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P-Valley Season 2 Episodic Stills

Source: Courtesy / Starz

Every week, there seems to be a new problem for the people who occupy or have once occupied the Pynk. On the fourth episode of this season of ‘P-Valley,’ that theme doesn’t change at all unfortunately.

The episode begins with Toy, who’s been dealing with allergies all season, sneezing on a customer while giving her a lap dance. As if the sneeze itself wasn’t bad enough, the person she sneezed on was more of the concern. It turned out that the woman who was on the receiving end worked for the county health department. She immediately shut down the club due to the COVID guidelines that it was breaking. Due to her constant visiting of the Pynk (she was the woman who got drunk, passed out at the Pynk and ended up in jail with Mercedes last season), she was lenient and allowed them 24 hours to comply or the Pynk would be shut down for good.

P-Valley Season 2 Episodic Stills

Source: Courtesy / Starz

This devleopment put Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan) and Hailey (Elarica Johnson) in a very tough spot. It seemed as if getting everything up to the proper codes would be a very difficult task until Big L (Morocco Omari) made it a whole lot easier. He used his connections with Duffy to get the club everything it needed to meet the requirements to stay open. Their help, along with the dancers and the return of Diamond gave them a full set of hands and made the daunting task seem much more doable. Everything seemed to be looking as if it was going to end up fine until the acting mayor, Wayne Kyle (Josh Ventura), implemented a curfew for the city which caused a lot of the dancers to go home for the night before being able to finish the job.

The curfew was put in place to attempt to manage rioting, violence and outrage following the shooting of a Black man by police officers. The employees at the Pynk weren’t the only ones effected by the curfew. Lil Murda (J. Alphonse Nicholson), Keyshawn (Shannon Thornton) and the rest of the people on the Dirty Dozen Tour also felt the ramifications of the slaying. While they were on their way to the next stop of the tour in Birmingham, they got news that a curfew would be put in place there too. This meant that there would not be a club appearance for the two headliners on the tour. Although the killing and cancelling of the show ruined the mood for the group, no one felt it more than Big Teak (John Clarence Stewart).

P-Valley Season 2 Episodic Stills

Source: Courtesy / Starz

Throughout the episode, it’s obvious that being in jail has weighed heavy on his conscious and has made him think a lot about our country and the way Black people are treated. His reactions differed from everyone else on the tour tremendously. While Rome (Blue Kimble) decided to play respectability politics, Keyshawn, Lil Murda and Woody and Keyshawn were a bit indifferent. Gidget (Skyler Joy), who they picked up on the way to Birmingham, doesn’t necessarily understand the magnitude of the situation and continues to act as if it’s a normal day. Teak is completely wrapped up in the coverage from the time they’re in the car driving all the way to the hotel where things eventually come to a head. After Rome cuts off the TV to give a toast to Keyshawn, Teak confronts him and a huge argument follows. Between Rome arguing his anti-Black points and Gidget urging him to calm down, Teak loses it and almost attacks Gidget after he smashes a table in ager.

He ends up back in his room afterwards, where we find Lil Murda recording a feature verse for DJ Neva Scared (who they heard on the radio in the car earlier in the day). Lil Murda quickly notices that Teak isn’t okay and urges him to stop watching the news. Teak explains how difficult it is living in a world where being Black isn’t valued and how no matter what you do, they’ll (white people) will still look at you the same. Lil Murda comforts him by kissing him on the forehead and letting him know that everything will be fine. The cloudiness behind the two’s relationship is wiped away when the comforting turns into them having sex. It obviously isn’t the first time and the relationship is far deeper than we could have guessed. This is apparent when the two wake up the next morning and Teak questions Lil Murda about who Clifford is and why he never sent him any postcards while he was in jail.

Another relationship that took a left turn that we might not have expected was Mercedes (Brandee Evans) and Farrah’s. Farrah (Shamika Cotton) decided to trick Mercedes into thinking Coach wanted to meet up at the condo. She admits to being attracted to Mercedes and the women eventually end up having sex also. When Mercedes awakes, there are three things she notices. The first is that her mother Patrice (Harriett D. Foy) has put her name in the Chucalissa mayoral race. She sees her mother on TV following the news of the shooting acting as if she’s a savior and underhandedly calling for people to riot. The second thing she realizes is that the Pynk is temporary closed and that they need all hands on deck. The last thing she sees which will surely come in handy at some point is that Farrah did indeed leave her the money she was promised on the dresser. Mercedes rushes to the Pynk, where Uncle Clifford is eaves dropping on a conversation Hailey is having with Andre (who caught his wife giving a co-worker oral sex).

P-Valley Season 2 Episodic Stills

Source: Courtesy / Starz

P-Valley Season 2 Episodic Stills

Source: Courtesy / Starz

While listening, Mercedes and Uncle Clifford head Hailey admit that her plan has been to sell the Pynk the whole time. Along with the rest of the staff, they come outside and address her about what they heard. Hailey says that they’ll all have to find something else just like she did. After cursing her out, everyone goes back inside and closes the door on her, seemingly showing they don’t really want anything to do with her. The health inspector Lauren returns and gives Clifford, Big L and Hailey the news they were hoping not to get…the Pynk is closed until further notice or until they can meet all the compliances. This episode left us with a million questions, with the first one obviously being HOW AND WHEN WILL THE PYNK BE BACK OPEN?

Who’s going too be the mayor of Chucalissa? Wayne Kyle? Andre? Patrice? (This would be hilarious). Will the truth about Roulette come out? After spilling the beans about her brother’s police caused death, how will her and Duffy’s relationship progress? After realizing there’s a spirit hunting the Pynk, will Diamond stick around? If so, will him and Big Bone become an item? Is Mercedes going to keep messing around with Farrah behind Coach’s back?

P-Valley Season 2 Episodic Stills

Source: Courtesy / Starz

Please hop in the comments and let us know what you thought about this episode and what you expect to happen next week!

 

If We Can’t Go To The Pynk, Where The Hell Can We Go? ‘P-Valley’ Episode 4 Recap  was originally published on globalgrind.com