Series / Queen Sugar

The Bordelon Siblings: Ralph Angel (left), Nova (center), and Charley (right)

Queen Sugar is an America family drama airing on OWN. It was created, directed, and produced by Ava DuVernay. Oprah Winfrey is also a producer. The series is based on the novel by Natalie Baszile. It tells the story of three siblings who are forced to work together to run the family sugarcane farm after the unexpected death of their beloved father. The series premiered on September 6, 2016 and ran for seven seasons, with the series finale airing on November 29, 2022.

Nova, the eldest, is a determined journalist and activist trying to change the corrupt New Orleans police department. Charley, the middle child, lives a charmed life in Los Angeles until a scandal threatens to tear her family apart. Ralph Angel, the youngest, struggles to get his life back together after being released from prison.

It stars Rutina Wesley as Nova Bordelon, Dawn-Lyen Gardner as Charley Bordelon West, and Kofi Siriboe as Ralph Angel Bordelon. Also featured are Tina Lifford as Violet "Vi" Bordelon, Omar Dorsey as Hollingsworth "Hollywood" Desonier, Dondre Whitfield as Remy Newell, Bianca Lawson as Darla Sutton, Timon Kyle Durrett as Davis West, and Nicholas L. Ashe as Micah West.

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Tropes

• Aborted Arc: Charley's story arc of running for Congress is pushed into the background of season 7 after she's Demoted to Extra.
• Affair? Blame the Bastard: Completely averted. Charley is furious and horrified when she learns that Davis had been hiding an illegitimate daughter named Tia for most of their marriage, but directs all her anger at him for cheating. She doesn't want a close relationship with Tia, but encourages her son to bond with his half-sister.
• Amicable Exes:
  • Nova and Chantal by season 4, though its hinted that Chantal wants them to get back together.
  • Nova and Calvin. Despite the messy end of their relationship and the fact that Calvin got divorced because of their affair, they're still on good terms. After getting back together and breaking up several times, they end the series together.
  • Davis takes care Charley after she comes down with COVID-19 and sincerely takes responsibly for how he has hurt her. This makes her realize that he's not irredeemable and she's ready to forgive him.
  • As of season 7, Ralph Angel is on friendly terms with his ex-girlfriend Trinh.
  • Micah and Keke remain on good terms following their break-up.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The Bordelon siblings argue a lot, but at the end of the day they've always got each other's backs.
• Babies Ever After: In the finale Nova and Calvin settle down in a house she inherited from her cousin Martha and it's implied that Nova is pregnant.
• Back for the Finale: Remy and Jacob return for the final episode of the series to help the Bordelons regain their land.
• Batman Gambit: Sam Landry sets up an impressive one in season 6. He sent one of Ralph Angel's associates, Theo, to convince him to help steal from Landry Enterprises to pay off his debts. He also poisoned the sugar cane to make sure Ralph Angel wouldn't have any money coming in from the harvest. Then Theo went to the police, Ralph Angel landed in legal trouble, and Sam dropped the charges against Theo. However, by the end of the seasons the Bordelons are able to outmaneuver him by convincing Theo to tell the truth, getting the Black Farmers' Collective to sabotage a Landry project, and getting the farm declared a historic landmark due to a mass grave that was found on the property.
• Berserk Button:
  • Nova screams at Charley for trying to make the post-funeral repast too much like a upscale banquet rather than a gathering of loved ones.
  Nova: We don't honor our father by sitting friends and family outside in fancy tables. We don't honor our father by having strangers serve those grieving. We serve comfort food to those who need comfort and we do it with our own hands!
  • Charley walks onto the basketball court as Davis is playing and demands to know if he really did rape an escort, as a video uploaded to the internet implies.
  • Ralph Angel pulls a gun on a man for trying to reposes his father truck. It's not the repossession itself that angers him, but the feeling that his life is changing too much and there's nothing he can do to stop it.
• Betty and Veronica: Nova's Betty is a vivacious black woman named Chantal who shares many of her ideals. Her Veronica is Calvin, her white cop boyfriend who opposes some of her activist work.
• Big Bad: The Landrys, with their constant attempts to sabotage the Bordelons' farm.
• Big Sister Instinct: While a guest on a radio show, Nova defends Charley when the hosts start gossiping about the scandal surrounding her husband.
• Big Storm Episode:
  • A hurricane rips through Louisiana in 1.08 and afterwards the bodies of two migrant workers are found on the Bordelon property. It's later revealed that they weren't caught in the storm, but murdered for the money they were carrying.
  • Episode 7.07 has another storm episode. Ralph Angel and Micah get stuck in the farmhouse. Calvin attempts to reconcile with Nova.
• Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Nova's boyfriend, Calvin, is not only white, but a white police officer working for the department she antagonized. To make matters worse, he's married with kids.
• Blackmail:
  • Davis threatens to reveal that Charley forged his signature to get a loan for the mill if she doesn't agree to give him shared custody of Micah. Though later he claims it was just a bluff.
  • Darla threatens to come forward about her sexual assault allegations against Chase unless he signs over paternity rights to Blue, agrees to stay away from her and her family, and makes a huge donation to the St. Josephine's Farm Co-op. To enforce this, she has Hollywood secretly record Chase admitting to the rape.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Turns out to be the case with Nova and Billie's feud. Nova was wrong to slut shame Billie after she had been sexually assaulted, but Billie was wrong to out Nova as queer without her consent.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Micah is so scared after getting threatened by a cop and arrested that he pees his pants. The moment is far from comedic.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Charley and Micah both feel way this toward Davis after his sexual assault of an escort is uncovered.
  • Micah toward Nova after learning that she is dating a white cop.
  • Romero toward Charley after he learns that she forced migrant workers to work through a hurricane, ultimately leading to two deaths.
• Call-Back: In "Tossing in the Meadows" (season 6, episode 9), Ralph Angel apologizes to Blue for leaving him on the playground all the way back in "First Things First" (season 1, episode 1).
• Canon Foreigner: Nova didn't exist in the novel.
• Category Traitor: Charley's assessment of Parker Campbell, a black woman who's willingly working with Landry Enterprises and Old World Energy to start fracking in Saint Josephine's, something that will devastate the predominantly black community.
• Contrived Coincidence: In 7.07, Ralph Angel and Micah end up taking shelter from the storm in the farmhouse and Chase, Darla's rapist and Blue's biological father happens to end up there seeking shelter as well.
• Cheerful Child: Blue, Ralph Angel and Darla's six year old son.
• Child by Rape: Darla was heavily intoxicated the night Blue was conceived and doesn't learn until years afterward that two different men had sex with her. She wasn't in any condition to give consent to either of them.
• Children Are Innocent: Despite being furious and heartbroken that Davis cheated on her, Charley is nothing but nice to his young daughter Tia.
• Clear My Name: Charley is framed for the arson attack against Queen Sugar, but soon manages to prove that it was actually Frances.
• Closet Key:
  • It's heavily implied that Octavia was this for Nova. In season 7 its revealed that Nova had a girlfriend in high school, before meeting Octavia.
  • Isaiah is this for Micah.
• Coming-Out Story: Micah's arc in season 6 involves realizing that he has feelings for his male friend, Isaiah. He eventually confides in Nova, who's greatly supportive.
• Cool Aunt:
  • Vi is the voice of reason for the Bordelon clan and a maternal figure to the siblings.
  • Nova is this to both her nephews, but she's especially close to Micah. She even invites him to live with her during the week since his new school in Louisiana is much closer to her home than Vi's, where he and his mother live following her separation from his father. Charley forbids it because she doesn't like Nova's neighborhood.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: The Landry family. Between owning most of the land in the parish and running its only operational mill, they've got a complete stranglehold on the local sugar industry. This quality must have passed through the generations, since the Landrys used to own slaves, including ancestors of the Bordelons. Charley stands up to them, buys a rundown mill that she plans to restore, and gets the small farmers of the parish to side with her.
  • In season 2, they spy on the Bordelons using a drone, make threats against Blue, and hired desperate locals to steal from the farm.
  • In season 3, Charley finds out that they've been forcing farmers off their land as part of a plan to lease that land to the government for a private prison.
  • In season 4, Charley discovers that an energy company, Old World Energy, has been trying to buy up land in St Josephine's Parish to start fracking in the area. When the Landrys surveyed the land for the private prison, they found natural gas and teamed with the Old World Energy to take advantage. They are trying to redirect a proposed highway through St. Josephine's to make the fracking operation go more smoothly.
• Crocodile Tears: While arguing before the parish council to remove the landmark status of the Bordelon's farm, Parker gets teared up saying she just wants to honor her ancestors by giving them a proper burial. From their reactions, it's clear that the Bordelons don't believe she's being sincere.
• Custody Battle:
  • Charley tries to get full custody of Micah during her divorce from Davis, but Davis blackmails her into settling for joint custody with the fact that she forged his signature to get a loan for her sugar mill.
  • Ralph Angel ends his engagement to Darla after she confesses that Blue might not be his biological son, which is later confirmed to be the case by a DNA test. At her mother's urging, Darla attempts to gain full custody of Blue, which Ralph Angel resists by pointing out that, regardless of biology, his name is on the birth certificate and he's the only father Blue has ever known. Darla eventually drops the case and agrees to co-parent.
• Dark Secret: Prior to The American Civil War, the Bordelons used to be owned as slaves by the Landry family.
• Dead Guy Junior: Ralph Angel and Darla name their daughter True after Ralph Angel's late mother.
• The Dead Have Names: The Bordelon siblings are shaken after realizing they don't know the names of the two migrant workers who were killed on their property. Charley is hit hardest, since she believes they would have lived if she'd let them go home earlier.
• Deal with the Devil: Charley decides the best way to destroy the Landys and protect the farmers she works with is by selling her mill for a share of Landy Enterprises. Later she ends up allying with Sam Landry's nephew Jacob Boudreaux and sister Frances Boudreaux, who also want to take him down. Her family and community are all furious when they find out and regard her plan as this.
• December–December Romance: Prosper and Genevieve, who've known each other for decades, start a relationship in season 4. By season 7 they have broken up and Prosper moved on to another women named Sandra.
• Deep South: The Bordelons are from the fictional St. Josephine's Parish, Louisiana and Nova lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Charley lived in Los Angeles in the beginning of the series, but moves to help run the farm.
• Divorce Is Temporary: Double subverted. Charley and Davis start dating again in season 6 after their divorce in season 1. Charley even lampshades this when she posts a picture of them together captioned "Black Love never dies". However, when Davis proposes to her again, she turns him down because she's about the run for Congress. Later, Charley changes her mind and agrees to marry Davis again.
• Domestic Abuse: In season 6, Vi helps a woman named Celine who recently escaped an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband's abuse escalated during the pandemic and when he started hitting their son, Celine couldn't take it any longer and fled.
• Double Standard: Discussed. Darla and Ralph Angel learn that the Landrys are in debt but haven't lost their land yet. However, black farmers in the same position lost their land immediately.
• Dreadlock Rasta: Nova wears her hair in long dreadlocks and is a down-to-earth spiritualist and herbal healer. This contrasts her with Charley, who straightens her hair and lived a glamorous, fast-paced lifestyle in L.A.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Ralph Angel drives off and gets wasted after Darla confesses that Blue might not be his biological child.
• Drugs Are Bad: Darla's drug addiction is a major obstacle that she has to overcame. While she was an addict, she turned to sex work for money and neglected her son. Darla's mother details how difficult and terrifying it was to try to help her while she was addicted.
  Darlene: Do you know how it felt for us? Our daughter calling us, high, asking for money? Or high, screaming in pain? Or high, threatening to harm herself? And we are all the way across the country scared out of our minds?
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After years of dealing with racism, traumatic experiences, familial conflicts, and constant threats by the greedy, ruthless Landrys, the series ends with the Bordelons overcoming all of that to regain their land and live out their dreams as a family.
• Easily Forgiven: Averted. The Bordelons can really hold a grudge. Ralph Angel and Violet stay angry at Darla for her treatment of Blue while an addict even after she got clean. Charley never forgives Davis for cheating on her. After Nova publishes a tell-all book, it takes months for anyone but Micah to even speak to her. Violet has some personal history with Sam Landry that she still holds against him.
• Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: During the pandemic, Ralph Angel works as a janitor in a nursing home because he can't harvest sugar cane without enough employees and Darla lost her job.
• False Friend: Octavia tries to steal a writing opportunity from Nova and then pretends otherwise. Nova sees through it immediately.
• Family of Choice: Deconstructed. Prosper is extremely close to the Bordelons and they treat him like part of the family. When he ends up in a coma after being beaten by a cop, his daughter Billie refuses to let them be involved in his care and bans them from visiting him in the hospital. Since the Bordelons are not officially related to Prosper, there's nothing they can legally do to stop her.
• Fear of Thunder: Joaquin is afraid of storms, as shown in 7.07. He developed this fear after his uncle died in a hurricane.
• Feuding Families: The Bordelon family has an ongoing, multigenerational feud with the Landry family that stems from the Landrys' constant attempts to take the Bordelons' land, which used to belong to the Landrys until their ancestor sold it.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Ralph Angel, an ex-con who still engages in illegal activity and needs to find a job, is the foolish sibling. Charley, the wealthy sports manager, and Nova, the truth-seeking journalist, are the responsible siblings. Deconstructed because Ralph Angel is fully aware of this dynamic and finds it chafing. He considers his sisters' attempts to help him patronizing and doesn't think they have much faith in him.
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Prosper and Sandra get engaged after dating for only a few weeks. They go in their first date in 7.02, get engaged in 7.04, and marry in 7.10.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Nova sarcastically calls the Landry estate the "museum of our enslaved ancestors". It turns out the Landry family did once own the Bordelon family as slaves.
  • Frances complains that the men of her family have a "weakness" for black woman. It's later revealed that her grandfather married a black woman who passed for white and her brother Sam has a biracial daughter.
• Foster Kid: Violet and Hollywood become foster parents to Joaquin and Dante in season 7. After they return to their father, Violet and Hollywood decide to become foster parents on a permanent basis. At the end of the series, they take in a nine year old girl who has bounced around the foster system since her grandmother died.
• Gender Flip: Charley's son Micah was a daughter in the novel.
• Good Parents: In season 7 Vi and Hollywood become foster parents to Joaquin and Dante. They are both very understanding, compassionate, and encouraging to the boys while they go through a hard time. When their father eventually returns, Vi and Hollywood find it bittersweet, though they remain in the boys' lives.
• Happily Married:
  • Charley and her husband Davis are a wealthy, famous, and successful couple with a wonderful teenage son who adores them. However things between them become strained when Davis's sex scandal break out and Charley eventually files for divorce after learning about the plight of his mistress.
  • Violet and Hollywood get married in season 3. When another woman tries to kiss Hollywood, he bluntly rejects her and immediately tells Vi what happened.
• Heir Club for Men: Ernest left the farm to Ralph Angel, but not the girls.
• Honorary Uncle: The Bordelon siblings consider their aunt's boyfriend Hollywood to be part of the family, even during their temporary break-up. In season 3 he legally becomes their uncle after marrying Vi.
• Hourglass Plot: Charley and Nova, over the first four seasons. In season 1 Charley starts out more concerned about maintaining her celebrity lifestyle while Nova is a dedicated activist. In season 4 Nova gets caught up in fame after publishing a best-selling book while Charley is focused on fighting to protect the local farmers from white corporate executives.
• I Have No Son!: In season 4, Nova includes details of Violet being abused by her ex-husband, Jimmy Dale, in her book without telling Violet. In addition, she went to Jimmy herself to get his side of the story, which resulted in him returning to town to see Violet. After a fight ensued between Jimmy and Hollywood, Violet kicked Nova out of her house, saying she never wants to see her again. They're eventually able to reconcile.
• I Need a Freaking Drink:
  • In season 4 Charley has a Heroic BSoD and runs off to go day drinking in New Orleans without telling anyone. Her family and friends becomes increasingly worried about her safety until Nova finds her.
  • Darla nearly falls Off the Wagon after Leo breaks up with her. Then actually does after realizing she had been sexually assaulted.
  • Billie runs off to a bar after telling Violet, Prosper, and Hollywood that years ago Jimmy tried to rape her and no one defended her when he slut-shamed her to the whole parish.
• Innocence Lost: After the murder of George Floyd, Ralph Angel has to give Blue a difficult talk about racism and police brutality because as a black boy in America, he can't afford not to understand that people might target him because of his skin color.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • Calvin's daughter Courtney tries to be an ally to the Black community but repeatedly puts her foot in her mouth, which causes her to worry that she's actually a bad person. However, Nova assures Courtney that her heart is clearly in the right place; she just needs to educate and improve herself.
  • At Darla's baby shower, she and Charley bond over their similar experiences being pregnant. Then they notice that Violet, who never had biological kids before reaching menopause, looks uncomfortable and they feel awful for upsetting her.
• Instant Birth: Just Add Labor!: Darla's daughter is delivered so soon after her water breaks that there isn't enough time for the midwife to arrive.
• Internal Reveal: In "Line of Our Elders", Ralph Angel confesses to the rest of the family that he was the only child named in Ernest's will.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Ernest Bordelon and Remy Newell, who are appropriately aged to be father and son. Charley is initially surprised when she meets Remy because she expected him to be much older.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: Blue, Ralph Angel's son, plays with a doll named Kenya that he takes everywhere.
• Intrepid Reporter: Nova is tired of writing shallow reports at her boss's behest and instead launches her own investigation into the racism, inefficiency, and corruption in the NOPD.
• Irony: The Landry family are a bunch of racists and Frances in particular detests the idea of interracial relationships. It turns out Frances' grandmother was a white-passing black woman, making her technically part black.
• It's All My Fault: Charley blames herself for the deaths of two migrant workers in her employ. The workers had all wanted to go home, but she told them to work later than planned. The following morning, she found two of them lying dead in the fields and couldn't even identify them.
• Justified Criminal: Discussed. When a man named Henry Lee is hired by the Landrys to steal from the Bordelons, he's quickly caught by Ralph Angel. Lee claims he only agreed to the theft because he needs to take care of his family and Ralph Angel, having been in a similar position, sympathizes with him. Charley, on the other hand, wants him sent to jail so the Landrys will be exposed and scolds Ralph Angel for being too soft on him.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In 7.12 Sam Landry gets evicted from his land due to unpaid debts, the same fate that he had forced numerous black farmers to face.
• Likes Older Women: Hollywood is much younger than Vi, but he's completely devoted to her.
• Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: Nova's love interest in season 6, Dominic, is her new neighbor. They officially date in season 7, but breakup after he decides to take a new job abroad.
• Long-Lost Relative: In season 4, Nova learns that her mother had an estranged cousin that she never knew about.
• Love Triangle: All three siblings find themselves in one.
  • Nova has a boyfriend named Calvin, but falls for a woman named Chantal.
  • Charley's having a rough patch with her husband Davis and develops feelings for Remy.
  • Ralph Angel has a complicated relationship with Darla, the mother of his son, but has tender moments with Reyna, his son's teacher.
• Mama Bear:
  • Nova's crusade against the NOPD revolves mainly around the case of a teenager called Too Sweet whom Nova is desperately trying to get released from prison so he can start his life over.
  • Vi doesn't want Darla anywhere near Ralph Angel or Blue after the state she left them in due to her drug addiction.
  • Charley does everything in her power to keep the scandal from touching her son Micah. She also doesn't appreciate Nova interfering in his life without her permission.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Darla cheated on Ralph Angel while on a trip, shortly before she found out she was pregnant with Blue. It's later confirmed that Blue isn't his biological child, but everyone still considers him Ralph Angel's son. The reveal does end Ralph Angel's engagement to Darla, however. Later, Nova publishes the truth about Blue's parentage in her book, which causes one child to tell Blue he doesn't have a "real" daddy.
• The Mentor: Remy, one of Ernest's old friends, helps the Bordelon siblings learns to run a farm. Interestingly, he's around the same age as them due to his and Ernest's Intergenerational Friendship.
• Missing Mom:
  • Blue's mother Darla lost custody of him because of her drug abuse, though she's making effort to stay clean and be part of his life.
  • Nova and Ralph Angel's mother died before the start of the series. Charley's mother is often absent because of her busy schedule.
• The Missus and the Ex: Nova and Calvin run into Calvin's ex-wife Hailey at his grandfather birthday party. Hailey makes it clear that she's still angry about the affair and divorce. This leads to a confrontation in which Hailey insinuates that Calvin is only with Nova because he has a Race Fetish and Calvin tells Hailey that he never really loved her.
• The Mole: Charley becomes this for Landry Enterprises, using her newfound access to the company's records and her fellow board members' secrets in an attempt to destroy it from the inside.
• Momma's Boy: Charley's son Micah is closer to her than to his father, though he does still care about his dad.
• Montages: The series ends with a montage of Ernest's spirit proudly looking on as his family members all enjoy their happy endings.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Among the Landry family, Sam and Jacob may be slimeballs, but Frances is far more cold and calculating.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Nova regrets publishing the book of her family's secrets after seeing the damage it did to Charley.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Charley and Micah didn't make it to the hospital until just after Ernest passed away.
• Never My Fault: Chase refuses to accept responsibility for raping Darla and tries to harass her into staying silent about it.
• New Old Flame: In season 7, Nova reconnects her teenage ex-friend Camille.
• Not Me This Time: Sam and Frances both deny responsibility for the arson attack against Queen Sugar, though they aren't exactly torn up about it. Charley later finds out that Frances actually is responsible and has her arrested.
• "Not Really Married" Plot: Inverted. Parker is surprised to learn that her parents are still legally married after years of thinking they were divorced.
• Obnoxious In-Laws:
  • Averted with Davis and Ernest, who was his father-in-law. Davis, whose own father was never in his life, saw Ernest as a Parental Substitute and was genuinely grief-stricken when he died.
  • Vi did not get along with Ernest's first wife Lorna and much preferred his second wife True. In fact, Vi left Nova with the impression that Ernest cheated on True with Lorna, which wasn't the case.
  • Ernest hated Vi's ex-husband Jimmy and with good reason. Jimmy abused Vi throughout their marriage and at one point he and Ernest got into a physical altercation over it.
• Off the Wagon: Darla breaks her sobriety after inadvertently learning that she was sexually assaulted during a party.
• Old Maid: Discussed. While attending a baby shower for one of her friends, Nova and the other ladies talk about being single in middle age and their plans for starting families.
• Old People are Nonsexual: Averted. Older characters like Violet and Prosper sleep with their spouses. Them having sexual desire is framed as completely normal.
• Ominous Hair Loss: Violet's hairdresser becomes concerned when she notices that Violet's hair is falling out and recommends that she go to a doctor. When she does, Violet gets diagnosed with lupus.
• One Degree of Separation: Robert DuBois, Nova's love interest in season 2, once played against Davis in college.
• Oppressive Immigration Enforcement: In season 4 Charley and Romero start a clinic for undocumented migrant workers, but it gets raided by ICE. Despite their best efforts to stand up to the ICE agents, they're ultimately powerless to stop ICE from taking their patients into custody. During the raid, Romero is asked to show his documentation and mentions to Charley that it isn't the first time he's dealt with this. Among those detained are a father and his two eldest sons, while his two younger sons are left behind because they are US citizens by birth. The younger sons are eventually placed in foster case because their mother left and their father can't return to the US.
• Parental Neglect: Darla had custody of Blue for a time while Ralph Angel was imprisoned and she was too busy getting high to properly take care of him. The reason Vi didn't want to give legal guardianship of Blue back to Ralph Angel was to make sure Darla would never get her hands on Blue again. Vi does eventually relent.
• Parental Substitute:
  • Vi helps guide her nieces and nephew after her brother's death. She was also Blue's legal guardian for a while during Ralph Angel's incarceration. In season 5, when Vi opposes the plan to send Blue to private school in D.C., Ralph Angel has to remind her that she isn't Blue's parent and doesn't get to make decisions for him.
  • Ernest was a father figure to both Davis and Remy.
  • Defied with Charley. She point blank tells Davis that she refuses to be a surrogate mother to his daughter.
• The Patriarch: Ernest Bordelon was the glue that held to whole family together. His death leaves a huge hole in his children's and sister's lives.
• Platonic Co-Parenting: Siblings Ernest and Violet Bordelon raised Ernest's grandson Blue for a few years because Blue's father Ralph Angel and mother Darla were in prison and dealing with a drug addiction, respectively. Once Ralph Angel and Darla start getting their lives together, they gradually take over parenting responsibilities.
• Plot-Triggering Death: The death of Ernest Bordelon brings his three children together to run the family sugarcane farm.
• Police Brutality: This is a recurring element of the series. Nova is an activist who works tirelessly to expose how violent, racist, and corrupt the New Orleans Police Department is, which creates tension in her relationship with her boyfriend Calvin, who works as an officer in that very department. In season 5 it's revealed that Calvin broke a Black kid's back while working as a cop, leaving him paralyzed for life. Nova is horrified by this revelation and Calvin turns himself in to Internal Affairs to finally take responsibility for his actions.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The Landrys are racists who never stop trying to make a buck off the suffering of black people. Especially Frances, who is against interracial relationships and calls Charley a "mulatta" who's trying to be white and needs to be "put in her place".
• Precocious Crush: Betty fondly remembers that she had a crush on Ernest when she was 10 and he was 17.
• Private Profit Prison: In season 3, the Bordelons uncover a plot by the Landrys to force farmers off their land so that land can be used to build a private prison in the parish.
• Race Against the Clock: The main problem facing the farm in the first season is that the siblings need to get a harvest ready before its too late for anything to grow and the farm loses too much money.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: As soon a Ralph Angel realizes that Chase is the man who raped Darla years ago, he viciously attacks him and Micah has to hold him back.
• "Reason You Suck" Speech: Nova receives one from her former mentor (and lover), an academic named Octavia Laurent, who publicly criticizes her for not including any professional sources in her book and privately called Nova out for only mentioning her once in a single, vague line.
• The Reveal: Sam and Frances's grandmother was a black woman who managed to pass as white and married into the Landy family. She was a Bordelon by birth.
• Rich Bitch:
  • Charley to an extent. She rarely goes out of her way to be malicious, but she looks down on sex workers and the poor, can be highly self-centered, and is willing to threaten her best friend to get a deal that'll save the farm.
  • The Landrys are a straight example. See Corrupt Corporate Executive.
• Ripped from the Headlines: The show tends to incorporate recent political and social issues, especially ones affecting the African-American community. In particular, the show focuses heavily on police brutality and corporate greed destroying small towns and rural communities.
  • It also touched on the deportation of undocumented migrants from Latin America following the Trump administration's controversial measures to separate migrant children from their parents/guardians at the American-Mexican border.
  • Season 5 makes the COVID-19 Pandemic and George Floyd Protests integral to the story.
• Samus Is a Girl: Nova and Charley attempts to track down an associate of the Landrys named Parker Campbell. Charley assumes they're dealing with a white man and is shaken to discover that Parker is a black woman — and Sam Landy's daughter.
• Satellite Family Member:
  • Charley Bordelon's mother Lorna only exists because she needs to have a different mother than her half-siblings, Nova and Ralph Angel. The fact that Charley is their half-sibling explains why she had a different childhood than them, resulting in her snobbier, more materialistic worldview. It also explains why Charley is initially more disconnected from their community, because she grew up with her mother in California rather than in Louisiana. Lorna appears from time to time, but is largely uninvolved in the drama that the Bordelons experience throughout the series. Lorna's absence is explained away as her being too busy with work.
  • Davis' secret love child Tia is introduced to cause further turmoil in his already tense relationships with his son Micah and ex-wife Charley. The fact that he hid his affair and Tia's existence for years (she's only a few years younger than Micah) makes Davis look really bad, especially after he tries to pressure Charley into being a mother figure for Tia. Charley refuses, but the fact that she is never unkind toward Tia in spite of her own heartbreak makes her extremely sympathetic. Tia herself is not given any characterization at all and disappears from the story shortly afterward.
• Scenery Porn: Louisiana's lush sugar country is practically an additional character, and absolutely beautiful.
• Secret Relationship:
  • Nova and Calvin, due to the fact that he's married to another woman. Becomes less secret after he leaves her for Nova.
  • At the start of season 2, Charley and Remy, since she hasn't finalized her divorce from Davis yet. Once she does, they're much more open about it.
  • At the beginning of season 6, Charley and Davis hide the fact that they're back together. They come clean about it pretty quickly, however.
• Shipping Torpedo: Vi was really unhappy about Ernest's relationship with Charley's mother, Lorna, because she thought Lorna was in the way of Ernest and True getting back together. Vi passed this attitude onto Nova, but after Lorna tells Nova the truth about the whole thing, Nova decides to try to stop judging her.
• Sibling Triangle: There's tension between Nova and Charley in season 3 after Nova starts seeing Charley's ex-boyfriend, Remy.
• Slut-Shaming: Melina, the woman who accused Davis West and his teammates of raping her, is subjected to this, particularly from Charley. Charley apologizes when she learns that the players did rape her and Davis covered it up.
• Soapbox Sadie: Nova is vocal activist who trying to change the systematic racism in the local police department. This puts her at odds with her police officer boyfriend, Calvin. Her nephew Micah takes after her in that regard.
  • This is heavily deconstructed in season 4. Nova writes a book about her family's experiences through the lens of social justice, using their personal shortcomings to make a larger point about various social and political issues. Naturally, they're all horrified by what she wrote and take it as a huge betrayal. Ralph Angel accuses her of exploiting them and Charley berates her for making them look like monsters to the whole world. Nova tries to defend her actions by saying their stories are inspirational and will help others, but they all remind her that the book still has negative consequences for them.
• Spicy Latina: Averted twice.
  • Reyna Velez is a Shrinking Violet schoolteacher who is too shy to let Ralph Angel know she has a crush on him. Especially after he gets back together with Darla.
  • Melina Galoudian is a Latina sex worker, but the show focuses more on the danger and disrespect her job comes with.
• Spiteful Spit: Nova bumps into a man who recognizes her for her exposé on the criminal justice system in New Orleans. He tries to assault her, prompting Calvin to step in, and then spits in Nova's face.
• Teacher/Student Romance:
  • Nova used to be in a relationship with her professor until she decided to quit academia.
  • Micah sleeps with one of his college professors, but when he tries to give her a gift on her birthday, she admits that she's only interested in sex. After that, he breaks off the relationship.
• Tech Bro: When Micah starts selling his photography as NFTs, he befriends several suave, confident young men who are deeply involved in the tech industry. When he sees how greedy and self-centered they really are, he backs off from NFTs.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. There are multiple instances of characters seeking help from mental health professionals, such as Ralph Angel and Darla taking Blue to a child psychologist after he learns that Ralph Angel isn't his biological father and Violet getting diagnosed with PTSD from the abuse she endured at the hands of her ex-husband.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Charley while watching Queen Sugar burn.
• Title Drop: In the season 1 finale, Charley buys a sugar mill so the farm won't be dependent on the Landry mill and she names it "Queen Sugar".
• Token Minority: In-Universe. Darlene gets Blue accepted into a prestigious, majority-white private school. In addition to Blue's high grades and the fact that his maternal grandfather used to attend the school, his race is a major reason he was accepted. Darlene explains to Darla that due to the country's increased focused on racism, the school wants to improve its image by admitting more Black students. Darla is initially uncomfortable with this because she had an awful experience as one of the few Black kids at her school.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Nova and Charley, respectively. Nova is surprised when Charley decides to get her hands dirty while taking care of the harvest.
• Toxic Friend Influence: One of Darla's old friends comes to visit her and it's heavily implied that she encouraged (or at least enabled) Darla's excessive drinking and drug abuse.
• Unbalanced By Rival's Kid: Charley is devastated when she learns that Davis fathered a daughter, Tia, with another woman while they were married. Charley has no interest in helping Davis raise her, but she's still kind and sympathetic to Tia.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Vi helps a woman named Celine escape an abusive marriage and Hollywood acts like as father figure to Celine's young son, Gabriel. When Vi wasn't around, Celine tried to make a move on Hollywood, which he rejected. Then he called her out for betraying Vi after everything she did for her.
• Villainous Crush: Jacob Boudreaux, a Landry despite not having the last name, is romantically interested in Charley.
• We Used to Be Friends: Nova, Charley, and Ralph Angel grew up Prosper's daughter Billie. She and Nova were especially close until Billie outed Nova to her father. Billie was sexually assaulted by Violet's then-husband Jimmy, but the Bordelons thought Billie was intentionally trying to ruin their marriage. The truth comes out in season 6 and Billie repairs her relationship with the Bordelon family.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Charley and Nova are furious after Ralph Angel confesses to hiding the fact that they weren't included in their father's will, letting them believe for months that they had an equal claim to the land and rearrange their lives around it.
  • After Nova publishes a book containing all her family's darkest secrets, the rest of the family (and Darla) becomes extremely angry at her. Violet even refuses to see or speak to her again.
  • The whole family, particularly Darla and Hollywood, rip into Ralph Angel for stealing from the Landrys and getting caught on a security camera. Sam Landry threatens to toss Ralph Angel back in jail unless he gives up the farm.
  • Charley's mother calls Micah out for selling an NFT of Charley's public meltdown after learning of Davis's infidelity.
  • Darla is furious at Ralph Angel after he tells Blue about his biological father against her wishes.
• Wicked Stepmother:
  • Averted. Lorna, Charley's mother, tries her best to civil to Nova and wants Nova to know how much she admired her (Nova's) mother.
  • Defied by Charley. She doesn't want to be a maternal figure for Davis's illegitimate daughter Tia, but she doesn't have anything against Tia herself. She places full responsibility for the situation on Davis since he's the one who decided to cheat.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Charley becomes enraged when Frances Boudreaux gives her a "Not So Different" Remark.
• Wham Line: At the end of season 4, episode 7: "The mill's on fire."

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