The latest episode of Star upped the drama ante with a murder mystery.
At the end of last week’s episode, it was revealed that Simone’s foster father Otis was out on the hunt for his daughter and willing to stop at nothing to find her. As he continues his predatory search, the girls are preparing for their next performance- Miss Carlotta’s salon, God’s Blessings, has entered the Taylor Brothers Hair Show, and enlisted the trio to perform as part of the salon’s (hopefully) winning act. Miss Bruce slaying weave while the girls slay some old school Gladys Knight? Sounds like a winning combo to me!
Before the hair show, however, the day starts off with Simone being startled awake by the sound of a haunting voice-she swears she hears Otis’ voice downstairs in the salon. Star dismisses it as her being crazy, but what they don’t know is he actually is in the shop. He’s tracked Simone there and is trying to charm Miss Carlotta into a letting him occupy a barber’s booth. By the time the Star and Simone get downstairs to check everything out, Otis is gone and Star reminds her sister that “Otis isn’t alive. Because he’s dead. Because I killed him.”
The girls’ manager Jahil is dealing with his own troubles. The hispanic woman who escaped the trafficking scheme he foiled last week is still at his house. She tells him that she’s all alone with no family and no prospects, so he does what he can to give her a new life- by giving her one of his conveniently stashed fake IDs.
Afterwards, he heads to a dance studio where Star, Simone and Alex are rehearsing for the hair show and gives them some good news- they’ve made it to the second round of the music festival competition. The work is nowhere near done however and the next step of the competition is to send in a video performance. After a short discussion, they all decide that the Taylor Brothers Hair Show is the perfect opportunity.
Once rehearsal’s all done, there’s a brief sexy scene between Star and Hunter (NFL player and Jahil’s godson, in case you forgot) and we find out that she has her own personal set of pre-performance rules- one of which includes “No sex before a performance”- a rule which apparently doesn’t extend her receiving to oral sex as Hunter learns.
It’s finally time for the show and we’re taken to a bustling atmosphere thick with talent, creativity and competitiveness. We get a brief but hilarious scene between Miss Bruce and the Scissor Sisters (who have been name dropped throughout the episode as the pair to beat) before cutting to the girls backstage as they put their final touches on before heading onstage. Simone is still shaken up and clearly recovering from her time in the hospital, but when questioned about whether or not she’s well enough to perform, Star simply encourages her to finish getting dressed and get it together. Before heading out, the girls get to meet Gladys Knight- she’s the aunt and guest of one of Miss Carlotta’s stylists.
Star seizes the moment and asks Gladys to introduce the salon in the competition and she obliges. The performance goes great and the girls look beautifully retro as they perform. Everything is perfect until Star surveys the audience at the end and sees Otis, grinning like a madman, in the crowd. She tells Alex what’s going on and asks her to get Simone out of the building without alerting her sister of Otis’ presence. Alex eventually spills the beans, however, and Simone runs off, eventually sneaking Miss Carlotta’s gun out of her purse.
While everyone is busy trying to make sure Simone and Otis don’t cross paths, he does cross paths with Star. He corners her in the women’s bathroom and threatens her. The two exchange verbal jabs (with Star throwing in a little spit for good measure) about who would be in more trouble if the cops were involved: Star for stabbing Otis or Otis for putting Simone through years of sexual and mental abuse. During the confrontation, Star’s phone gets knocked out of her hand and Cotton ends up hearing part of the commotion. Realizing Star is in trouble, she grabs a pair of scissors and heads off to help. Otis tells Star to meet him in the parking garage and leaves her in the bathroom, where Carlotta finds her. After the ordeal she’d just been through, Star finally opens up to Carlotta about everything, including the stabbing.
After learning the whole story and realizing what the sisters had been through, Carlotta goes straight G-mode, grabbing Jahil and telling him they have business to handle once she relays the whole story to him. Carlotta’s gun is missing (although the audience knows where it is), but Jahil’s isn’t.
Otis is in the parking garage waiting for Star to show up, but Simone finds him first. She points Miss Carlotta’s gun at him and he responds by taunting her and threatening her. He tells her that no matter where she goes, he’ll always find her and just as she’s (finally) about to pull the trigger, the scene changes.
Cut to Star, who is now in the parking garage, heading to Otis’ car with a knife. To her surprise, however, he’s already dead when she gets there. This time he’s really, really dead. Someone shot him…but who?
Simone is missing after her interaction with Otis, so Star, Alex and Carlotta search for her. It’s revealed during their scene together that both Star and Carlotta know that Otis is dead- Star we already knew found his body, but how did Carlotta know? They eventually find Simone crying with Miss Carlotta’s gun in her hand and naturally assume she killed Otis. Simone stands firm in denying it and Star tells her that in time, all of her bad memories will fade.
All this excitement took place while the hair competition was still happening (which is easy to forget), so when God’s Blessings ends up winning, the girls have to go back out and perform an encore (which Miss Carlotta also tells them will double as an alibi).
Jahil disposes of Otis’ body by wrapping it in plastic and driving out to the woods to bury it. He brings his new lady friend along as he does his dirt and tells her that now, they both have secrets. He’s also still in big trouble with Maggie, the woman who organized the trafficking shipment, who is aware that one of the drops didn’t go as planned and suspects Jahil is behind it.
A final scene between the girls, Carlotta and Cotton back at home reveals that no one is willing to step up and admit they killed Otis- and so the mystery begins.
It looks like in next week’s episode, everyone’s worst fear is realized when the cops get involved.
Catch the next episode of Star when it airs, Wednesday, Jan 18 at 9pm ET/PT on Fox.
Photo Credit: Carin Baer/FOX