Queen Sugar (Recap) | Here Beside The River (S3 E10)

by Diamond Sharp | via Vulture

Last week’s episode exposed the individual tribulations facing each Bordelon. The season’s tenth episode, “Here Beside the River,” is about laying burdens down and picking the battles one can win.

“Here Beside the River” begins with Nova reading her New Yorker essay about Ernest’s suicidal ideations and the role of the land for the Bordelon clan to a captivated audience. Her monologue sets the tone for the episode: Family and the land are what consumes the Bordelons. In Nova’s essay, the land is again invoked as more than a setting or plot point — it is something just short of human. The land has served to nourish the Bordelons and to burden them. Sharing Ernest’s truth has served to set Nova free as well — personally and creatively.

The issue of the plantation fire has not gone quietly into the night. St. Josephine is teeming with the news about the fire and cops have visited the home of Micah’s friend, Anthony (Ant). Things are closing in on the group whether they know it or not. Their original protest at the basketball game put them on the radar of the local authorities and they are the main suspects for the arson. The writers have foreshadowed this by mentioning a lost item of Ant’s, most likely lost in the book-bag that caused the fire. The lost item probably tipped off the investigators and led to them arresting Anthony. How likely is it that Ant will take the sole fall for the fire? If he’s been caught, surely that means time is ticking for the rest of Micah’s friend group. I did not predict that Micah’s foray into teen independence would go quite literally up in flames, but it looks like it did exactly that.

At a meeting with Colton Landry, Charley takes no prisoners. Colton is under the impression that he has the upper hand, but Charley quickly disabuses him of that notion. The dossier given to her by the Boudreauxes included information about Colton’s flagrant money laundering. He’s been using his shell company to launder money for his fraternity brothers — a federal offense that will certainly draw scrutiny to Landry Enterprises’ business dealings. “You can take your daddy down, or I can take you down,” Charley calmly tells Colton. The only thing the Landrys seem to care about is money, power, and legacy. Later, Colton soon concedes to Charley, recognizing that keeping his company shares isn’t worth the possible federal investigation Charley intimates that she’ll tip off. With a stroke of a pen, Colton begrudgingly signs over his 10 percent of company shares to Charley. Does this mean that the threat to the land is over?

At Ralph Angel’s house, what could have been an amicable custody agreement between Darla and Ralph Angel has escalated. Child services agents and a sheriff crowd Ralph Angel’s porch and announce that they are there for a home visit. Ralph Angel’s anger is palpable: Who called DCFS? Darla? Her family? The answer is Darla’s mother. Calling DCFS as a scare tactic, or in Darla’s mother’s case, a power move is akin to bringing a gun to a knife fight. Where will this fight for custody end — especially with Darla’s mother pulling the strings and calling DCFS despite there being no history of abuse? The child services visit has drawn a line in the sand between Darla and Ralph Angel and extended the Sutton and Bordelon, families. Ms. Sutton is not prepared for Violet’s wrath after she learns of the DCFS visit. Violet dresses Darla’s mother down with razor-sharp precision. Violet and Ernest raised Blue and she will be damned if Darla and her mother take Blue away from the Bordelons. Ms. Sutton’s call to DCFS has drawn the battle lines between the families and Violet tells her, “I will bring you a fight.”

Click HERE to read the rest of the recap, “Here Beside The River.”