Star – Take It or Leave It

By starrymag | May 16, 2018

By: Gladys Luna

 

Alex (Ryan Destiny) is at a photoshoot for Sportswear while Simone (Brittany O’Grady) and Star (Jude Demorest) are in the background watching her. Simone tells Star that she can’t shake Otis (Darius McCrary) out of her head, but Star is way too worried that Alex is the dragging all the attention on her to care about a single thing her sister is saying. Simone needs to remind her that they have already been booked for a performance at Hot Track Live and also Sound House has decided to sponsor them. Star though is completely sure that all Ayanna (Michael Michele) is doing now that she is back is to set up the tour for Noah (Luke James).

Carlotta (Queen Latifah) and Jahil (Benjamin Bratt) are at the hospital where Jayden (Trayce Malachi) was taken due to the seizure he had. While on the waiting room, the two adults discuss the suddenly awkward situation they are themselves in, like being grandparents to a boy they don’t even know. Jahil sees how worn out the woman seems to be as she expresses she has a lot of things on her mind to take care of. So, the man encourages her to leave and mind her business while he stays and cover his grandpa duties.

Meanwhile at Midtown Sound, Ayanna calls for Maurice (Lance Gross) and Natalie (Meagan Good) to meet them and fire them. But Maurice is not leaving without giving a fight so he convinces Ayanna to give him the chance to bring her a new artist as an attempt to keep his job and the woman agrees. When the duo leave the office, Natalie complains about how Maurice left her on her own, but also manages to persuade him to go after Alex as she believes the girl could be the artist he is looking for.

Alex is about to leave to continue with the Sportswear photoshoot so Simone and Star wave their goodbyes to her. She still doesn’t feel comfortable about doing this on her own, but Noah explains her that she deserves it and should enjoy it. When she is finally gone, Simone seems to be thrilled for her friend´s new opportunity while Noah and Star don’t look quite comfortable. Later that day, Star pays a visit to Maurice to give him Jackson´s (Matthew Noszka) demo and the man takes the opportunity to try to get under the girl´s skin, but she is having none of it.

In the meantime, Ayanna informs Angel (Evan Ross) and Andy (Elijah Kelley) that she is dropping them out of the Hot Track Live show since there isn’t enough time to present three different artists. So, she explains that the best is for Take Three to accompany Noah since Alex has a duo with him. The two boys know that Ayanna´s decision was based on the fact that she hates Jahil so Angel suggests that they split if they want to have an opportunity and succeed.

Back at the hospital, Jahil tells Cotton (Amiyah Scott) that he needs to go to the label since he is late to a meeting. When he is about to walk away, Nakisha (Ashani Roberts) shows up saying that she doesn´t want Cotton´s blood in her son. The two women start to argue and Jahil tries to stop them and convince Nakisha of letting Cotton help with the donation, but the woman doesn’t accept it and leave.

Noah is at the studio making some music when Carlotta walks in and tells him that he needs to present a new track for the live show they are having the next day, but the man doesn’t seem to be working well under pressure. He has a song he believes it might work for it, but is not new and asks Carlotta to trust him that he will do it right. When the woman leaves, he starts drinking out of the flask he has been hiding.

Derek (Quincy Brown) enters his grandma Ruby’s (Juanita Jennings) house only to find Miss Bruce (Miss Lawrence) there who informs him that someone tried to break into the house the night before and that some other houses have been robbed recently. Derek expresses his concern about his grandmother´s safety, but she is still mad at him for leaving her and doesn’t believe him.

Maurice is still trying his best to make Alex to go solo and calls her to tell her that he sent her a song that he believes it might be good for her voice and although it seems that the girl is not really interested in it he still asks her to give it a listen.

Jahil meets with Angel who is pretty mad at him for leaving him and Andy alone. He confesses they have been dropped from the show and tells him they have also split. Jahil tries to persuade him to let him talk to Ayanna, but Angel just asks him to stay out of his life.

Star is still bothered about everything that’s been happening, so she tries to take it out as she knows best – singing and dancing. Half way through the song Jahil interrupts her showing his surprise of seeing her rehearsing that late making the girl to confess everything she´s feeling about Alex´s sudden success. She believes it should be her taking that place and not the other girl. Jahil tells her that the kind of determination she has, is the one that will take her wherever she wants to go. The girl asks him to leave her alone in order for her to go back to rehearse and he does. Both are pretty unaware that Maurice has been watching the whole scene unfold from one of the corners of the room.

Back at Carlotta´s house, it seems like the whole chaos that’s been happening all along had just concentrated in just one room as we see Cotton trying to talk to Carlotta about her situation with Nakisha, but they are interrupted by a phone call from Alex that is letting Carlotta know that she hasn’t finished the photoshoot yet and that she doesn’t know if she could make it to the live presentation. On the other side of the room, Noah is getting a haircut and after he finishes he walks away and is spotted by Star while he takes his flask out and starts drinking again. Simone tries to show her empathy for Angel about his professional split from Andy, but the man is still mad at her.

Andy is spending some fun time with Cassie (Brandy Norwood). All of a sudden, his mood changes and (of course) it doesn’t go unnoticed by the woman who asks him about the abrupt shift and he explains that he and Angel are no longer professional partners. Also, although he wants to buy some studio time and make his EP, he doesn’t have enough money to make it happen. The woman opens up a drawer and hands him a bunch of money. Andy says he can’t accept it, but Cassie assures him that she will find a way for him to return the favor.

Hot Track Live show night has finally arrived and Alex is nowhere to be seen so Ayanna decides that Star and Simone can’t perform without her and cancels their presentation. Instead, Noah will be taking charge of the full twelve minutes on air. Carlotta informs the man about it and he looks hesitant that he can make it. As Carlotta moves through the room, she finds the bottle that Noah has been hiding and the guy lies to her saying that he drank just one time only to relax himself a little.

Star is completely upset that because of Alex they are no longer performing so she storms out of the room followed by Maurice who keeps throwing some hints that he knows what she did to her mother. Star finally faces him assuring that she is aware of the confession she made to him but is surprised that he keeps walking around as if nothing happened. He takes advantage of the state she is in and encourages her to do something that makes her get noticed by everyone.

Andy drives into a garage and is immediately met with a man (Alfred L. Pierce II) that greets him and refers to him as Cassie’s “new bitch.” Andy doesn’t seem to understand what is happening so the man hands him a bag and tells him he can leave and he will care of doing the rest. Andy opens the bag and sees a lot of money in it and then he spots other guys searching inside the car and taking some green packages out of it. That’s the moment when he realizes what he´s been used for.

At the hospital, Cotton is still struggling to connect with her son when Jahil walks in the room and greets them. The woman walks towards the kid and checks on his body temperature only to find out that he is still hot, so she decides to look for the doctor leaving Jahil and Jayden alone. The kid asks if he is going to die and Jahil decides to talk to him and say that even though they don´t know each other, he still has people that care for him like Cotton. And as his grandfather, he won’t let him die.

Noah hits the stage and everyone is still worried that Alex hasn’t showed up. He is about to start his third song of the night when Alex arrives in a hurry and starts changing her outfit in order to go to the stage and sing with Noah. Star seems to be pretty nervous as she keeps looking between Alex and the TV screen where Noah can be seen. When Alex is finally ready, she finds out that her microphone has been missing and is there when she sees Star on the screen singing next to Noah. The crowd cheers and claps at the two. Meanwhile, Alex, Simone and Carlotta can do nothing but to look in awe at Star´s sudden action. When the song ends, Noah throws a challenging look at Alex who’s been staring disapprovingly at him.

Star and Noah go backstage, laughing and content at how their performance has turned out. Alex walks towards the blonde and slaps her on the face. Carlotta and Simone also express their discontent at what she did and walk away from her.

Andy meets with Cassie and expresses that he doesn’t even know who she is anymore, but the woman assures her that she only wanted to give him the chance to earn the money he needed. Her cellphone rings so she asks Andy to run the shower while she takes the call. Before he does as requested he takes some of the money that is at the table and hides it while he eavesdrop that a new job has been assigned to her.

Simone is on her way out from the studio when she spots Angel there waiting for her, looking distraught. As an attempt to cheer him up, Simone tells him that they didn’t get the chance to perform as planned. After Angel opens up to her about his feelings towards Jahil, she decides to do the same and sort of explain to him the reason while she has been distant lately.

Carlotta walks in a rush to the hospital where she meets Cotton who explodes against her letting her know of the lack of support she´s been having most of her life from her. She blames it on Carlotta that her son is dying as she was informed that Jayden´s kidneys are shutting down and they need to find a donor.

Noah thanks Star for supporting him on his performance and he ends up telling her that he was wasted when he wrote the song (which is something that scares him since he believes this is the only state he needs to be at to create good music). When he is about to leave the building, he is met with reporters asking him about his and Alex´s current status and if Star will be replacing Alex. He then says that nobody could replace Alex while Star is in the back listening. Ayanna congratulates Noah on his performance and tells him that now they want to listen to the full album.

Angel enters his RV and sees Simone half naked waiting for him. She says she is ready to move on and they start to kiss, but are suddenly interrupted by a knock. Angels opens up and is delivered a letter from Immigration. When he opens it, he finds out that his DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) application has been rejected and now he has received a notice to appear.

Jackson is at the studio listening to his track. Alex walks in and asks him to let her have it so he agrees and they start to work together. Maurice has offered Star a deal to promote her as a solo artist and she agrees. Cassie pays a visit to the man that she has made business with earlier that day claiming that some of her money has been missing. The man assures that he didn’t play her, but she doesn’t believe him and shoots him while Andy watches everything. She walks away and asks him to follow her while he is still dumbfounded at what he just saw.

The game is on and the girls know it. Let´s see how everything unravels next Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox. ¡Hasta la próxima