Razorblade Tears

Ike tells Tangerine that their sons are dead because of her. She invites them in, and Lunette offers them drinks. Tangerine says she told Derek and Isiah that she didn’t want to do the interview anymore. She said they didn’t understand how dangerous it was for them, and that they wouldn’t listen. She says that her boyfriend is not the man they need—that he can’t have anything to do with the murders—but she won’t say more. She accuses them of only caring about their sons now that they are dead.

A car door slams outside. Six men are walking toward the house. Bullets hit Lunette as the bikers open fire. Ike grabs the shotgun and shoots Cheddar as the front door opens. Then he shoots Gremlin in the thigh. Outside, Buddy Lee pulls Tangerine into the truck and runs over Gremlin’s legs. Ike jumps into the back of the truck, and Buddy Lee drives away. Grayson shoots Gremlin. He blames himself for underestimating Ike and Buddy Lee, and for taking orders from the rich man on the phone. Now he must kill them for honor. He tells the remaining men to clean everything up. He is calling a war party when they get back.

Tangerine has a bullet wound in her arm. Ike calls Mya and tells her to meet them at Buddy Lee’s trailer with her medical kit. Ike knows Slice must have betrayed them to Grayson. He thinks Slice is mad that Ike dealt with his problem—Romello—instead of leaving it for him to handle. Mya sends them outside while she works.

Mya tells Ike and Buddy that Tangerine will live, and that she has discovered, during the examination, that Tangerine is a transgender woman who has not yet had gender confirmation surgery. Ike says he’ll take Tangerine somewhere where she’ll be safe, but he can’t tell them where. They understand that keeping Tangerine’s gender a secret is probably what led to violence.

Ike hugs Tangerine when she cries. She still refuses to give them her boyfriend’s name but says that the man she loves is not what they think. Ike leaves a MAC-10 gun with Buddy Lee.

Ike calls Jazzy. He offers her three weeks of extra pay if she’ll care for Tangerine. Tangerine explains “deadnaming” to Ike, which refers to using the former name of a transgender person, without honoring their wish to be known by a new name. She explains how she knew she was a girl. She did make-up for some of the women in Tariq’s music videos after leaving home. She still won’t tell Ike who her boyfriend is, but she shows him an overly sentimental text the man sent to her.

Ike says: “If this has taught me one thing, it’s that it ain’t about me and what I get. It’s about letting people be who they are. And being who you are shouldn’t be a goddamn death sentence” (241). As Ike drives, he sees that a hay truck has flipped over in the middle of the road, which will delay him for at least an hour. When he calls Buddy Lee, it goes to voicemail.

MaryAnne, a neighbor, calls Mya to tell her that her house is on fire. Buddy Lee knows it’s bait. Mya says everything she has left from Isiah is there, and Buddy Lee agrees to help her. When they get there, the house is not burning, but there are 15 motorcycles parked outside.

Grayson’s men throw Molotov cocktails through the windows of Ike’s house. Grayson got the neighbor to call. Dome crashes into Mya and Buddy Lee’s car as they flee. He threatens to shoot Arianna if Buddy Lee doesn’t tell him where Tangerine is. He says Arianna must have been the one that Derek was screaming for before he shot him. They take Arianna and say that Buddy Lee must deliver Tangerine.