Star – Amazing Grace

By starrymag | April 16, 2019

By: Gladys Luna

 

 

Carlotta (Queen Latifah) and Maurice (Lance Gross) are looking at a record label competitor that has created promos for their artists in order to help them win the ASA’s. Maurice feels a little insecure about what they could do, but Carlotta assures him that she’s got everything under control and that surely the ASA’s tribute party will get them some attention and help them make it. Also, she is informed about Gravity’s line up which includes only Alex (Ryan Destiny) and Gigi (Keke Palmer) so far. Right that moment Cassie (Brandy Norwood) walks in and Carlotta believes that she is there for an early date with Maurice, but the woman tells her that she is in fact there to talk to her instead. The two sisters find another place to chat and that is where Cassie tells Carlotta that she needs to go find her son and that she will be there to support her just as much as the other woman has been supporting her. She also confesses that her mother had called her and told her that Calvin (Ben Vereen) may not make it, so she advises her sister to go talk to him before is too late. But Carlotta’s past is still way too painful and she decides not to do it and asks her sister to stay out of it as well.

 

Carlotta heads straight to the hospital to check on Star’s (Jude Demorest) status when she sees the doctor (Ben Peck) talking to Simone (Brittany O’Grady) about her sister’s current condition. He mentions that everything has gone unexpected, the swelling is still the same and Star needs to have a brain surgery otherwise something irreversible could happen. Simone panics and starts to raise her voice saying that he had promised that she will be fine and does not agree with the surgery which opposes to Carlotta’s opinion as she asks the doctor to proceed with the intervention. He asks her how she is related to the blonde and she confesses that she is “like” a mother but that is not enough for the doctor. Right in the middle of the conversation, Alex walks in but goes unnoticed by Simone and Carlotta and begins to have a panic attack when she over hears the conversation and decides to run away as she cannot bear the truth. Simone stands out and says that as she is the only relative Star has, she will be the one to decide what to do next with her sister.

 

In the meantime, Noah (Luke James) is at a support group meeting that Miss Bruce (Miss Lawrence) has invited him to where he tells his story about how he almost got his son killed and also talks about his 12 days of sobriety. The meeting is wrapped and Miss Bruce congratulates him and expresses how proud she is of him. She also opens up about her past and the reason that she was brought to the support group in the first place. She confesses that there were days when she did not even find the reason to wake up and how she hated that feeling, but then she started to attend the meetings and pray and now her life has been changed. Noah asks her if she has spoken with his father about his situation, but she assured him that is not on her to tell him.

 

Alex walks in a haste to her house and meets with Derek (Quincy Brown) who immediately catches on that something is not right with her and tries to calm her down. She lets him know about what she heard at the hospital and then they are interrupted by the door bell. They go to see who it is and find no other than Moses (Brian Kurlander) presenting himself on behalf of Alex’s parents alleging that he was sent to deliver some documents. Alex opens the folder and finds a pre-nup document that gets her really mad. Moses assures her that the Cranes are only trying to protect her, but she asks him to go away and tell them to stay out of her life. Derek is confused about how her parents found out about their engagement and she confesses that she told her mother as a way to start over and improve their relationship, but she just found out that some things never change. She also assumes that by now all of New York must be aware of it, so Derek goes and check the latest news online. Just as Alex has guessed, the tabloids are all about their new engagement.

 

Back at the hospital Simone is trying to document herself about Davis’ adoption when Carlotta walks in and the girl apologizes for how she treated her earlier. Carlotta assures her that she knows she is an adult now and will support her with whatever decision she takes in regards Star.

 

Alex arrives to Gravity Record when a blogger (Sydney Mitchell) intercepts her and asks her about her engagement and her ring, but Alex retorts that she is happy and that is all she needs to know. Simone arrives as well and supports Alex’s comment.

 

Cotton (Amiyah Scott) has decided to support a group of women and let them stay in Jahil’s (Benjamin Bratt) trailer. When she walks in most of the girls have gone to work except for Dior (Ashton B. Grooms) who is about to leave when she is stopped by Cotton who asks her to stay away from the streets since Leon (Kia Shine) is still looking for them. The woman tells her that she needs to work and walks away.

 

Noah meets with Carlotta at Gravity Records and the woman informs him that he needs to take a break, but he assures her that what he truly needs is to go back in the business. Right that moment Dianne (Kimberly Elise), Noah’s mother, walks in leaving the man surprised. She asks him how he is feeling and he lies saying he is alright, but she can see right through him. Dianne also apologizes for having allowed him to see everything what happened between her and his father back then and damaging him. He asks her not to worry and walks away. Dianne thanks Carlotta for setting up the encounter with him and tells her about how since the first moment she felt him inside of her she wanted to protect him from everything – all the wishes she had for his life. However, she also knows how cruel the world can get to be. Before she leaves she ends up confessing that there was even a time when an idea crossed her mind when she thought that he would probably be more peaceful if he wasn’t in this world at all.

 

Simone is at Gravity Media waiting for Alex to join her. When the girl arrives Simone asks her why she hasn’t visited Star in a week and didn’t have anything to say about her surgery. That moment Noah arrives and walks straight to Davis, but Simone gets mad and pushes him away from the baby. He asks Alex to give him some time alone with Simone so Alex leaves the room. Noah informs her that he has been sober for twelve days now and is ready to take Davis with him. Simone replies that she won’t allow him to put the baby in danger again, so she has filed for temporary custody of her nephew while Star is at the hospital. As expected, Noah is not pleased with her actions but for the moment there is nothing he can do about it. Simone is left alone with Davis and then realizes that Carlotta has been watching the whole scene.

 

Cassie and Maurice meet and they are happy to see that the upcoming ASA tribute party will definitely pay off the bills. Cassie seizes the opportunity to ask Maurice about his perception on Carlotta’s behavior recently, but he tells her that he hasn’t seen anything out of the ordinary. All of a sudden Cassie’s song starts to play out of Maurice’s playlist and they dance to it. Gigi walks in the room interrupting the couple and Cassie decides to give them some space to talk. She awaits outside of the studio and listens when Gigi confesses to Maurice that she doesn’t want to be part of the ASA tribute party as she doesn’t feel in the mood for it. Maurice takes her by the hands and asks her to make an effort. Cassie has been watching the whole thing and misreads the situation, getting almost into a fight with the girl over Maurice. She warns him that she won’t let another man play her.

 

In another side of the building Simone, Gigi and Alex are rehearsing for their upcoming performance, but Gigi doesn’t seem to be in it. Simone gets mad at her for that and leaves the room angrily. Gigi expresses her feelings towards Star’s situation to Alex and the two of them take advantage of the situation and start to rehearse.

 

Simone watches her sister’s fans through the window as they stand outside the building holding candles and carrying banners trying to show their support for her. Carlotta stands by her side and asks her about her decision on Star’s surgery, but the girl doesn’t want to talk about it. Instead, she walks outside to face the fans who express their support to her and what she does is to take a candle and burn one of the banners. She says that is not her sister’s memorial and asks them to go away.

 

Noah tries to get Alex to help him to convince Simone on letting him be with his son and asks her to remember how her mother used to be before she started drinking. Unfortunately for him, all Alex can remember is anguish and pain saying that nothing of that has actually changed.

 

The next day Carlotta finds Simone sitting outside Gravity Records thinking deeply; she confesses that she thinks they have been punished due to everything that has been happening to them and asks Carlotta how she deals with everything in her life. The woman tells her that all she needs to do is to stay on her knees and pray to God for guidance and everything will be just fine.

 

Cassie arrives to Karma where Maurice has been waiting for her. He apologizes for his recent behavior and plays her song that now has new arrangements and they dance to it again. Noah pays a visit to Star. As he is approaching to the room he hears the blonde’s music playing from inside. When he opens the door, he is surprised to see Jackson (Matthew Noszka) in there who says that he goes every day to play music for her. He also faces Noah about him lying when he asked him if he was ready to be a father for Davis, something that makes the other man angry and they start a fight until they are split by a doctor.

 

Carlotta finally decides to visit her father, but the man seems to be going in and out of consciousness. She tells him how she used to blame herself for what he did to her and used to call her baby as “evil” but now she knows that they were both innocent and he is sick so, she forgives him. Calvin reacts to it and tells her that he doesn’t want to be forgiven and puts the blame on her. The woman gets mad and tries to choke him with a pillow but stops herself before she kills him.

 

Performance night has arrived so Gigi, Simone and Alex get ready to take the stage. Maurice lets them know that after the performance they will have to go through a round of interviews and they need to get the voters sympathy for the upcoming ASA’s. Carlotta passes by Cassie and nods at her leaving her and Maurice with amazed looks.

 

After the girls performance is wrapped they are rewarded with an standing ovation. Alex and Simone look disturbed and leave the stage in a haste. Gigi stays on the stage and thank them all for their good energy and announces that she needs sometime to take care of herself, so she has decided to leave Gravity Media.

 

Alex and Simone are taking a walk and discussing how weird it felt to perform without Star. Simone tells her that she has been praying for her sister’s health and Alex confesses that she feels like she has been dealing with a lot lately and does not well with those kinds of situations. Simone says that they are not going to lose Star because she has decided to schedule her surgery and Alex tells her that she will go with her to tell the doctors.

 

Carlotta tells Cassie that she almost loses it and kills Calvin when he blamed her for him raping her and Cassie promises that she won’t have to worry about him anymore. Cotton hears noises coming from outside Carlotta’s house and then sees Leon forcing Dior to leave with him. She threatens him but is to no use as he ends up taking the woman.

 

Miss Bruce leaves a message for Noah and tells him that he better be at an AA meeting somewhere and not wasting his time. Then, she calls Bobby (Harold Perrineau) and tells him that his son needs him.

 

Cassie pays a visit to her father and watches him getting sicker and sicker. She has decided to do what Carlotta just couldn’t and chokes him with a pillow.

 

Carlotta is at the hospital taking care of Star while she looks at her son’s birth certificate. Simone and Alex walk in and inform her that they’ve told the doctors to proceed with Star’s surgery. Alex sits at the foot of the bed and tells her about what’s been happening recently in her life and how she is like a sister for her. While she is telling her that she needs her to push through and recover Star opens her eyes slowly to everybody’s surprise.