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“Survivor’s Remorse” recap (1.1): Movin’ on Up

Survivor’s Remorse is a six-episode series that follows young basketball phenom Cam Calloway as he navigates sudden fame and fortune after signing a multi-million dollar contract with a professional basketball team in Atlanta. Along for the ride is his cousin and manager, Reggie, his mother Cassie, his uncle Julius and his sister, Mary Charles aka M-Chuck. M-Chuck is an out and proud lesbian played by Erica Ash, a former cast member of The Big Gay Sketch Show. As Cam’s older sister, life-long defender and biggest fan, she is suspicious of the traps of fame that threaten to ensnare her younger brother. Ash describes her character as a “no-nonsense, tell it like it is, brass tacks, tough as nails lesbian who is unapologetic about who she is.” Indeed, we get a taste of her blunt and bold personality in the very the first episode of the season. The episode opens with Cam and his best friend and advisor, Reggie touring a high-rise luxury apartment in Atlanta with a real estate agent. As they walk out onto the massive rooftop deck, Cam says he wants the apartment. Reggie cautions him to sleep on it, after all Cam doesn’t even know how much they are asking for the place. But Cam knows what he wants and he knows he can afford it. Cam breaks out into some classic Michael Jackson moves to celebrate his new found success.

In Boston, Cassie Calloway is supervising a moving crew while drinking a Fresca and waiting for her son Cam’s press conference to begin on television. The journalist on screen gives us the backstory:

Cam went pro last year as an undrafted free agent, but was only earning the league minimum on his Memphis-based team. Even so, he was able to move his mother out of the projects and into a house and move his sister, M-chuck out to Tennessee to be with him. Now, after an amazing rookie year, Cam has signed a contract with a new team, which makes him a multi-millionaire, and his new team a championship contender for the first time in years. A lot is riding on his success.

Cam takes the stage at the press conference and begins his speech by acknowledging his humble beginnings. In the audience M-Chuck sits next to cousin Reggie making jabs about how canned the speech he wrote for Cam sounds. Yet, they both shut up when Cam moves on to talk about his supportive family and his desire to make Atlanta home for himself and the four people who mean the most to him. He thanks his mother for not aborting him and thanks his sister for making him the shooter that he is during their many one-on-one games growing up. He thanks his Uncle Julius for giving him “uncommon” sense and thanks his cousin Reggie for being his best friend. As Cam begins to tear up, M-Chuck looks appalled, “He’s gonna blubber like a little bitch! Watch!” I expected Cam to bust out with Drake’s “Started from the Bottom” at any moment:

Started from the bottom, now we’re here Started from the bottom, now my whole team’s fucking here. Started from the bottom, now we’re here Started from the bottom, now my whole team’s fucking here.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), that never happens.

Instead, Cam heads off stage amid applause and immediately boards a private jet with his family to Los Angeles in order to attend the Espy’s award show. Cam and his family seem to be adjusting to their new lifestyle well. M-Chuck and Uncle Julius take a nap in the comfortable, reclining chairs while Cam and Reggie debate whether or not to put rims on his Astin Martin. The debate escalates to a full on fight and all the yelling wakes up Julius and M-Chuck.

“Yo, shut the fuck up!” says M-Chuck. “Listen you’re not the Fresh Prince,” Uncle Julius tells Cam. To Reggie he says, “And you’re not Carlton!” M-Chuck laughs. “Yes, he is!”

Later, The flight attendant comes by with some snacks. Uncle Julius takes two bags of Flaming Hot Cheetos while M-Chuck checks out the flight attendant’s butt. The flight attendant turns to M-Chuck and asks if she can get anything for her. “How about a peek of your panties?” M-Chuck responds. The flight attendant says, “We’ll be landing shortly” and walks away. Uncle Julius warns M-Chuck to behave herself. It’s clear that it’s her blunt approach and womanizing ways that he objects to, not her sexuality. The plane belongs to the ownder of Cam’s new team, Mr. Flaherty and the flight attendant works for him. He doesn’t want to anything to get in the way of him flying in private jets. Back in Atlanta, Reggie finds Cam on the deck of his new apartment talking to his high school basketball coach. He just bought him a new truck as a way to say thank you for believing in him as a kid. Reggie asks Cam if he got a good price on the truck and Cam says he doesn’t know. He just put it on his credit card. What follows is a well-written, but long-ish scene in which Cam admits that he feels guilty for making it out of the ‘hood when so many people he knows hasn’t, and Reggie tries to convince him that it wasn’t luck that made him successful; it was hard work. Cam wants to give back and help people. It feels good to spend money he never had before, but Reggie urges him to be careful. Reggie tells Cam that they must come up with a budget, invest some of his money, make it last. Cam decides to set up a charitable foundation and asks M-Chuck to run it.

Meanwhile, in Boston, some of Cam’s old friends aren’t having the same good luck that he is enjoying. Marcus is hanging with his son when Dirty comes by, puts a gun in his face and tells him that Joe wants the two grand he owes dealer Joe and that he better pay up or he’ll be paying it back in ways he doesn’t want to. Marcus is feeling pretty desperate when Mama Calloway (wearing a gorgeous jacket, btw) stops by her old neighborhood with a moving truck full of stuff to give away. One of the boxes that Marcus comes across is filled with Cam’s personal stuff from high school. Trophies. Basketball jerseys. A journal. And a video Cam and Reggie made with a video camera they stole. In the video Cam and Reggie repeatedly use a derogatory word for Chinese as they rap about bad Chinese take-out food.

Marcus calls Reggie and tries to make a deal. Though he’s vague on the details, Marcus insists that Cam would want these personal items back and informs Reggie that it’ll cost 3K to ship them. Reggie laughs in his face and hangs up, which leaves Marcus no choice but to post the items online. Soon Cam’s adolescent ramblings and pornographic drawings are all over the media. Reggie is forced to fly to Boston to pay off Marcus, but when he arrives he finds that the prices have gone up.

Cam is pissed and working off his anger in his home gym when M-Chuck joins him and asks for some cash to take out the flight attendant from the private jet.

“I thought she was straight,” asks Cam. “No girl sends you that many smiley faces unless she wants you sitting on hers,” M-Chuck replies.

Cam hesitates. It seems Reggie’s words have sunk in. He tells M-Chuck that he has to be more careful with is money. You know, monitor the ins and outs. He wants to give her a real job with a salary. He can’t just be giving her money anytime she asks for it.

M-Chuck is offended. After all, she only moved to Atlanta because he asked her to, just as she moved to Memphis at his request. Now, after she’s moved to “Shitlanta” he wants to monitor her spending? Fine, she says, but she’s going to start billing him for prior services. Like what, he wants to know. “Like teaching you how to walk. How to talk. Eat. Shit somewhere other than your pants. Teaching you how to read. Tell time. You know, like a good sister does.”Cam interrupts. “Calm Down.” “No.” M-Chuck goes on. “I’m going to back bill you for every ass I kicked defending your little pussy ass every day you went to school.” Cam says, “You’re not hearing what I’m saying.”

“You’re not remembering all there is to remember,” M-Chuck replies. “Like that night that I saved you from Mr. Chambers going all Sandusky on you. I came in the nick of time, and I tackled that fuck good. And the cop gave us a coupon to go to Baskin Robbins. And you ordered…you ordered Berry Blast. And I got vanilla with sprinkles. You know what? Cut a check. We’ll be square.”

Then, she storms off.

Cam gets a call from Reggie. Marcus won’t let the videotape go for less than $50,000. Reggie instructs Cam to get on a plane with the cash ASAP. Cam suggests they just let Marcus release the tape. They can just explain that they were kids messing around. But Reggie knows better. This kind of prejudiced rant can ruin Cam’s career. Reggie explains that it doesn’t matter that Cam has changed and grown since he was a kid. This video will make Cam look like a young, black, Chinese-hating Donald Sterling.

Cam arrives in Boston and pays off Marcus’ debt to Joe, pays Dirty to keep quiet and attempts to give Marcus the $50,000 he asked for the video. But Marcus doesn’t want the money. He’s hurt by the way Cam and Reggie have treated him in the past and pulls a gun on them. Now that his debt is paid he wants nothing to do with Cam. Cam apologizes to Marcus for being a jerk to him as a kid and once Marcus lowers the gun, he invites them all down to Atlanta to see a game. Marcus asks everyone to leave, but before Cam backs out the door, he leaves the 50K on the coffee table for Marcus.

Safely outside, Cam and Reggie laugh about how scared they were when Marcus pulled out that gun. They need a drink! But it’s after last call. Where can they get a beer? Reggie reminds Cam that in Chinatown they pour beer after 2 am. You just have to use the code word, cold tea, instead. So as Reggie tells Cam never to make any jokes about any ethnic groups ever again, they go off to get a drink in their former city.

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