Charley Bordelon's Actions
- Why does she throw such a fit over Ralph Angel "technically" needing to be employed as a farmer to satisfy the legalities of his parole obligations? If she pays him minimum wage up front, she can just deduct that from his share of the profits down the road.
- And why, after strong advice to plant only a 200-300 acre section of the 800-acre farm for sugarcane, does she then refuse to let Ralph Angel use some of the fallow land for a much easier soybean crop and help bump up the profit margin? Given that Prosper and Remy both see nothing wrong with doing that, it stands to reason that the other cane farmers probably do plant their own soybean crops on marginal or fallow land that couldn't be planted with sugar - thus, her argument that the cane farmers might be displeased with that tactic and refuse to mill their cane at her mill is rather weak.
How much time has passed?
The passage of time works very strangely in this show. Per some art Nova created commemorating the family, Earnest died on May 5, 2016, meaning that's when the first episode occured. At the time Micah is 15 years old. As of the start of season 2, Micah turns sixteen on Juneteenth (June 19, implicitly 2016), implying that the duration of time from s1e1 to s2e1 is approximately six weeks. In the season 2 finale, Nova's phone shows a date of "Monday October 2" and there are multiple references to "President Trump," implying that 17 months have passed and we're now in 2017 (Trump was inaugurated in January 2017 and October 2 was a Monday in 2017). So season 1 takes about six weeks, season 2 appears to last over a year, but the farm is just having its first harvest at the end of season 2. There are also repeated references to Charley only being in town for a few "months" further adding to the confusion.
Timeline
As a response to the head scratcher above, I have a timeline. Yes, time in the show moves oddly but you have to listen closely because they explain it and talk about it in casual conversation.
SEASON 1, EPISODE 1
- Blue’s birthday – Sunday, May 3, 2016 (Saying this is Sunday is a guess, because on a real calendar of 2016 May 3 is a Tuesday. But just from the way they speak in the show we know that Ernest died on May 5 and according to Blue his birthday party was on the weekend. The night Ernest is rushed to the hospital, Blue's teacher tells Ralph Angel that she'll bring Blue to school with her in the morning, meaning the party had to be on Sunday. Also, early in the episode Hollywood tells Ralph Angel that he's shipping out on Tuesday and we see him leaving the hospital on what we can presume to be Monday night. After Ernest dies on Tuesday morning, we see Hollywood return to Violet that evening to comfort her.)
- Ernest’s death – Tuesday, May 5, 2016
SEASON 1, EPISODE 2
- Nova tells Calvin that the funeral is on Saturday, so we can assume – May 9, 2016
SEASON 1, EPISODE 3
- Charley says it’s been 4 days since they buried Ernest - May 13, 2016
SEASON 1, EPISODE 7
- It’s supposedly been a month since the start of the show - June-ish, 2016
SEASON 2, EPISODE 1
- Micah’s birthday - June 17, 2016
- Juneteenth - June 19, 2016
SEASON 2, EPISODE 3
- Landry tells the siblings they’ve only been in the cane business for 3-months - July 31, 2016 (They inherited their farm from Ernest in May after he died. Since Juneteenth was 6-weeks from Ernest’s death, another 6-weeks takes us to July 31, making a full 3-months.)
SEASON 2, EPISODE 4
- Violet tells him he’s been there 3-weeks - August 21, 2016 (Since it seems like the day after the rig explosion, Violet and Hollywood spent the entire day together, with Hollywood deciding to quit the rig that evening. 3-weeks from that and him being home would be August 21.)
SEASON 2, EPISODE 5
- Darla says she lost her job 2-weeks ago - September 4, 2016 (For us we know Darla lose her job at the end of the previous episode)
SEASON 2, EPISODE 8
- Darla has her 2-year anniversary of being sober - November 2016? (At the start of the show, Darla said she was 18-months sober. If she's now 24-months sober. That means it's been 6-months since the start of the show. Since the show began in May. 6-months from May is November.)
Also, it takes a full year for sugarcane to be ready for harvest. Which is why at the end of S2 when they harvest it's 2017.
To conclude, time jumps drastically depending on the episode and you have to listen closely to the little things they say mid-conversation to pick up on it.
