ALEX ALL ANGEL BOBBY BOTH CARLOTTA CASSIE COTTON CROWD DAVIS DELIVERY_MAN DEREK DIANNE DIOR GISELLE HOST IMMIGRANTS JOHN JOURNALIST JUDGE LEON MAN MATEO MAURICE MISS_BRUCE NECKBEARD NOAH RASHAD REPORTERS SIMONE STAR THOMAS_KING ALEX Previously on Star... THOMAS KING Consider this your notice of divestiture. ALEX Derek, will you marry me? CASSIE Bigheaded Rashad. RASHAD You can just call me Rashad now. RASHAD All I can say is, your father changed my life. LEON This your auntie's bar, right? Why don't you let me run Dior and some other girls up out of here? NOAH Mama? What are you doing here? DIANNE I asked Miss Brown to help me reach you. SIMONE Noah's been taking pills. BOBBY We need to call a doctor or something? NOAH It's not my fault, man, I'm good... SIMONE I walked in and Davis was crying and Noah was passed out on the floor. STAR Take a good look. Because this is the last time that you're going to see your son. STAR The intubation bruised my vocal cords. STAR ... I'm seeing the right note, right? CARLOTTA You're gonna win this award. Period. And here's how Gravity Media's going to support you going forward to the next phase of your careers. MAURICE Alex, with Gravity, you will continue your music, but we want to take it to the next level, make you a household name. ALEX This sounds like a lot of my dad's BS, Maurice. I just want to be an artist. STAR Oh, come on, girl. Don't nobody want your “art” unless you are a household name. This is perfect. MAURICE Simone, you've become the face of change in Atlanta since it's become a Sanctuary City. But we want to help make you a political figure on the national stage. SIMONE That's definitely an image I can get behind. CARLOTTA And Star, we want you to finish your solo album and get back on tour ASAP. STAR That's the pitch? You playin' with me, right? So, Alex Crane is a household name, Simone Davis is a worldwide activist and I'm stuck in the studio with no voice trying to finish an album with a kid on her hip? ALEX You just got out of jail for God's sake. STAR So did Meek Mill. SIMONE And look how much good he's been doin' for prison reform. You could do something like that? STAR Not exactly my lane, Simone. I'm tryin' to make money for my kid. CARLOTTA Star, shut up and listen. The priority is getting you healthy and getting your voice back. And now that it's been a month of vocal therapy, how's it going? STAR Not great, Carlotta, thanks for asking. MISS BRUCE That's 'cause you sittin' up there sipping on that water, child, throw some baby batter in there. Lubricate them vocal cords. Trust me. It works. ALEX What? SIMONE I'm about to throw up. MISS BRUCE STAR Carlotta, this is ridiculous. The buzz from "Breathless" is fizzling out and Noah's nowhere to be found. MISS BRUCE Noah's around, Star. He's just been in sober living for the last month. But he's around. STAR Why wouldn't you tell me that? CARLOTTA 'Cause we didn't want you to worry. So don't worry. Look, you're all about to level up. So the important thing is that y'all shine this weekend at Gravity's ASA Easter Brunch. ALEX Easter Brunch? That's a new low. SIMONE But haven't we sucked up to enough voters already? It's either our music speaks to people or it doesn't. CARLOTTA Making great music is only half the battle. This is a chance for you to show them your drive. Now, I've reserved the estate lawn at the Swan House. And your last moment as Take 3 will be with that ASA in your hands. ALEX All right. STAR And don't look so sad about it, Alex. You're getting married soon. So at least be happy about that. Simone and I are going to get you this ASA Award as a wedding gift. SIMONE And something else. ALEX Thank you. REPORTERS BOBBY Hey. You good? NOAH Yeah. BOBBY Yeah. NOAH Will you take me to Star's? BOBBY No, man, you just got out. I don't want you storming over there, get the door shut in your face. NOAH I'm clean now, all right. I... I just want to go over there and show her that she's not to blame. All right? I'm a changed man. BOBBY No. And you rushing over there ain't going to help you prove your point. You gotta think this through. NOAH I have thought this through, all right. I made a mistake, and everything I learned in rehab won't be worth anything if I don't fix it. Look, if you ain't going to take me, I'll go by myself. BOBBY Hey! You got to be smart about this. When I left your mom, she didn't let me see you for months. NOAH Trying to blame Mom for what you did. BOBBY I ain't trying to blame nobody. There's two sides to every story. What I'm saying is, what you do right now, that could affect you and Davis. NOAH I want to see my son. That's all. BOBBY But you almost killed your son. IMMIGRANTS SIMONE I can't believe that Gravity is actually supporting my activism efforts. ANGEL As they should. Look at this place. You did this. SIMONE Maurice and Carlotta were thinking I should take it to a national level. ANGEL I got my own Angela Davis. I'm proud of you, Simone. NECKBEARD Hey, you. Yeah, you. You little half-breed. You think 'cause you're a big pop star now, that you can use your voice to let all the rapists and drug smugglers stay in our city? You ought to use your voice to learn how to half-ass sing right. SIMONE Why don't you go back to the basement you came out of? NECKBEARD But my followers, they want to see how this mutt bitch is turning our city into an open prison. ANGEL Hey, don’t talk to my-- SIMONE Why don't you-- hey! Hey! NECKBEARD Are you crazy? Are you crazy, come on? Hey, whoa, hey! Assault! This illegal is dangerous! So, I see your illegal ass again, you're gonna get deported in a body bag. CASSIE Yeah! MAURICE Hey. Those vocals with that bass line, yeah that's the vibe right there. CASSIE Right? It's dope, right? MAURICE Mmm, mmm. CASSIE Check this out. Let me hear some. MAURICE You put that together yourself? CASSIE Well, you know. MAURICE Wow, looks like we got a female Quincy Jones on the come up. CASSIE Well, you know if Carlotta can do it, I can do it in my sleep. RASHAD Yo. That was fire. Thank you for this opportunity, cuz. CASSIE Oh, you know I can see you. You stick with me, you going to the top, okay? RASHAD All right. Bet. Bet. CARLOTTA Cassie, when does it stop? MAURICE Rashad's just laying down some background vocals for one of Noah's tracks. CARLOTTA Well, no one asked me for permission. You just can't help yourself, right? He don't know nothing about this industry. Neither do you. CASSIE But he's family, okay? I'm not going to let nothing happen to him. Plus, I'm just tryin' to be like you, Sis. CARLOTTA Oh, save it, girl. RASHAD You ain't got to worry about me, Carlotta. I ain't about no trouble. CARLOTTA Maybe not. But your cousin here is. And you need to stay away from her. CASSIE Really? CARLOTTA Matter of fact, what you even still doing in town? RASHAD I want to try to get a record deal. CARLOTTA You need to go back home. This is not the lane for you. CASSIE Yo, he ain't going nowhere. Okay? Rashad, get back in the booth. You gifted, go. RASHAD Okay. CARLOTTA So, since when you become a super-producer? CASSIE Look, you're not about to disrespect me. Okay? We on good terms, but you know that can change real quick. Let's just be honest. You won't give that boy a shot because he reminds you of Dad's side of the family, right? CARLOTTA CASSIE He ain't Daddy, Sis. CARLOTTA What? Yes, I want to rent the South lawn. That doesn't make any sense. It's a company card. All right, look, I'll call you back. We going to deal with this later. CARLOTTA Hey, what the hell is going on? I got vendors calling me saying my company card is canceled. MATEO Carlotta, now is not the time. CARLOTTA No, no, now is the perfect time. You got me looking crazy to these people out here. What's going on? You're filing for bankruptcy? MATEO I was hoping there'd be another way, but I'm running out of options. The problem is that nobody wants to buy Gravity Media right now. One of our top artists is fresh out of rehab again. Gigi quit music. All that drama with Star. They didn't want to bet on the wrong horse. CARLOTTA This can't be happening right now. I got the ASA's. MATEO And I'm very sorry about that. CARLOTTA I don't want to hear sorry. I want to hear a solution, even if I have to find a buyer for this damn label myself. STAR Bankruptcy? So we got no label right before the ASA's? CARLOTTA I'm gonna find another buyer. ALEX And if you don't, what? CARLOTTA You don't need to worry about that. What you need to worry about is how you're going to present yourselves going forward. STAR All right, well, we all got our solo stuff. But as Take 3, we got a gang of nominations and two albums out. So if Gravity Records is really going down, our best option is going to be to stick together. 'Cause a girl group with an ASA nomination's got way more juice than three brand new artists. ALEX My solo album is on track right now. STAR I'm saying we stick together for now, Alex. That's it. What happened to family? SIMONE I don't think that she's trying to say we're not a family, I just think Alex is sayin' that we need to keep our options open, right? STAR I don't know why I expected you to support me at all. You're a world famous activist now, right, so you can't associate with your sister? SIMONE That's not what I'm saying at all, Star. ALEX Don't guilt-trip her. You only want us back together again because your solo career is stalling right now. STAR And I'm playing smart. ALEX Because it benefits you. You really expect us to put our careers on hold and you don't even have a voice? You don't even know if it'll come back. STAR Wow, bro, thanks for the vote of confidence. SIMONE All right, Star, your voice is definitely going to come back, we just need some time. Miss C, do we have to make this decision right now? CARLOTTA Listen. We're about to lose everything we've built. Every. Thing. We don't have time to fight like this. ALEX No matter what, we always end up fighting. And I know we don't want to. But this is exactly why we're going our separate ways. Look, I'll do the brunch as a member of Take 3, but after that, I'm done. STAR Follow that money, Alex. I'll survive. I always have. MAURICE My eyes are up here, boss. CARLOTTA Oh, please. I've seen it all before. If it was all that good, you'd still be at my place. Where she at? CASSIE Hello. CARLOTTA Hey. I need you to host my Easter Brunch at Karma. CASSIE No, I'm good. CARLOTTA Actually, I'm helping you out. This'll be good publicity for your club. I mean, and some of the biggest names in music will be there. CASSIE Sounds like you lost your venue and you need me. MAURICE What's going on, Carlotta? CASSIE Must be real bad if she tryna host an Easter Brunch at a nasty-ass nightclub that needs a little more Jesus. CARLOTTA Gravity Media is going bankrupt. MAURICE What? What does that mean for our artists? Everything we've built? And right before ASA's. CARLOTTA It means we going to lose everything. But I'm on it. Giselle Simms from Empire Records, she's in town doing some publicity for her nominees. Now, she could be willing to buy us up if we play our cards right. MAURICE Empire? When I worked there, I didn't think you and Lucious got along. CARLOTTA Yeah, well, I'm willing to look past that for our artists. She got the money to turn Gravity around. MAURICE I'll invite her to brunch to see our artists perform. If there is a brunch. What? You need me to beg you to use the club? CASSIE No. I'll let y'all use Karma if Rashad performs. CARLOTTA Our cousin is not performing. It's a Gravity Media event. CASSIE Have fun hosting the brunch at, uh, the salon. CARLOTTA Okay, fine. He can come. CASSIE Good. Can you leave now? CARLOTTA I can't believe you asked my permission for that anyway. DEREK Thank you. DELIVERY MAN No problem. ALEX Oh. DEREK Right? ALEX What? DEREK I know the wedding is not for another two weeks but your parents blessed us early. ALEX All this is from my parents? DEREK Yes. You see this? ALEX What? DEREK “To my Alex, we love you so, so much. For your wedding day. Love always, Dad.” What is that? ALEX This isn't a gift. None of this is. It's all sponsored. DEREK How do you know? ALEX I recognize the address. It's my dad's publicist. He's trying to make money off of my wedding. DEREK Baby, I'm sorry. ALEX My entire life my dad has told me I'm not authentic. I'm not going to make it. And now he has an opportunity to make a quick buck and wants to use me and my career. No. That rape center Ruby volunteers at. Are they still low on money? DEREK Yeah. ALEX Well, now they're not. Donate it. DEREK Donate what? ALEX All of it. MISS BRUCE You always been into something. CARLOTTA STAR All right, folks, we got to figure out my next move ‘cause Alex don't want Take 3 back together. MISS BRUCE Oh, yes. STAR You game? CARLOTTA Well, actually, yeah. We just scheduled an interview with you and Noah with Big Tigg to talk about the buzz that “Breathless” is getting. STAR Me and Noah? You know I'm not doing that. MISS BRUCE Look, he just got out of a sober living place, Star. STAR I'm sorry he relapsed, but that's not my fault. MISS BRUCE Noah knows he's responsible for that. And I know he's working hard on it. And he's going to get through it. Would you just let him see his baby, please? STAR Bruce, I'm a little concerned that you might be using with him if you think I'm gonna let that man see my child. MISS BRUCE He's the father, Star. STAR Exactly. It takes one parent to screw up a kid. And he's got two that aren't exactly doing the damn thing. He deserves better than this. He deserves better than me. MISS BRUCE What? CARLOTTA Star, stop talking crazy. STAR When I got pregnant, what did I say? I'm going to raise this baby. I'm going to be nothing like my mother. And I really thought I could do it. But I'm turning into her. Every day. You know what I realized in that meeting? I'm never going to put that kid first. It's always going to be my career first. Just like it was always drugs for her and it will always be drugs for Noah, 'cause they're addicts. That's what they do. I'm not doing this Carlotta. I'm not doing this anymore. CARLOTTA Star, you are a good mother. But you are not your mother. It's okay to have a career. But you got a lot to lose right now. You need this. STAR I'll do the interview, but he's not seeing Davis. MISS BRUCE NOAH Hi, Star. STAR I'm here to do this interview for the ASA campaign ‘cause I'm trying to win. That's all. NOAH Look, I said I was sorry. All right, I'll say it now, I'll say it again, I'll say it as many times as you need to hear it, but we need to start somewhere. STAR I'm very glad that you're getting help, but you've been to rehab before. NOAH Before, it was-- I was just hurting myself. This time I almost killed my own son. All right? I'll-I'll never let that happen again, I promise. STAR You damn right that won't happen again. NOAH Like you're perfect. CARLOTTA You better go over there and manage somebody. STAR I'm not perfect. MISS BRUCE I know, I know, I know... STAR He's got two messed up parents. NOAH Well, I'm glad you can see that now. MISS BRUCE Listen. You're not going to go sit up here and act like some damn idiots. Be professionals, okay? NOAH It's her. STAR It's very hard to act professional when you got me in here with this childlike little man that I've been dragging up for how-how long? NOAH See what I'm saying? STAR Now I got to do it on TV in front of everybody? MISS BRUCE You don't... listen. You're going to sit here and you're going to damn fake it, bitch. Okay? That's what you're going to do. STAR That's easy. I've been doing that with him for a while. MISS BRUCE Acting like some damn clowns. Hi. MAN Settle everybody. We're rolling here. JOURNALIST Star Davis and Noah Brooks. STAR What is up? NOAH What up, Tigger? JOURNALIST What's happening? STAR Hey. NOAH Big Tigger, what's good? JOURNALIST Everything good? STAR Yeah. NOAH Man, everything is love. JOURNALIST Nice. Nice. STAR Yeah. The last time I saw you I was, what, I was to here? Probably. JOURNALIST Yes. You were. NOAH Oh yeah, big. JOURNALIST Yeah. ALL STAR Call me big one more time. ALL NOAH Oh you know, big love, you know, it's crazy. STAR Now we co-parents. NOAH Yeah, we here. JOURNALIST Co-parenting. SIMONE Look at this. JOURNALIST Yeah. Co-parenting can be difficult for exes. STAR Mm-hmm. MISS BRUCE Look, Bobby, I know you ain't the prayin' type, but if there was ever a time -- BOBBY JOURNALIST Uh, and then the added pressure of being in the spotlight. How do you all get that accomplished? STAR Oh, we got this. NOAH Yeah. STAR You know, it's all about keeping the focus on Davis. Our son. We give him all of our energy. This comes with hardships, of course, but we know the sacrifices we got to make. And it's so worth it. CARLOTTA That's what I'm talking about. JOURNALIST Indeed. Indeed. STAR You know. JOURNALIST What are those challenges like for you, Noah? I mean, we all know your history of drug use. And rumor has it that your last relapse was, uh, a function of your relationship with Star? NOAH Oh, no, no, no. First of all, I wanna dead that rumor. JOURNALIST Mmm. NOAH All right, 'cause Star's been nothing but supportive through all my ups and downs. All right. CARLOTTA Okay, they're putting it on kind of thick now, but... NOAH I-I fight one day at a time, but I keep Davis's life as my full focus. JOURNALIST Nice. NOAH Star's a great mother. The best. She's got my back like I got hers. JOURNALIST With that kind of energies, I feel that in the song "Breathless." I mean, I felt all of that chemistry. NOAH STAR We got that. NOAH Come on, man. JOURNALIST You got that. STAR We got chemistry. NOAH Did you think that we'd be anything different? STAR ...That's right. BOBBY Oh, my God. MISS BRUCE I know, it's a miracle, right? STAR That's right. Baby making music. NOAH That's what we do. STAR That should be our little... DIANNE Uh-uh. Don't lie to 'em, baby. NOAH STAR Hopefully not another one. DIANNE This bitch has been triflin' since day one. BOBBY Dianne! Dianne! What the hell you doing here? Get out! STAR Sorry, who is this? NOAH Mama... DIANNE Baby, you were on the up until this so-called mother showed up. STAR And what are you? DIANNE Well, I pray to God my grandbaby doesn't inherit this bitch's temper. I don't want to see him in jail just like his mama. STAR I'll go right back... NOAH No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... ALL STAR Come here, bitch! CARLOTTA Stop it, y'all! ALL CARLOTTA Stop it! STAR Let go of my hair! NOAH Stop! BOBBY Dianne! MISS BRUCE NOAH Mama! BOBBY Get off the floor! You’re probably drunk! Get your ass off the floor! CARLOTTA Get off of her now! NOAH That's my baby mama! Star, get off my mama! That's my mother! CARLOTTA That's enough, Star! NOAH Stop! ALL CARLOTTA Hey! All right! That's enough. Sit y'all asses down. Damn. Now, I don't care if we here all night. But we are going to sit here and talk calmly one at a time. And we going to come out of here with a solution. DIANNE You don't want a solution. As long as Noah keeps singing, keeps making that money, y'all let all kinds of things slide to keep that money train going. BOBBY Are you kidding me, Dianne? All we do is try to put this poor boy back together. CARLOTTA Yeah, you obviously don't know me, ‘cause I treat my artists like my children. Otherwise, I wouldn't even be here. DIANNE That may be, but nothing's gonna change until he gets out of this damn industry. NOAH Hey, no, no... first of all, I need everybody to stop talking about me like I'm some child. All right, nobody forced me to be here. All right, I'm here for me and my son, no one else. Look, I'm trying my best. DIANNE I know, baby. I know. Your daddy didn't show you how to do it. NOAH Mama. DIANNE Bad enough he left me behind some lies he couldn't even tell himself, and now he's with… Whatever this is. MISS BRUCE His new lady in his life and you can't take it. CARLOTTA Come on! DIANNE You know what, Bobby? This is all your fault. Let's face it. You left, and he never got over it. BOBBY I might have left, but at least I wasn't a drunk. Who gave him that gene to begin with, huh? Who taught him that a bottle's the only way to deal with his problems? DIANNE Well, I wouldn't have hit the bottle in the first place if it wasn't for your gay ass! STAR You're vile. All of you. You're disgusting. You're messy. I'm not putting my son in this. So he can end up like yours. CARLOTTA Star, don't walk out like that. STAR Bye! SIMONE This is for all you trolls who have been harassing me online. There have been over 300 mass shootings in this country, killing over 1,100 people. And guess how many of them were perpetrated by illegal immigrants? Zero. Guess how many of them were done by white men? Almost all of them. So for all y'all saying that my husband's some dangerous illegal immigrant, y'all should be worried about the real threat in America, and that is white supremacy. That's right. I said it. Maybe I think that y'all should deport all you angry, racist white men who are going after people. MATEO I see you're keeping the fight alive. SIMONE Can't stop now. MATEO Working with you is the one thing I did right in all of this. I know you heard about the bankruptcy. I don't know how we're going to get out of this. SIMONE You can make the impossible possible, and you can make anybody listen to you if you're loud enough. COTTON Money's been short this week. And now I see why. Real fur, Dior? Really? DIOR It's an investment, Sis. You got to spend money to make money. COTTON If you want a fur coat or anything, come talk to me first. How can I protect you from Leon if you out here shortin' him. What you doing here, choir boy? RASHAD Cassie invited me. But you good, cuz? COTTON Yeah, I'm all right. I'm just helping out a friend. DIOR Dior. Very nice to meet you. RASHAD Hey. I'm Rashad. CASSIE Yes, he is Rashad. We're going to have church in here tomorrow. I got you an invite to Gravity's ASA brunch. RASHAD Praise God. DIOR Church boy is kind of cute. RASHAD JOHN Hey, get yo' ass out my bitch's face. RASHAD Your bitch? JOHN Yeah. RASHAD This lady ain't no piece of property. JOHN I'll knock your ass out. COTTON Yo, Cousin, I got this. JOHN I want my money back, Cotton. Your girls ain't worth all of this. CASSIE Her girls? JOHN Yeah. CASSIE Cotton, you better not be running bitches up out of my club. STAR ? La la la la la la la l... ? DAVIS STAR ? La ? What are you doing here? ALEX Came to finish a mix on one of my tracks. STAR I'm not done with the booth. I'm trying to do vocal exercises. I can get, like, three notes out and then it's shot. ALEX Look, I don't want to fight with you anymore. Remember you left us when you got an opportunity, so can you really blame me for wanting to do the same? You'll land on your feet. You always do. STAR Not this time, Alex. If Gravity Records goes down, who's going to want a singer with a broken voice? I have to go back to square one. You don't have that problem. You don't understand. You got a safety net. ALEX If I wanted to mooch off my dad, we wouldn't have started Take 3 in the first place. Don't forget we broke up for a reason. We were emotionally ready to do our own thing. We're different people now. STAR Look, I respect your hustle, Alex, I always have. But this isn't just hustle for me anymore. I'm surviving. I'll actually end up back in Pittsburgh. I cannot go back there with my baby. But if the group gets back together, I've got a shot. Please, Alex. ALEX I'll be back when you're done. DAVIS CARLOTTA All right, there she is. If I land this, bankruptcy goes away. Let me kiss the ring. Giselle Simms. Carlotta Brown, we spoke on the phone. GISELLE Yes, Lucious told me all about you. It looks great. CARLOTTA Come on over. Thank you. GISELLE Well. Oh, who is this? MATEO Hi Giselle. I'm Mateo Ferrera, I own Gravity Media. GISELLE Oh. Mucho gusto. MATEO Un placer. BOTH GISELLE So, let's get right to it. One could argue that your artists are a hot mess. So, I don't know if the investment is even worth the headache. CARLOTTA Well, Empire has its own set of drama. But we know it's not all about what happens behind the scenes, it's about that talent. And we got it. GISELLE Well, that might be true, but Empire can keep the lights on. I mean, wasn't Gravity Records called Midtown less than a year ago? CARLOTTA That's correct. And in that year, Take 3 earned their first ASA nom, and we're hoping for more. GISELLE Oh. Interesting. Outfits for a gospel brunch. MATEO Let me get you a drink and talk some business. GISELLE Oh. I thought you'd never ask. BOTH GISELLE We'll talk. CARLOTTA You sure you want to do this? I thought you don't want to mix business with pleasure. MATEO But I am trying to save this company. CARLOTTA Okay. Good luck. CARLOTTA All right, ladies, even though y'all dressed like sluts, I need y'all to rally. Okay, we may have a buyer. Giselle Simms from Empire Records. STAR Oh. CARLOTTA Now I need y'all to make her feel like Gravity is worth the price tag. ALEX I can talk to her. I've met her a few times. I think she likes me. STAR I can talk to her. I've met her a few times. I think she likes me. ALEX Do you ever just shut up? SIMONE Miss C, you gonna say somethin'? CARLOTTA I'm not playin' peacemaker between these two. If they don't realize how important this thing is... look, y'all don't want to impress Giselle, you want to end up broke? Fine. CASSIE Thank you. COTTON Auntie, we really need to talk. CASSIE Niece. You been runnin' girls outta my club, right underneath my damn nose? COTTON It's not like that. It's a very difficult situation. I'm just helping out a friend. Please don't tell my mom. CARLOTTA Don't tell Mama what? CASSIE That Rashad has a voice from the Gods, and he needs to meet Giselle Simms right now. CARLOTTA No. I want both your mouths shut and in the back the entire time. Don't play me, Cassie. Today is not about Rashad. COTTON Thank you. MATEO You have a great personality, though. GISELLE Well, thank you. Hi. MATEO Hey, Alex. ALEX Hey. MATEO Uhp, whenever you're done, just come meet me at my table. GISELLE Sure, no problem. MATEO All right. ALEX Hi, Giselle. Good to see you. GISELLE Hey. Yes. Your father's been tweeting up a storm about this wedding. He's so excited to walk you down the aisle. ALEX Yeah, he's excited about a lot of things. But I'm more focused on my solo projects right now. GISELLE Well, do you think Gravity Records can give you what you need to make that happen? STAR I mean, if you're willing to shell out the cash to keep us afloat. Yeah. GISELLE Why don't you tell me why I should shell out all this cash? Gravity Records has been nothing but a hot mess of drama and scandal. And you. STAR What, you think you've been here one minute and you know us? GISELLE I know you've been in an out of jail. I know you had a little chocolate surprise by your pill popping baby daddy Noah Brooks. STAR The point is, you know that we're talented. More talented than any other act you got over there at Empire. GISELLE Well, how do I know that the drama won't overshadow the music? STAR ‘Cause the music is that bad ass. GISELLE Really? We haven't heard anything new from you since “Y'all Know Me.” Alex has a solo career. Where's yours? STAR I'm working on new stuff. GISELLE Oh. Well, then, let me see it. HOST Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. ALEX So, we're going to go. GISELLE Yeah. ALEX Uh, it was great talking to you, Giselle. GISELLE Yes. CARLOTTA Hey. Thank you. Of course. CROWD CARLOTTA I want to thank everyone for coming out today. It's so wonderful to see you here. We are here to celebrate the talented artists of Gravity Records, and with any luck, they will join your ranks as ASA winners. CROWD CARLOTTA You know, when I look out here, I see so many legends. True legends. CASSIE ? Which is why ? we want to celebrate what brings us all together, the music. Hey everybody, I'm Cassie Brown, the owner and founder of Karma Club. Welcome. Thank you. CROWD CASSIE Yeah, so when Carlotta asked me to host this brunch, I thought that we needed to take this back to STAR Normally, I would be singing right now, because that's what I do, but, um... STAR Look, the truth is, I... ALEX The truth is, we have an announcement. That Take 3 is officially back together. CROWD ALEX We're still pursuing our solo careers, but, for now, Take 3 is front and center. To Take 3! CROWD To Take 3! STAR Thank you, Alex. SIMONE So, was anybody gonna ask how I feel? STAR How do you feel, Simone? SIMONE Oh, it's not important. ALEX DEREK Hey, baby. ALEX Hey. DEREK That was such a good thing you did for Star. Helping her. ALEX Thanks. It's what you do for family. I mean, I'd be a straight up hypocrite if I told my dad he's selfish and I didn't look out for them. DEREK You know, like I've always told you, you're nothing like him. ALEX I know. I just really thought he'd come through for a sec, you know? That he'd really be there at least once. DEREK I mean, this wedding. The planning. It's supposed to be fun. You know what I'm saying? I want you to be happy. Don't let him ruin this for you. ALEX Let's just do it. DEREK Do what? ALEX Get married. Like right now. DEREK Let's do it. ALEX Yeah? Okay. GISELLE You know you had me at hello, right? MATEO Yeah. GISELLE GISELLE But this is just an added benefit. GISELLE So, what type of deal are we talking? MATEO Let's say financially, I give you all my power and control on the media side. GISELLE I like it. MATEO You like that? GISELLE Yeah. MATEO But on the music side, it's fine the way it is. GISELLE Well, as well as it's working, I'm still going to need complete creative control over the artists. If I buy, Carlotta’s out. MATEO I'm afraid that's not going to happen. That's Carlotta's job. And she does it damn well. I don't want her to lose because of my mistakes. GISELLE It's my final offer. MATEO There are some things I'm not willing to negotiate. GISELLE It's a shame. Such a great lay, bad negotiator. Deal breaker. RASHAD Yeah, yeah CARLOTTA Cassie, you just don't stop, do you? You just want to see me like you, unhappy. RASHAD This wasn't Cassie's idea. CARLOTTA What you did was inappropriate. It was disrespectful. RASHAD Look, I'm sorry. But I asked God to give me an open door, and he gave me one through Cassie. CASSIE Yes, see? God, workin'. RASHAD And He even worked through your father's death, bringing me here. CARLOTTA Don't you even think about it. You need to go home. Cassie ain't telling you that this music industry can hurt you as much as it can heal you. You need to surround yourself with the right people. CASSIE Don't be shaking that wig all up in my face like that. I'm gonna be his manager, and I know you don't believe I can do it, but I will prove to you that he is a star. CARLOTTA Well, good on you, 'cause I can't help him. Mateo told me we lost our buyer. CASSIE So, Gravity is going under? CARLOTTA Like you really care. CASSIE No, I do care, Carlotta. CARLOTTA Get out of my face. BOBBY Son, I'm not dealing with her again. DIANNE You think I wanna see your coward punk ass? NOAH Wait, listen... BOBBY I don't want to see you neither! NOAH Stop. Stop! Stop! That's not why I brought y'all here. Mom, sit. Dad, come on, sit. I can't... I can't be a better father until I deal with the scars of being your son. I'm dealing with my demons. But I need you both to do the same. All right, 'cause if we keep this-this family drama that... that we have, it's gonna end up hurting Davis. It all starts with what happened between the two of you. DIANNE I knew that you didn't love me like a husband is supposed to love a wife. But I thought as long as you were around, Noah wouldn't be like the other kids. At least he'd have a father. We'd be a family. BOBBY You'd prefer I stayed in the close this whole time? I ain't show that boy no kind of love. I tortured him. And why? Because I didn't know how to love myself. NOAH Ma, we ain't no different than any other family in America. DIANNE NOAH We're messed up. BOBBY Yeah, man, I wasted too much time pointing fingers. NOAH No, Pop, listen. Don't-don't live my life in regret. Please. Let's do it right this time. All right, because... the only way we're gonna show Davis love is if we show him how we love each other. Can I have a hug? DEREK Alex. You ready? JUDGE Jones-Crane? ALEX Yeah. Let's go. JUDGE Welcome. DEREK Remember, it's me and you. That's all that matters. Baby, what's wrong? ALEX I'm sorry. But I can't... I can't do this without my girls. DEREK What? LEON ... and I'm going to drown your ass, you hear me? Get your ass up here! DIOR No! No, no, no, no! No, please... LEON ... don't you ever run off on me like that, you understand me?! Get down there! COTTON Leon, what the hell are you doing? LEON Hey, get back, baby girl. COTTON You're not tired of being a monster? DIOR LEON You ain't even seen the real monster yet. Jayden. That's your baby's name, right? It's a shame he won't get a chance to see the world, huh? Or maybe one day, something'll happen to him. I know you don't want that, right? DIOR COTTON Don't you ever threaten my son. Bitch. DAVIS NOAH Oh. He's going to sleep. Thank you. Thank you for letting me see him. STAR The last few days have been... they've been horrible. And I've made a decision. The hardest decision I ever made in my life. NOAH What? STAR I'm going to give Davis up for adoption. NOAH No... No, no, no... STAR We don't know how to do this. He deserves something better than us. You know it. NOAH Star, I'll raise him. Okay? I-It's fine. STAR No, you won't, Noah, because you don't know how. Nobody taught you. Your family's full of anger and pain. Same thing I'm full of. I don't want him to end up like us. So, I'm going to find him a family. Alex gave me a second chance tonight. That's what I'm giving Davis. NOAH What? STAR A second chance at life. NOAH Know what, if-if you think for one second I'm gonna let you put my child up for adoption... you must be out your mind. It's not happening. STAR I might be, I might be. But we're going. NOAH No. No. No. Star, you-you're not thinking clearly, all right? I'm not playing with you. Star, what the... STAR Do you know me? NOAH Put the knife down. STAR So, you know I'll hurt you, right? NOAH I'm-I'm scared, too, all right? I'm scared, too. We'll figure this out together. We can do this. STAR I'm going to give you one more second to get out of my way. NOAH Star... Star, come on. Come on. DAVIS ALEX Hey, you two. Thanks for coming. SIMONE Star. We're going to be bridesmaids. STAR I'm so happy for you. ALEX Are those tears of joy? STAR Yeah. You, too? ALEX They don't look like it. SIMONE Is everything okay? STAR Yeah. It's going to be. So, what did you want to talk about, Alex? ALEX The wedding. Um, Miss C, would you walk me down the aisle? I know it's last minute and you probably have to get a dress in about two weeks but-- CARLOTTA I would be honored. ALEX You guys are all I have. We're a family, and as far as I'm concerned, the only family I got. STAR Same. ALEX Thank you. ANGEL Simone, can I talk to you for a minute? SIMONE Yeah. ANGEL Do you know that video you dropped went viral? SIMONE Yeah, you-you proud of me? I'm like your little Angela Davis. ANGEL There's a difference between helping people and actively stoking the flames. SIMONE Well, I'm just saying what needs to be said. ANGEL ‘Cause it seems like you're fighting a whole lot harder now that you heard that Gravity might go down. SIMONE You know, that has nothing to do with that. You know that there's couples being ripped apart just like we almost were. ANGEL It seems to me like you're doing it for your career. SIMONE Angel, you know that's not true. Come on. ANGEL All right. SIMONE Angel, wait. SIMONE Angel. Hey... ANGEL I'm sorry, Simone, okay, this is not the life I wanted for us. Maybe we need to reevaluate things, okay? SIMONE Angel, come back, please. Angel. Angel!