Queen Sugar is done. I have watched all the episodes, and all the specials.
I have written about Queen Sugar a lot, because it has resonated with me a lot.
(You can find one of the posts with links to multiple others at https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2021/04/upon-finishing-viewing-of-another.html.)
The only other series that I have spent comparable posts on was Grimm. In a cruel irony, one of the early things I responded to was the importance placed on minor characters and the respect given. The show kept becoming more callous and less clever, until in the last season I was only still watching because it was the last season.
Queen Sugar did not do that.
I suspect a lot of the credit for that goes to Ava DuVernay. One of the specials was a feature on the women who directed episodes of the show. All 42 were women. While many had directed independent films, or directed in other countries, and were capable of doing the work, getting their foot in the door for series work was still elusive. That opportunity mattered for them, but also, it shows caring, and an interest in expanding opportunity, the behind the scenes matching what was on the screen.
https://variety.com/lists/queen-sugar-42-women-directors-ava-duvernay/
On-screen, first of all, it is important that it is not just the Bordelons that get their land, but that Miss Parthena can get hers, and that Cardale has help when his land is threatened by flooding. It couldn't have worked without the co-op, but as some of the hidden obstacles emerge the importance of that unity only becomes more obvious.
It matters that the Avila family was reunited, but also that it is the Avila family, with all of the ways they have been tied to the Bordelons across the seasons.
Those threads of connection and the importance of each one became more clear in the final season as familiar faces returned.
Ra's friend Toine was doing great, with a new child and a new career path. Remy was doing well domestically and professionally. In fact, he was able to help the Bordelons one more time. Jacob was doing well business-wise, but appeared to be white-knuckling it emotionally on account of his family ties. He seemed in a much better position at the end of the last episode.
Even without getting to see him, we hear that "Too Sweet" is doing well.
Hey, there's Micah's grandmother! The way she collects him but then also supports him... it is not just that she is there, but that her being there matters. And Micah gets to see Keke again, and get past the awkward breakup to comfortable adulthood.
It would have required additional episodes to bring back all of Nova's past loves, but there were three that were very important.
Obviously we needed to see Calvin again. That closure and goodbye was important, even if it was not permanent.
Chantal was an interesting return, because I remember when she first came around thinking it could never work; she was too pushy and Nova was the wrong person for that. That impression was not wrong, but Chantal would sometimes return and make Nova bristle while being correct. She did that one more time, and was the best person to do it.
Having never seen Nova's first girl crush, that was not exactly a return. It still taught us more about Nova, and gave us a glimpse into Ernest's coming around, which was huge for Nova.
That leads to the last thing.
The importance of the late Ernest to his children, grandchildren, sister, and friends was always clear, but that was rounded out in the finale as Prosper relayed conversations that helped.
As much as that was about the relationship with Ernest -- and things that Ernest said -- because he was gone they could only have come from someone who who had heard it. Prosper was needed.
That may be a reason to say some things now, while you are together, but it was also the culmination of what we can do for each other.
We need each other.
And we all matter.
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