#Queen Sugar Season 6 Episode 3 Review: You Would Come Back Different

I felt for Billie right from the start of Queen Sugar Season 6 Episode 3 as she was standing there in her father’s home looking like an outcast, surrounded by all of the exuberant Bordelons who couldn’t heap enough love on Prosper.

Billie looked small and alone, and I couldn’t help but think there must be more to her story. 

I was right in ways that I could never have imagined.

Nova was so angry at Billie even as Billie came to represent her father’s interests at the town council meeting about generational discrimination. Billie even offered to use her skills as a paralegal to help others if they needed it. 

But Nova was adamant that Billie could not be trusted, and Aunt Vi backed her up. 

Charley: You two were almost inseparable. What happened?

Nova: I’ll just say, when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. She caused a lot of damage for me.

Violet: And for me. There was a rumor that Billie was messing around with Jimmy Dale while we were married.

Everyone in St. Jo’s sees Billie as the Jezebel who left town in disgrace after betraying her friends and then neglected her father by never returning home. 

But Billie had her side to that story, and she’d waited most of her adult life to get it out. 

Billie: We were kids. It was an accident.

Nova: An accident? What you said to my father damaged my relationship with him for the rest of his life. He never looked at me the same.

Billie: We were 18. We both did things back then.

Nova: No. You don’t get to get off that easy. You knew exactly what you were doing; that’s what made it worse. You did it on purpose.

Billie: I don’t remember all the details. All I remember is that I was hurting, and you hurt me too.

Nova: You told my father you were worried about my soul because I might be gay. You outed me, Billie. I came home to questions I wasn’t prepared to answer for me or for myself. And for you to sit here and say that it happened accidentally is vile.

Billie: Vile? No, I’ll tell you what’s vile. Abandoning your best friend when she needed you the most.

Nova: When did I abandon you, Billie?

Billie: Me and Jimmy Dale.

Nova: Oh, so the rumor is true.

Billie: You are so high and mighty on TV and in your books and in your articles crusading for justice and women’s rights, but you couldn’t see then or now what is really happening. I was 18-years-old, Nova. He was over 33. There was no me and Jimmy Dale. There was a 30-something-year-old man going around town telling people that an 18-year-old senior in high school was good in bed and not one of you, not my best friend, or anyone in her family thought to inquire about the circumstances.

Nova: What are you saying, Billie?

Billie: I’m saying the same thing I wanted to tell you then. I tried to tell Violet and my father and everybody back then. It wasn’t my choice, but nobody would listen. Nobody. So as soon as I graduated, I left, and on my way out, I stopped by the farm to speak with your father to see if he would listen. And he did. And he was so kind, Nova. I think he might have even believed me. I saw in him a good person, a father who listened and mine didn’t. And that made me so, so sad and mad. And I didn’t want you to have what I didn’t have, so I told him you liked girls just to fight back what was happening with me. I left this town, and I never looked back.

To come back to St. Jo’s and help her father, Billie must have been able to compartmentalize all of that pain from years past. But having Nova attack her, believing she was the only injured party was too much.

Yes, what Billie did was wrong. She should never have outed Nova, but when you look at it from the side of an angry, traumatized teenager, it’s easy to see how it happened. 

That Violet believed the worst about Billie doesn’t surprise me. Vi’s experience in life conditioned her to believe the worst in people, especially back then when she was in the middle of such an abusive relationship.

But if Nova and Billie were so close, why wouldn’t Nova ask Billie if it were true? Why would Nova’s default be that Jimmy Dale was telling the truth and her best friend would do something so appalling?

Did everyone in St. Jo’s think that Jimmie Dale could have any woman he wanted, and if he claimed to have had them, it must be true?

Why was the expectation that the man was telling the truth and the teenage girl had sex with him simply because he said so?

Because according to Billie and what we’ve heard from Nova and Vi, everyone assumed the worst about Billie, even the Bordelons, who considered her family. 

Heck, her own father believed Jimmy Dale’s lies. 

It’s difficult to blame Billie for leaving St. Jo’s the moment she could without looking back. 

Billie and Prosper appear to be trying to mend their relationship, but can they do that without revisiting the past?

And after decades of righteous anger, I’m curious to see how Nova reacts to Billie’s side of the story. Will she confront Jimmy Dale? Will she tell Vi?

As for Violet, she has some pressing issues in her current marriage that she doesn’t seem willing to deal with. 

Hollywood: Why didn’t you tell me, Vi? Now, what if her husband showed up and I didn’t even know where you were? This is what I’m always talking about, Vi.

Violet: And that’s why I didn’t tell you. Cause I knew this is exactly how you would act. Telling me that I’m always helping everybody else. I just didn’t want to fight any more about how I do me.

Hollywood: So that’s what you think about me, just a broken record.

Violet: Look, you and me, we’re the same. The Real Spot is just you taking care of everybody else instead of yourself.

Hollywood: Wow.

Violet has been independent for years, but sneaking around and lying to Hollywood wasn’t right no matter how she justified it. 

Hollywood is worried about Vi spreading herself too thin, and given her health issues, those concerns seem valid.

Even in this case, Hollywood didn’t stop her from helping Selene and Gabriel; he went with her. And his being worried about Selene’s abusive husband showing up was reasonable. 

Yes, Hollywood may be using The Real Spot as a distraction as he grieves for his late mother, but Vi threw that at him instead of admitting she was wrong. 

And then the two of them went on as if there wasn’t a problem, which means it will only bubble up and resurface twice as strong somewhere down the road. 

Speaking of ignoring a dire situation that is bound to get worse, Ralph Angel continued to believe he would receive a big check from the government in time to save the farm even after that disastrous meeting. 

Charley: This fund was set up to cover generational discrimination.

Farmer: Seems like it’s about reparations to me.

Nova: This isn’t reparations. Reparations will be paying back the $5.9 trillion owed to our ancestors and their descendants.

Farmer: See, she admits it right out of her mouth.

Some saw a program created to try and heal the sins of the past as yet another way to divide. And with so much animosity and hate, it wouldn’t be surprising if anything positive was tied up in bureaucracy and red tape for years. 

Ralph Angel needs a check in a matter of weeks. When Darla tried to be reasonable about their predicament, he continued to placate her, even though she saw what was coming. 

I don’t know if it’s the hormones or what, but I cannot shake this feeling like something’s coming. Something I’m not going to like.
Darla

This brings us to the big question. Why is Ralph Angel still hanging out with Theo? I’m sure some people he spent time with in prison have rehabilitated, but Theo clearly isn’t one of them. 

After struggling to get back on his feet and working so hard to put his criminal past behind him, why would Ralph Angel risk everything by continuing to be in company with a man still committing crimes?

What’s even scarier is that Ralph Angel might be tempted to take Theo up on his offer instead of swallowing his pride and asking Charley for help.

If Ralph Angel heads down that road, it will be infuriating and a hell of his own making. Charley will gladly help. It was her Daddy’s farm too, and she knows that the government is dragging its feet on the payments owed. There’s no reason other than foolish pride for Ralph Angel not to take her help. 

As for Charley, she and Davis were riding a high, but will it last? 

Us? We’re a feel-good story. The golden couple who lost themselves in the fame, separated, found themselves separately, and reunited to be stronger than ever.
Charley

Charley is a spin master. If anyone can take control of her and Davis’ reconciliation and turn it into an uplifting story, it’s Charley, and I truly hope she does just that. 

It was a little disconcerting that she appeared disappointed that Davis wanted to live his life out of the spotlight. You’d think that would be a blessing, but the expression on Charley’s face didn’t convey that. 

But the happy couple has no idea that their son is dealing with panic attacks. Micah was lucky to have a friend there to help him through it, but I hope he tries to get help soon. No one should have to suffer through that alone. 

So what did you think of Billie’s story, Queen Sugar fans? 

Is Charley being naive about the world accepting her and Davis’ romance?

Was Hollywood right to be upset with Vi?

And should Ralph Angel be hanging out with Theo?

Click that SHOW COMMENTS button down below to chime in and tell us your thoughts on Queen Sugar, then check back in for our Queen Sugar Season 6 Episode 4 review. 

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