Star – Dreamers

By: Gladys Luna

The episode opens with Angel (Evan Ross) singing at a record studio while some images of a woman named Paola (Alani “La La” Anthony) screaming to be released are shown. The young woman has been locked up and claims to be innocent, but no one is paying attention to her. A security officer enters the room to give her food and she begs for him to release her from the chains she is in, but instead he starts to punch her as he seems to have had enough of her screams. At the same time, we can see images of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump giving a speech about immigrants. Angel finishes his song and leaves the room while another image of Paola is shown as she is lying on the floor after being beaten up and holding a picture of a young boy.

Carlotta (Queen Latifah) and Maurice (Lance Gross) arrive at the woman´s home, which is still under a rebuild process. They discuss about the meeting the two of them and the girls will be having later that day with some promoters and convince them to back them up and that way they can go on tour with Noah (Luke James). Carlotta mentions how she believes that everything around them feels like the old times. Moments later, the woman enters the house and meets with Star (Jude Demorest), Simone (Brittany O’Grady) and Cotton (Amiyah Scott). Star teases Carlotta about her staying at Maurice´s home more often recently, but the woman avoids the subject. Star goes through the mail they had receive and sees something for her younger sister coming from the County Clerk. All of them are surprised that even when they had sent the girl´s papers so recently, they had already received response about it. Simone opens the letter and begins to act funny, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Star. When she questions her about the reason of her behavior, Simone feels herself forced to explain that she married Angel as an attempt to avoid been sent back to juvie. As expected, the news doesn’t go over well with Carlotta and Star who immediately starts to scold her for making such sudden decision. Star says that she is tired of her secrets, but Simone just tells her that she has learned from the best and walks away.

A few minutes later Charlene (Nealla Gordon), who is revealed to be Arlene´s twin sister, walks into the room and introduces herself. This leaves the other girls astounded as they think they are seeing a ghost. Charlene wants to talk to Star about her sister or if she knows anyone who may have murdered her, but Star lies to her saying that she has no clue and then she leaves the room in a haste. Cotton follows her as she sees something is wrong and then listens when the girl is leaving a message to Brody (Stephen Dorff) asking her to call her immediately. As she sees Cotton is standing there, she explains that the last time she saw Brody he had blood all over his face and assured her that she didn’t have to worry about Arlene anymore.

In the meantime, Jahil (Benjamin Bratt) and Brody are arguing about Charlene being on town and investigating the murder of her sister. Jahil is worried that the police may found out about it, but Brody assures him they won’t.

At Sound House office, Noah walks into his record studio and sees Quavo (himself) singing. They share a talk about what happened to Noah since last tour when he wasn’t at his best and ended up being dropped from the label and also speak about Alexandra. Noah seems visibly uncomfortable for the whole conversation and decides to leave and join the others at the meeting.

At the meeting room, drama begins all over again as Jahil, Carlotta and Star are discussing Angel and Simone´s marriage. Noah walks in and questions Maurice about Quavo being on his studio and the man confirms him that he was signed by Floyd Entertainment, so he will be there for a couple of more days. Right that moment, Ms. Desmond (Tiffany Dupont) the Sound House rep walks in and is introduced to everyone by Maurice. Jahil makes an introduction of himself, but the woman seems to be well informed about everyone in the room and, of course, their background. Carlotta tries to speak well for themselves, but then Ms. Desmond confirms that given Noah´s reputation and last tour incident they have decided not to take part on the tour as sponsors – at least not while Noah is the head of it. Everyone gets mad at the news, but then Star suggests that maybe if Quavo is convinced to headline for them they could make it.

When the meeting is done, Noah tries to talk to Star since he believes that her suggestions about having Quavo as the head of the tour and not him was because she was still upset about what happened between them. She explains she has moved on and he should do the same. Right that moment, she receives a text from Brody asking her to meet him at his hotel room.

Jahil talks privately with Angel about Simone and finds out that he actually likes her. The man tries to let Angel know that things will only get complicated if they go on tour, but his nephew tells him that he doesn’t need any advice from him since he´s been on his own for quite a while. Then, a female voice apologizes from down the stairs revealing Paola standing there. Angel runs to meet her and wraps her in a strong embrace. She confesses that she´s been looking for him for a while now and all he asks from her is to listen to his music to which she happily agrees.

In the meantime, Quavo is convinced by Maurice to tour with Take Three but on one condition to make a very specific introduction for him. Moments later, Alexandra and Quavo are performing one of his songs. When they are done, Noah watches them and walk into the studio to question them about what they were doing. Quavo offers him a drink, but the man doesn’t take it. He leaves the studio and goes straight into Maurice´s office, but the other guy isn’t there. Then, he spots some alcohol and pours a glass of it for himself. When he is about to drink it, Carlotta shows up and stops him from doing it.

Star meets with Brody and asks him about what he did to Arlene, but he says he just did what he had to do to protect her. Then, Star asks him if he did the same to his mother. She wants to know the truth about what happened the night her mom died but he refuses to tell her anything. Star gets mad and asks him to not to bother her anymore and walks away.

Paola is at the studio with Jahil and Angel listening to his music. Suddenly, Simone walks in and Angel introduces her as “his wife.” Even though Paola is surprised at the news, she composes herself and confesses the real reason she is there is Angel´s father called her and told her that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has been looking for him. She reveals that his real father was Dominican and when she was deported for over staying in the country without legal papers she lied and told that Jahil´s brother Javier was his real father, so he could stay in the country. The truth is that Angel is an undocumented immigrant. Angel is hit with the news, so he walks away from the room immediately.

Quavo, Noah, Take Three, Angel and Andy (Elijah Kelley) are doing a photoshoot while Jahil confirms that since Quavo announced he was joining on the tour, Midtown Sound has been trending. They all seem happy to be back on track until Noah punches Quavo since he insulted Alexandra and then the other man pulls out a gun and points it at him. The atmosphere in the room gets thicker by the minute then, Quavo announces that he is out of the tour. Later, Carlotta talks to Noah in private and she convinces him to compose himself and stand for what he wants. It seems that the tour has just been canceled, but Carlotta has a plan up her sleeve to put it back again.

Brody calls Star and leaves a message for her saying that he will go away. All of a sudden, he hears a knock at his door and when he opens it a man grabs him by the collar of his jacket and smashes him against the table.

The girls and Carlotta put their plan on the works and they completely succeed when Alexandra tweets a promotional flyer of the girls show from Quavo´s account. That night, the girls are getting ready for their show but the only one missing is Noah. When he shows up, he hits the stage and then announces Take Three. As usual, they turn out to be a success. Ms. Desmond shows up again and announces that if they keep selling out their regional tours in the way they just did then she will strive for a bigger tour for them. In an attempt to congratulate Star, Simone takes her by the arms and shakes her, which evokes a memory of the night Mary (Caroline Vreeland) died. Star remembers how her mother asked for “her medicine” and she handed her a syringe and then the woman fainted. In an attempt to help her, the little girl (Bella Lotz) injected some more in her mom´s arm and it killed her. When Brody walked in and saw her he realized what the girl did and asked her not to tell anyone.

Later that night, Noah shows up at Carlotta´s house and thanks her for what she did for him and asks her to be his manager. Star keeps calling her father to apologize and tell him that she remembers everything. He answers the phone, but then reveals to be in a bathtub while surrounded by two unknown man as well as Charlene. He says his farewell to Star and then the woman puts some salt in the bath tub as well as a cable in there and electrocutes him to death. Star keeps calling him asking for his forgiveness.

The road to success is never easy and here they come to prove it. Please catch up on “Star” next Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.