#Queen Sugar Season 5 Episode 10 Review: Onward

With Queen Sugar Season 5 Episode 10, we conclude one of the most emotionally powerfully, socially relevant seasons.

And that’s saying something. 

But the underlying themes of this season finale concerned which characters were in need of forgiveness and who was able to move forward.

The most unexpected and satisfying narrative came from Charley and Davis. 

I never thought that Charley could possibly forgive Davis West. He lied, cheated, and humiliated her in such a way that the whole world was allowed to bear witness. 

How do you forgive the man you love after hearing him say this to his hooker/mistress?

I can bang any bitch on the road, any bitch. I pay you to keep your mouth shut. That’s what I pay you for. Unless I put something in it, I pay you to keep your mouth shut. I pay you to do shit my wife won’t do, you understand.


Davis

During Queen Sugar Season 1 Episode 6, Charley called Davis a monster. She was also ashamed of herself for paying off his mistress, believing Davis’ story over Melina’s until she was forced to listen to his exact words on that recording.

But the Davis West who ran the moment she called risked his own health and remained by her side to take care of Charley while she recovered from Covid-19 seemed like a much different man. 

I was taken aback when Charley asked Aunt Vi if she could forgive Jimmy Dale. Davis has plenty of faults, but I still couldn’t compare him to Jimmy, and neither could Vi.

Jimmy Dale is an evil man who gets off on inflicting pain, physical and emotional, on every and anybody. He’s a dark soul. Thinks love is weakness and feeds on hate and treachery, and he made sure I lived inside of his hell for so long it almost destroyed me entirely. So, there is nothing in this world that he could do to make me forget what he did to me or think he’s changed. Ever. Davis, on the other hand, is just damn stupid. He’s not a bad person. He’s a foolish man who took the good life you gave him for granted and made dumb, hurtful choices. But he ain’t Jimmy Dale. He loved you, even though he blew it, and he loves that boy. So if you saw a change in him, that’s worth looking at.


Violet

Aunt Vi’s words were unexpected, but I can’t disagree with them. Davis has been a stupid, selfish man. He’s made horrible choices that destroyed his marriage and tore apart his family. 

Davis and Charley’s talk was difficult and painful, but if there’s to be any forgiveness here, if they’ll ever be able to move beyond their past, this conversation needed to happen. 

Although Davis never specifically said he’s been in therapy, what he did say made it sound like that was a distinct possibility. 

Just getting to the point where she was open enough to have this discussion was difficult for Charley, which is why she went searching for advice. 

Darla gave the best…

No one really knows your relationship but you. No one knows your heart. No one knows his. I mean, everyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter in the end. It’s the two of you who have to look at each other every day, have to love each other every day.


Darla

Oddly enough, Davis and Charley are the reconciliation I didn’t know I wanted to see until it happened. At one time, Charley said Davis was every star in the sky and every dream she had. Now she has her own dreams and her own life. Is there room for Davis in that?

Charley: Who are you now then, Davis? That’s why I asked you here. I need to know if that kind, selfless man who was there for me when I was sick, who went above and beyond. Who cared. I need to know if he’s real. If that’s the real you, Davis.

Davis: It’s me. It’s me. I’m real, and I’m here. I’m here for you, Charley. And I can finally love you the way you always deserved if you’ll let me.

Charley and Davis are a couple who loved one another deeply but got so far off track that I never even considered that they could find their way back together. 

But the same could be said for Darla and Ralph Angel. 

Darla was an addict whose infant son almost died in her care. Ralph Angel spent years in prison. That each of them has been able to heal themselves and find their way back together is a miracle. 

Allowing Blue to go off to private school has shown once again that they are now able to put their son’s needs above their own. I think Hollywood explained it best…

Blue is the whole reason he got his life together. So if he sent him away, it’s probably because he thinks the promise of tomorrow outweighs the pain right now.
Hollywood

Darla telling Ralph Angel she was pregnant with his child was one of the most joyous moments of the series. Not only is Blue’s future looking bright, but a new baby will bring new hope and new love into their lives. 

I can’t say any other couple on the show deserves it more. 

Getting back to Hollywood, he’s the only one who can talk sense to Violet. He knew he probably couldn’t convince her that she was wrong about Blue, but he could make her see that what she said to Ralph Angel was unnecessarily hurtful and she should apologize. 

She agreed, but we’ve yet to see Violet actually do it. 

Aunt Vi wanted Blue home. She wanted Micah home. Understandably, her first instinct is to keep her loved ones close and, hopefully, safe, but she can’t keep them from living their lives. That’s not how love or life should work. 

As Hollywood once again pointed out…

We can’t wait for the bad to be over. No, we’ve got to live through it and grab pieces of joy along the way.
Hollywood

And Hollywood is the one person who consistently brings joy into Vi’s life. If there’s a couple who are perfect for one another, it’s them. 

Finally, we get to Nova and Calvin, a couple who are far from perfect.

Nova was absolutely devastated when Andre told her Calvin was not only one of the cops who beat him but the one who gave the final blow that caused him to be paralyzed for life. 

You could see the horrifying realization descend over Nova once again as she confronted Calvin, and kudos to Rutina Wesley for making me feel every excruciating moment of Nova’s pain. 

Look me in my eyes and tell me you had nothing to do with this. That you weren’t there that night because I’ll believe you. Because I want to believe you.
Nova

And that Queen Sugar quote says everything. Nova is a warrior who looks atrocities in the eye and fights them with everything she has. That she openly asks him to tell her he didn’t do it because her heart wants to believe this isn’t true speaks to how much she loves him.

How much her heart is breaking over this crushing truth. 

As Calvin spoke about how he pretended that horrible night happened to someone else and how he felt forced to take part in that beating by his bullying colleagues, I wanted to have some ounce of sympathy for him, at least for Nova’s sake.

But all I could think about was how many otherwise good people have either turned a blind eye to barbarous events or participated for fear of retaliation, how someone willing to stand up and speak out could change or even spare a victim’s life. 

Calvin could have lost his job, but Andre lost his ability to walk and could have lost his life. Calvin broke Andre’s backbone because he couldn’t find his own. 

Nova believed that Calvin had witnessed such beatings as a cop but had never taken part in them. Forgiving Calving for allowing them to happen and doing nothing was a challenge for Nova. But knowing he lied to her about it. That not only had he beaten someone, but someone Nova had come face to face with. 

I don’t know if forgiveness is possible. 

Calvin could have tried to run from this. He could have lied to Nova and said Andre was mistaken. Instead, he decided to hold himself accountable, and he turned himself in to Internal Affairs.

Will Calvin be charged? Will the fellow officers who were involved also be punished? Will they seek retribution against Calvin?

And is there any possibility that Nova and Calvin will still have a future together?

I can’t answer that last question, but I’ll definitely be tuning in for Queen Sugar Season 6 to find out. 

So you tell me, Queen Sugar fans…

• Did you find Charley and Davis’ reconciliation hopeful or disappointing?

• Will Blue continue to thrive in D.C.?

• Should Violet apologize to Ralph Angel?

• Are you thrilled that Ralph Angel and Darla are having a baby?

• And is there any chance that Nova can forgive Calvin for what he’s done?

Let me know what you think by hitting that big, blue, SHOW COMMENTS button down below. And yes, Queen Sugar has already been renewed for season 6, so don’t forget to come and find me here at TV Fanatic when it returns. 

C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.