The Cutting Season

Within a couple of days, Bobby Clancy is close enough to recovering in the hospital to be charged with Ines’s murder. All charges against Donovan have been dropped. Caren bids a bittersweet farewell at the airport to Morgan, who’s headed to D.C. with Eric for his wedding. Caren asks Eric to keep a close eye on Morgan, who has probably been traumatized by the recent events. Morgan elliptically vows loyalty to Caren over Lela, but Caren insists that she should view Lela as part of her family now, which causes Morgan to smile.

Caren then gives another interview to Lang and Bertrand, covering the whole of the recent events. On her way out of the police station, she sees Lee. He relates that his paper has lost interest in the story now that Bobby Clancy has been outed as a lone killer and not part of a Groveland conspiracy. Raymond was immediately on television practically disowning him, a natural politician. Caren tells Lee to call her later for a further scoop. They flirt and agree to meet up if she ever comes back to New Orleans, Lee’s city.

Two days before the Whitman wedding, Caren gives some Groveland management employees a tour of Belle Vie. Ken Wiggams, the only Black guy among them, is visibly put off by the historical tour. By the time they reach the slave quarters, he voices his discomfort, and Caren realizes what an awkward position he’s in. In the schoolhouse, they are shown not the traditional play but the filming of Donovan’s movie, which is now shooting the fictional trial of Tynan. Wiggams is confused, and Caren tells him this is Belle Vie.

Caren later goes to visit her mother’s grave one last time and says that it’s time for her to move on. She eats dinner alone and looks at law schools in the D.C. area.

Caren goes on a nightly inspection of the grounds, shocked to see a light on in the main house. Pistol in hand, she enters and finds Raymond drunkenly dozing in a chair. He rouses and offers her a small drink, while he swigs from the bottle. He tells her that he’s just gotten the call that the property will be torn down. Caren asks what he expected, and he merely shrugs, angering Caren.

Caren demands to see the deed that proves Belle Vie would’ve belonged to Jason had Tynan not done away with him. Raymond claims ignorance and tries to switch the topic to Bobby, but Caren keeps insisting to see the deed. She accuses Raymond of trying to hide evidence of Jason’s body and personally ordering Bobby to stalk Ines. Raymond claims Bobby killed the girl just to thwart his own political and business plans.

Caren claims that Raymond will never be elected if the Black population finds out that his family stole this land from a Black man. Raymond disavows responsibility for what his ancestors did and says that if “people want history, they can read books.” He states simply that Caren can never prove her claims, because the deed is gone. He says his political plans for 2010 are still viable. Caren tells Raymond she’s headed for D.C. He asks if she has family there, and she says, “Something like that.”

The Whitman wedding is an incredibly lavish feast. After the dinner, the staff goes out to the slave quarters to film the last scene of Donovan’s movie, Jason’s funeral. After the filming ends, the gathering turns into a party under the stars. Caren looks around at the staff and thinks of them as family, many of whom she knows she’ll never see again. Lorraine announces she’d better head back to the house and finish cleaning up, but Caren tells her, “leave it just as it is.”