P-Valley Season 1, Episode 5 recap: The Pynk gets a foreclosure notice

P-Valley: The Pynk gets an official foreclosure notice in Episode 5.

In the opening of P-Valley Season 1, Episode 5, an episode that star Brandee Evans (Mercedes) calls her favorite episode, we get a look at the club from a different angle. Someone films the stage where Keyshawn is dancing in place of Mercedes from their cellphone.

Then we see a recently divorced woman at the bar throwing money all over the place. She’s eager to spend her entire settlement and does a good job of it as she parties with Gidget and Keyshawn. But then her emotions catch up to her and she starts sobbing in Keyshawn’s arms.

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She does her best to cheer the woman up,  thanking her for all the money, although the woman passes out and starts snoring softly within seconds.

Seeing the remaining stack of bills, Keyshawn looks at Gidget, “Girl, let’s get this bag.”

Cut to Clifford unraveling herself from Murda and getting herself dressed and ready for a new day as the rapper continues slumbering on her office couch. She hears someone singing Murda’s song off-key in the main room and finds the divorcée, Lauren, still there, laid out on the floor. She tries to get her up and out of the club.

Outside of The Pynk, the staff shows up to find a neon pink sign claiming foreclosure on the club in fourteen days, then it’ll go up for auction. They’re all shocked, although Keyshawn can’t help but be gleeful after finding a video of her dancing has racked up more than 10,000 views online.

When Clifford comes out with Lauren in tow, she looks at the sign everyone is staring at and flat-out faints.

Meanwhile, Hailey is trying to get yet another money transfer only to be told that a policy they had about allowing unlimited wire transfers as expired, and since she’s done more than 10 in the past few days, she can’t take any more out. Simultaneously, we see a television in the corner play a news broadcast about a pastor being attacked by an exotic dancer the night before. It looks like Mercedes and Patrice’s scuffle made the news.

Before Hailey can continue her argument with the clerk, Lauren drives straight toward the office in her red car, still drunk and out of it, seemingly about to crash right through the glass. Luckily, she stops right before with a cop tailing her and gets arrested moments later — still slurring Murda’s song.

At the jailhouse, things are pretty crazy when Mercedes gets brought in. She winds up in a cell with a bunch of other women, Lauren, and her mother, who she immediately attacks again. The police officer in charge, a man named Jesse who has spent some time at The Pynk, threatens to stack up everyone’s charges if they can’t get their act together, especially because the other cells are out of commission for various reasons so they can’t separate Mercedes and Patrice.

P-Valley recap: Mercedes gets stuck in jail with her mom.

Elsewhere, it looks like Hailey’s past might be catching up to her as a man named Montavius Hall has appeared at the precinct in the hopes of finding his “wife” that went missing two months ago during the hurricane. Sheriff Tommy Bailey tells him they will put some flyers up in town if he sends over a photograph and he leaves, brushing past Clifford on the way in to confront the sheriff.

Needless to say, Clifford is not happy about the short notice until foreclosure. Unfortunately, Sheriff Bailey can’t do much about it. Even though Clifford and he have an arrangement, if Mayor Ruffin thinks The Pynk is a “blight” on the town, then it’s gotta go, even if we know he has an ulterior motive for doing so.

Before leaving, Clifford learns Mercedes is behind bars and convinces the sheriff to let her see his top dancer, even saying Mercedes is like a daughter to her. The connection between Mercedes and Clifford is so sweet, I love their relationship. She’s even willing to pay Mercedes bail despite knowing the club is about to go under, but Mercedes doesn’t want Clifford to do that. She tells her to keep every penny for her debts.

Clifford and Patrice almost come to blows, too, as she obviously knows how cruel of a mother Patrice is, Clifford has done more for Mercedes than Patrice ever has and they all know it. Mercedes reveals that when she was just a kid, her mom was already using her name on bills and credit cards.

Throughout these sequences, we also see a different side of Mercedes, one who has to contend with being objectified by the men in the cell across the way since she doesn’t have clothes beyond her skimpy diamond-encrusted outfit. It’s one thing for her to be in her element at the club, and another for to be in a jail cell forced to have men staring at her without being able to prevent it. It’s a nice way for P-Valley to comment on agency and the difference between controlling who sees your body and when, and having no choice in the matter.

We also meet a new character named Nineveh, a trans woman who is initially forced into the cell with the male inmates before finally being moved to the one with her fellow women.

Finally, the officer comes in and tells everyone the payphone is back up again so they can start making phone calls to family.

P-Valley recap: Gidget and the girls try to pay Mercedes’s bail.

Mercedes reaches out to Gidget, and we briefly get a glimpse of her home life caring for her ailing mother. She begs Gidget to find $2,000 to bail her out and she promises she’ll do her best. While still being upset at Mercedes for their previous spat, it’s obvious the two genuinely care about each other.

Jesse also gives Mercedes his jacket after an uncomfortable moment where it initially appears he might do something far worse. Back in the cell, she and Patrice have another conversation after Patrice delusionally tries to get her daughter to forgive her. Mercedes obviously isn’t ready for that, but she does try to get her mom to understand what she took from her — a chance to get Terricka back.

Patrice doesn’t think Mercedes is ready to be a mother anyway and says Terricka is Chelle’s child now. Mercedes tells her if she gets her chance again, she’ll never be a mother like Patrice.

While trying to decide what to do next in terms of wire transfers, Hailey gets a text from Gidget to gather up any spare cash and meet at Vale Bonds to get Mercedes out. Once the group arrives, they’re prepared to shell out the combined $2k, but the creepy guy behind the counter tells them it’s actually over $5,000 with all the additional processing fees, past parking tickets, and other miscellaneous things.

The other girls bail while Gidget tries to convince them to help somehow, claiming Mercedes would do the same thing for them. Unfortunately, with The Pynk in foreclosure and bills piling up, no one can really afford to spend much else. Hailey is the only one who stays behind with Gidget and the two share a smoke while sitting on the curb.

Gidget fills Hailey in on what happened between Mercedes and Patrice and offhandedly asks what she would do if someone stole all of her money. Hailey says she’d kill them, and it sounds like she’s serious.

Then she asks Gidget if what she said about Mercedes helping the others was true.

“Hell no,” laughs Gidget

They watch as Mercedes’s yellow car is towed.

“God’s a b*tch,” says Gidget.

“And she’s got jokes tonight,” replies Hailey.

Back at the jail, Patrice tries to prove to everyone in the cell that she’s a sound preacher and deserves her chance on the pulpit. She starts singing and trying to get people motivated to tell their stories of how they wound up arrested. We find out Lauren got divorced because she cheated on her husband with his own mother!

Patrice then turns to Mercedes and begs for forgiveness, although I think we all know this is just yet another of her many manipulation tactics.

Mercedes drops to her knees, leans in close, and whispers, “Mama, you’re dead to me.”

In the next moment, Jessie comes by to tell Mercedes she made bail. Outside, Hailey is waiting to pick her up. Mercedes wonders where Gidget and Keyshawn are, but Hailey just tells her to get in the car.

Inside, Mercedes breaks down into tears and asks Hailey to take her “anywhere but here.”

P-Valley recap: Clifford pays Mayor Ruffin a visit about the foreclosure.

Mayor Ruffin is peacocking and basking in his presumed Chuccalissa victories at the Black-owned barbershop in town where Andre is getting a haircut when Clifford shows up to get more answers about that little pink notice.

For starters, she wonders what the men that own the barbershop would say if they found out the mayor was offering them only half of what he’s paying the white-owned barbershop on a neighboring street. Clifford shows Ruffin the land appraisal sheets concerning all the spots getting sold in the area, I’m guessing she printed them off from Andre’s presentation.

Among some homophobic sentiments and beyond, Ruffin tells Clifford she and The Pynk are a blight and a tumor in the town and he can’t wait to cut them both right out when the auction happens in less than two weeks time.

Andre watches the exchange between the two nervously, especially when Clifford makes a snide remark about who will pay for The Pynk, Ruffin, or his godson? Since Clifford heard Andre “never pays for it.”

Ruffin is not happy with Andre for letting the land appraisal charts get into Clifford’s hands and tells him as much in the car after the barbershop session. He wants Andre to hurry up and get the farm deal done and stop messing around or else he’s going to screw up the entire casino deal.

P-Valley recap: Lil Murda and Clifford chat about their relationship.

At The Pynk, Lil Murda is performing his hit song for the crowd, who are eating it up — along with Keyshawn who is riding high on her recent performance, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views online. She performs on the pole again while Murda raps and they’re both showered in paper.

In the office, L and Clifford are trying to figure out how they can move some money around to make ends meet, it doesn’t get very far. Then Murda interrupts anyway so he can see Clifford. Even though he might originally have seemed like a player, it’s evident Murda has real feelings for Clifford, to the point he wants to take her out on a date.

But Clifford is scared of going to neighboring counties and areas considering the rampant homophobia in the south, particularly toward the Black community. She shoots down Murda’s suggestions, citing a few hate crimes that have happened around them. Still, no matter how unaffected she pretends to be, she, too, has feelings, especially as “her” song plays again in the background, and the two share another kiss.

Keyshawn is still basking in her “glow-up,” especially as she’s getting tons of attention on social media now. But her fun with the girls is interrupted when Derrick and her baby Regal show up in the parking lot. I’m guessing Derrick is the father of her child, and her abuser, based on the way she interacts with him. That said, it doesn’t look like they’re dating, it’s a little unclear.

Derrick saw the video and tells her she looked beautiful in it, but their entire interaction feels restrained, as if he’s holding back his temper, likely because Diamond is nearby, watching.

Keyshawn takes Regal back inside for her shift and happens to spot Murda and Clifford kissing through the blinds into the office. Murda says he’ll handle it.

Meanwhile, at Hailey’s, she and Mercedes have finally turned a new leaf, bailing someone out of jail will do that. I’m glad, too, as I’ve been wanting to see more of these two together!

P-Valley recap: Hailey gets Mercedes involved in her scam.

Hailey finally reveals that her daughter was taken by the storm, at least, I think. She’s somewhat vague when describing the incident but describes a “her” being grabbed by the “waters.” She says she searched for three days and three nights and wanted to die when she found nothing. But then a suitcase washed up with a new life and she got a fresh start.

Mercedes promises to pay Hailey back for the bail money, but she tells her not to worry about it. She has other plans in mind. With Mercedes’s assistance, they can get new IDs and run more money from Lakeisha Savage and Hailey’s plans can get back in action. She pays Mercedes $10k upfront and she says her friend Mane will be able to help them with IDs.

In the final moments of the episode, we see Mr. Montavius sitting in front of a laptop, watching all of Hailey’s wire transfers. It looks like she’s not as hidden as she thought.

What do you think Montavius is planning? How will Mercedes and Hailey working together pan out? Is Mercedes telling the truth when she says she won’t return to stripping? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

New episodes of P-Valley air Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Starz and are also available via the Starz app at midnight.