[announcer] previously on queen sugar.
You ready for your interview?
-Yeah, I am. -How about we talk over lunch?
-How about over a drink? -Even better.
Not bad, rookie. Ten k, your first time around.
Oh! [laughs]
[nova] so did you call him?
I told him that I need more time.
In or out? Make a choice.
Not much is ever in our favor and we are still here.
[man] development will move forward.
It's my land now, violet.
Ms. Parthena filed more than three months ago.
Sorry, I can't help you.
-[parthena crying] they're taking my... -Hey!
They're taking... [crying]
[ralph angel sighs]
[darla] mmm, sweet girl's tired.
Wanna go down?
Why don't you go down for a nap?
[darla sighs]
the eviction wasn't your fault.
Which one?
You're beating yourself up.
I wish you wouldn't.
Parthena, she will be okay.
She has us,
she has family,
she has people that will take care of her.
Ms. Parthena's a proud woman.
She was looking after herself...
...And they took that from her...
...And her land.
-I mean, who's next? -No one.
If we can help it.
We ain't got the kind of money to help nobody, so...
[darla] ralph angel, this is not all on you.
Times like these are exactly why we started the co-op.
-To protect each other. -And it didn't work
'cause we ain't protected.
[darla] it doesn't mean we won't win the next one.
Look, ralph angel, I...
I know and you're right and I agree with you.
[sighs] we do need to turn a larger profit, but we're close.
Gotta go.
[door closes]
♪ dreams never die ♪
♪ take flight ♪
♪ as the world turns ♪
♪ dreams never die take flight ♪
♪ as the world turns ♪
♪ keep the colors in the lines ♪
♪ take flight ♪
♪ dreams never die ♪
♪ keep the colors in the lines ♪
♪ keep the colors in the lines take flight ♪
♪ yeah, yeah ♪
good morning!
You looking at a real working artist, baby.
Remember that photo I showed y'all before?
I sold it...
...As a nft.
-Wow. -Nice.
-Congratulations. -[micah] thank you.
[laughing]
although selling doesn't make you an artist.
It just means the nft's commercial.
But it's the one you liked.
It's artistic and commercial.
Making money is exciting, but it can't be your end goal.
Think about what you're saying,
your message, what you're putting out into the world.
They're gonna hold you accountable for that.
♪ you can see my flow ♪
♪ I just wanna see your glow ♪
[keke sighs]
that's not the reaction I was expecting.
Rahad's weary that the tech bros are getting their grift on.
-So, are you two together or what? -What?
Yeah, I mean, I'm cool either way.
I'm just curious and...
...Wanted you to know you can tell me anything.
Like, we're friends, right?
We used to be a lot more.
High school was a long time ago.
[both laugh]
-ancient history. -Yep.
-So, this guy? -We're just friends.
-Like, he's in the frat with me. His name's isaiah. -All right.
Good. No labels. Perfect.
[both laugh]
um, but you're single now?
Where is this going?
I am kind of a legendary wingman.
-Oh, yeah? -Mmm-hmm. You can ask any of my friends.
So, you looking?
-Open? -[laughs]
I mean, I date.
Good.
My friends still can't believe I dated micah west.
Word, you been talking to them about me?
Oh, I set them straight. I told them you would never have made it
in st. Jo if it wasn't for me.
[laughs] yeah, you probably right.
[keke laughs]
sorry that we had to move our meeting up.
We had a family emergency last night.
Is everything all right?
No, not really.
But we didn't wanna have to reschedule again.
With everything [sighs] getting back to normal,
my niece, darla, has been on me to take
vi's pies national like you and I tried to do.
When looking at comparable businesses,
we think there's a real opportunity here.
The market for frozen--
I'm sure your business plan is brilliant, um, and...
I hope I didn't waste your time, but...
...I don't think I can help you right now.
Why not?
Well, I'm about to retire.
I wanted to tell you in person.
Well, that's mighty decent of you.
And congratulations on the retirement
and I appreciate your coming all this way.
And you don't think you're getting off that easy, do you?
Look.
After the night we had last night, we know...
...How all our hard work can be gone in a minute.
So, we gonna get you a piece of your favorite pie...
-[chuckles] -and then,
you gonna walk us through the steps of distribution.
You know, your inability to take no for an answer is gonna serve you well.
But it's gonna take more than one piece.
-Well, let's make a deal. What's your favorite? -[mr. Rawlings laughs]
and you know I can't resist your pecan pie.
Pecan it is.
One slice of pecan for here and two pies for the road.
Ah, that's a deal.
[mr. Rawlings laughs]
[door closes]
mmm.
Hey, I must have...
I was waiting up for you.
What kept you out all night?
Parthena was evicted late last night.
We had to be there for her.
I'm sorry to hear that. That's terrible.
Why didn't you call me? I would've come over to help.
I was meeting with mo when I got the call. I wasn't thinking.
-I, I drove straight there. -Mmm.
Co-op mo?
What time was that?
Yeah, after the council vote, I had an idea.
Mo was telling me about a ring shout she saw performed
at the site where freddie gray was killed.
-Mmm. -They were up all night thinking of how to stop
the landrys from bulldozing our home.
If I could just get people to really feel what happened there and...
They just can't...
I'm gonna stage a ring shout on the land.
I feel like I'm missing something.
You're planning a ring shout, you know I'm a cultural anthropologist.
Well, I teach some of the modern dances to my students.
Rashida bumbray, baquin asetawa
along with the traditions of the gullah people.
We'll even cover some of the origins on our field trip to the sudan next week.
Ah, who's calling the shout?
Are you using a traditional shout or are you writing a new one?
'cause I know some people do it as a performance, but I would...
Man, I would think you would want a more traditional dancer.
-What? -You're a giant nerd.
-You know that? [laughs] -so I... Yeah, I have been told that.
It's not... I'm not complaining. It's cute.
Mmm.
Parthena didn't deserve this.
Broke my heart seeing her cry.
She better than I would've been.
Would've had to drag me out kicking and screaming.
It's hard to say until it happens.
I don't wish that on nobody.
What happened was malicious.
It was horrible...
...But we have power.
We have more power
than what they think.
Together we are stronger than what they know,
but we gotta remember that.
I'm preparing a complaint to file
with the us da tomorrow on behalf of the co-op.
'cause we not gonna keep taking this abuse.
This has got to stop.
And we, that means all of us,
we gonna end it.
[woman] we got this.
-Oh, yeah. -Yeah.
Vince?
Hello, sir.
[prosper] you're here. My goodness.
It's good to see you.
[men laughing]
-yeah, been awhile, son. -Yeah.
Too long.
-[vince] looking really good. -Yeah.
Well, it's good to see you.
Hi.
How'd you find me?
Well, when the rental car gps started to go haywire on the back roads,
here to st. Jo, that was, uh,
that's when I needed to ask for directions.
Directions that consisted of...
-...Drive ahead a spell and turn at the rogers' place. -[laughing]
so, I asked, um,
what is a spell exactly?
Is it half a mile? A quarter mile?
Uh, that didn't sit well.
[laughing]
I'm sorry for laughing.
When I finally found your father's house, no one was home.
A pickup truck passed by, thankfully, and they let me follow them here.
And said this is where everyone was, so...
You know, and hey, and I gotta say,
I never expected to see you up there getting your norma rae on.
Yeah, well, that makes two of us
because I didn't expect to see you just walk in.
Well, I had enough.
Enough of you putting me off.
Enough of giving me a few hazy details here and there.
Enough of you telling me you're coming home and then you don't.
-It's been over six months. -I know.
Even lila told me to stop moping around the house and do something.
Yeah, well, our daughter is 19 and watches rom-coms on the loop.
This is real life.
Oh, so, is it, really?
Like, I have no idea because...
...If this is your real life, now I thought this was the life you were trying
so hard to leave behind all those years.
It was. It's different now.
Why? How?
Twenty years together, you never wanted to come back here.
Never brought the kids.
I never wanted to be here myself.
And now you don't seem to wanna leave.
It's not that I don't wanna leave.
I don't know what I'm going back to.
You don't know what you're going back to? You're going back home.
Back to our children. Lila, joseph.
Our kids are in college, vince.
Well then, you're coming back to me.
Come on, billie. What's going on?
Vince, I wasn't ready to have this conversation. I wasn't.
I'm sorry!
I don't know!
It's not real, but you managed to sell the ntf anyway?
[laughs] nft.
And it is real, it's just not a physical piece of art.
It just stays on the internet.
Okay.
I still don't get it.
Yeah, it's complicated, but...
...It's the future and...
...I'm on the forefront, which means a lot to me.
Then that's all that matters.
-Yeah. -It's your own thing.
All right, I get that.
All right, well, I'm gonna head over to the actual cultural arts center
and hand out these flyers about the ring shout.
And stop by the mft, maybe they wanna see what this is about.
The more people, the better.
-Hey. -Hi.
-Well, I didn't know you were coming. What's up? -I know, right?
-It's good to see you. -You too. You too.
I was surprised to hear I'm still on your list
or did you forget to take me off?
No, it was intentional.
Even when we're on the outs, you come through.
You have a gift.
You get people to turn up when it's important and this is important.
True and I'll help you get your numbers up,
but if we're gonna do this, just remember that you needed me,
not the other way around.
No comment. Come on here, girl. [laughs]
♪ I woke up this morning so fresh and dry ♪
so, how long were you married before he passed?
About 25 good years
and about nine more. [laughs]
he was a good man.
Had a hard life.
I'm grateful for that time.
It made me the person I am today.
-Mmm. -Hmm.
So did you, uh,
date anyone after?
No one special. And you?
I dated a few lovely women, but I couldn't stop comparing them to claire.
Then when covid came along, I didn't...
...Reach out to anybody or call.
But I think god look over sometimes...
...'cause he brought me to you.
[chuckles]
-prosper? -Mmm?
You're the sky.
Everything else...
...Is just the weather.
[both laughing]
oh, that's beautiful. I love it.
-[violet] darla. -Yeah?
Mr. Rawlings made my head spin.
There's a lot of hoops you have to jump through
before you get the pies to the people.
If we do well here,
then we move up to the french market next.
I don't know, maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew.
I mean, I have loyal customers in st. Jo.
I went from a home kitchen spot to a local destination.
That is more success than most businesses ever get.
Ms. Violet bordelon,
is that fear talking?
No, it's sense.
Sounds like fear.
Why are you pushing at me?
Because as long as I've known you,
you never give up on things that you want.
And you're saying that selling my pies here will do that?
Yeah, I think it's the next step.
Folks will be lining all around the block for you.
And if we share a booth with the co-op,
it's a win-win.
-I'll make sure to get that set up. -Okay, great. Thanks.
So, he says that he has a few stalls open
and that he'd cut you a discount for the next two weeks
if you come in now to fill up the space.
That's perfect.
Darla called earlier,
made it sound like it'd be a whole month till we get me in there.
Well, he owes my mom a favor.
-Probably a few. -Of course.
This place a lot bigger than I remember.
It's a lot of competition.
You're not gonna screw it up.
Is it that obvious?
First year I was running the business, I was scared out of my mind.
Second guessed every decision.
I mean, my mom built it from nothing and now it was all on me
to keep it afloat.
They do not make horror movies as scary as that.
Yeah, that's the thing.
I just wonder if darla gets it.
-Sometimes, I just feel like-- -okay.
I'm sorry, I'm gonna stop you right there.
I know we're friends, but we're not...
-...Complain about spouses friends. -[laughs]
-come on. -I would not want my husband doing that to me.
Man, don't get me wrong, I got one of the best girls in the world.
It's just when it comes to family legacy and keeping up with all that,
I don't know if darla gets it.
[darla] what don't I get?
What don't I get?
[ralph angel sighs]
look, my bad, about earlier.
You know I don't mean nothing by it.
[hollywood] mean nothing by what?
Or do I not wanna know?
Mean nothing by sharing all of his problems
with his ex-girlfriend instead of his wife.
Yeah, I really didn't need to know about that.
[ralph angel] wasn't even like that, that's my boss.
Just talking about family business.
Thought she gets it, that's all.
I get family businesses.
-I ain't say-- -I have been running this farm with you for years.
I'm helping vi and the co-op was my idea.
-I get business. -I know you get business.
I ain't say you don't get business.
-That's not what I--- -you know, if you all would--
vi.
I have been trying to get you to go with me
to the farmer's market for months.
It was my idea.
So for you to then take what I've been trying to do
for this family,
for our co-op
-and go run it with someone else. -It don't matter how we got...
It don't matter how we got in the booth.
We got in the booth.
What's the problem?
I shouldn't have to keep explaining myself to my husband
and you shouldn't be talking about me to your boss.
Look, my bad. I'm sorry.
-[darla] I'm not hungry. -Darla.
Damn.
[prosper] a new coach, new qb,
it's a whole new era for the saints.
The bears era is coming.
-Oh, sure. [laughs] -all right? Yeah, no doubt.
[both laugh]
you know, st. Jo really is a warm, little town. Good people here.
And your home...
...Is... It's well loved, well lived in.
This house has let me back in even when I didn't deserve it.
Yeah, I don't know what I was picturing all these years.
I think I thought it was this horrible place that...
...Billie never wanted to come back to.
There were reasons.
[vince] well, with all due respect,
it's time for me to know the reasons.
I wanna understand what's kept you away for so long.
It affects me too.
Something's changed, billie, and I need some answers.
I'm sorry if you weren't ready to see me.
But I'm here now.
Well, it's a little late for me to start giving fatherly advice, so I won't.
I just wanna say, vince,
I'm really glad you're here.
You've always been welcomed in my house and you always will.
Be true to your own heart.
[door creaks open]
I don't wanna hear it.
[laughs] don't ya?
You went outside your marriage to talk about problems
with a woman you used to date.
■ñ man, any fool could understand how that was gonna go bad.
It's not like that.
She married, I'm married.
I was just venting.
She ain't wanna hear it anyway.
That's pretty smart of her.
And you didn't listen because?
And darla's family...
...They just different.
She walked away from everything they wanna give her.
She was right to do it.
See, I can't walk away from mine.
I lost everything my daddy gave to me.
-I don't know if she understands. -That's bullshit.
Look, darla was crying right along with you when y'all left ernestine's farm.
Baby on her chest. Barely healed from childbirth.
Weeping her eyes out.
But still holding you up.
I'm supposed to be the one holding her up.
Nah.
Nah, man, that ain't how it go. Y'all supposed to hold each other up.
Look, I know that you, you wanna take care of your woman.
Of your family.
But you gotta understand,
darla ain't one of these little girls
running around here trying to get taken care of.
She wants to be your partner.
She wants to stand with you.
You know I know all too well what comes along with being in the bordelon family.
Now, y'all, y'all ain't easy.
Worth every second, but y'all ain't easy.
[chuckles]
and you ain't done nothing but making it harder on her.
You right.
Appreciate you.
Dry your hands and take this, please.
I'm not taking your money.
This is not charity. This is payment.
That business plan that you drew up woulda cost me an arm and a leg elsewhere.
You've been helping out right and left and not asking for a thing.
-I like helping you. -And I like having your help.
Which is why I am asking you to let me pay for it.
Just like any other business partner.
-Business partner. -Your farmers market idea was good.
And you've had a half-dozen other great ones just this week alone.
Ralph angel doesn't think so.
Well, ralph angel is caught up in his pride.
He'll take his head out of his backside soon enough.
But you don't need ralph angel's approval to know that you are smart, right?
You don't need anyone's.
But I still want it.
[exhaling]
I'm good at this.
I want him to see that.
You sell yourself short, baby.
And I hate to think that I might be part of that.
That I might be one of the people that made you feel...
...Like you still had to earn your way into this community.
And I'm sorry for that.
But now is a time to stand tall and know your worth.
What do you say?
♪ so we're out of sight, out of mind we are human♪
thank you.
♪ we are free, we are dire♪
for, um...
♪ we're in need ♪
...Everything.
♪ push your boundaries and know your heart♪
thank you, darla.
For being amazing.
♪ life awaits you, always a new start♪
♪ see me on the horizon and feel me in the distance♪
today is the fourth of July!
And I'm charlie bordelon. And I want to be the president of the united states.
-[laughing] -whoo!
♪ got too much time for my mind and I can't move on♪
♪ I fought the pain dropped the mask and kissed in the rain ♪
♪ felt the magic ♪
♪ saw the world broken felt the earth frozen ♪
♪ I was floating in heaven ♪
♪ step in the light, dropped the mask and...♪
[mellow music playing] our local anchor is eager
for something meatier than human interest puff pieces.
I could give her a call.
Thank you.
Mmm-hmm.
♪ dual personality♪
-what? -[laughing]
I guess I'm just wondering
why it's me that's here helping you with all this and not your new boo?
Or is this not his scene?
No, it's very much his scene.
Then why am I still here?
Because you won't get your butt up off my chair.
[laughing]
lemme guess.
You're still doing that thing.
What thing?
That thing where you pull away the moment your love life is working.
And you turn to everyone but your partner
because you're scared of depending on them.
What?
I've learned some things in therapy.
It's not like that.
Pam.
You know, I'm...
I'm sorry. You, you got a lot of my rough edges.
Oh, is that what we're calling them?
The past.
All the mistakes, the messiness with my family,
the way I let my ego about publishing the book run ahead of my good sense.
[sighs] I'm hoping that what comes of the ring shout will rectify some of that.
Dominic is amazing.
[laughing]
I'm a different person with him. But...
...Sometimes it still feels too raw to let him into all that.
Well, that's gotta be the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard you say.
Okay. No, no, no, no, no, wait, wait. [laughing] look.
You not perfect.
I mean, shit, who is?
And you could have handled things better.
But it was not your book that dug up your land and found a massacre.
It was the landrys being selfish trash.
And 100 years ago, it was people just like them.
That ain't on you.
[sighing]
and look. If you like this dominic guy...
-[laughing] -...And you want things to work out,
you have to let him see you.
Warts and all.
You know, you spend so much time trying to be right
that you forget all you need to do is be you.
Let him in.
♪ let me blow your mind♪
[clears throat]
oh, is this the new boo?
Not so new.
Dominic, this is, uh, my old friend chantal. Chantal, this is dominic.
Well, he's an upgrade from the white cop.
Thank you?
Really?
-[laughing] -weren't you leaving?
Absolutely not. You know, uh, no.
I need to warn this one about all your bad habits.
Ohh. In that case, she has to stay.
Oh. [laughing] yeah. We're gonna need more wine.
Okay. So how did you two meet?
[scoffs] your boy zane wasn't feeling any of these.
Yeah, you never gonna get the tech bros to get this.
I thought you was all about this nft life?
-I'm about getting artists paid. -[both laughing]
yeah, just be careful, though. That world is so random.
Ohh.
Wow. These are really good, micah.
Thanks, I just...
Really.
Zane said that they were too "black history month", so...
And what does that even mean?
Just not on trend. Like, nfts are all about selling a vibe, and...
...I don't know, black pain isn't a vibe.
Yeah, they are all about the disruptors,
until the real world, then they bail.
You know what? I'm gonna make them see it through my eyes.
What are you doing?
I...
...I'm selling black history month.
[laughing] okay.
Cheers to that.
To the disruptors.
'sup, sugarfoot?
[laughing]
you know, sometimes...
...Be so caught up just...
...Being whatever I think a man's supposed to be...
...And I messed up.
[baby cooing]
I'm sorry.
You don't have to worry about all that.
You know I be listening, darla.
Always.
May take a second to get through my head, but...
I'm not jealous of trinh.
I mean, she's been really good to us.
I just...
I just want you to talk to me first.
We're better when we're together.
I just want you to let me in.
And I want you to be there for me.
You know, when I look at you...
...I wanna be just like you.
Smart.
Beautiful.
And keeping daddy in line.
You can do that.
You okay, baby? Come on.
[exhales]
[kissing]
I've been afraid to have this conversation with you,
because I don't know how to express myself and not hurt you.
But the bottom line is, what I'm feeling
has less to do with you and more to do with me.
I have, um, found some things out about my past.
[voice breaking] and, uh, you should know.
And I will tell you when I'm ready.
I'm worried about you.
You know, how, how you're managing,
and we're talking all the time while your dad's recuperating from his fall, and...
But then days pass.
Then weeks.
Then months. Always another excuse.
And now we're here.
Where I gotta get on a plane
to figure out what's going on.
It's not right.
Look. It's late.
Yeah.
Let's just...
Let's just, uh, get some sleep and try again tomorrow.
Okay.
All right, then.
[mellow song plays]
I'm gonna miss you so much.
Are we gonna be able to talk at all while you're gone?
The wifi is spotty in sudan, but we can figure it out.
Or you could come with.
I mean, you can write from anywhere.
I can't just get up and leave. [scoffs]
you know, that ring shout rehearsal today was transcendent.
It's gonna be a powerful day tomorrow.
Hey.
Before this, I, I could have given you a thorough history on ring shouts.
Their origins as a means of storytelling, how the gullah still do them today,
and it would have been pretty academic.
And I wouldn't have felt it.
But you made it real.
You have, you have a power...
...To, to make people feel things, make me feel things, I didn't before.
Keep talking about my magic powers.
-[both laughing] -look, I'm serious. I love the way you see the world.
And I have spent the last few days worried about losing that.
What?
Why?
I, I can't help but think that there are parts of you
that mo and chantal will know that I won't.
Because they're women?
Well, because they've seen sides of you I haven't yet.
You can stay up all night with mo,
and chantal keeps you rooted to this wild side you've got.
I don't wanna make you feel like that.
I mean, but doesn't everybody
share different sides of themselves with different people?
I, um...
I, I'm... I hope... I hope it's okay that I'm bringing this up.
Of course.
I mean, look, mo and I connected about dreams. Intuition.
Something I've been trying to tap back into for a long time.
And chantal only ever really wanted the activist part of me.
I'm just wondering.
Is there a part of you that only I will know?
Uh, well...
...I've only been with people who understand one facet of me a time.
You...
...Get all of me.
I mean that.
♪ and nobody take that from you♪
♪ even if it hurts you♪
♪ no one can take your ♪
♪ billion-dollar soul ♪
♪ you know a penny can't control the things I do♪
♪ got a billion-dollar soul ♪
♪ blowing out the lamplight running for the sunrise♪
you okay?
♪ I wanna start the day right♪
I just need to get a couple hundred strangers and 20 corporations
to feel the same way about this place as I do.
They will.
♪ I won't take a breath for granted ♪
♪ swan dives through the planet ♪
I was under the assumption that this was a sacred space?
Love is sacred.
My family just arrived. You two play nice, all right?
Now, you know she crazy.
Crazy about you.
[laughing]
♪ ...On me I'll lay, plant seed♪
♪ all things in me beautiful land of glee ♪
she still standing.
Don't you give up.
♪ future♪
all you done. It's something beautiful.
I see so much of your mama in you right now.
♪ all this on me ♪
♪ I'll lay, plant seed♪
♪ all things in me ♪
♪ beautiful land of glee♪
I keep trying to accept it.
Feel like it still in me.
♪ future, history♪
-mmm-hmm. -Mmm-hmm.
♪ our story future, history ♪
thank you.
People, workers, lived here.
They were gunned down fighting for a better life.
There's a tendency in all of us to lionize our dead.
To make martyrs and angels out of victims of injustice.
It gives us distance.
It blurs their faces.
It makes them an ideal,
rather than a group of living, breathing, smoking, swearing and sexing human beings.
[all laughing]
just like us.
Our mother trudy is buried here.
[baby moaning]
and for my mother, for my family,
for all the families of those buried here,
I thank you, and I implore you to listen to what they want.
Where they want to stay buried.
Listen.
♪ run, mary run run, martin run ♪
♪ run, mary run, I say you got a right to the tree of life ♪
♪ you got a right to the three of life ♪
♪ run mary, run run, martin run ♪
♪ run, mary, run, I say you got a right to the tree of life ♪
♪ all god's children got a right, I got a right to the tree of life ♪
♪ run, mary, run run, martin, run ♪
♪ run, mary, run, I say you've got a right to the tree of life ♪
♪ all god's children got a right, I got a right to the tree of life ♪
♪ a good long time they've got a right, you got a right to the tree of life ♪
♪ run, mary, run run, martin, run ♪
♪ run, mary, run I say you got a right to the tree of life ♪
[singing fades]
[discordant piano playing]
♪ we gotta just hold on ♪
♪ we don't gotta be strong♪
♪ only have to try isn't gonna be long♪
♪ can't you feel it coming on yeah, through to the other side♪
♪ get through to the other side, get through to the other side♪
♪ oh, yeah♪
♪ get through to the other side gonna get through♪
♪ isn't gonna be long, yeah ♪
♪ get through to the other side, we're gonna get through, get through, yeah♪
♪ get through to the other side, get through to the other side♪
♪ just hold on, hold on hold on, yeah♪