Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Miss Governor’ returns with a Part 2 to continue the story of Antoinette Dunkerson, who becomes the first Black lieutenant governor of the state of Mississippi. The first part of the season focuses on her familiarising herself with her office and its responsibilities. However, it soon becomes clear that she is being entirely sidelined and is not given any real responsibility. By the end of Part 1, she has the unique opportunity to seize the position of the governor when Governor Harper suddenly falls ill. However, her next steps take her down a road that makes it look like she might have to say goodbye to her role as lieutenant governor as well. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Miss Governor Season 1 Part 2 Recap
When Governor Harper suddenly falls ill, Antoinette tries to get her foot in the door of his office, but the governor’s staff, especially Jed, hold the door firmly to keep her from assuming her new position as their boss. While they scramble to keep Harper’s true medical situation a secret, Antoinette and her team try to figure out what they can do to make the most of this situation. Eventually, she makes a deal with Jed about not poking at Harper’s situation in return for her being given some serious responsibilities. The deal works, but then, the lieutenant governor herself and the people surrounding her do things that threaten to derail all the progress she has made.
The question of the pipeline remains a major point of contention as Antoinette tries to have it rerouted to protect the communities that would have been displaced by it. She also continues to harbour feelings for Michael, which continue to grow the more time they spend in each other’s vicinity. Her rising status attracts the interest of a talk show where Antoinette was supposed to have been interviewed by Gayle, but the whole thing goes off track when Gayle is replaced by Rhonda, who goes on the offensive with the interview. In the interviewer’s defense, the lieutenant governor herself says some rather damaging things about herself.
Eventually, the truth about Governor Harper’s hospitalisation comes to light, which leads Jed to believe that Antoinette is going to orchestrate a coup. Or rather, he decides to get her out of the way by blaming her for a potential coup so that she can be removed from her position as the lieutenant governor, and Jed can keep his job by installing someone else, someone friendlier to him. Digging for dirt on Antoinette, he finds out about her feelings for Michael, which leads him to set up a hearing about her conduct, and for a moment, it seems that Antoinette is done for good.
Is the Hearing Against Antoinette Dismissed? How?
The final episode of the season focuses on the hearing against Antoinette. It is set up by Jed with the help of Senator Cole, who became a senator because of his father. Jed offers him the job of lieutenant governor if he successfully tears Antoinette’s career to shreds at the hearing. Cole is all too happy to do this. Jed even tries to turn Shamika against her friend and boss, believing that he can sow doubt between the duo and lead his target to give up damning evidence against Antoinette. Of course, Shamika is smarter than that. Still, from the conversation where Jed tries to turn her into a snitch, she realises that something big is about to go down, and her friend’s career is in deep danger. Soon enough, Antoinette and everyone on her staff receive subpoenas.
The hearing is led by Senator Cole, but thankfully, the others on the bench are more open to hearing Antoinette’s side of the story. Still, he goes on the offensive and tries to assassinate the lieutenant governor’s ethical character by proving that she had sexual relations with her bodyguard. One by one, everyone from her staff, including Shamika and Basil, is called in to testify. Each tries to say as little incriminating stuff against their friend, but they are all caught off guard, and they let slip some things that put Antoinette in a very tough situation. Michael is also called in to testify, and he remains straightforward and to the point, while also confessing that he and Antoinette got into a relationship.
Michael’s confession throws the entire team into a fit, and Antoinette is advised to claim that she and Michael are not together, at least not anymore, and that there was never anything serious between them. Meanwhile, Jed does his best to paint her as an ineffective and incompetent person who was never worthy of the post she was given. His intent is to completely render her an untrustworthy person, not just in the eyes of the bench, but also for the whole state, as the hearing is televised. For a moment, it looks like his plan is working, but then, a curveball enters the court in the form of Henry. Henry was installed in Antoinette’s office to keep an eye on her, and more importantly, to keep her busy with irrelevant stuff so that Governor Harper and his office could do whatever they wanted in peace. And shockingly, Henry admits as such at the hearing.
Henry Becomes Antoinette’s Shocking Savior
Since Day 1, Henry worked with Harper and Jed to undermine Antoinette, in an effort to “put her in place.” He did everything that Harper and Jed asked of him, which is why, when he comes to testify, it seems like he will take the same road as Jed and fabricate stories about how she should be removed from her position as the lieutenant governor. However, in a shocking turn of events, he does the exact opposite. He exposes Harper’s plan to prevent Antoinette from getting any work done and confesses that, despite all her flaws, all she wants is to do what’s best for the people of Mississippi.
Henry takes things a step further when he points out that even if Antoinette had a sexual relationship with her bodyguard, it wouldn’t be the worst thing that a person in her office has done. He reveals, without naming names, that he has helped many people in office hide much, much worse things, and compared to all of that, Antoinette remains a saint. As it becomes clear that there is no concrete evidence against Antoinette and the continuation of the hearing will not be damaging to the people that Henry has helped hide their secrets, the hearing is adjourned indefinitely, which means Antoinette is finally in the clear.
Does Antoinette Become Governor? Does Governor Harper Come Back?
The reason that Jed goes through all the trouble of getting Senator Cole to set up the hearing against Antoinette is that he wants her out of his way. He knows that Senator Harper is not going to recover from his medical situation. While he may not die, there is no way that he will be in any capacity to return to office and resume his work as the governor. This also means that with Harper out of the picture, Jed has nothing left. Once it is proven that the governor is incapacitated, the law would dictate that the lieutenant governor take over, which means that Antoinette would be the new Governor of Mississippi. Despite his years of experience as Harper’s chief of staff, Jed is under no illusion that Antoinette would give him space in her team for his expertise.
For the way he has treated her so far, he will be shown the door immediately, and there is a good chance that he may not recover from this fall. This makes Jed desperate to remove Antoinette from the equation and bring in someone else who would be much easier to control, like Senator Cole. But then, his plan falls apart due to Henry’s testimony, and once the case against her is dismissed, it becomes clear that she will assume the office of governor now. By now, it has become public knowledge that Harper has been in the hospital all this time, and his condition hasn’t gotten any better. This means that in his continued absence, the lieutenant governor should come forward.
Anotinette and her team realise this, and they immediately turn into celebratory mode. They pop champagne while also packing up the office so that her stuff can be moved into the governor’s office now. However, unbeknownst to them, Jed has already come up with a plan to save his job. The moment he realises that Henry is testifying in favour of the enemy, he goes to the hospital. Fortunately for him, Harper is awake now, though he is in no mental capacity to carry on his duties as a governor. But that’s not a problem for Jed. He gets Harper out of the hospital, makes him wear a suit, though without pants, so it would look like he is back to normal.
He even calls the press outside his house so that when he and Harper arrive, all the cameras are at the ready to show that Harper is out of the hospital and back in office, which means that the lieutenant governor should remain where they are and give up any dreams of becoming the governor so soon. When Antoinette and her team watch the news, they are disheartened. However, the war isn’t lost yet. Jed may have gotten Harper out of the hospital, but he cannot keep up the ruse for long. Eventually, there will come a time when Antoinette and the rest of the public will figure out how Jed has been duping them. That’s when Antoinette will make her decisive move towards becoming the first Black governor of Mississippi, having succeeded against all odds and the hurdles that were delibertately placed in her way to keep her from succeeding.
Read More: Is Miss Governor a True Story? Is Antoinette Dunkerson Based on a Real Lieutenant Governor?
