"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Queen Sugar (2016-Present)


This series, created by Ava DuVernay (of Selma and the Wrinkle in Time movie) and based on a book of the same name, is really excellent.  While the plot has a number of nighttime soap elements, the heart of the story is fierce and stunningly emotional.  I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the Bordelons and others in their circle, and the turn of the plot keeps me on my toes!  (Premise spoilers.)

When their father dies unexpectedly, adult siblings Nova, Charley, and Ralph Angel – not estranged, but distant – need to come together.  Their father has left them his struggling sugar cane farm, and it’s up to them to figure out what to do with it.  For Nova, this means finding time in her life for family business between a journalism career and dedicated social justice work.  For Charley, it means leaving the scandal that has uprooted her once-seemingly-perfect life in California and taking a crash course in Louisiana’s sugar-cane industry.  And for Ralph Angel, it means a chance at a truly new start after being recently paroled, a chance to provide for and do right by his young son.

All three Bordelon siblings are so different, which makes for excellent interactions between their very richly-drawn characters.  Old and new resentments alike get in the way of effective teamwork, and while the love is there for all of them, it sometimes needs help finding its way to the surface.  The farm is a source of both triumph and trial, and the fight to keep it afloat tests each sibling as well as unearths a generations-old family secret.

I’m impressed with this show.  It takes care with its story and mise-en-scène, crafting an emotional series with exquisite visuals.  It knows when to go big – heated confrontations, allegorical storms, treatises on social issues – and when to come in quietly – taking the focus away from the central family to focus on the tragedies occurring everyday behind invisible faces.  It looks at race and gender (as well as the intersection thereof) with an astute eye, finding humanity in headlines.

I’ll confess that I’m not very familiar with any of the cast, but everyone is topnotch.  The biggest kudos go to Rutina Wesley and Dawn-Lyen Gardner as the two sisters, who are like night and day and yet lean on each other in such incredible ways when they can cut through the noise that sometimes gets in their way.  And while I don’t think his character written with quite the complexity of Nova or Charley, Kofi Siriboe turns in a strong, emotional performance as Ralph Angel.  The series also features Bianca Lawson, doing such terrific work and making me wish Whedon did more with her back when she played Kendra on Buffy.  Additionally, Tina Lifford is great as the family matriarch, Aunt Vi, and Ethan Hutchison, who plays Ralph Angel’s son Blue, is one of the cutest kids on TV right now.

Warnings

Sexual content, violence (including institutional violence and references to rape,) language, drinking/smoking/drug use, and strong thematic elements.

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