Chucalissa is proving to be a place where strange partnerships blossom.
Unusual, beneficial relationships formed on P-Valley Season 1 Episode 6, all of which promise intrigue over the season’s last two episodes.
My favorite, even though it hasn’t fully formed yet, was the last one, developing between the strangest bedfellows — strip-club owner Uncle Clifford and holy-roller Patrice.
It was based on that oldie but goodie bit of wisdom by Sun Tzu: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
The enemy, in this case, would be the proposed casino, which Andre and the mayor are seeking to build in Chucalissa.
In Clifford’s case, he was trying to preserve his family’s legacy.
What a great addition his grandmother Ernestine was this late in the season! It’s a good thing Starz has already renewed the series for a second season.
Blind Ernestine, who lost her sight to “the sugar,” helped to fill in The Pynk’s storied if sordid history. So Ernestine was involved with The Pynk, which was first a brothel, saved by God if you believe her, then a juke joint.
Then Clifford took over the club and its debts, changing it into a shake joint while adding to the debt.
Is it any wonder that the respectable people in town resent The Pynk (except when they are there)?
Let’s count Patrice among those people. However, she is going to hate the concept of a casino even more. After all, people losing their money at a casino couldn’t contribute to her new church.
At least those who go to The Pynk on Saturday night will donate to the church out of guilt on Sunday morning, paying for their sins.
So the club is the lesser of two evils.
I’d wondered why Clifford had seemed catty to the mayor’s comely assistant Eloise.
So it turned out that Eloise was a Pynk alumna who had done Maite’s job before her. No wonder Clifford was unhappy about being blindsided with the foreclosure notice. Both the sheriff she pays off and former employee Eloise failed to give her any advanced warning.
But Clifford knew how to lay on the guilt after “running into” Eloise at her weekly nail treatment. That proved to be the move she needed to make.
That was because Eloise resented the mayor and his cronies even more than Clifford did. And she knew that Clifford needed to bring the secret project into the daylight for the public to consider.
Who better to recruit for this effort than the self-righteous, and what better representative of that group than Patrice, who had been waiting to be bailed out of jail for nine days?
Clifford hadn’t made his proposal by episode’s end, but the writing was on the wall, to put things in Biblical terms.
How can an alliance between those two be anything but uneasy? And what will Mercedes think about Clifford teaming up with the woman who ruined her life?
Mercedes was too busy learning the ins and outs of identity theft to give much thought to Patrice. She was trying to get back on her feet financially after Patrice ripped off her life savings.
Watching Mercedes and Autumn do their Thelma-and-Louise routine, in a variety of different outfits, you had to wonder why the two never hit it off previously.
It was probably because Mercedes had it in for high-yella newcomer Autumn, who wasn’t giving proper deference to O.G. Mercedes.
But Mercedes needed to replenish her stacks, and Autumn required Mercedes’s local connections so that they could come up with sufficient IDs for Autumn’s electronic-transfer scheme.
And once it became mutually beneficial for them to work together, they discovered what they had in common, namely both were mothers who lost their daughters.
Too bad that Mane, who supplied the necessary IDs, also noticed the “Missing” flier for Autumn/Hailey. Montavius may be back in Chucalissa before she can blow town.
Maybe she has stayed in one place for too long.
Also making dangerous moves was Andre, who seems determined to do the right thing, no matter what anyone else thinks.
Corbin agreed to sell the Kyle farm after his half-brother Wayne pulled a gun on Andre. So Andre returned the favor by convincing the casino investor, Bill, to lease the farm instead.
But then his wife Britney questioned his decision to do so. Doesn’t she want him to get the deal done and come home in one piece?
Making the most dangerous choice, however, was Keyshawn.
Miss Mississippi proposed working together with L’il Murda to promote their careers. She suggested that Clifford make her the official headliner.
Her misstep was pretending to be in a couple with the rapper to get his boys off his back.
Gidget and the other dancers saw the error of her growing ambitions.
If abusive boyfriend Derek was already pushing her to leave The Pynk, what was he going to do when it leaked out that she and Murda were an item?
Clifford would see through the facade, so it shouldn’t affect his relationship with Murda, which is percolating nicely.
But Derek was dumb as a rock, thinking that his promotion at the garage would more than replace her growing income.
Quite a few storylines are coming to a head in these final two episodes.
To revisit all the relationships, watch P-Valley online.
Who is in the most trouble?
Can Uncle Clifford save The Pynk?
Will the casino be stopped?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.