Star – Mama’s Boy

By: Gladys Luna

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.” – Carlotta

Alexandra (Ryan Destiny) is released from jail and receives an apology from one of the officers on behalf of the one who arrested her making, excuses for him in regards his behavior. Alexandra looks surprised and confused at the sudden change of attitude and then she realizes that her mother is there waiting for her. She was informed by their lawyer that Alex was in jail and she just bailed her out. Carlotta (Queen Latifah) shows up at the police station while Rose (Naomi Campbell) and Alex are still there and is immediately confronted by Rose who accuses her of not taking well care of her daughter. Carlotta tries to avoid the confrontation, but when she is about to leave Rose pushes her. Still Carlotta ignores her and leaves saying she will go to the courthouse where Derek is going to be arraigned followed by Alexandra who once again declined her mother´s offer about coming back home. She departs with her mother in the middle of the room screaming for her to return. Any accusation of Rose against Derek had fallen on deaf ears again.

Cotton (Amiyah Scott) and Simone (Brittany O´Grady) are at Carlotta´s salon getting ready for Derek´s (Quincy Brown) arraignment when Star walks in asking about Derek and Alexandra´s situation. The girls inform her about it and she asks them to wait for her so she can join them, but Cotton tells her that probably Alex won´t want her there since she didn’t support her by going to the rally in the first place. Star complains about been replaced by Eva at the performance, but Simone confirms that they didn’t have any choice. Before the argument grows bigger, Simone and Cotton leave the house while Star stands there dumbfounded.

Everyone is gathered at Derek´s hearing. Judge Diaz (Rose Bianco) is announced and then Derek is called in as well. Judge Diaz reads the charges brought against him and Derek pleads himself as “not guilty.” The judge announces that since he has no priors, they will be setting $250,000 in bail, which causes disagreement and discomfort among the audience as they begin to raise their voices including Alexandra who gets mad.

Jahil (Benjamin Bratt) receives a call from Conny (Johnta Austin) saying that one of the judges at Atlanta Next Fest happens to be his friend told him that the girls group Jahil is managing is part of the contest. Conny saw the video of the girls performing at the rally that someone had uploaded and he now is interested in doing business with Jahil. Apparently, the idea of adding a Latina girl in the group seems to be an appealing concept for Conny so Jahil agrees to meet him to discuss further details on this new alliance. Jahil informs Eva (Sharlene Taule) that he will be adding her to the group and Star will just have to deal with it.

Star apologizes to Alex for not being at the rally with her and as a way to support her and prove that she cares for what Alex is going through, she comes with some ideas to get some money and bail Derek out. Star believes that a block party fundraiser might do the work and also encourages them to perform in it. When they are discussing the idea and why Star didn’t stay at the rally, Rose (Alex´s mom) bursts into the room asking to talk to her. Once again, she tries to convince Alex that the best idea is to go back home and she even compares Derek with Roland (Lenny Kravitz), Alex´s father. She tells her that he is not good for her and is only trying to take advantage from her. She even offers to pay the bail, but Alex refuses it.

On the other hand, a “John Doe” is lying on a morgue bed while the coroner (Lory Cox) explains to an officer that according to the wounds they found, it was personal. The officer believes that it won´t take long before they can ID the guy in there.

Alexandra visits Derek in jail and he lets her know that he wants to take the plea deal, but Alex disagrees with his decision. She seems disappointed that Derek is giving up that easily, telling him that when she first met him he wanted to save the world but now he can´t even save himself. She confesses that maybe he isn´t the one she thought and leaves Derek alone in the room.

Alex joins Simone and Star at the rehearsal and updates them on Derek´s situation. The sisters suggest Alex to ask her mother for help, but she refuses to do it. Instead, Alex and Simone suggest Star ask for money from Hunter (Chad James Buchanan). Although at first she doesn’t seem too convinced to do it, she then finally agrees. Simone and Alex get excited and hug her. After a while, Jahil arrives at the rehearsal and informs them that the video of the rally was posted on the Atlanta Next Fest website and it has been a success ever since. Star appears to be annoyed by the news since she wasn’t part of the video and asks Jahil to talk to her in private. She asks him to take the video down, but Jahil says we won’t do it since it might help them to win the contest. He wants to tell Star about his plans on the group, but she just walks away leaving him there on his own.

Cotton and Elliot (Jack Yang) are parked outside Carlotta´s home when suddenly Cotton decides to come clean with him confessing that she wasn´t born a woman. When Elliot couldn’t come with a full sentence to her confession she decides to leave, but he stops her by telling her she is the most beautiful woman he´s ever seen. Inside the house, Carlotta and Pastor Harris (Tyrese Gibson) are kissing when Cotton walks in hand by hand with Elliott. She introduces him to Carlotta, but the woman didn’t respond to the handshake. Pastor Harris excuses himself and leaves and so it does Elliot, leaving the two women alone. Cotton and Carlotta begin to argue and the heat rises up when Carlotta questions her if Elliot knows the truth about her. In exchange, Cotton questions Carlotta´s relationship with the Pastor causing Carlotta to slap Cotton who attempts to leave the room. Her mother stops her offering a shallow apology that only leads to Carlotta’s asking for Cotton´s money to bail Derek out instead of having her sex change surgery, but Cotton refuses to give her money up.

Star is spending some time at Hunter´s and she decides to take the chance and tells him about the block party fundraiser they are organizing to pay Derek´s bail bond. She suggests he show up for a while at the event and help them with a donation, but Hunter´s reaction is not as Star expected. He starts to offend her and throws money on her as a way to humiliate her, but when she replies with a remark for him and his mother he slaps her in the face. Star picks up all her clothes and leaves the room in a haste. As she was leaving, Arlene (Nealla Gordon) enters asking for an explanation to what just happened, but Hunter didn’t say anything about it.

While Simone and Alex are rehearsing in the bedroom, Star cries in front of the mirror in the bathroom. She wipes her tears and joins the other two girls. When they ask her if she managed to make Hunter help she says she decided to lie and just says they will find another way as they always do. They joke about if other girl groups as Destiny´s Child or TLC went through the same kind of things as them. They all laugh at the resemblance.

The Block Party fundraiser arrived and everyone is in there. Banners, “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts and all kind of souvenirs are all over the place. Derek´s grandma greets the attendees and offers them their gratitude for supporting her grandson. Right after, Miss Bruce (Miss Lawrence) takes the stage and introduces the girls. Immediately Simone, Star and Alex cheer up the audience with their presentation. Suddenly, Hunter Morgan is announced as one of the guest of the event, much to Star’s surprise. Hunter comes to the stage and presents a friend of his named “Pumpkin” (Missy Elliott) who gives an emotional speech encouraging everyone to donate while the girls look all excited at her. Star goes to Pumpkin and expresses the admiration she feels about her. Carlotta approaches them and Pumpkin recognize her immediately. She asks about Mary and Carlotta tells her she died some years ago but she her baby is right there, pointing at Star. Pumpkin compares her to her mother, but she doesn’t seem to like that at all. Pumpkin also tells her that Hunter is a good man that would do anything for her stating that he is definitely a keeper.

Alex takes the stage again and announces that they have raised $14,942. She also thanks everyone for their support.

Cotton is in front of the mirror putting some make up on. Suddenly, Carlotta enters the room apologizing once again and telling her she will support her. And as a way to make amends and move forward, Carlotta asked Pastor Harris for a blessing. Cotton agrees without hesitation.

In a sudden change of scenario, Alex visits her mother and manages to convince her that she has decided to go back home. In exchange, she wants her mother to help her and pay the bail for Derek. Rose agrees and immediately makes the arrangements.

Pastor Harris, Cotton and Carlotta are gathered and ready for the blessing. Pastor begins to pray for Cotton, but every word seems to hurt her more than the other. Cotton is now confused as the blessing seems more like an intervention. The Pastor is making Cotton repeat out loud that his name is Arnold and that he was a man. Carlotta looks at them incredulously while Cotton cries and trying hard to repeat the Pastor´s words. When he finally does, he gets up and runs to a corner to cry. Suddenly, Carlotta imagines herself and Miss Bruce singing at the salon a song related to the actual situation.

Then back to reality, Carlotta tries to comfort Cotton but she gets up and leaves yelling that she set her up, making Carlotta to suffer at her daughter’s pain. Carlotta begins an argument with Pastor Harris who excuses himself with the fact that she asked for his intervention and he was only trying to help. Carlotta yells at him to leave the house and he does, throwing things on his way.

Cotton is at her room, standing in front of a mirror and pointing a gun to her head while crying. Star walks in abruptly and yells at her to pull the trigger. Then, slowly asks approaches to her and asks her to put the gun down. After a while, she does. Star jokes about the mess it would have been if she had killed herself. Cotton tells her that Carlotta set her up to what Star replies that she at least has a mother. They both laugh and somehow comfort each other.

Alex informs her mother that she is not going back with her. Rose tells her that their lawyer had already posted a bail on Derek and they had a deal, but Alex reminds her of all of the deals she made with her in the past and how she broke them. Alex confesses to her mother that she hasn’t felt that way about anyone before so she can´t just leave. Rose tells her that he will break her heart, but Alex leaves without a care for her. Alex goes to jail to receive Derek who has finally being freed.

In other matters, John Doe has been identified now as Otis Leecan (Darius McCrary). So, it seems that a big storm is coming all the way.

The girls are together still discussing what Alex just did to her mother when Jahil arrives with Eva in tow. Star gets mad asking him why is Eva there so Jahil lets them know that she will be joining the group and for a moment the girls smile at each other naughtily. Then, Star says: I quit!