Cassandra Augustine "Cassie" Brown is Carlotta's younger sister. She is a recurring character and an antagonist in the second half of season two and the first half of season three. Singer/actress Brandy Norwood was promoted to the main cast in season three, when Cassie's personal growth and development reversed her character portrayal and made her a hero by the show's end.
In the beginning, Cassie fit the textbook definition of a sociopath: she is deceitful, erratic, violent and manipulative. She is directly responsible for the murders of three people and indirectly responsible for three more. Though Cassie openly embraces her life as a gangster, she secretly hates herself (as she confesses to her niece Cotton), and she longs for genuine love and respect, rather than fear, from the people around her. Cassie also yearns for a legitimate lifestyle like Carlotta, a woman she both idolizes and despises. Her quest toward a respectable lifestyle - which stands in the way of Carlotta's business plans - makes up the majority of her season three story arc.
Despite her hedonistic and trigger-happy ways, Cassie has a history of physically abusive relationships, including with beau Xander McPherson. Her self-loathing largely stems from lack of attention and affection from her father, Calvin, whom Cassie believed favored Carlotta over her. Unbeknownst to Cassie, Calvin repeatedly raped Carlotta, which Lottie silently endured to ensure that he would never touch Cassie.
The revelation of this secret finally shows Cassie that, despite everything, Carlotta would always love and look out for her, just as Cassie (in her own sociopathic ways) looked out for Carlotta. Over time, Cassie becomes her sister's fiercest ally, enters a relationship with Maurice Jetter and largely - but not entirely - abandons her old ways for good.
Season Two, part one
After being cut off financially, Andy enters a quid quo pro sexual arrangement with Cassie, who he once rejected outright for being "too thirsty". Andy becomes little more than Cassie's gofer and sex toy, though he is paid well for his services. He is stunned one day when a "platinum wash" of Cassie's car results in Andy muling money and drugs, as well as being referred to as "Cassie's new bitch" by the head dealer, Gonzo. At her home, Cassie mocks Andy for being upset as she hands him money in a condescending manner - much like a parent would to a child - and orders him into the shower. Out of desperation (or possibly anger), Andy steals $15,000 and leaves her apartment.
Later, Andy is summoned back to the location where Andy picked up Cassie's drugs and money. With Andy watching, Cassie shoots Gonzo in the head and orders him to leave with her, making no attempt to hide the dead man's body. She later sends a hitman to kill Andy, but Jahil shields his body from the bullets, eventually dying from his wounds. At Jahil's funeral, Cassie informs Andy that she was the one who sent the gunman - thus revealing that she had known all along that Gonzo was innocent - and that if he didn't come up with her money, he would be the next person "going to see the King".
Cassie confronts Andy again at Midway Records, where Andy tries to placate her sexually. As Cassie plays along, she reveals that she has found his adoptive parents, and that they would be the next ones to die. Desperate, Andy breaks into Ayanna Floyd's office and tries to forge a check, only to shoot her when she turns out to still be in building. With only Carlotta to turn to for help, Andy reveals Cassie's involvement to Carlotta, who cries out in horror and runs from the room. Carlotta, along with Cotton, is convinced that Cotton's abusive ex-boyfriend Omari is the killer, and they had recently given Cassie permission to kill him (which Cassie does off-screen).
A month after Jahil's death, Carlotta hurls sarcastic and thinly veiled language to her sister as they drink whiskey together, She commends Cassie for her latest murder and for avenging Jahil, concealing a pistol the entire time. Cassie is hiding a gun of her own, which leads to a Mexican standoff. The screen goes black as a shot goes off.
Season three, part one[]
It is revealed in the season three premiere that, after a scuffle, Lottie's gun accidently went off and struck their mother, Christine. When asked who shot her, however, Cassie does not snitch on Carlotta. Carlotta informs Christine that Cassie had Jahil killed. When Cassie tries to explain what happened, Christine cuts her off, declaring that Cassie had been "trigger happy since you were a kid!"
Though Cassie tries to apologize for the events that led to Jahil's death, Carlotta warns Cassie that she will pay for that she has done, regularly calling her stupid and dumb and telling her that she will be nothing. This lights a fire in Cassie, who is more determined than ever to leave the streets. She goes into a partnership with Maurice Jetter to start an existing label, starts a nightclub and even poaches Noah Brooks from Midway Records as her star artist. By then, Carlotta has realized that she has underestimated her sister, and she attacks Cassie in a fit of rage before being escorted out. Right away, Carlotta deduces that Xander is bankrolling Cassie's club, and she warns him that she will turn him in to the police if his criminal ways interfere with Carlotta's business.
During a conversation with Noah, Cassie learns that, despite Carlotta's warnings, Andy has returned to Atlanta. Cassie has Andy kidnapped and tortured with the intent of killing him. Xander - who is forcing Cassie to clean his dirty money in exchange for bankrolling her nightclub - mocks her attempts be a legitimate businesswoman, calling her a "stone cold killer" and telling her to stop fighting her true nature. In an attempt to align with her new morals, Cassie releases the near-dead Andy, warning him to never come back to Atlanta. However, the message does not get back to her goons, who chase Andy until he is struck by a car. Andy drags himself to Carlotta's house and dies in her arms after whispering "Cassie", leading Carlotta to believe that Cassie intentionally had him killed and left him near her home.
Andy's death is the final burden that breaks Carlotta, and she is arrested and placed on a 72-hour hold after wandering around barefoot at night. Cassie takes responsibility for Jahil but tells Carlotta that she did not kill Andy (though she does not mention her role in his injuries). Carlotta lashes out and attacks Cassie, then cries in her arms. After the mention of their father, however, Carlotta calms down and orders Cassie to leave. Later, when Cotton visits Carlotta in the hospitals and encourages her to work things out with her sister, Carlotta tells Cotton that Cassie killed her father.
While Carlotta is recuperating in Jamaica, Karma is raided by the Feds. Cassie picks up her gun, ready for a shootout, but relents and goes to Xander's instead. Xander informs Cassie that not only has he been using Karma for money laundering, but for drug peddling as well. As Cassie reels from the news, Xander pleads with her to take the fall, promising that he will use her connections to get her out. Cassie slaps Xander and leaves, but turns herself in the same night. With that, Carlotta's prediction came true: Xander had indeed dragged Cassie "from the gutter to the sewer".
Carlotta visits Cassie in jail, berating her for her life choices and telling that she knows Cassie is protecting Xander. Cassie insists she is doing what is best, and that Xander and she were going to get married. She leaves Carlotta after more heated words. Carlotta later appears in court with family members to show solidarity. She is surprised when Xander shows up with his expensive legal team, ready to work for and defend Cassie. She smugly tells Carlotta that she is choosing Xander.
With her sister nearly out of her grasp for good, Carlotta visits Cassie a second time. She tells Cassie how excited she was to learn she was having a little sister, how Christine told Lottie how it was her job to protect Cassie, and how she'd taken that to heart. Finally, she tells Cassie of the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of their father so that Cassie would remained undefiled. She tells Cassie that there was darkness in Calvin, not love, and that she saw the same darkness in Xander. Carlotta leaves a shocked and tearful Cassie to her thoughts.
When Xander visits Cassie, Cassie muses about their relationship - specifically how hard she had worked to make Xander love her, to no avail. She informs him that she no longer needs him and is riding with her sister from now on. After cajoling and flattery don't work, Xander cuts off Cassie's legal and threatens her life, but Cassie defiantly leans back in response, severing their ties for good.
Season Three, part two
(later)
Trivia
- Due to noticeable weight gain, rumors swirled that actress Brandy Norwood was pregnant. Norwood, who suffered an eating disorder in her teenage years, explained that she had simply stopped "eating clean" after her run on Broadway's Chicago and had gone on a "foodcation".
- Norwood's curvy appearance is addressed outright in Rise from the Ashes, when Lottie tells Christine to tell her sister that she needed to lose weight. After sex, Andy comments that he "was just trying to keep up with your big ass."
- Cassie's final fate is unknown. Originally, numerous blogs and Wikis reported her death as a fact. However, the sources of the "confirmed" death lead to descriptions of the death of Unforgiven character Cassie Stewart. Ironically, at the beginning of season three filming, Norwood quipped, "If you don't see me in the building next year, I probably got shot!"[1]