‘Queen Sugar’ Season 5 Episode 7 ‘June 1, 2020’
Resident re-capper and Baldwin Culture Editor Bianca Gregg visits the rich canes and hollowed lands in ‘Queen Sugar’ each Tuesday, delivering to you the lineage and background of this generational drama executive produced by Ava DuVernay.
Darla tends to her garden and tells Ralph that beauty is needed in this ugly world. Ralph tells her ain’t nothing ugly over there, I agree. The couple receive the results of Blue’s IQ test and Blue is as intelligent as we all knew he was. “Exceptionally Intelligent,” as the results read.
Hollywood comes into the kitchen while Vi is on the phone checking in on a friend. He asks about his work boots to which Vi says she put them outside. Hollywood pokes at Vi for moving his boots without telling him and also tells Vi that maybe people should check on her for once. Vi comments on Hollywood having a beer for breakfast as he calls it the ‘Breakfast of champions.”
We can see Hollywood is not dealing with things too well.
Charley has a restless night. Her thoughts about Micah, the sugar mill and her political position runs rampant through the night. She gets up and attempts to stretch but her neck is in pain. She muscles up the energy to make breakfast for herself and Micah. He comes down and gives his mother a neck rub while telling her he loved having her at the protest.
Micah admits he wants to do more for social justice besides posting online. He decides he will go to Minneapolis. Charley clearly is shocked but she gives her son her blessing to go.
Nova prepares for a children’s march she has planned. She also tells Charley that she is proud of Micah for going. She reminds Charley that many of our heroes and sheroes were young during their time and that Micah will make a name for himself. Nova is preparing to head out of town because Courtney is leaving after the march. She gifts Courtney a rare copy of her book. She gets a call while speaking to Courtney, the permit has been denied and the children’s march will not happen.
At dinner Ralph gives Blue the news about the march. Blue says he thinks it is dumb that he needs permission to express how he feels in the public. Ralph agrees and tells Blue that they will take their signs and still go march at the monuments the following day. Darla appears concerned but Ralph assures her it will be fine.
Vi comes over to Charley’s. She asks Charley where Micah is and finds out he went to Minneapolis. Vi feels Charley should have fought him on the idea but Micah is an adult and Charley knew she could not stop him from going if he wanted to. Vi opens up about her concerns with Hollywood. He has been very moody and emotional since his mother passed. Charley says he may be that way for awhile.
Ralph, Darla and Blue are outside with their signs. They get an outpouring of support for people riding by and honking their horns. A police officer pulls up and says he got a call that some one was creating a problem on the road. Ralph says it was not them considering they are standing on their land. The officer asks for proof of ownership so Darla heads to the house to get the deed. The officer makes an inappropriate sound toward Darla as he watches her walk. He and Ralph have a heated exchange that ends in the officer reminding Ralph he has a gun. The officer gets a call and tells Ralph it is his lucky day. Once the officer leaves, Blue begins to cry and Ralph comforts him. He tells Blue they must keep going but Blue is defeated.
Vi asks Prosper and Hollywood what they would like for dinner and both of them say they are fine with whatever she makes. She starts telling Prosper about the conversation she had with Darla about Blue watching the news and listening to adult conversations. Before she can finish Hollywood says that he assumes Darla wants her to mind her business. Hollywood is very snappy but he says he just wants to mind his business and watch television. He wants to ignore all the negativity in the world as well as his savings being drained by a business he can not open.
Later that day, Ralph tells Hollywood about the exchange with the officer. He says Blue was scared for him and that he does not want his son worried about him. He tells Hollywood Blue is only a child and that it is his job to protect Blue. Ralph begins to cry and Hollywood tells him to let it all out. Hollywood goes into the house and apologizes to Prosper about the exchange he had with Vi in front of him. Prosper reminds Hollywood that he should make things right with Vi. Hollywood thinks of various times with Vi from the past including their wedding, hopefully this can help Hollywood in some way.
Ralph sits on Blue’s bed as he sleeps. He thinks of different moments with Blue over the years. He sees a white action figure of Blue’s sitting on his desk. Ralph grabs the action figure and throws it into the trash.
While Charley is on the phone discussing some of the evidence Micah found on the Landry family, she begins to start having trouble breathing. She grabs her phone and realizes there is no one for her to call. Nova is out of town, but now back. Ralph is dealing with Blue and being married now. Vi is dealing with a grieving Hollywood and helping with Prosper. Micah is in Minneapolis. She picks up her phone and makes a call. She tells the person that she is not feeling well and that she needs help. Charley puts the phone down and we see she has called Davis.
Takeaways:
Ralph is always so hard on himself. He can not control the world we are in but I know how it feels to not want the nightmares of the world touch our children.
Nova is clearly having some regrets on how she treated Calvin. As she should in a way.
Hollywood better be making up to Vi next week because we are not use to seeing this side of Hollywood. We must remember he is grieving his mother, which would change most of us.
