Created by Ava DuVernay and exec produced by DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey, Queen Sugar (OWN; also streaming on Hulu) spun seven acclaimed seasons out of Natalie Baszile’s 2014 novel of the same name, and established an important television milestone when it featured women directors exclusively across its entire episodic run. As we rejoin the Bordelon siblings for the final season of Queen Sugar, a new baby has brought a lot of joy to the extended family. But the state of their late father’s beloved Louisiana cane farm – and the land that has always supported and nurtured the Bordelons – is still in flux. There are also new developments in the siblings’ personal lives, and a greedy family adversary is still making trouble.
Opening Shot: The Capt. Andy, a Gulf waters fishing trawler operated by the Phan family, is at work with a new deckhand, Ralph Angel Bordelon (Kofi Siriboe). It’s been six months since the events of Queen Sugar season 6, when he lost control of his family’s land to the rapacious Sam Landry (David Jansen), and Ralph Angel’s picking up some extra work on the boat. “I never thought I’d leave my farm,” he says. “But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take that deal.”
The Gist: Losing control of the land pains Ralph Angel to the point that he can’t even drive by it. To hear his Aunt Violet (Tina Lifford) and her husband Hollywood (Omar Dorsey) tell it, Ralph always shared with departed Bordelon patriarch Ernest (Glynn Turman) a deep connection to the soil. But there is grace and promise in Ralph’s life, too, because his baby daughter with wife Darla (Bianca Lawson) is out here melting hearts right and left. As Vi and Hollywood dote on the little one, Ralph Angel and Darla head to the cooperative he started for the Black farmers of St. Josephine parish. None of them are seeing a profit from it yet, and neither is Ralph Angel. But with the help of Mo Evans (Nikki Estridge) and the Southern Louisiana Farmers’ Cooperative, he aims to disrupt an agricultural system that for too long has excluded Black and brown people from power and ownership. “It’s time to reclaim what we lost,” he tells the gathered farmers.
It’s official: Charley Bordelon West (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), the second oldest, is running for a US congressional seat in California. (Though Gardner does not appear in person in Queen Sugar season 7, her character is a periodic presence via FaceTime.) Charley’s son Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe), who’s studying photography and enjoying the single life at his apartment in Louisiana, speaks with his busy mom over the phone. Everyone’s excited for her congressional campaign. Or as Nova Bordelon (Rutina Wesley) puts it, “If I know Charley, she’ll be sitting with The Squad come November.” As for Nova herself, the oldest Bordelon’s tumultuous love life seems to have settled for the moment, as it’s been six months of bliss with Dominic (McKinley Freeman). So why does an encounter between her and Mo Evans pop with such chemistry? “Don’t go pullin’ a Nova, Nova,” Ralph Angel warns his sister; “I know how you move.”
Everyone gathers with Ralph and Darla at the christening and naming ceremony, where the newest Bordelon’s lineage is revealed. She will be Tru, named for Ralph Angel’s mother. “You got a long line of powerful women inside of you,” Violet tells little Tru. Their blood’s coursing through your veins.” It’s a beautiful ceremony, and a chance for the family to connect their love to the generations. But then Landry has to show up and ruin it with a new set of threats and demands.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Hulu has recently added another final season to its offering in the concluding third go-round for Vida, the powerful drama about two very different Mexican-American sisters returning to their old neighborhood after the death of their mother. Reasonable Doubt is also streaming on Hulu – the sexy, soapy legal drama has a few Ava DuVerney connections in star Emayatzy Corinealdi (Middle of Nowhere) and Queen Sugar’s own McKinley Freeman.
Our Take: The fine work of its cast has illuminated Queen Sugar since the beginning, forging an immediate sense of familial chemistry between the Bordelon siblings and ably building out the links that connect them to their other relationships in the community, their loves old and new, and the concurrent journeys of the folks who make up the Louisiana parish of St. Josephine. But while fictional, it’s also a setting that has helped cultivate the wonderful naturalism that this series has always imparted with its particular look and feel. Whether it’s his trusty old F-150, or the treasured farmhouse that generations of Bordelons have called home, Ralph Angel feels like the truest connector of the natural world to the Queen Sugar narrative. But it lives in Nova, too, who is a healer as much as she is an intrepid journalist; it’s in the respect the series has for older generations, in both its characters and the actors playing them; and it’s in the easy, almost painterly way Queen Sugar often appears on the screen. There is a comfort with and reverence for its characters and setting that unites the stories it tells, and reveals the places it’s telling them with lots of warmth and light.
Sex and Skin: Nothing here.
Parting Shot: As the keeper of so much of her own family’s history, Violet has always had an inside track on dirt pertaining to the Landrys. And when their land-hungry patriarch disturbs the Bordelons with his grandstanding and more threats, she gives him a stern look in the eye. “Sam, are you sure you want to go down this path? You know where it leads.”
Sleeper Star: The cast of Queen Sugar is uniformly excellent. But it’s Kofi Siriboe who claims the opening episode of its final season as his own. As Ralph Angel, he delivers no less than two impassioned speeches here, and imparts the lasting pain in his character’s soul with a winning blend of tenderness and quiet wit.
Most Pilot-y Line: “You know, it’s funny how you can grow up in some place, think you know all the spots, and still find places you’ve never been.” This line is from Nova to Dominic as they wander lovingly and arm-in-arm in the backcountry of St. Joe. But it can also be read larger, as a way of thinking about the Bordelon siblings’ eventful journeys and how their lives always lead them to their spiritual home.
Our Call: STREAM IT. With the addition of season 7 to OWN/Hulu streaming, Queen Sugar is now available in its entirety as a thoughtful chronicle of one Black family’s heartfelt connection to one another, the generations that came before the, and the land that has always been their guide.
Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges