'Little America' Episode 5: A Ugandan's free spirit bounces back to reclaim the coveted American dream
This article contains spoilers for Season 1 Episode 5 'The Baker'/'Beatrice'
Things don't always go according to plan no matter how hard you try to strive for your children's education, being of minimal means, residing in the third world.
Such is the story of Beatrice — the oldest of a Ugandan baker's 22 kids, and the only one to receive a college education in their family, so she could move to America in the 70s and make a life for herself.
In America however, we find Beatrice clubbing it up after divorcing the "ass***e" husband and coming back home to her sister's couch to heer only seeming respite - her little son. And thus starts the tale of yet another parent trying to do all it takes for the miracle she made, in a world that still doesn't quite know how to accept her.
Beatrice is barely hanging in there with her job on the line and a babysitter who canceled on her. Taking her kid to work daily costs her a job where the customers mostly come over for her homemade cookies — the ones she was treated to for the first time when her father had made them for her on her farewell party in Uganda.
Beatrice assures her little child there's nothing to worry about as "Mommy's going to fix this", but it's more of a reassurance to her own self struggling to make ends meet while also being clouded by an existential crisis.
She watches an Avon saleslady promote a new brand of lipstick and that gives her the idea to sell cookies outside a supermarket, but that obviously doesn't work out.
It is not until she is drinking again with her sister and another white friend when the glorious idea of Ugandan women walking around selling items with the baskets propped on their head hits them.
After much convincing from her consorts, Beatrice tries out the Ugandan signature in Louisville, Kentucky, and it's an immediate hit.
When a bunch of stoners pull up in a car next to her and buy a dozen of her cookies, they are amazed at how well the basket stays on her head. She calls it "African magic", and struts off leaving them in awe.
When her mother complains about how she is a "waiter on the sidewalk", Beatrice asserts her integrity saying her dad was a baker and she is selling cookies to sustain life for her son; what's the big deal?
It's still not enough for the over-ambitious mother who had dreamed big savings and a lavish life for the daughter she insisted on educating.
They want to bring her back home and suddenly Beatrice's struggle as an immigrant is not only proving her worth in America but also showing her family that she has got what it takes to pull this off.
Crisis strikes once again when her streetside cookie pop up is noticed by the police, who fine her for not having a license and permit to sell food on the streets.
Beatrice almost takes up the offer of returning home sullen when she realizes she can actually open her own bakery and make a living — an idea that frustrates her mother enough to call her a "selfish American".
From unsuccessful and a failure, Beatrice is labeled a thief by her own mother whose expectations from her eldest knows no bounds.
And just when her mother declares she is not her daughter anymore, Beatrice's dream skyrockets with her being able to rent out a store and use the oven of the generous Italians who used to pop by at the diner she worked at, only for her cookies.
Soon she makes it to the local newspaper as more and more customers swarm in, and it is only a matter of time before she is able to sponsor her mother in for a trip to the USA.
The emotional tale of an African woman brimming with life and the spirit to make something of herself turns into a tale of initial disappointment, strained relationships, and hearty reconciliation — ideating the true essence of the American dream in all its glory.
With plenty of Ugandan emblems breathed into the eatery to keep her ethnicity alive. 'Little America' premieres with all eight episodes on Friday, January 17, only on Apple TV+.
