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“In Summer Time To Simply Be” – “Queen Sugar” Season 5, Episode 9 Breakdown
This Article was updated on August 4, 2021 by Emily Powell
Okay, so I hope that you guys can oblige me because I am feeling super emotional and watching this episode just made me even more emotional. I will talk a little bit about the specific things that made me super emotional a little bit further into the article but let’s jump into probably the most shocking thing that happened which happens towards the end of the episode.
Nova discovers that Calvin is actually more involved with an actual police racist harassment assault case than he previously let on. So while Calvin’s daughter was staying with them earlier in the season we saw Nova ask him after George Floyd’s murder and the conversations that were being had meant tensions were high and anxiety was climbing.
We saw Nova had put him on the spot and asked him if he ever participated in anything like that and what did he do when his partner did. This forces him to recount a time in which his partner actually beat up a kid. We actually get introduced or at least I get introduced to the idea that cops have of “putting a down payment” on a black person, which is a reference to beating them up when they’re young so they know who’s in charge when they get older. I think is very much so probably a real thing that they pulled from. Calvin speaks about it as if he’s just a bystander but in this episode, we learn from the horse’s mouth. An actual black man has to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair because he was beaten up so badly by multiple police officers, the last of which broke his back and he identifies Calvin as the cop that did that final blow that broke his back.
You can see as those words come out of that young man’s mouth how Nova is completely destroyed. The entire episode was emotional, this wasn’t the part that made me emotional but I definitely felt Nova’s pain in this moment. Shout out to Rutina because she just played the scene absolutely amazingly, you literally can just see all the hurt, the pain, you can feel the betrayal that she feels. I can only imagine what is going through her mind and what she is going to have to do in the season finale I think that this might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and will be the reason why Nova walks away from Calvin for good.
“Queen Sugar” Season 5, Episode 9 Breakdown
It was already hard for Nova to stand next to him, and also speak her truth in reference to her love of this white man. Not only a white man but also a white police officer. Especially in our present-day where there are so many incidences of white police officers using their position and privilege to inflict pain and oppression onto people of color, specifically black people. For Nova to be a person who is down for the culture, down for the cause, and for the uplifting of black people, she already struggled internally with her romantic attraction to Calvin. So to know that he actually had something to do with destroying a young black life will be the thing that destroys their relationship.
I do not see her being able to come back from this with him and honestly in this moment I’m saying it’s rightfully so, I don’t know if I would be able to either. We see in the preview for next week’s episode at the end of this episode that we will get a voice-over from Nova that asks; “Can people really change?” -so she’s probably grappling with the question of whether he has changed, does he respect black life more than that moment when he did that? Then I think it’s also going to become a question of does he deserve forgiveness which is an interesting conversation to spark from Queen Sugar as a show because it makes you think about all the other police officers who have done these horrendous acts.
I want to say everybody should be forgiven but y’all I don’t know if I forgive Derek for what he did to George I don’t know if I ever could I don’t know if George’s family ever could, like I don’t have the answers in reference to that I would love to hear your thoughts and comments in the comment section down below specifically about that but that is the gist of Nova’s arc in this episode. We see Nova pursuing this story she actually followed up with this guy and has interviewed another journalist that leads her to this actual young black man which gives us this big reveal at the end and chile that’s a heavy one.
As usual, we do start the episode off with Ra, Blue and Darla and it seems like it’s just a regular morning for this beautiful family. Ra and Darla are still living in marital bliss settling into their routines. Blue is looking for something I believe some of his schoolwork, and he comes across the letter that accepts him into that Ivy League Elite Prep School in DC. So then that conversation gets brought up again. I thought the conversation was over in the last episode when Ra decided that they did not want to send him there but as Blue starts to think about it and they have more conversations with him he actually communicates later on in the episode that he wants to go. Whether Vy believes the limited things she says on the phone is debatable but they actually make the decision also helped push Ra to really reconsider the school.
Vy has such a limited scope of what Blue should be afforded, like the opportunities and what his life will look like and she’s just kind of speaking from a place of “this is good enough for us so it should be good enough for him.” But Ra really wants to afford Blue any and every opportunity that could be possibly available to him so that he has the world to choose from. Rightfully so, every parent wants the best for their child. I think Vy is really struggling with the loss of the life that she has known with the pandemic as well as her comfortability. She pretty much raised Blue for the first three to four years of his life when Ra was in jail and Darla was on drugs so she has a super strong connection to Blue.
But Ralph Angel tells her on the phone that she is not his parent and ultimately that calls into question. Does Vy regret never having kids of her own? I believe she wasn’t able to because of her abusive relationship before but that is called into question in this argument that Ra and Vy have after Blue makes this digital announcement in the virtual family meeting. I completely understood the argument around whether he can definitely get an elite education but why can’t he skip a grade where he is or skip two grades where there are more things to challenge him so he can stay close to his family? But I also understand the point of trying to put him in a more rigorous environment with a bigger reputation where he can come out with networks and different things that public school in St Joe or even a private school in St. Joe just can’t afford him.
I love how thoroughly Queen Sugar had the conversation around young black intellect they really talked about all sizes. Nova presents the idea of the school having picked Blue because he is our elite, he is a very smart young black boy but he also checks the diversity box. And while, no you don’t want to be the token in anyone’s situation, Micah brings forth the idea that there are opportunities, there are privileges, there are certain things that Blue can get from this opportunity so they cannot negate that as well. Again I think that Queen Sugar does an amazing job of having a conversation of all of the pros all of the cons and by the end of this episode they arrive at the idea that yes he needs to go, this will be the best bet for him. I know it’s hard for Darla and Ralph Angel but they made that decision and hey maybe it’s the best one.
Throughout the episode, we see Davis being super attentive and careful with Charley. He has done an amazing job of nursing her through Covid and getting her back to health. I can definitely tell that we’re about to see what it looks like for them to reconnect and reunite. Honestly, at first I was not here for it because he did her so wrong y’all like if you remember the start of the series he did her dirty he has a whole other kid in another state he lied about.
He had her walking on the basketball court in the middle of the game losing her mind on national television and then continuing to lie about things, he was so arrogant, he was so selfish and so disrespectful. So to see this Davis West today it’s like who are you? because this Davis West is amazing, this Davis West is articulate, and selfless, and can cook and is thoughtful. Where were you when she needed you to be there the most, where were you four years ago?
I can tell that Queen Sugar is setting us up to have the conversation of; can you forgive a cheating ex-husband? Can he be redeemed? Is it ever too late? If there’s one thing Queen Sugar is going to do is to have a conversation about real-life stuff again. This is another one that I am not necessarily comfortable with. I don’t know, am I the type of person who is going to hold a grudge? I don’t know if I would really think that I wouldn’t be able to. But the way that Davis shows up it’s almost like how can you not reconsider? In the last few episodes, he literally has been everything that she ever hoped and wanted him to be. He’s showing her that he’s capable and of course that’s going to open the door for you to wonder.
Now for the part that really made me emotional; Davis and Charley have a conversation over lunch about her strength and about her choice to never show weakness or vulnerability or sickness to the outside world. That resonated with me so much, especially where I’m at right now in life.
When you are the strong person in your family or in your friend group; if you are an entrepreneur and you run your own business and you know you don’t have any partners, if you are any type of leader for me; I’ve been a leader a lot of my life, I’ve been the person going the other way or blazing the trail or trying different things or being adventurous and really just pushing the boundaries, trying to excel, trying to be the best, you also start to condition yourself to like not show weakness and not show fear. You start to condition yourself to not say that you don’t know and it’s not from a place of arrogance but just from ‘you can figure it, out you can do it’ and from a place of feeling like you have no choice.
Charley talks about that in this episode and she really talks about it from a place of like she has no choice but to be strong. She has no choice but to hide certain parts of herself, the parts that make her human but also can be used against her or slow her down or just be perceived negatively. I totally resonate with that, especially now that my company is doing pretty well, our brand is growing, and my channel is growing. If you guys are new subbies or just checking me out my channel is growing so fast and I’m so happy, and so grateful but it can be overwhelming.
Sometimes people like Charley and people like myself are forced to just keep pushing, we’re forced to figure it out, we’re forced to not rely on people, but just rely on ourselves or maybe trick ourselves into believing that we can’t and we need help, we need people to show up for us sometimes.
We need people to be dependable, we need people to honor their word, we just be needing and we don’t want to communicate that we need and that’s what I see from Charley. I literally am watching it and seeing myself and it’s so triggering to see but it’s also great because again Queen Sugar opens up beautiful conversations around life issues and the simple things that are happening in life.
I resonate 100% with Charley’s perspective on showing weakness and trying not to tell anybody that she’s sick because in this moment, she doesn’t tell anybody that she’s sick I’m just so glad that Davis shows up for her. A lot of people don’t think to check on the strong friend or the strong family member or the leader. But we be needing people to check on us too, we be needing people to show up for us to, we be needing people to tell us to sit down. That’s one thing that I’ll be wanting sometimes and I feel like I don’t have.
That’s just me being super transparent but this isn’t about me y’all but I definitely wanted to tell you what part of the episode made me emotional and I really, really resonated with so shoutout to Queen Sugar, they have done it again.
Next week is the season finale of season 5 of Queen Sugar and it is definitely set to be a drama-filled, emotional one I think things are going to come to a head with Vy and we’re going to see her completely unravel. I’m glad that Hollywood seemed to have leveled out in this episode and seemed to have found something in reference to opening the real spot digitally so he can be able to focus his energy. He seems like he’s not necessarily in a super happy place but a better place and that’s going to allow him to show up for Vy and really keep her from spiraling too much. I’m really looking forward to this season finale.
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