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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Oh Mamere

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

With creating the season around a character’s memoir, Queen Sugar has focused on the traumas the memoir brought up for all the characters in the series. Wednesday’s episode emphasized those traumas and spurred an OWN Twitter chat.

Ahead of the episode, OWN held a three-hour Twitter chat under the hashtag #QueenSugarTalks to get viewers to discuss the issues of trauma and addiction. The episode starts with Nova (Rutina Wesley) and Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) Bordelon going on a retreat in the woods. Feelings come out: Nova tells Charley she hates being invited on getaways she couldn’t afford. She feels small on Charley’s dime. They realize,  as half-sisters, they still don’t know each other due to a lifelong level of competition and separation.

The addiction storyline comes in when Darla (Bianca Lawson), the former flame of Nova and Charley’s brother Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), meets up with an old friend from her partying days. Her friend acknowledges Darla’s sobriety at the restaurant but asks Darla if it’s fine she still has a drink. Then she goes on and on about one of the last parties they went to eight years ago. She says Darla was so high that she went up to a room at a house party with two guys.

The walk down memory lane appears to be the night when Darla’s son Blue (Ethan Hutchison) was conceived. Darla can barely recall those moments and the revelation of a second man throws her into a tailspin at a nearby bar. Violet (Tina Lifford), the Bordelon aunt, soon finds a disheveled Darla in a park and takes her home where Darla unveils why she lied about Blue’s paternity for years. She said she buried the rape because of the shame of being hooked on drugs and alcohol. Violet calls Ralph Angel to come to Darla’s house, and Darla shares the story.

Charley’s son Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) takes Blue to a carnival, where they get split up in the bathroom area. While Micah’s back is turned looking at his smartphone, Blue dashes to the women’s restroom to avoid the line to the men’s restroom. Micah asks people in the area if they had seen Blue, and when he gets no answers, he ventures off. Blue comes out of the restroom and ends up with a police officer to wait for Micah to find him. Since last season, Micah has been dealing with the trauma of being arrested and jailed by a white cop over an alleged traffic violation.

The trauma between the sisters and Darla have been brought up by Nova’s memoir Blessing and Blood, the book that’s been tearing apart the family since the beginning of the season. Micah’s trauma is in the book also, but it became known when it happened. As the women’s trauma is amplified, so is the trauma for the men. Micah’s recurring trauma around police brings him to a mild panic attack while Ralph Angel is still absorbing how his son is not biologically his. With two episodes left in the season, viewers may see more evolution of the trauma stemming from the memoir.

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‘Younger’ TV Review: Millennial’s Next Top Model

"Younger" Ep. 609 (Airs 8/14/19)

Younger‘s sixth season has finally revealed the secret that’s been the premise of the show since the first episode: Liza is 42, and not 28.

The age difference explodes on a volcanic level in last week’s episode at a literary event where Liza (Sutton Foster)’s imprint, Millennial, becomes the talk of the town. This week, Millennial loses a partnership with retailer Infinite 21 because of Liza’s lie. But Liza proclaims in a monologue how everyone in the publishing industry is altering their appearances to look younger and “millennial” is an attitude and not an age.

While playing cards with her current boyfriend and colleague Charles (Peter Hermann) and his daughters at a dessert shop, Liza gets a call from Infinite 21. The company wants to “unfreeze” the partnership and sell Millennial books in its stores.

Millennial’s boss Kelsey (Hilary Duff) phones her ex and current colleague, Zane (Charles Michael Davis). She hasn’t heard from him since Liza’s lie became public. She shows up that night at Zane’s apartment and brings a meal kit as a peace offering. They end up making out.

On the set of the Infinite 21 ad campaign starring Liza, Millennial’s main investor shows up. Quinn (Laura Benanti), the California senatorial candidate who’s also a Millennial author, tells Liza to join her on an interview for a NY1 report on corporate ageism.

While Kelsey is dealing with Zane, Liza is at a bar with the Infinite 21 brand manager when her ex, Josh (Nico Tortorella), walks in. She explains to the brand manager how Josh was the first person to know she was lying about her age. This sparks the constant reminder of Liza’s romantic relationship with Josh, which ended seasons ago, but keeps getting a revival this season.

At the interview, Liza tells the reporter behind the scenes that Quinn knew about Liza’s true age before investing in Millennial. The reporter brings it up during the interview. Quinn shakes her head no about knowing Liza’s true age. She evens adds Liza may have been confused about the off-the-record question.

Quinn later calls Kelsey to a bar over Liza’s mishap of telling the truth. She says Kelsey should’ve fired Liza before the lie destroyed Millennial’s reputation in the industry.

The next morning, Kelsey is talking to Charles about Quinn’s demands. Before they can resolve the problem, they learn authors’ advances and employees’ direct deposits are bouncing. Quinn had pulled her investment.

Age, which defines the show in the title, has wreaked havoc on Liza’s personal life at a slow pace with her friends and colleagues finding out about her lie. But now everyone knows she lied about her age to enter the publishing industry after raising her daughter and getting a divorce, so this issue is now affecting her employer. Even the adult daughter and divorce part hasn’t been revealed on a larger scale, so that has to become an issue thread at least for next season.

Also on a bookish note, a sneak preview of the latest book-related film Where’d You Go, Bernadette? highlighted a commercial break. The movie, starring Cate Blanchett, opens in theaters this Friday.

 

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Stare at the Same Fires

For Show Promotion Only
Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

The OWN series Queen Sugar has been knee-deep this season in driving storylines around the memoir by Nova, the middle daughter of the sugar mill-owning Bordelon family in Louisiana. In this episode, Nova’s biological sister and former sister-in-law of sorts are dealing with the aftermath of Nova’s memoir with controlled substances.

Nova (Rutina Wesley) helps her real sister, Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), off a barstool in New Orleans, miles away from their hometown of St. Josephine. Charley had been drinking throughout the night at the bar with her sunglasses on, so her potential constituents won’t notice her since she’s running for office. Nova takes her sister to the hotel room and dresses Charley in her pajamas. The tender moment shows the distance they’ve been dealing with can be reduced so quickly. Under the blankets, Charley asks why Nova wrote her book and told the Bordelon family secrets. Nova says she thought it would help the family but now realizes it only helped her career. Charley begins crying, and Nova comforts her sister.

Once Charley returns home, she notices the front page of the local newspaper with the headline, “Charley Bordelon Is My Role Model.” It’s an op-ed by Nova about why her sister would make a great city councilwoman who will defend their farmer community. Nova adds in the op-ed that she regrets what she wrote about her sister in the best-selling memoir.

Charley’s son Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) then brings his mother out to a get-together where family, friends, and mill workers have gathered to uplift each other after the mill’s fire from last week’s episode.

As the festivities are taking place under garden lights, Darla (Bianca Lawson) is at home taunted by a bottle of alcohol. Since she’s broken up with Nova’s brother Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) and lied about their son Blue (Ethan Hutchison)’s paternity, it’s striking to see her suffering no longer a concern for the Bordelons. She’s not considered family anymore. Nobody is checking on her as she deals with the impact of Nova’s memoir.

Darla’s depression in the episode starts with her visiting the musician she is dating at a practice. He approaches Darla to let her know he’s worried about what he read in Nova’s book. Since he’s working on his sobriety, he picks up on Darla’s slip. Darla becomes hard to contact like Charley.

The contrasting moments with Charley and Darla succumbing to their vices because of Nova’s book are eye-opening to the deeper impact the book has had on the family. The storyline keeps evolving every episode, where the pivotal moments are connected to the pain caused by Nova’s book. This week, the book didn’t seem to earn more awards as it seemed to in previous episodes while a character is having a breakdown. It’d be interesting to see how these characters will keep reacting to the book and how the book will keep rising on the charts.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Of Several Centuries + All the Borders

Based on the critically acclaimed novel by Natalie Baszile, Queen Sugar follows the Bordelons, a black family who owns a sugarcane company in Louisiana. As some of the members are experiencing a higher profile, it seems like the entire family is seeing the repercussions of their success.

The season has highlighted how middle daughter Nova (Rutina Wesley) wrote a memoir revealing family secrets—unbeknownst to her family. The tension grows by the episode.

Darla (Bianca Lawson), the ex-fiancee of Nova’s brother Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), arrives at her job to find Nova’s book facedown on her seat. The way the book is flipped open, it looks like it’s on the pages describing Darla’s journey in and out of drug addiction. She’s embarrassed that her past life has been made public and has followed her to work.

Nova runs into her police officer ex, Calvin (Greg Vaughan), who now owns a security company, and tells him over lunch how he’s mentioned in her book. Another ex now appears on the book tour since she was sleeping with her professor-mentor for the last two episodes.

There are bookmarks of destruction: The vandalism of Aunt Violet (Tina Lifford)’s restaurant in the beginning and the family-owned mill on fire in the end.

The second episode starts with Nova running to Charley and Ralph Angel as they watch the firefighters contain the mill fire. But her siblings are still unhappy to see her. After learning the fire most likely was caused by arson, Charley and Ralph Angel storm off to approach the nemesis sugarcane business family matriarch, Frances Boudreaux (Annalee Jefferies).

“They looked at me like I wasn’t one of them. They looked like I was a stranger. Not even a stranger, like an enemy,” Nova cries into the phone to Calvin. “I lost my family.”

Calvin runs over to Nova’s house to check on her. Micah comes over at the same time. Once Calvin goes into another room to take a call, Micah questions Nova on how she’s comfortable being with a white ex-cop who could’ve beaten the black and brown residents of St. Josephine. Last season, Micah had been mistreated by a cop during a traffic stop, creating distrust for him and his family over police presence. During that time, Nova’s profile rose as a result of her coverage on cops targeting unarmed black men, which led to her book deal. Nova later asks Calvin if he ever saw another police officer “abuse black people.” He says he looked the other way and he left the force since he had lost his relationship with Nova over the racial tensions in their town.

Nova’s book alone has destroyed her relationship with her family, but as she copes with that loss, she’s been gravitating to her toxic relationships from the past. The college professor she had an affair with turned up on the tour and now it’s her married cop boyfriend returning as divorced and retired from the force.

With her tour, Nova hasn’t really had the chance to mend the relationships at home like she thinks she has. She returns home over the mill fire, but it’s reminiscent of a few weeks ago when she ran to Violet’s home after noticing her aunt’s ex-husband, whom she had interviewed for her book, terrorizing her aunt.

The impact of the memoir is weaved brilliantly into the season with Nova enjoying the success of her book but feeling the fire of burning bridges.

“Queen Sugar” has new episodes on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. on OWN.

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‘Younger’ TV Review: The Debu-taunt

"Younger" Ep. 608 (Airs 8/07/19)

Finally everyone on Younger knows Liza’s real age—and of course, there’s major backlash.

For the past six seasons, book editor Liza (Sutton Foster) has been lying that she’s in her mid-20s. She did so to get a job in publishing and eventually started working for an imprint called Millennial. But she’s actually in her early 40s. One by one, characters learned Liza’s secret over the years, but some like her former boss and current colleague Diana (Miriam Shor) still was in the dark.

The episode starts with Liza running into Pauline (Jennifer Westfeldt), the ex-wife of Liza’s boyfriend/another former boss and current colleague Charles (Peter Hermann), at Charles’ daughter’s elementary school while dropping off a book report. Liza had been the editor for Pauline’s best-selling novel, Marriage Vacation, but at the time she was hiding her affair with Charles. Now, Pauline and Charles are getting a divorce, and Charles just asked Liza to move into his townhouse.

During a work meeting, Millennial imprint heads, including Liza, Diana, and Charles, discuss which author they should choose for the Publishers Weekly debutante ball. The ball welcomes debut authors into literary society with their publishing mentors. Pauline’s name comes up as Millennial’s most successful author though the imprint lost her sophomore novel due to Charles divorcing her to be with Liza.

To cement the invitation, Liza meets with Pauline for lunch. Fresh from their awkward run-in at the school, Pauline says Liza was the best editor. She even adds she wished she had kept her second project with Millennial. Liza then asks Pauline to accompany her to the ball, and Pauline says yes.

After the lunch, Pauline returns to her daughter’s school, where she runs into the talkative secretary. The secretary overhears Pauline finishing up a call with Liza and commends Pauline for getting along with her ex’s girlfriend. Pauline makes a crack Charles running away with a millennial. The secretary laughs. She reveals that Liza is 42 since Liza had to leave a form of ID at the school.

“She’s been lying shamelessly about who she is for years,” Pauline announces on stage at the ball with Liza standing behind her.

Diana defends Liza in front of the audience as Liza admits she really is in her 40s, not in her 20s. In confusion, Diana stumbles outside in the middle of Times Square and suffers a panic attack. The group takes Diana to the hospital, where Charles gets a call from his lawyer that Pauline’s lawyer wants to revisit the custody battle over their two daughters.

The next day, Liza walks into the office and learns Diana is drafting Liza’s resignation letter. They have a heart-to-heart, and Liza stays in her job.

More secrets surrounding Liza’s age should come up in the next few weeks. Though fans felt this was the saddest outcome of Liza’s lie of a career, at least everyone stayed alive unlike when Kelsey (Hilary Duff)’s unlikeable fiance died seasons ago in that crane collapse where he confronted Liza about her age. And what happened to Liza’s college-age daughter?  There are still other factors that can add weight to the longtime lie.

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‘Younger’ TV Review: Merger, She Wrote

"Younger" Ep. 509 (Airs 8/07/18)

Younger, preparing for a seventh season on TV Land, has its characters dealing with competition in the publishing industry.

Liza (Sutton Foster) is the main character who had been lying about her age to get into the industry, but most of the people close to her in and out of the office has known she’s over 40 and is not a millennial. She’s dating Charles (Peter Hermann), who still owns her imprint, Millennial, though he started a new venture, Mercury. Liza is telling her friend/roommate Maggie (Debi Mazar) about the dilemma, and Maggie suggests the imprints should have a merger.

At the office, Liza and her colleagues, Millennial CEO Kelsey (Hilary Duff) and editor Diana (Miriam Shor), are listening to a proposal for a book on microdosing. As they listen about how ingesting mushrooms in small amounts can reset your body, the author invites Liza to a medically supervised retreat.

With the promise of a book deal, the Millennial team moves onto finding someone to read the audiobook for their baby boomer erotica auditions for The Seasoned Slut. The auditions are not going well until Diana plays around with the words. Then she nabs the job, which puts a spotlight on a newer element of the publishing industry with audiobooks and finding the right voices for those books.

Later, Liza tells Charles to merge the two competing imprints. Charles doesn’t believe Mercury can merge with Millennial because Mercury hasn’t made money yet. Charles reminds Liza that she’s been invited to join Mercury to squash the competition. Liza says she has a retreat in the morning; Charles is going to the same microdosing retreat. Liza gets up to head home without sharing a cab ride with Charles.

At the retreat, Charles sees Liza at the reception desk and asks to share rooms. Liza says no after learning they’re still competing for the book deal. Josh (Nico Tortorella), Liza’s ex who’s still in the circle, soon appears, with the goal of meeting venture capitalists to expand his tattoo business.

During the audiobook recording sessions back in New York City, Kelsey and her competitive ex-lover/Mercury editor Zane (Charles Michael Davis) connect over believing the formerly accused serial killer who has a book deal with Mercury really was a killer as she puts too much emotion in her recording. Kelsey and Zane talk about the competition between Millennial and Mercury.

Meanwhile at the retreat, Liza is tripping. She keeps confusing Charles and Josh with even believing she’s making out with Josh when she’s with Charles. The trip continues until she sees a “nurse,” who tells her to dance it out. In her imagination, Liza is dancing between Charles and Josh on a Broadway stage when in actuality she’s dancing with a plant and taking selfies with it.

After the retreat, Charles visits the Millennial office with Kelsey, Diana, and Liza. Charles says he has a proposal. Kelsey asks if he’s closing Mercury, but Charles says he doesn’t want to fight with family and that he wants Millennial to buy into Mercury. He proposes one dollar and reminds them his grandfather had mortgaged everything to start the business. Charles says he would like to return as an editor, not to threaten Kelsey’s CEO status, and work alongside Liza, where their romantic relationship would not interfere with business.

Last year, TV Land said Younger would be ending its run on the channel and move to Paramount Network, but the show stayed on TV Land this season and now will see the seventh one next year. This season feels like storylines were being tied up together with Liza and Charles finally finding a way to be with each other while working in the industry. But with the show preparing for another run probably next summer, it would be interesting to see how the merger will pan out and affect the romantic and working relationship between Liza and Charles. They act like it’s an ideal situation, but it probably won’t be… again.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: By the Spit

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

OWN drama Queen Sugar is focusing this season on a main character’s evolution as a memoirist and how her memoir is impacting her family.

Nova (Rutina Wesley) has written a memoir spilling many unexpected family secrets, but as her family struggles with the secrets coming out of the shadows, she’s enjoying the limelight of having a best-selling, critically acclaimed book.

After reconnecting with her former professor-mentor Dr. Octavia Laurent (Cree Summer) whom she’s also started sleeping with again, Nova learns her book is being shortlisted for the National Book Award. Octavia, who went off on Nova for a measly mention in the book, tries to convince Nova that she doesn’t need accolades to prove her voice. It’s obvious this blast from the past is a hater, but Nova doesn’t see that yet, with even inviting Octavia to an interview about the book as part of the press tour.

During the interview, Nova is told by the reporter that her sister, Charley, is running for office to stop a highway proposal that would affect their family land. The sisters haven’t been speaking to each other since Nova put in her book that Charley paid off her basketballer ex-husband’s mistresses. When the reporter drops that bomb, Octavia interjects her wisdom. “Black girl magic is a continuum,” she says to detract attention, a quotable.

Later in the hotel room, Nova brings up her family. She is still bothered that she didn’t know about Charley running for office. Octavia says family members are “biological accidents,” advice Nova doesn’t care for at the moment. “Sometimes, we have to put family in the rearview to get to where we need to go,” Octavia adds, another quotable.

At a networking soiree, Octavia goes up to a woman she knows. The woman immediately praises Nova, who is left by the hors d’oeuvre table, in front of Octavia and proposes asking Nova to edit a collection of essays on race. Octavia says she would be a better candidate for the project since she’s been looking for one. But the woman says she would prefer emerging writers for the project. Then Octavia returns to Nova and lies about singing her praises. Nova looks at her mentor fly hungrily to one person to another.

Things later come to a head in the hotel room when Nova approaches Octavia about not telling her about the editing opportunity. Octavia tells Nova that she needs 20 years of prerequisites to complete such work. That she “made” Nova. The jealousy is palpable, and Nova thanks her mentor for opening doors but she will continue to walk in her path and reminds Octavia that she invited herself on the book tour. But Octavia retorts, “Emotional labor is still work. I refuse to be treated like an afterthought,” a third quotable. They part ways. Nova later calls Charley to congratulate her on the run.

The mentor storyline stuck out in this episode. What happens when you’re a mentor to someone who reaches the pinnacle of success you always wanted? What happens if your mentor doesn’t seem happy that you found success? These questions possibly come up for writers at times when their dreams come true as some people who worked alongside them throughout their careers may not continue with them.

Other storylines still have the imprint of the memoir’s effect. Charley goes to the Latinx section of town to get votes with her boyfriend and later deals with a brick thrown into her headquarters’ window. Seven-year-old Blue (Ethan Hutchison) gets a child psychologist to deal with learning that Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), the younger brother of Nova and Charley, is not his biological father. Violet (Tina Lifford) realizes that she may have post-traumatic stress disorder after Nova’s book brought back her violent ex-husband weeks ago.

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‘Younger’ TV Review: Stiff Competition

"Younger" Ep. 605 (Airs 7/17/19)

Younger revolves around Liza (Sutton Foster), a 40-something woman working in the publishing industry who had been lying about being in her late 20s for the past five seasons. The show, in its final season, now focuses on the Millennial imprint she helped create with Kelsey (Hilary Duff), an actual millennial, and how they’re trying to build the imprint as it becomes the top one for a longtime publisher.

The episode starts with Liza and Charles (Peter Hermann) going to a literati party. Liza even spots Colson Whitehead (not really there), but they later bump into Meg Wolitzer (really there), the author of The Female Persuasion and The Wife. It turns out both Liza and Charles set up interviews with her at a later date.

They learn Mercury is highlighted as a rising star in a New York Magazine profile. But the next day Kelsey notices she gets an awkward headshot crop at the bottom of the profile in the “low-brow” section.

“Charles is hot and I’m not!” Kelsey shrieks.

A Chip and Joanna Gaines copycat couple flipping homes in New York come into the Millennial office to pitch their couple relationship/do-it-yourself book, The Third Leg. Later that night, Charles surprises Liza with dinner—at a restaurant with the Gaines-like couple.

Of course, the couple had signed with Mercury, as they rave about Charles’ raving of his romantic relationship with Liza. They connected with that piece.

After dinner, Charles tells Liza that Mercury is doing well, but it’s all “smoking mirrors,” since they have zero sales so far.

The youngest conductor for the Brooklyn Philharmonic is the next target for Millennial as Liza pitches the musical prodigy as a potential memoirist. They soon attend a show where Liza talks to the conductor before the start to let her know she brought her team to discuss the memoir. As Liza leaves the backstage room, she bumps into Charles. She knows he’s there to sign the memoir, too, though she’s taken aback since she’d been in contact with the conductor for months. Charles sits down in his orchestra seat while Liza goes back to her nosebleed-ish seat where Kelsey and their colleague Diana (Miriam Shor) saw the couple talking near the stage.

Liza breaks the news that Charles is there for the same reason they are. Diana starts reading the conductor’s bio in the program and sees Charles’ illustrious family had funded her scholarship to Julliard. Game over.

Kelsey and Diana find themselves playing an ax game with beers. Still stressed out about losing current and potential authors, Kelsey brings up that she’s worried Liza may be helping Charles snatch the deals. Diana says the relationship between Liza and Charles isn’t compatible for the business. They soon leave, but Diana pees in the street right when a police car is driving by. So she gets caught for public urination while Kelsey, in angry mode, is raging against the officer with an ax. They both are booked in jail.

Meanwhile at the show, Charles is speaking with the conductor when Liza approaches them. The conductor says she’s still making a decision though Charles’ family has been very generous with their contributions to her success over the years. Liza stresses that Millennial is helmed by history-making women like the conductor.

Kelsey and Diana are bailed out of jail by Diana’s plumber boyfriend. They had contacted Liza, but she comes too late. Outside the jail, Kelsey asks Liza if she’s feeding information to Charles.

“Are you questioning my loyalty?” Liza asks. She then goes on a rant about how she wants everyone to be a winner.

“Stop being such a Pollyanna!” Kelsey yells. “There has to be losers.”

Charles later drops by Liza’s place that she shares with Maggie (Debi Mazar) and while her ex Josh (Nico Tortorella) is visiting with his baby Gemma. While Liza bonds with Gemma, Charles takes it as her bonding with Josh instead. Liza stops Charles outside where he tells her the good news: the conductor will sign with Millennial. Then Charles says he helped Millennial get the deal. And Liza says that’s the problem: her success can’t depend on Charles.

While the episode emphasized the downturn Millennial is taking mostly due to Mercury coming on the market, it looks like it’ll segue back to the whole Charles and Josh rivalry over Liza.

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‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Face Speckled

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

Still in the throes of Nova (Rutina Welsey) revealing family secrets in her best-selling memoir, the Bordelons are picking up the pieces as the book climbs the charts.

The episode opens with Nova having nightmares with her younger self, an image of how her memoir is impacting her as family relationships deteriorate.

Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), Nova’s sister, gets a call from her ex-husband Davis (Timon Kyle Durrett) about his past affairs resurfacing in Nova’s book. Charley says she doesn’t want to be seen in public with him but knows her cleanup skills are impeccable, so she goes to help him.

Meanwhile, Nova is at a fireside chat for her book when a woman in the audience asks why Nova didn’t back her anecdotes with data. The woman argued the anecdotes as just Nova’s experiences are “self-aggrandizing” assumptions about the African-American community. She then calls Nova’s dismissal of data and theory a telltale mark of amateurism. Nova claims to be an “everyday black American,” and that is resounding with audiences.

It turns out the critical woman is Nova’s college professor (Cree Summer!). She was mad she got a sentence of nameless recognition in Nova’s book. She blames Nova for making a conscious effort to not mention her. Then they start making out on the table.

While packing up food from a catering gig, Violet tells Hollywood she’s scared again after Jimmy Dale returned in a previous episode.

Another kid told Blue (Ethan Hutchison) that Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) is not his father, the secret revealed in Nova’s book. Ralph Angel and Darla (Bianca Lawson) comforts Blue with saying he’ll never abandon him though he’s not his biological father.

One non-book reference that was a meaningful point in the episode involves immigration. Charley sees a thriving health care clinic for immigrants that her boyfriend doctor is running in the Bordelon warehouse. Until ICE shows up and families are separated. It could be said that Charley strives to be more charitable with the sugar cane business to prove its black ownership roots, something Nova criticized in her book.

In the next episode on July 24, Nova is shortlisted for the National Book Award.

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‘Younger’ TV Review: An Inside Glob

"Younger" Ep. 604 (Airs 7/10/19)

The publishing industry TV show that centers on a 40-something woman lying about her age to get a job has evolved into focusing on the imprint and her friend who runs it.

Liza (Sutton Foster) shares at the beginning of the episode with her friend Maggie (Debi Mazar) that her boyfriend Charles (Peter Hermann) may be funding a secret company, a competitor against Millennial, the imprint she works at. That secret company could be Mercury, an upstart by former Millennial associate Zane (Charles Michael Davis), that took a big book deal from Millennial.

One of the highlights of this show is the book titles it comes up. In this episode, it’s The Seasoned Slut by a longtime romance author, who’s been with the original Empirical that has now become Millennial. The author is concerned that the established Empirical became the youth-centric Millennial, when it doesn’t fit with her age and readership demographic.

Kelsey (Hilary Duff), the new CEO of Millennial and a former flame of Zane, decides to hunt down Mercury headquarters. Her GPS leads her to a crowded co-working space. Once she spots Zane, she accuses him of sleeping with Audrey, his new client, who was originally meeting with Millennial.

Liza discusses The Seasoned Slut Metrocycle marketing campaign with the author, who’s not buying the campaign. She says she built her career at Empirical when Kelsey was an assistant. She also adds that her readership doesn’t ride bikes. Her contract with Millennial is hanging on a thread.

At dinner, Charles arrives at Maggie’s apartment where Maggie’s new lover (Nicole Ari Parker! Not a lot of women of color guest stars), Kelsey, and Liza are sitting at a table full of food. Kelsey asks Charles if she heard about Mercury. Charles dodges the question.

“Younger” Ep. 604 (Airs 7/10/19)

Liza approaches Charles about being the investor of Mercury. She said she knows what a liar looks like because of her lying about being 26 when she’s 40 for the past five seasons. Charles admits he’s behind Mercury since it’s his turn to build his own company since Empirical belonged to his father. Liza argues Charles can’t be on the board of Millennial while creating a competitor. So Charles asks Liza to keep the secret. And she does.

The next day, Kelsey is chasing the romance author at the restaurant to convince the author to not sign with Mercury. Liza tries to intercept. Kelsey tells the author that Zane is a former employer with a personal vendetta against Millennial. But the author says she doesn’t know Zane; she’s there to meet Charles. Cue Charles and Zane walking up to the table. (A lot of pivotal moments this season are happening at fancy restaurant tables).

Kelsey has a WTF moment, accusing Charles of funding Mercury. She yells about the back-stabbing and blames them for her newly diagnosed alopecia (yasss for awareness).

Onlookers’ smartphones capture Kelsey’s meltdown. The video makes the rounds on the digital literary circuit that same afternoon. Liza notifies Kelsey that three other authors have just jumped ship from Millennial to Mercury to have the “gray hair in the room,” code for older white man boss. Charles, that boss, had resigned from the board an hour earlier.

A fun note is Josh (Nico Tortorella) reading the author’s erotica to his newborn to quiet her. This episode shows how when publishers change, some authors might not see the change helping them succeed, such as the bike campaign for an older adult erotica book.

The stress of being the CEO of a flailing company is getting to Kelsey, who now has severe hair loss. Her leadership is questioned in different ways each week, but the chain of events has hit the fan and is affecting her body. Next episode should show the fallout over the competing publishers and bring up another aspect of female bosshood.

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what's lit

‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Skin Transparent

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

The fallout from Nova’s (Rutina Wesley) memoir is still stirring up drama, but in this episode we get more insight on another family secret unbeknownst to most family members.

The episode starts with Nova’s nephew and her sister Charley’s (Dawn-­Lyen Gardner) son Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) going to stay with Nova with plans to attend her upcoming book-signing. Sitting with his mother, Micah wonders how long the silent treatment will stay enforced among the Bordelons.

The family matriarch and aunt Violet (Tina Lifford) can’t sleep, claiming recipes are running through her head, but Hollywood pushes for her to talk about the situation with Jimmy Dale (guest star David Alan Grier), her abusive ex-husband who reappeared after communicating with Nova on her book.

Nova creeps around Violet’s restaurant since she had been banned from being around her aunt, but is turned away by an employee. Nova then calls her brother Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), who doesn’t pick up. News comes about her getting a six-week book tour due to her glowing The New York Times review. That news, of course, moves her attention away from the family and back on her success.

Charley tries to team up with the other female shareholder to go against the Landrys, the sugar cane empire family that had once owned her ancestors. But the shareholder tells Charley to back off because the Landrys are too powerful. So Charley sashays into a country club to approach a Landry about a highway proposal that would gut Bordelon land. The woman tells Charley that she had read Nova’s book with Charley clapping back on the book with a comparison to “sentimental dribble.”

While Charley recovers from her business-heavy moves, she gets home only to meet her ex-husband’s daughter from an extramarital affair. These affairs are described in Nova’s book with Charley paying off another mistress, so that drama haunts her with the publicity from the book and now a breathing part of evidence from an affair is right in her home.

At the book-signing for Blessing and Blood, Nova reads from a recently added chapter called “Buried Memories” about her father being beaten by three white men at a fishing trip to protect his daughter. She read she would wander the sugarcane fields at night, and on one night, she saw her father bury something into the ground. This is an addition to the book. Her ex-girlfriend comes up to her during the book-signing session and asks about Nova’s family not being there, visible with the empty chairs in the front. She gives Nova a kiss on the lips.

Darla (Bianca Lawson), Ralph Angel’s ex-fiancee and mother of their son Blue (Ethan Hutchison), receives Nova’s book and reads the details of her drug-fueled prostituting nights with baby Blue sitting in the corner. In a flash, she bursts into Nova’s door describing her shock that her past life is in those pages. Nova tries to clean it up; Darla’s name and identifying marks have been changed. This doesn’t sit well with Darla, who keeps telling Nova that she didn’t think of Blue’s feelings since he will eventually read about his mother’s past life.

Charley tells Violet and Ralph Angel at the restaurant that Micah asked about the added chapter in Nova’s book. Violet said she doesn’t know what her brother did that night Nova recalled when she was younger, but he had been worried about Nova getting sexually assaulted by those three white men until that night. Vehemently, Violet defends her brother about him and everyone else having the right to keep a secret between themselves and God.

Darla is hysterically crying on her porch about having to tell Blue the truth while Violet is doing the same in her bathroom with Hollywood hearing the muffled cries as the bathwater runs. As the family falls apart, Nova carries her heavy suitcases out the door for her book tour.

The depth of the secrets are felt in this episode. And Nova switches from concern about the book’s aftermath on her family to excitement when she receives good news from her literary agent and publisher. She still looks bad for unveiling her family’s secrets for money and success, yet she’s torn on what to do about it since her family blocks her apologies. More secrets will be revealed, or at least, there will be more coming out of the secrets we know now.

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what's lit

‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Where My Body Stops or Begins

Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 -- "TBD" -- Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

The season so far is wrought by the impact of Nova’s (Rutina Wesley) book that the family didn’t see coming.

The episode starts with Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe) returning from vacation with Nova’s book in hand, in which his mother Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) is questioned about why she paid her ex-husband’s mistress millions to keep quiet and working for the sugarcane company ran by descendants of the owners of the Bordelon family’s ancestors. Tough questions indeed.

In the next scene, Nova is asking her agent what to wear for an interview with an audience of psychologists when she gets word of The New York Times review for book that’s called “a love letter” on race, culture, and identity. The critics love the book putting a microscope on the Bordelons.

Nova is soon sitting on a talk show similar to OWN’s Iyanla, Fix My Life with a family asking for guidance on how to mend a sisterly relationship. They want advice on how Nova and Charley became closer. Of course, that relationship is strained over the contents in the book yet the general public doesn’t know it yet…

Meanwhile, Charley is arguing over her shareholder voting status at the company. Again, the company Nova criticized her for being a part of because of their family’s slavery history. And Charley is given the how-you-should-be-grateful-to-be-in-the-room-since-you’re-a-black-woman speech by her colleague about her dividends.

Violet’s shadow-lurking surprise guest, who gave her such a fright that she fainted in her restaurant, appears to be her abusive ex-husband named Jimmy (David Alan Grier). Elsewhere, Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) tells Darla (Bianca Lawson) that the revelation of him not being Blue’s (Ethan Hutchison) biological father is in Nova’s book. “I didn’t read much after that part. I couldn’t,” he tells her as Darla gets teary about the thought of little Blue discovering the truth.

Jimmy comes back to Violet’s house later and demands to talk to her. He says he wants them to get on the right track, and Violet is hypnotized (in a bad way) by the sight of him. She shrinks, then speaks up. “You’re the last person who can talk about dignity, Jimmy Dale,” she yells. “Get out of my house!”

Nova appears and asks Jimmy why he’s there. Jimmy says it’s nice to see Nova again, which has Violet questioning if they had spoken recently.

“Whatever you did to bring this to my doorstep, it cannot be explained,” Violet tells Nova. Then Nova shoves Jimmy away from Violet until the women are pushing him out the door. But luckily Hollywood, Violet’s new husband, approaches from the driveway and repeatedly punches Jimmy on the lawn.

Nova says she had visited Jimmy for her book to get his point-of-view on his marriage to Violet. “My intention wasn’t to hurt anyone” is her pathetic excuse.

Violet tells Nova that her late parents would be ashamed and told her to leave her home. “I don’t want to look at you. I don’t want to talk to you. Not right now, not tomorrow, what I’m feeling in 10 years can’t put enough distance between us… This is the last time I let you in this house, Nova Bordelon.”

Nova leaves the house. But the greed to craft that Ta-Nehisi Coates-like memoir and using her family as a prop to fetch the fame and status as a culturally woke critic is so overpowering in this episode. Nova brought back someone who obviously was abusive to her beloved aunt. Maybe she didn’t think Jimmy would show up at Violet’s door, but the traumatizing fear a woman may have over an abusive partner returning from the grave she mentally placed him in was shown brilliantly in those scenes.

Another matter was how Blue, who’s about 7 years old, will learn maybe before he should about his true paternity that could send him into a tailspin, questioning the only family he’s ever known. While on the other hand, Micah is a teenager, so him finding out about his mother’s actions against his father’s indiscretions sure would leave a bad taste in his mouth but he’s mature enough to understand the product of the NBA world his family had been in for so long.

This season is wonderfully showing how one’s memoir could ignite a fire with the power to destroy a family. When a memoir is written, do we later see the aftermath from others who are in the story? Is there a sufficient post-memoir describing the interactions between friends and family during the memoir’s release? It’s an interesting concept that writers may not take into consideration because they own their stories, but others may feel violated by that ownership.

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what's lit

‘Younger’ TV Review: The Unusual Suspect

"Younger" Ep. 603 (Airs 6/26/19)

The overarching theme of the season is Kelsey (Hilary Duff) taking over the publishing house as a millennial woman and picking up the pieces of the financially strapped company.

The episode starts with Liza (Sutton Foster) and Charles (Peter Hermann) acting in a true crime fantasy at an art museum according to the story on the popular Exonerated podcast.

From last week’s episode, investor Quinn (Laura Benanti) has been experiencing best-seller list bliss for the past three weeks to Kelsey’s dismay after the Lean In-like book, Claw, failed to reach audiences during a pre-sale experiment. Quinn notifies Kelsey about the book trending on Twitter and her plans to be interviewed for The Cut. She then requests Kelsey to interview her.

“How does the book everyone hated made it debut at No. 10 on the best-seller list and continues to rise?” Kelsey poses the question to Liza and Diana (Miriam Shor) after Quinn leaves her office. An smh moment.

They go into a meeting with Audrey Colbert (Willa Fitzgerald), the alleged murderess in the Exonerated podcast. Diana skips the meeting out of fear. “Do you think I did it?” Audrey asks an anxious Kelsey and Liza. She emphasizes she needs a publisher who trusts her and doesn’t think she committed the murders since she’s now an international supervillain. The book can clear her name. After the awkward meeting, Kelsey and Liza learn later that they weren’t the only ones being pitched Audrey’s book, but so was half the major publishers.

Audrey’s agent, the nosy Redmond (Michael Urie), later tells Kelsey that Claw has suspicious sales with bulk purchases and Chinese bots inserting the title all over social media. He lets them know that’s the real gossip on the street.

Kelsey and Liza approach Quinn at the fancy Ardmore Club, disbeliving she’s being blamed for phony sales. When they tell her they have evidence from their peers, Quinn admits she faked the best-selling novel for her senatorial campaign since that shiny New York Times best-selling sticker will be on every cover of her book. Kelsey says this will ruin the business while Quinn argues the book will pump millions into the company. Quinn then threatens Kelsey about showing up at The Cut event for the book.

“No one will work with us if we throw an author under the bus,” Liza says.

When Liza gets home, she finds papers on the dining room table listing prices for the home. She asks Charles why he’s moving money around, and he says he just needs to with his unemployment. Like in the previous two episodes, it seems like Charles and Kelsey’s sometimes beau Zane (Charles Michael Davis) are in cahoots as if they’ll create their own rival publishing house.

At The Cut event, everything seems to be going smoothly until the Q&A part of the fireside chat. One woman tells Kelsey and Quinn about the dagger next to Quinn’s best-selling status, and the dagger means suspicious bulk sales. Quinn laughingly says it’s due to colleges and universities requesting the book to use for syllabi, then she moves the spotlight to Kelsey.

Kelsey maintains her composure. She admits to the bulk sales, but they’re also due to forthcoming events as Quinn plans to throw her hat in the California Senate race. It sparks applause, when Quinn and Kelsey faux hug where Quinn threatens Kelsey about what she’s done since that type of announcement is reserved on a stage of higher magnitude. Kelsey just tells her to enjoy the applause.

The next day, Kelsey, Liza, and Diana learn Mercury nabbed the Audrey Colbert deal. They never heard of this competitor until Redmond lets them know Zane is the publisher of Mercury and the deal stands at $800,000. Their men were in cahoots building their own company! Then the episode ends with Liza’s eyes popping open because she knows Charles had something to do with it. Her boyfriend whom she got hooked onto Exonerated.

Yes, Kelsey’s and Liza’s love lives got more complicated with the clandestine creation of competitor Mercury by their men. An extra episode highlight is Nicole Ari Parker guest starring as a post-childbirth vagina support group leader who Maggie (Debi Mazar) meets after being traumatized by Josh’s (Nico Tortorella) green card wife having a baby in their Uber.

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what's lit

‘Little Fires Everywhere’ Rounds Out Casting for Hulu Adaptation

Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon star and produce the Hulu adaptation of "Little Fires Everywhere." Instagram

Celeste Ng’s best-selling novel, Little Fires Everywhere, is gearing up for its TV debut as casting decisions are being finalized.

According to Deadline, the last major character from the book, Bebe Chow, has been casted and will be played by Chinese actress Huang Lu. Joshua Jackson, originally of Dawson’s Creek fame and recently of When They See Us, was also one of the last to round out the cast and will play Bill Richardson, the workaholic attorney patriarch of a family in crisis when the novel opens up to his youngest daughter, Isabella, missing as their home burns. Intricately weaving the tale of the Richardsons with matriarch Elena and the four children and their relationship with their new vagabondish tenants, Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl, the story also evolves into a custody fight between another two mothers that has divided Elena and Mia along with the 1990s Shaker Heights, Ohio community.

Before the novel was released in 2017, Reese Witherspoon bought the rights, which she had first done with Gone Girl. It has become her specialty: to buy the rights for television and film purposes before the book hits shelves. This time it will be with her Hello Sunshine brand, most known for its monthly book club. Currently starring in the second season of HBO’s Big Little Lies, which already reached the deadly ending of Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name, Reese is working on the Little Fires Everywhere project with Scandal star Kerry Washington.

This will be Kerry’s first major project with her production company, Simpson Street. It was behind her most recent Broadway play, American Son, which is the debut of playwright Christopher Demos-Brown and directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon.

Celeste, Reese, and Kerry will be executive producers for the eight-episode limited series. According to IMDB and Deadline, the casting for the major characters are complete.

Elena Richardson will be played by Reese Witherspoon.

Mia Warren will be played by Kerry Washington.

Pearl Warren will be played by Lexi Underwood.

Bill Richardson will be played by Joshua Jackson.

Izzy Richardson will be played by Megan Stott.

Lexie Richardson will be played by Jade Pettyjohn.

Trip Richardson will be played by Jordan Elsass.

Moody Richardson will be played by Gavin Lewis.

Bebe Chow will be played by Huang Lu.

Linda McCullough will be played by Rosemarie DeWitt.

Restaurant manager (where Mia and Bebe work) will be played by Paul Yen.

Little Fires Everywhere landed at Hulu following a multiple-outlet bidding war and will also be under the umbrella of ABC Signature Studios along with Hello Sunshine and Simpson Street. Liz Tigelaar (Casual, Life Unexpected), Lauren Neustadter, Pilar Savone and Lynn Sheldon will all executive produce. Award-winning mystery novelist Attica Locke is also one of the writers, as seen in the show’s Instagram account, fresh from working on Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us.

“At Hello Sunshine, we strive to shine a light on female-driven stories that are rooted in inspiration, emotion and truth – all of which form the bedrock of Celeste Ng’s ingenious work,” Reese said in the March 2018 Hulu press release first announcing the project. “Hulu has a rich history of transforming groundbreaking literature into groundbreaking television, and we are confident that their talented team will use this story to spur a long-overdue dialogue around race, class, and what it means to be a mother. With Kerry Washington, Liz Tigelaar and now Hulu, Hello Sunshine has brought together a dream lineup of creative collaborators, and we are privileged and humbled to have the opportunity to work with them to bring this important project to life.”

“As producers, we at Simpson Street are so proud to be part of this team to tell this extraordinary story inspired by Celeste Ng’s phenomenal novel and we are thrilled to be embarking on this journey with Hulu,” Kerry said in a press release. “As an actress, I am floored to have the opportunity to work alongside Reese Witherspoon exploring the rich themes of this story playing these dynamic characters.”

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what's lit

‘Younger’ TV Review: Flush with Love

"Younger" Ep. 602 (Airs 6/19/19)

How much should an investor on a publisher’s board get involved in the business when she wants her book to be published? That’s the question highlighting the season’s second episode.

Quinn (guest star Laura Benanti), the chief financial officer-type from last week’s episode, turns out to be an investor on the board. She wants her book to be the first release of the revamped publisher. In the beginning of the episode, Diana (Miriam Shor) asks why is the company now looking at focus groups for their books. It turns out Kelsey (Hilary Duff) wants to ensure the success of her first book release as CEO.

The focus group loathes the book with a passion. One woman asks why is the author being given a voice while another is crying about how she wants to un-read it. Liza (Sutton Foster) says her edits weren’t taken seriously therefore didn’t happen, so the book may stay rough and unlikable.

At lunch, Kelsey and Liza invite Quinn to a fancy restaurant where Quinn gifts them with gold-plated business card holders. Then Kelsey suggests holding Quinn’s self-help empowerment book Claw for the spring since it needs more edits when at the moment it’s coming off as “anti-woman.”

Quinn brushes it off and emphasizes how her vote brought Kelsey to her CEO role.

“If a writer doesn’t want to take notes, they might as well self-publish,” Liza hints aloud.

Yet Quinn, determined, remains steadfast that her book is fine. She then starts slamming the table with a cheer: “Guess who wrote a masterpiece? It will be our first release!” The rumble gets louder with diners looking their way at the commotion. Kelsey is confused while Quinn says the cheer rhythm is from her 1998 cheer competition, which Liza brings up the incessant mentions of high school in the book. Quinn keeps going with the cheer until Kelsey and Liza join her to stop it. After lunch, Kelsey asks what happened. Liza interjects it from Chapter 3 of Claw called “Charm and Disarm.”

Now working to save the company from not publishing Quinn’s book first during her new stint as CEO, Kelsey has been in talks with Reese Witherspoon about a screenplay she calls “sexy, millennial and set in the fashion world.” The screenwriter can produce a novel in a month after submitting a test chapter. Liza is uncertain about the quick change of events, but Kelsey is convinced that the simple mention of Reese Witherspoon will force Quinn out of the way.

Later on, Liza drops that she told her current boo/former publisher Charles about the work drama with Quinn. Kelsey doesn’t like the sound of this. She takes it as her actions being scrutinized for her not being prepared to be a CEO since she’s 28. She tells Liza to schedule a dinner with her and Quinn alone.

At the dinner, Quinn reveals she can’t have her book pushed to the spring because she plans to jump-start her senatorial campaign in California. Her book will help her become the “strong, independent voice.” But Kelsey resists.

“Every book that comes out of Millennial has to be the best it can be,” Kelsey pushes. Then she adds, “Board members don’t tell publishers what to do.”

Quinn dares Kelsey to publish Claw or she’ll never hear from her again. Kelsey puts a ballpoint pen in front of Quinn because she wants that in writing.

Other storylines include Josh (Nico Tortorella) becoming a father after a balloon mishap at the gender reveal party and Diana writing a magazine article about how much she loves her plumber boyfriend who usually gets the independent woman burn from her.

The last season, similar to the turn of events in last week’s premiere, show the series emphasizing the book pitches coming to the the publishing house will somehow relate to businesswomen empowerment with Kelsey as a millennial CEO. The series, again with its title, surrounds Liza lying about her age to compete in the publishing industry but also shows how younger people like Kelsey and her competitive boo Zane (Charles Michael Davis) are taking the helm with their pure diligence and ambition. Zane and Charles also seem to be secretly building their own publishing company, so hopefully that storyline turns out to be true in a future episode and cause even more havoc in their career goals and romantic lives.

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film reviews

Netflix Options Sarah Dessen Novels for Films

Pioneering young adult novelist Sarah Dessen will see three of her novels become films on Netflix as the streaming service announces the upcoming projects.

Sarah, who released her latest novel The Rest of the Story earlier this month, will turn the following books into cinematic pieces: Along for the Ride from 2009, which will be the first to see its onscreen adaption; This Lullaby from 2002; and Once and For All from 2017. Netflix provided summaries of each book below.

Along for the Ride

 

It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live. A job in a clothing boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.

This Lullaby

A New York Times bestseller. She’s got it all figured out. Or does she? When it comes to relationships, Remy’s got a whole set of rules. Never get too serious. Never let him break your heart. And never, ever date a musician. But then Remy meets Dexter, and the rules don’t seem to apply anymore. Could it be that she’s starting to understand what all those love songs are about?

Once and For All

After years facing brides with cold feet and badly behaved wedding guests, wedding planner Louna has become skeptical about romance and plans on remaining single during her last summer before college. Luckily, the busy wedding schedule provides plenty of legitimate excuses for Louna to avoid opportunities to meet potential dates. That changes when satisfying a particularly fussy bridal party requires hiring the bride’s brother, Ambrose.

No dates have been announced for the projects yet.

Sarah’s current novel The Rest of the Story centers on “big-hearted Emma Saylor, who reconnects with a part of her family she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl—and falls in love, all over the course of a magical summer.” Sounds like the perfect summer young adult read. Sarah’s first novel That Summer came out in 1996, making her one of the veteran young adult novelists still producing work today. (Author note: My favorite novels I read in high school by Sarah was Dreamland and This Lullaby mentioned above). According to her website, the New York Times best-selling novelist’s 14 books have been published in over 30 countries and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Her literary accolades include the 2017 Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association for outstanding contribution to young adult literature.

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what's lit

‘Younger’ TV Review: Big Day

"Younger" Ep. 601 (Airs 6/12/19)

The sixth and final season of Younger started with Millennial Imprint boss Kelsey taking the helm as the youngest publisher in New York City from longtime editor Charles, who gave his career up for his perpetually age-lying girlfriend Liza. The episode returns to Kelsey taking over as CEO and how her struggle may be reflected in the books the company will publish.

Younger centers around 42-year-old Liza (Sutton Foster) lying about her age with subtracting almost 25 years off to make it in the publishing world when she had taken time off to raise her now-college-aged daughter. She works with Kelsey (Hilary Duff), an actual 28-year-old taking the publishing world by storm, especially in this season with taking over their storied publishing house.

After Liza gets emotional seeing a facility worker unscrewing Charles’ (Peter Hermann) name plaque from his office and placing one with Kelsey’s name, she and Kelsey learn from their chief financial officer that Page Six plans to expose why Charles abandoned the company. It says he left for a 28-year-old whom he was having an affair with (he’s in his 40s with an estranged wife), which they all knew could be interpreted as Kelsey, diminishing her meteoric rise to CEO. Liza yells to the entire office that she’s the one Charles is dating. This rubs her former boss Diana (Miriam Shor) the wrong way, as she doesn’t know Liza’s secret of her real age and sees her as an opportunity-stealing millennial. And with Kelsey now being the boss also doesn’t sit well with Diana.

Later in the day, Kelsey learns the company’s finances are in trouble with revenue slipping away every day. After that meeting, she meets with a potential author, surprisingly a black woman since the diversity in the cast reflects the real publishing industry, who pitches her book, The Glass Cliff. It focuses on boss women and how they’re set up not to win. She gives the example of women usually inheriting the CEO role of distressed companies. Kelsey gulps at the mention of this, knowing she’s living that life.

Other plots pop up in the episode with Diana threatening to quit but being lured out of the decision with a Dolly Parton 9 to 5 karaoke stint, Charles buying a bed for Liza and him now that they’re more official, and Josh (Nico Tortorella) finding out he’s going to be a father to the Irish woman he had green card marriage with. But the overarching theme focused on Kelsey and how rising to the top is not what it’s cracked up to be. This will even extend in their book decisions like with The Glass Cliff and next week’s episode preview showing Kelsey trying to explain to her CFO that her book pitch sucks.

Like other shows, Younger produced a novel, Marriage Vacation, and the book review is available.

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what's lit

‘Queen Sugar’ TV Review: Pleasure is Black

For Show Promotion Only
Queen Sugar -- Ep 401 Photo Credit: Skip Bolen / 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved

Queen Sugar returned for its fourth season with Nova Bordelon (Rutina Wesley), the activist journalist of the sugarcane business family, preparing for the launch of her book and realizing her family might not be ready for it.

In the beginning of the episode, Nova is creating a video about Blessing and Blood, looking confident while vaguely describing her “American family.” But minutes later, she’s at a restaurant chugging wine and telling her agent that she’s nervous about the impact of her memoir because she failed to prepare her family for its contents, even though she’s learned the New York Times plans to review the book.

“They know it’s coming, but they don’t know what’s in it,” Nova says.

Back in Louisiana, in their summer attire with umbrellas, the family parades up to aunt Violet (Tina Lifford)‘s new restaurant, Vi’s Prized Pies & Diner, where Nova’s antisocial demeanor stands out.

“This is the last we’ll see her serve anybody,” a woman tells Prosper (Henry G. Sanders), who works with the sugarcane business, as they chat with Nova serving behind the counter. She goes on to add her sister saw a billboard in New York City advertising Nova’s book that’s being compared to the works of Roxane Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates. “What’s the book about? Can we get a little preview? Or a taste?”

Violet’s new husband, Hollywood (Omar J. Dorsey), overhears the conversation. As Nova turns to the kitchen, Hollywood whispers his thoughts on the book to her.

“When do we get to read your book?” Hollywood asks. “You ain’t been shy about nothing you did. Something not right about that book.”

Nova hesitates.

Hollywood adds the family should’ve been prepared for what the memoir would entail because he has a feeling that family secrets have been spilled without permission.

Outside in the dining area, Violet expresses her dislike for her nephew Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) passing his son Blue like “day-old bread” in his custody exchange between his ex Darla (Bianca Lawson), who recently revealed he’s not Blue’s father. 1990s teen R&B sensation Tevin Campbell made his high-profile appearance singing at the festive opening as a Bordelon cousin.

Guiltily, Nova ambushes Charley (Dawn-­Lyen Gardner) at work the next day while her sister, dressed impeccably in a taupe pantsuit ready to head to women’s conference panel, is confused by the surprise. Nova hands her sister a copy of the manuscript and later visits her brother Ralph Angel to leave a copy as she wipes a tear away.

At the conference, Charley is getting revved up during her inspirational speech while receiving a leadership award until a reporter bombards her with questions in the crowd. The reporter claims she received an advanced copy of Nova’s manuscript and it read Charley had secretly paid off one of her basketball player ex-husband’s mistresses, which happened two seasons ago. Once Charley gets home, she pops the cork on a bottle of wine and chugs as much as she can before laying her eyes on the manuscript.

In the morning, she calls Ralph Angel to warn him to not look at the manuscript until she talks to him. On the car ride to talk to her brother, Charley calls her lawyer to send her sister a cease-and-desist over the book.

Meanwhile, Hollywood picks up the manuscript on Violet’s desk and reads the first page to see it disparages Violet calling her a self-proclaimed “strong black woman” but saying how she lived her life doesn’t show that evidence.

Elsewhere, Ralph Angel, intrigued by Charley’s warning to not look at the manuscript, decides to look at the manuscript. He reads the paragraph about how he has a “fragile ego” as it criticizes his drama with Darla for never questioning Blue’s paternity when she is a recovering drug addict.

Nova visits her father’s mausoleum at the cemetery, laying a fresh bouquet of flowers.

“I’m afraid, Daddy, that everybody will not understand what I’m doing, but I’m offering up my work to see that, to be better,” she cries on the ground. “Because I grew up with too many secrets. You did, too. And it’s time for us to be as free as you wanted us to be. Please give me the strength to see this through.”

The episode ends with a telling preview for the rest of the season with the memoir tearing the family apart while the audience waits to see what these secrets are. It’s interesting to see a TV series based on a book have a storyline where a personal story could be destructive to a family. The impact of memoirs doesn’t seem to be brought up in the book world as authors most likely don’t touch on the subject with their families or generally say their families are supportive. Queen Sugar, with the vision brought to the forefront by main producers Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey, will be a standout this season on examining the impact of a published book on a family.

“This is the last time I want to look at you,” Violet says to Nova in the preview.

‘Queen Sugar’ Shows How a Memoir Could Affect Your Family

Queen Sugar returns Wednesday, June 12 at 9 p.m. / Discovery Press Web

The new trailer for Queen Sugar‘s fourth season made a splash with seeing how the Bordelons handle the activist journalist-turned-author character’s memoir, which begs the question on how much can you reveal comfortably when your family will read your work?

Nova Bordelon, played by Rutina Wesley, has turned her career of black community journalism into a memoir about her family’s rise in the sugarcane industry as they are the only African American owners to create a sustainable business in St. Josephine Parish, Louisiana. Yet, like with many families across cultures, there is deep-rooted tension that never came to the surface until Nova decides to put it to pen in what looks like will be a successful memoir. The success drives a wedge between each family member with her sister Charley, played by Dawn-Lyen Gardner, accusing Nova of the pages showing how much she hates her.

The season starts Wednesday, June 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The critically acclaimed OWN series is based on Natalie Baszile’s 2014 novel of the same name that added Ava DuVernay’s cinematographic vision to upgrade the overall story.

 

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Mystery Novelist Attica Locke Lends Writing Talent to Netflix’s ‘When They See Us’

Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on a true story. / Netflix

Acclaimed novelist Attica Locke joined a National Association of Black Journalists Los Angeles panel Wednesday in Hollywood along with actors Niecy Nash and Blair Underwood for their new Netflix series When They See Us, featuring the true-life stories of the boys who had become known as the Central Park Five.

Based in Los Angeles, Attica has written award-winning novels The Cutting Season, Pleasantville, Black Water Rising, and Bluebird, Bluebird, which was picked up by FX in 2017 for a TV series. A sequel titled Heaven, My Home will be out in September.

Attica Locke / Mel Melcon, Los Angeles Times

As a writer and producer, Attica said the Ava DuVernay project, which includes Oprah and Robert DeNiro as producers, was the highest outlet for her talent with the social justice aspect. The four-episode series available on Netflix this weekend surrounds the New York City case convicting five teenage African American and Latino boys over the rape of a white investment banker who received the moniker of Central Park Jogger. The 1989 event and the subsequent trials revived racial tensions within the city and country, infamously including an $85,000 New York Times ad from Donald Trump calling for the death penalty for the boys. The woman, who was later revealed to be Trisha Meili in a 2004 memoir, survived the attack though still experiences cognitive difficulties.

The case is now examined by journalism scholars who find the media coverage 30 years ago had a racial tinge with most articles never saying these boys—Antron McCray, 15, Kevin Richardson, 15, Yusef Salaam, 15, Raymond Santana, 14, and Korey Wise, 16—”allegedly” committed the crime, a necessarily placed word to let the masses know their innocence was probable. Terms such as “wolf pack” and “wilding” dominated headlines along with “bloodthirsty,” “animals,” “savages” and “human mutations,” according to the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism and research organization. It added newspaper columnists such as New York Post’s Pete Hamill wrote the teens hailed “from a world of crack, welfare, guns, knives, indifference and ignorance…a land with no fathers…to smash, hurt, rob, stomp, rape. The enemies were rich. The enemies were white.”

In 2002, after the boys became men in prison from sentences ranging from 6 to 13 years, convicted murderer and rapist Matias Reyes admitted to the rape. His DNA matched the samples collected from the crime scene, and detectives said he knew details about the crime that was never released to the public. He’s serving a life sentence.

The next year, the five wrongfully convicted men filed a civil lawsuit against New York City for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. The charges against them were vacated, and they eventually received a $41 million settlement in 2014.

Reams of articles from the time were prepared by the When They See Us staff for the actors to know the real people they will play on screen, the panel said. Attica added that watching the actual “confession” videotapes from the boys, who say they were coerced into those confessions for a crime they didn’t commit, “fucked her up.” She said it was difficult to watch the children without their parents saying they were a part of the crime when their statements contradicted each other. Niecy brought up in the discussion that mental health hotlines were available to the cast and staff over the emotionally heavy material, adding she had never seen an emphasis of self-care on a production set.

In November, Attica led a social media campaign against the Mystery Writers of America’s decision to bestow a lifetime achievement award to Linda Fairstein, the Central Park Five prosecutor who pushed for the convictions of the teens and eventually became a successful mystery novelist. The literary organization rescinded the award for the first time in its history after it said many members were also against the decision.