P-Valley
Sink or Swim Season 2 Episode 10 Editor’s Rating «Previous Next « Previous Episode Next Episode
P-Valley
Sink or Swim Season 2 Episode 10 Editor’s Rating «Previous Next « Previous Episode Next EpisodeWe’ve come to the end of the road for season two of P-Valley. The final episode crescendos with a bang as each member of the Pynk family reckons with the results of the campaign and their futures in Chucalissa.
Following a season-long race to the office, surprisingly, Patrice comes out of election night a victor and the first Black female mayor of the city. Patrice and her daughter grace their perspective stages that night, basking in the spotlight and relishing in their performances. Patrice passionately addresses the residents of Chucalissa, promising to usher in a new day. Meanwhile, at the Pynk, Mercedes makes a comeback on the pole, this time dancing with Murda as he debuts the song he played for her in the Paradise Room. The performance begins with an a capella verse from Murda — cathartic prose delivered without background music, without the grill in his mouth, and without anyone else on stage. He unravels his intrusive thoughts by weaving them within the lyrics, reciting them while looking directly at his opps in the front row. He all but blatantly confesses to Pico’s murder, cryptically rapping, “Put a hole in a whole motherfucker and I ain’t feel shit.”
Murda ends his verse by saying, “I got that seven pounds of pressure / Seven pounds of motherfucking pressure / All it takes is just a second.” Ushered in by DJ Neva Scared bringing in the beat, someone else who understands how heavy seven pounds can feel joins Murda on the stage. Mercedes valiantly returns to the pole as the song climaxes, showing us all why she’s Uncle Clifford’s bottom bitch. It’s been a while since she gave such a strong performance, even though Diamond released her seven pounds of pressure several episodes ago. The effects of Murda Night and Mercedes pulling the trigger for Hailey continue to ripple throughout the club just beneath the surface.
As Uncle Clifford tells Hailey, the Pynk could have been a family for her, so much so that they made the ultimate sacrifice in killing Montavious and getting rid of the body. But her actions after being granted freedom from her oppressor result in her exile from the family. Not that Hailey intended to find a home in Chucalissa; this season she’s purely motivated by the possibility of amassing millions from the sale of the Pynk, contingent on the casino referendum and her convoluted game of chess with Georgie from Promise Land. With the referendum passing and the construction of the casino moving forward, Hailey assumes she can up the price of the land to $15 million. To her surprise, Georgie tells her she no longer has any use for the Pynk, as they eliminated the amenity that made the land desirable: Since the casino must be built on water, instead of relying on going to the water, why not bring it to themselves?
Hailey thought she was slick, but she forgot Uncle Clifford is slicker. It turns out that Clifford successfully planted a seed in Corbin’s head during their conversation in episode eight. Remember how Clifford said the enemy of her enemy is a bitch she can link up with? That’s exactly what she did by telling Corbin how powerful he could be by using his own resources and privilege instead of swimming against the tide. So Corbin teams up with his brother Wayne and decides to build a canal connecting to the Mississippi River on the family plantation, thus bringing the water and the casino to their backyard. After hearing the news about the Corbin Kyle Canal, Hailey storms to the Pynk, realizing that only Cliff could be behind taking her down. Cliff buys Hailey out of the club by giving her a check for $250,000, the exact amount Corbin gave Cliff for an evening of BDSM. Now with a meagerly small percentage of what she thought she would earn from the Pynk, she’s left with exactly how much she started with. Enraged her plan didn’t work, Hailey tries to guilt-trip Uncle Clifford, reminding her of how much money they could have earned from Promise Land, but Clifford understands that some things are bigger than money. She knows that community and ancestral respect are priceless, and these are all things that have been found at the club for decades. Selling the Pynk to the highest bidder after Cliff and Mercedes killed for her is the ultimate betrayal. Uncle Clifford kicks Hailey out, with Big L and Diamond ensuring her exit.
With the future of the Pynk less ominous, Ernestine demands a party welcoming her back from the hospital. She triumphantly survived her battle with COVID and enlists Big L, Duffy, and one of the African workers to plan a celebration. Mercedes has a lot to celebrate herself as well. She receives a present from Farrah: a large print of one of the photographs from the exhibit and a check for $30,000 from the profits. She uses this money to finally open her gym, this time including a pole so she can teach pole-dancing fitness lessons. Her first dance as owner, alone in her gym with seemingly no one watching, is the softest we’ve seen Mercedes in a long time, coinciding with her stepping into a new future. Patrice enters the gym, reconnecting with her daughter for the first time since becoming the mayor. She tells Mercedes that Chelle checked herself into rehab and left Terricka in her care. In perhaps the only real act of love we’ve seen from her on the show, Patrice brings Terricka to Mercedes, finally reuniting mother and daughter.
Mercedes brings Terricka to Ernestine’s welcome-home party at the Pynk, joining everyone to celebrate. The event is a family affair, so it only makes sense that Murda would be in attendance, even though earlier in the episode he was planning to go on tour with Tina Snow that same day. During their pillow talk the morning after the grand reopening, Cliff says she considers the tour the end of their relationship, but Murda says he’s considering going public with his true sexual identity. Even with the offer to go public, Cliff pushes Murda away, not willing to chance Murda’s success with the unfortunate stigma that comes with homosexuality in the rap industry, stating they only exist in their own closed-off worlds. She says that since she got her grandmother back, that’s all she needs, hurting Murda’s feelings and causing him to leave the house.
After leaving Uncle Clifford and boarding the tour bus, Murda links with Keyshawn as she begins her journey to a life free of Derrick. He gives her her cut of the profits from the Dirty Dozen tour and says his good-byes. She’s appreciative of their relationship and leaves Murda with a nugget of advice, telling him he doesn’t have to miss Uncle Clifford if he doesn’t want to. Heeding her words, Murda surprises Clifford at Ernestine’s party instead of heading out on the road. They reconcile after an intense back-and-forth about Murda dropping out of the tour for Clifford and Clifford’s insecurities. Murda finally confides in her about what really happened with Teak and expresses his desire to love Clifford openly.
They’re interrupted by Big L’s insistence that Clifford look at the books for the club. Their account is in deficit, negative $24,000 to be exact. Clifford checks the transactions and finds a transfer of over $40,000 to Channel Fabrics, a.k.a. one of Hailey’s scam accounts. To ease the pain of this revelation, Cliff takes some pills from Big L and continues to enjoy the night. Under the influence of Big L’s treats, Clifford traipses through the party onto the dance floor, reminiscent of how we all looked dancing to Renaissance for the past two weeks. In her drug-induced haze, Clifford feels Murda’s hands around her waist, initiating the couple’s first public dance. The two seal their announcement with a kiss, letting the whole Pynk framily know the truth.
Sadly, unlike Mercedes and Clifford, Keyshawn’s happy ending is derailed yet again by Derrick and her stepmother. She successfully completes every step of her and Hailey’s plan until it’s time to pick her kids up from her sister’s house. When she arrives at the house, she’s informed that her stepmother unknowingly alerted Derrick by texting him when she saw Keyshawn’s kids, revealing their whereabouts. Keyshawn returns home to find child protective services making a visit after a neighbor reported suspicious noises from their home, which, combined with Jayden’s doctor’s reports, resulted in an investigation into the family. Keyshawn implodes and she begins to attack Derrick until the police are forced to arrest her, giving us an amazing performance from Shannon Thornton as a woman at the end of her rope.
From jail, Keyshawn calls the only true white knight she knows: Diamond. She asks him to take care of it, saying her hair isn’t long enough to save herself from the tower. Of course, he agrees to “take care of” the problem, but before he can leave to complete the task, he’s attacked from behind and then gagged and tied up by his captor. From the trunk of the car, he sees that one of his attackers is Big Bone, and the other one is her boss, who is wearing Montavious’s ring. After another whirlwind of a season, P-Valley leaves us on the edges of our seats. Where you at, season three?!
Chucalissa Chatter
• Despite losing the run for mayor, Andre has decided to stay in Chucalissa with his estranged wife (who is against ending their union) and open up a law practice, obviously to create more Great Value Barack Obamas.
• Clifford lets her imagination run regarding the future of the club, including starting an amusement park called Pussy Land — though she’ll have to do it without Mercedes as the headliner, since she officially retired.
• Although Uncle Clifford saved the Pynk, the club may face its demise from the inside out instead. Roulette’s prostitution ring is growing even more after another employee at the club catches on to the activities and asks to join in.
• Hailey escapes to an unspecified location far away from the Pynk, clutching her stomach and lugging her physical and metaphorical baggage to the next stop while “Didn’t Cha Know” by Erykah Badu plays. Good riddance.
Update: An earlier version mistook “Didn’t Cha Know” for “Bag Lady.”
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