Star – Roots and Wings

By starrymag | December 5, 2018

By: Gladys Luna

 

 

The episode opens with Angel (Evan Ross) being carried in a van with a group of people back to the United States. A girl (Adelle Grijalva) tells her mother (Karen Valero) that she feels cold and Angel immediately offers her his jacket. This draws some attention from the drivers who get mad at them and ask them to shut up.

Star (Jude Demorest) and Jackson (Matthew Noszka) are listening to the remix of one of her previous songs that she plans to release at the upcoming festival. After he gives her some feedback about it he asks her, out of nowhere, which color she would prefer for the nursery and Star doesn’t seem to be happy with the guy´s decision of taking care of the nursery on his own. But before she can say anything, they are interrupted by someone knocking at their door and entering their place. A blonde woman shows up and walks straight to Jackson and starts to caress him much to Star´s dismay. When the woman is done complimenting him, the guy introduces said woman as Rebecca (Kelly Sullivan), his mother.

Alexandra (Ryan Destiny) is showing some of her new music to Miss Bruce (Miss Lawrence), but she doesn’t seem to be entirely convinced that it sounds like Alex herself. While they are discussing it Carlotta (Queen Latifah) walks in followed by Cotton (Amiyah Scott) and everyone is so happy to see her coming back. They put her on to speed about the recent events and she confesses that even though she is not at her best yet, she feels way better than before.

Detective Batista (Phillip DeVona) meets with Derek (Quincy Brown) and tells him what happened to Detective Maria Montero (Gabrielle Walsh), which is also the reason the case has turned into something more complicated and they will no longer need his services. Derek refuses to drop the case since all he thinks about is to get some justice for his grandmother, but he is advised to do otherwise and let the police handle it themselves.

Noah (Luke James) is in the middle of a photoshoot, but he can´t just manage to get rid of the images of when he had been robbed as the memories come in flashes. He asks for a minute to recover but is immediately scolded by Maurice (Lance Gross) who lets him know that they are going against the clock and he can´t take a break. So, he is immediately taken to another corner of the room and supposed to be interviewed but, once again, it turns so difficult for him to breathe so he asks to do it another time. He confesses what happened to him to Maurice and his father Bobby (Harold Perrineau) who has shown up to take him for lunch, but his manager doesn’t seem to understand a bit of the situation and makes him to go on with the day as planned.

Simone (Brittany O’Grady) gets a call from an unknown number telling her that they have her husband and ask for a ransom in exchange of his freedom. She doesn’t believe what they are saying so Angel is put on the phone and asks her to give them the money or they will kill him.

Carlotta pays a visit to her sister Cassie (Brandy Norwood) who is now in jail and asks her to stay away from Xander (Chad Michael Murray) since she knows he is not a good influence for her. But the woman keeps believing blindly in him and is waiting for him to take her out of there very soon.

Carlotta meets with the girls at Gravity Records and lets them know that the album is good, but there is still something missing and can´t be released yet. The girls don’t seem to agree with her entirely, but they do as she says and start working on it.

Det. Batista visits Cassie at her cell and shows her a picture of Det. Moreno who she immediately recognizes as one of the girls that worked at Karma. He lets her know that he is just trying to help her and if she cooperates then they can pull an arrangement for her, but she is confident that Xander is the only one who can take her out of there.

In another matter, Bobby is sharing some time with Miss Bruce and telling her how he feels that Noah trusts in Maurice better than he does in him. He confesses how grateful he feels to have her, and she takes advantage of the honest conversation and tells him how she feels the opposite as she thinks that he is ashamed of her. Bobby tells her that he just does not know how Noah will react when he tells him about their relationship and he is afraid that when he does, he may not take it alright and put some distance between them.

Noah is walking by the studio and sees Alex on the floor as she is in the middle of having a panic attack. He tries to soothe her as he sees that the girl is getting worse by the minute listing several things for which she blames herself. She asks Noah to be honest with her and he lets her know that he believes she puts a wall between her and everyone around, but he understands the reason why she does it.  She also lets him know that she saw his interview and asks him if he is ok. He tells her what happened and how he will make sure that it will never happen again.

Nina (Camila Banus) and Simone arrive at the place where they were supposed to meet the coyote that has caught Angel. A man (Peter Anaya) walks out of a minivan and Nina hands him the money. When he sees the car the girls have arrived with he changes his mind and asks for more money so Nina gives him what he wants and they release Angel immediately.

Carlotta meets Cassie at the girl´s hearing. She offers her help to her sister once again, but she refuses as she believes Xander has already taken care of her situation. Carlotta questions her about where the man is and that moment and he walks into the room and sits next to her. When the hearing is done, Carlotta asks her sister to make a choice between her and Xander and, as expected, she chooses Xander.

Simone and Angel are sharing some time alone and as the man hasn’t eaten in days, he is happy to finally have some decent food. He tells Simone that he is grateful for Nina and how she helped them. When Simone is about to tell him about her, she notices a scar on the man´s abdomen and he confesses that when they were taken back into the US the coyotes suddenly asked them for more money and as he didn’t have it, they cut him.

After going out for dinner Star, Jackson and Rebecca return to the house and the couple is surprised to see a lot of gifts that Rebecca has bought for the baby. She tells Star that Jackson told her about the lifestyle she has, so she thought how she could help them decorate the nursery while the girl is on tour and “partying.” Obviously, this doesn´t sit well for Star who shows her anger and ends up involved in an argument with Jackson´s mom.

Bobby meets with Noah and is surprised to see that his son is carrying a gun with him. He tries to put some sense on him, but the guy is having none of it. Bobby assures him that he knows him well, but Noah gets tired of listening to him and suddenly he starts to remember when he was a kid and the happy times they had together. Later that day, Noah shows up at Karma Club followed by Bobby who has a face to face encounter with Maurice as he complains to him on how he is treating his son. Star intents to calm Alex over the phone about the album when Jackson walks in and tells her that he made his mother gone so she won´t be a problem for her anymore.

Simone thanks Nina for what she did for her and Angel. The girl notices something different about the woman and she makes her confess that she had seen the way they look at each other so Simone tells her that he moved heaven and earth just to be with her. Nina replies that she understands the feeling as she´s certain many people would do the same just to be with the girl. She also lets her know that she will give a try and fight for her, so she leans on and kisses her just when Angel walks in the room and sees what is happening. Nina leaves the room and even though Simone tries to excuse herself, he tells her that now he understands why she wanted to divorce him.

Miss Bruce tells Carlotta that she needs to start taking better care of her own, but the woman says that she doesn’t have time as she needs to think about Cassie and Take 3. Miss Bruce reminds her that Star, Simone and Alex aren´t babies anymore and that Cassie is already an adult and must be accountable for her behavior.

Alex and Noah are dancing to each other on the dance floor. Then, she kisses him while Derek watches them from afar. They apologize to each other and start to name the reasons why it would be trouble to start something with each other at the time. Noah leaves but is followed by Derek who tries to draw his attention by touching him on the shoulder making Noah to jump and pull the gun out. Derek yells at him for messing with Alex, but the other guy lets him know that he was the one who broke her heart, so he shouldn’t try to blame others for what he did.

Carlotta visits Cassie and tells her the truth about how she promised their mother that she would take care of her and how their father abused her and she put up with it just so he wouldn´t touch Cassie. She also lets her know that everything their father had was darkness and that she sees that same darkness in Xander, leaving the girl in awe before her words.

Jackson opens to Star about how it was for her mother to raise him as a single parent while also having a bipolar disorder. The girl is surprised that he never told her about it, but he tells her that some people find it hard to just open up. Simone goes to Angel and apologizes to him as well as he apologizes for the way he reacted. She tells him that everything has been happening so fast, but one thing she is certain now is that she wants to be with him. He reminds her of the song that they were working on in the DR and tells her that he had finished it, so they start to sing to each other and end up kissing.

Alex arrives at Carlotta´s and is met with Miss Bruce. She tells her that she just realized that since she arrived to Atlanta that she hasn´t spent a day with herself and haven´t figured yet who is she truly. So, Miss Bruce tells her that she has been there two and despite of everything the only thing she knew was that she didn´t want to play anybody´s rules and made her own to what Alex replies that she wants to do the same for herself.

Bobby and Noah meet at the studio and the young man decides to hand him the gun, so he could throw it away. He feels guilty for almost having Derek shot. but Bobby tells him that the blame is on him because of what he taught him, and he confesses that he was all wrong. Noah understands the new stage where his father is now and asks him to be his manager to what the other man agrees.

Carlotta meets with the girls and Miss Bruce at the studio and they let her know that they have finished the album. Carlotta apologizes to them and recognizes that they are grown women that can make their own choices. They also confess that they wouldn´t have gone that far without her and they believe there is something missing about the album and that must be her. So, they ask her to get into the recording booth and throw some lines.

Xander visits Cassie in prison and she tells him that she has realized that the only person that has been there for her all alone was her sister and she doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore. He tries to play his game on her again, but now it´s not working. Carlotta plays a visit to her father Calvin (Ben Vereen) and lets him know how he broke her trust and all the things he did to her to what the man appears to be completely unaware of. She tells him that she has been carrying his sins all along, but now it´s time for her to give them back to him. Then, she turns her back on the man and walks away leaving him dumbfounded.

A brighter future seems to be just around the corner. Let´s find out what´s in store for the girls on Wednesday at 9/8pm ET on Fox. ¡Hasta la próxima!