"When their father Ernest (Glynn Turman) dies, three estranged siblings Nova (Rutina Wesley), Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) and Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) must come together to save the failing Louisiana sugar farm they have inherited. With the assistance of their Aunt Violet (Tina Lifford) and her boyfriend "Hollywood" (Omar J. Dorsey), the three struggle through the difficulties of bringing the 800-acre farm back to life, while juggling their previous responsibilities. Season 1 of "Queen Sugar" is adapted from the novel of the same name by Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey."
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/queen_sugar/s01/
Ava DuVernay made QUEEN SUGAR more like a movie than a television show. So it might take some folks, who don't love movies like I do, a minute longer than it took me to snuggle up to QUEEN SUGAR. But apparently a lot of people are getting that snuggling done because Rotten Tomatoes have it a 92% rating with the critics.
As for me, the thing I immediately loved about the Bordelons from the outset was the under-story being constructed from the very start.
There are details in this television show that only a black woman would make sure were present. And the story feels so black to me, I'm not sure some white people will get the show at all -- especially not white men.
Because I don't want to give the story away, let me just tell you about where each of the three Bordelon siblings begin their journey
Nova Bordelon is a secure looking insecure pro-black activist journalist who is trying to get an innocent(?) young black kid out of jail before the system destroys him with the help of a white cop boyfriend she's not sure is worth the racial trouble.
Ralph-Angel Bordelon seeks to replace his father and run the family farm. A good-hearted man-child with a son, he is just out of jail making horrendous, good, and bad choices all in the service of trying to prove he IS a man -- at the same time as he seeks being babied by the women of his family, especially his Aunty.
The corporate-ambitious sister, Charlie Bordelon, is the light-skinned trophy wife and manager of a basketball player husband who has just found out her life isn't as perfect as she thought.These characters manage to be wonderful and aggravating at the same time. That means this character driven story is well done.
Black Male Incarceration
New Black Love
Old Black Love
Black Lives Matter,
Black Male Colorism
Interracial relationships
Ambition
Infideliy
Women's loyalties to one another
Black History
It's all there in the first season of QUEEN SUGAR Season 1 is on Hulu now.
Season 2 starts June 20th and 21st.
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