes plans to seal the deal at a brunch with the dean. Since Davis is now a free agent, Charley dons her CEO cap to ensure his options align with Micah’s future in his new school - even if it means also wearing her wedding ring again.

The lengths Charley is willing to go for her son come into play later when Micah gives her the cold shoulder after walking in on her kiss with Remy. Despite his father’s transgressions, he doesn’t like seeing his mother move on so quickly. Up until this point, Micah had been written better than the stereotypical self-centered teen, especially one in a rich and famous family. While that was certainly refreshing, it was also nice to see him have a real teenage moment. As Nova points out to Charley when she seeks her sister’s advice, there’s a lot of emotional terrain to navigate at the age of 15.

For weeks, Aunt Vi has been warning that Darla would be a bad influence on Ralph Angel. However, considering we’ve seen Ralph Angel make pretty poor decisions (park.baby.churros) while Darla has made good ones, it felt like Vi was worrying a bit unnecessarily. This week, Darla gets more comfortable being in Blue’s life again, and advises him to hit a boy who’s been bullying him. Ralph Angel, while no angel, still has more parenting experience than Darla, but he doesn’t advise Blue any differently, and even encourages it. When the inevitable meeting between the two sets of parents occur, Ralph Angel seems proud of Darla’s assertiveness and unapologetic declaration that her son will protect himself. Whether or not this will cause problems later is anyone’s guess, but Ms. Velez seems concerned.

Since doing business with the family whose ancestors owned yours is out of the question, Charley proposes they use a mill in another parish with the assistance of leased trucks. Everyone is on board, and things are looking good when their loan evaluation shows they could pull in millions of dollars if they decide to harvest all of their crops next year. Nothing has gone smoothly when it comes to taking over the farm, and that doesn’t appear to be changing. Jacob Boudreaux (Lea Coco), annoyed that his offer is rejected, threatens to make things hard for the Borderlons, and it begins with his interference with their bank loan; it’s denied.

All is put aside, for now, at episode’s end as everyone gathers at The High Yellow to support Vi’s new initiative to have the diner act as a social club two nights a week. Micah gives Charley his approval, Too Sweet is no longer missing and staying with Nova, and Ralph Angel and Darla share a slow dance.

The side of Charley we knew existed when she admitted to leaking Goldie’s name may make a return if the stare down she gave Boudreaux is any indication. I just hope she won’t consider staying with Davis to have access to the funds needed to keep the farm going since their loan fell through. The Two Sweet storyline might be more effective if we spent any time getting to know him prior to this episode. At best, he felt like a plot device to cause Nova to steal the money and have a blowup with Charley. Too bad there wasn’t any Hollywood this week, but there’s hope as Violet admitted she doesn’t consider him a lost cause like her ex or Davis. Fingers crossed.

Not my favorite episodes of the series - it may be the weakest - but still pretty solid; it felt like things slowed down enough for us all to breathe and prepare for the tribulations to come. And director Salli Richardson-Whitfield did her thang for the second week in a row.