Category Archives: Relationships

Posted on

Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 10: Gratitude…

Hello World,

I guess the number one biggest thing we learned tonight is that OWN’s “Greenleaf” is coming back at some point in 2020! Yay!  The second biggest thing is that Phil DeMars is precisely the self-serving scoundrel we always suspected he was. But more on that later in this Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 10: Gratitude…

Give Thanks & Praises…

This week’s episode begins where last week’s episode ends – with Grace having decided that she is willing to turn her back on the pulpit to protect her son A.J. She walks off of the stage and to A.J., who is standing in the center of a church aisle. He is wearing white and looking angelic which is a stark contrast to an A.J. lookalike, who is wearing all black and shows up at the end of the episode. But let me not get ahead of myself. Grace grabs her son and says, “I’ve been worried sick about you. What are you doing here?” A.J., ever standoffish but for good reason, is confused as to why Grace is confused that he showed up. Both Grace and Sophia have been blowing A.J.’s phone so it’s no wonder that he finally comes back. He then tells Grace the bad news. “I’m going to turn myself in.”

After churchgoers scatter, Bob and his team of Phil and Judee convene in Grace’s former office. “What the he** happened here?” Bob asks them. He reveals that with Grace’s resignation, a key part of his plan has been thwarted. “What about my board?” he says. Bob wants the board to vote on his plans for Calvary as a part of the Harmony & Hope expansion. He’s particularly disappointed that his daughter wasn’t able to carry out his plan. “You’re going back to Phoenix today,” Bob says to Judee. Then he turns to Phil. “Did you have something to do with Grace stepping down?” Phil downplays his part in Grace’s decision, but he does affirm that he is seeing and in love with Charity as Judee blurted that before she stormed out of the office. Phil assures Bob that his relationship with Charity is a “good thing” and that she can be useful to them. However, Bob says, “I’m still not over how you hurt Judee. I think that’s a big part of the reason why things didn’t work out with Ken.”

Finally, Bob says, “What a mess!” Sooo…was Phil using Judee when he was involved with her? I’m inclined to think that he truly loved her because if he had been using Judee, Bob would have kicked him to the curb already…But I don’t know since Bob is an opportunist as well…

After that debacle at Calvary, Lady Mae can only stare out of her window, looking at the grounds on which the Greenleaf home is built. Charity knocks on her door and Lady Mae invites her in. “This house, this land is all we have left now, and I’m so scared,” Lady Mae says to her youngest daughter. Charity fixes her mouth to say, “I had nothing to do with with Phil and how he pressured Gigi.” Chile, please. Lady Mae asks Charity where did Phil get the evidence then? “Did he have confederates in unmarked vans on the property?” Charity says, “I don’t know.” “So you came in here to lie to me,” Lady Mae says. The disappointment she feels is tangible. She knew Charity was less than smart, but she didn’t know she was less than truthful too. She calls Charity, “Phil’s helpless little pawn.” Charity says, “Mama, I never meant to hurt you.” That got Lady Mae. She tells Charity that all of them from Grace to Nathan are connected. “It’s one life. You do damage to one life and the whole life suffers. He’s smart enough to make a big fool of you, and that’s the extent of his genius.”

In Grace suite’s, Grace and Aaron meet with A.J. Aaron explains to A.J. that if he turns himself in, he will probably get 10 years in jail. For whatever reason, A.J. is adamant about wanting to turn himself in although Grace and Aaron try to convince A.J. not to turn himself in. He plans to turn himself in the following day.  Then Aaron tries a different tactic. ” “Why not just go now?” he says. That did the trick because A.J. becomes apprehensive again and then flees the suite. Grace is confused. “There’s something that he’s not saying.” I feel the same way, but for the life of me, I cannot guess what this is…Can you?

Thanking the Good Lord…

Grace runs into Kerissa as she is rushing out to Urgent Care. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Grace tells Kerissa that as her situation has shifted, she can longer buy out Kerissa and Jacob’s share in the estate. Kerissa responds, but she has more important issues that need her attention. At the doctor’s office, Kerissa prays, “Please let it be negative” but God doesn’t answer the prayer in the way that she requested. “You have chlamydia,” a woman, a doctor or nurse perhaps, says to her. The woman attempts to give Kerissa instruction on how to discuss the matter with husband and tells her she can’t have sex with him for 10 days. But Kerissa tells the woman that Jacob did not give chlamydia to her. Isn’t that wild? That’s what she gets for cheating on her husband. The “c” in chlamydia is for cheating…

Later, Lady Mae and two of the board members meet to discuss the upcoming vote. The board plans to vote on dissolving Calvary and merging what’s left with Harmony & Hope.  When Charity’s name comes up, Lady Mae asks, “What has that little idiot done now?” LOL!!! If you’re mama thinks you’re an idiot, it’s safe to say that you are an idiot! LOL. But Charity’s vote is needed to break the tie so the family must find a way to be nice to her.

When Phil and Charity meet, she tells him that her family is breaking up as a result of Phil DeMars. Phil responds with, “Be still and know that I’m the man who loves you.” Charity thought he was going to say, “Be still and know that I’m God” and so did I. I’m so sick of Phil at this point.

Even later that night, Jacob snuggles into his woman. Obviously, the man wants to get down but Kerissa can’t. She says, “Not tonight, Jacob. ” After saying this a couple of times, Jacob asks, “What did I do now?” Kerissa says, “Nothing,” and tells him that she is on her period and doesn’t feel well.

The next day, Bishop goes to Charity to ask her to vote on the side of the Greenleafs. But Charity uses this opportunity to complain about her parents’ preferring Gigi to Charity all of these years. “So now, you two want my help!” she says. It’s clear to Bishop that Charity may end up supporting Phil in the vote to the detriment of her family. Bishop’s parting words to Charity are, “If you take everything your mother and I built and hand it over to Bob Whitmore, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

In Grace’s suite, A.J. and Sofia talk. Sofia tells her brother that she will write to him when he is in jail and that she will put money into his commissary. But A.J. tells Sofia to “just forget that I exist.” What is up with him? I don’t get it.

Back at Calvary, Charity sits outside of the board meeting. After a vote is taken, Phil opens the door and says to Charity, who is sitting in a chair as she looks into the meeting,”You ready to do this?” Obviously, she is needed to break a tie.

Bishop and Lady Mae are at the Greenleaf estate. Bishop gets a call from somebody, but Bob Whitmore calls Lady Mae next. “He wants me to come down to church right now and talk,” she tells Bishop.

In another part of the estate, Jacob is experiencing some physical symptoms and asks Kerissa for the pills she gave to Zora when she had a bladder infection. Without a lot of rumination it seems, Kerissa tells her husband, “You don’t have a bladder infection.” She continues. “First of all, I love you.” Then she detonates the bomb that blows up their marriage. “I have chlamydia,” she says. Jacob correctly guesses that Fernando Amable passed on more than insider information to Kerissa.  They go at it for like a minute and then Jacob says, “Just get out.” Kerissa reminds Jacob that all of his mistakes don’t compare to her one mistake. “I never gave you a disease,” Jacob says. “You are the disease,” says Kerissa back to him. “Go and get yourself a lawyer. This is over,” Jacob says. That’s the funny thing about men. Women can forgive men for cheating on them. But men cannot handle their women cheating. It’s unfair, but it is what it is. And after all of that, Kerissa calls Fernando!

The Grateful Dead…

For whatever reason, Bob wants the Greenleafs to be an integral part of his vision for a new and improved Calvary. In his meeting with Lady Mae, he tells her he wants Calvary to be multicultural and to “break down the walls of racism.” Bob sees himself and Lady Mae at the elm of this new multicultural church. You know as Bob was talking about this multiracial church, it occurred to me that maybe the creator of Greenleaf has been trying to dismantle the “black church” all along in favor of “the church.” “The church” is not confined to a denomination or a race. Lady Mae also uses this time to tattle on Phil.

Across town at Dante’s house, Sofia is no longer the good Christian girl that she once was. As Dante and Sofia continue to a make out, she tells him that she is a virgin. Dante tells her that he is willing to go at her pace and doesn’t pressure her to have sex with him. That’s nice.

Unlike Dante and Sofia, a devious couple with no boundaries – Fernando and Kerissa – meet. Fernando has been doing some digging and discovers a will in which it is revealed that Uncle Mac was the executor of the estate and that a botched burglary led to the Greenleafs getting their home. Weird, huh? And although Fernando has given Kerissa valuable information, she still slaps him after she says, “You gave me chlamydia.”

Grace and A.J. meet on a dock on the Greenleaf estate. She ask him, “Why are you doing this?” I don’t understand why he is choosing to go to jail either, particularly as Grace is willing to stick to her story on A.J.’s behalf. “Stay,” she says. “I wish I could,” A.J. replies. “Can you tell me why?” Grace asks. “You don’t get to know why. Like everything else in this world, you don’t get to know why. It just is.” I’m more confused than ever. I just know that he’s an integral part of this season, and I want to know more…

Lady Mae returns from her meeting with Bob, and she tells Bishop about Bob’s plans. She has agreed to his plans which Bishop is not feeling. “Your cockeyed ambition is making you plain stupid.” But I have to go with Lady Mae on this one.

Charity has sought out the comfort of her man in his home. He tells her that when he was in the third grade, he was so into magic that he flunked the grade. As of now, he still loves magic though and asks Charity to say the magic word in reply to his question. Yes, that fool asked Charity to marry him and foolish Charity agreed to do so. (It was a nice ring though.) And I must say that Phil is too fine. He takes off his shirt as the couple kisses and prepares to do the do after Charity was originally claiming she was “old-fashioned.” I guess that saying that, “It doesn’t mean a thing unless you have a ring” is true.

After he’s got some loving from Charity and has shut down Grace, Phil thinks his future at Calvary is set. But Bob reveals to Phil that he still won’t be in charge during an impromptu meeting at the church. “It’s going to be me and Mae. Mae told me what you did to Grace.” But Phil aine come this far to be turned back ’round now. “What do I have to do to change your mind? Name it.”

Although Kerissa originally wanted out of the Greenleaf estate at any cost, now that she is being kicked out, she is determined to stay. “Have you found a place to live?” Jacob asks Kerissa. “I’m staying put unless you want Bishop to die in jail.”  Something about a woman named Mrs. Davis was killed in order for the Greenleafs to get their home…Not sure I understand, but yes, that heffa is using that crazy will she got from Fernando to blackmail her husband. Smh…I didn’t know Kerissa was that dirty…Did you?

And speaking of dirty, Phil shows up out of the blue. He confronts Lady Mae about her meeting with Phil. “That arrangement you made with Bob is null and void.” He tells her that she and Bishop may want to get any belongings they have in the church because the building will be demolished in a week!

Before he can hardly get the words out, Charity sniffs out her man and shows up. This simpleton thinks he’s there to ask her father for her hand in marriage. When he tells her that he cannot marry her because he is marrying Judee, she dissolves into tears. At least he had the decency to tell her his news privately.

Grace, who visits her sister Faith’s grave, is having a heart to heart talk with God. At first, she laments the condition of the family and their church and her son. But then she she pivots and thanks God for every body in her family and the situation with the church. It’s kind of an eerie speech, but at the same time, it’s a prayer of acceptance. The Word does tell us that we can’t only thank God for the good things, we have to be thankful for the bad things as well as God is sovereign and over it all…

And then a man who could be A.J. doppelganger comes to her. He has dreads and the same complexion, only he is dressed in all black.  (Is A.J. covering for him somehow? Is this the guy who stole the drugs?) He correctly guesses that Faith was her sister. And then he says, “Everything has an expiration date” and calls her “Grace” although I don’t remember her telling him her name. Grace, who figures he somehow wandered onto the property, tells him how to get to main road to be on his way…I know that’s right.

Who is he? I know it must have something to do with A.J., but I guess we won’t know exactly what until 2020.

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 10: Gratitude… and my other recaps so far. If you would like to keep up with OWN’s “Greenleaf,” and my recaps, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂!

UPDATE: If you would like get a sneak peak of Season 5 and secrets from the Spinoff directly from OWN “Greenleaf” Creator Craig Wright & Executive Producer Kriss Turner Towner, click on my interview with them HERE!!!

Any thoughts?

 

 

Posted on

Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 9: God’s Justice…

Hello World,

Do you know what’s unjust? The fact that only ONE more episode is left in Season 4 of OWN’s “Greenleaf!” So please take all of the time you need to enjoy this Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 9: God’s Justice…

In the Name of Justice…

This week’s episode begins with Judee, Grace and Connie, the head deaconness, meeting with Clara to discuss Clara’s vote in the upcoming Deacon Board meeting. These unlikely Three Musketeers try to convince Clara that Harmony & Hope having more board seats (a 50-50 split between H&H and Calvary though) will not affect Calvary’s independence. But after having been schooled by Lady Mae at her engagement party, Clara has questions. “What about leaving room for God?” she asks. Since Grace now knows that she will be at the helm after the board’s reorganization, she has an extra incentive to get Clara to see things her way and she does. She explains that H&H is willing to “pour millions” into the church and that an even split of votes will mean there will be more conversation before voting. Clara says, “I will see y’all at the meeting, and I will vote ‘yes.'” Shortly afterward, Karine comes to collect her grandmother. At this point, all of the deacons have been met with except for Connie, and you know how she will vote.

After the meeting is over, Grace speaks with Lady Mae on the phone. She tells her mother how Clara will vote. Lady Mae tells her daughter that Bishop plans to meet with Connie to discuss her vote. At this point, I must admit I’m a bit confused. It seems that Bishop doesn’t want Connie to vote yes although Grace wants her to do so.

Following that conversation, Phil DeMars meets with Grace. As he walks into her office, she asks, “Pastor DeMars, How can I help?” Phil replies with, “By resigning.” He tells her that he has proof that she lied to keep her son out of jail. Apparently, he doesn’t mind if the “wheels of justice” rolls over both Grace and A.J. She has until Sunday to decide if she will resign before he goes to the police. “God is good,” he says with a devilish smile as he strides out of Grace’s office.

At the Greenleaf estate, Kerissa attempts to be persuasive as well. Jacob is on his way out as he is going to see Dante at his new sports bar “Buckets.” (That’s kind of a cute name for a sports establishment, right?) “Before you go, ask your mother about the house,” she says. Yes, Kerissa is still trying to find out who will inherit the Greenleaf estate in the event of the demise of the elder Greenleafs. But Jacob refuses to do so. “That’s rude,” he says. She attempts to explain to her husband that she only wants to know because she wants to determine if they have a share in the home. And if so, she wants to be able to sell the share to get money to buy a home. Still Jacob refuses. “I’m happy living here,” he says. “I’m not,” she says. But Jacob tells her that if she wants to know so badly, she can ask Lady Mae herself. He even offers to pray for his wife as she approaches Lady Mae! LOL. She gon need it…

If anyone needs prayer before he or she approaches somebody, it’s Bishop. He comes up on Connie outside of her home (I think) to discuss her vote in the upcoming meeting. He tells her the H&H people are “carpetbaggers with Bibles.” She says that H&H is “marching the church into the pages of history.” He wastes no time in telling Connie that he knows that she took a bribe to hand over Calvary to H&H.  He also tells her that he knows she gave the money to her daughter for safekeeping. Connie says, “I’m not going to dignify that madness with a denial.”  Bishop tells her that everyone will find out about the money if she doesn’t vote against H&H having more board seats. Again, Bishop’s stance is puzzling as it goes against what Grace wants.

Another curious confrontation occurs when Judee approaches Karine about getting Calvary’s bylaws. Apparently, this is the third time that Judee has asked for them but for whatever reason Karine is stalling. Finally, when Judee is about to make her present the bylaws at that moment, Karine tells her that if she changes screens on her computer, she will lose the Amy Grant tickets she is getting for Judee at Judee’s request. Now Amy Grant is not an artist I ever expected to hear mentioned on “Greenleaf!”

I guess Jacob has prayed for Kerissa because she approaches Lady Mae and asks her who will inherit the house after her and Bishop are dead and gone. Of course, Lady Mae takes this as an opportunity to tell her that she is the one who cleared out the safe as she was going to be “jacked by my son’s wife.” LOL! But she does answer Kerissa’s question though. Grace, Jacob and Charity will have equal shares. I kinda think Lady Mae didn’t tell her the whole truth though. Why? Because Lady Mae is always a step ahead of her daughter-in-law. With one more episode, we will find out sooner rather than later…

In the name of some kind of justice, we know that Charity is stabbing her sister in the back. And Grace suspects that as well which is why she approaches her sister about Phil. “What proof does Phil have that I lied to the police? Tell me Charity.” Charity plays dumb. “I don’t know what Phil has.”

Grace knows that Charity knows. She tries to appeal to her reasonable side by telling her that she is playing with her son’s life which could be ruined if the truth comes out. Charity still continues to play dumb. Actually, she’s not playing. “I haven’t done anything Grace. You brought this on yourself.” I hope when Charity realizes that she was played Phil, she says the same thing.

Justice League…

Judee is loitering in Phil’s office. When Phil asks why, she tells him she is simply waiting for her Amy Grant tickets and a copy of Calvary’s bylaws. She then asks him how his relationship is going with Charity. “It’s going very well,” he replies. But Judee knows the man. She tells him that he doesn’t love Charity. And if he does, is it because she’s black? Wait…What? Did she actually ask him why he chooses to love a black woman? That’s a weird question for a white woman to ask a black man about a black woman, right?

Nevertheless, he tells Judee that she and Charity are very similar underneath their skin. For starters, they are both the daughters of important men, and the fact that they don’t get their just due in the shadow of their important fathers. Judee asks Phil if the three of them can have dinner together. Phil obviously questions Judee’s motives, but she says, “I would never do anything to stop you from being happy.” Additionally, she questions Phil about why he doesn’t think that Grace has a chance to be named the long-term pastor of the church. “I have a feeling,” Phil says. She tells him she is feeling steak for dinner.

Feeling bad about his last interaction with Dante, Jacob finally gets over to Buckets to see Dante. He explains his feelings to the former NBA baller and apologizes. Dante says its all good. In fact, Dante actually wants to cut a check for Excellence Preparatory now. After having a conversation with the general manager of the Memphis Red Devils, he now believes a donation to the school would be a good look for him and get him a spot on the team again. He asks Jacob if his wife can set up press conference to get the word out about his good deed. After that, he gives the check to Jacob right then! I wonder how much he gave Jacob!

When Phil approaches Charity about having dinner with Judee, Charity wonders how much information has Phil given to Judee. “Does she know about Grace?” she asks. Phil assures her that she doesn’t know about Grace. Reluctantly, Charity agrees to have dinner with Phil and Judee if they eat sushi.

Speaking of Grace, Sofia knows about Phil attempting to blackmail her mother. While Grace and Sofia are together in their suite, Sofia calls A.J. to explain why he must come back. She doesn’t reach him, but she does leave a lengthy voice mail. “My mom could go to jail. If she goes to jail, I’m gonna lose my mother.” She tells him that although he may have reasons to be upset with Grace, he should consider Sofia’s feelings. “I haven’t done anything. I don’t deserve this.” I’m glad that Sofia is done punishing her mother for making a youthful decision to give her son up for adoption. She tells her mother that she is not going back to Hampton University – at least for now. “If I don’t stay for this, what would I stay for?” Amen, Sofia.

In Bishop and Lady Mae’s suite, Bishop approaches his wife-to-be. “I’m debating whether to tell you this,” he says. “But I’m feeling confident it will work out.” He tells Lady Mae about his conversation with Connie. “I’m flabbergasted,” Lady Mae says. This isn’t the first time this season she has told him to not use that information to get Calvary back. She wants clean hands in attempting to get back the church. She explains that “ungodly things” cannot be used in “Godly love.” But she does know that Bishop, however misguided, acted out of love, and she’s grateful for that. “If I didn’t have you, I would be drowning in a pool of hopelessness,” she says. And yet, she feels that “move against Connie is going to be our undoing.” She tells Bishop that she is going to her prayer closet where she will be until morning!

Grace should be in her prayer closet, but instead, she has to entertain the selfishness of her sister-in-law. Kerissa speaks with Grace about buying Jacob’s share of the Greenleaf estate. She explains that she and Jacob need more money to move out of the family home. She wants out like Jonah in the whale. Kerissa says that it should probably go for $1 million, but that they will accept anything over $2500,000. Grace actually tells her that she can swing it. And then this chick ask Grace where she got her money?! Aine that crazy?

Back at Calvary, Connie tells Judee and Phil that the motion to expand the deacon board must be amended. It can longer be a 50-50 deal. “The current members have to maintain control,” she says before explaining that Bishop knows about the money that H&H gave to her. Judee agrees to a 60-40 split and asks Connie who told Bishop about the money. Connie tells her that she suspects Karine is the culprit. Once Connie leaves, Judee wonders if the Greenleafs are experienced blackmailers. She fires Karine but not before calling her, “Little Missy.” Next, she goes to see Grace in her office. “Whose side are you on?” Judee asks. Grace tells her, “I need to know what you’re talking about.”

When we return to Greenleaf estate, both Kerissa and Jacob are in a good mood, and they do what two married people often do when they are in a good mood at the same time. I will give you a hint: Candles are everywhere you look in their suite. Kerissa has money from Grace apparently, and Jacob has money from Dante apparently. They can buy a house now! Life is good for the couple, at least during this episode. But somehow, I don’t think that will be the case next week. These two never realize when they are out of their league..

Poetic Justice…

Phil has to please two women – Charity and Judee. He brings the two of them to a restaurant where both steak and sushi are served! Judee lets it slip that she and Phil used to date.

One half this equation is the topic of discussion for Grace and her parents. She tells them that Charity will not admit what she knows about Phil’s blackmail. Bishop says that Charity is so hypnotized by Phil that she cannot even tie her shoes. Grace asks her parents for advice. She doesn’t know if she should step down or stay and fight. Lady Mae advises her daughter to tell everything to the congregation on Sunday including the fact that she lied to protect her son. That way everything would be in the open. “Let the church decide,” Lady Mae says. She explains that “this world is just a waiting room for the next.” And as a result, Grace needs to care for her soul if she intends to go to Heaven. “You speak your own truth,” she adds. Bishop has completely opposite advice. “You do what’s best for your son.” This sounds like good advice until Lady Mae ends with, “You do what’s best for your soul.” Amen.

Sofia no longer seems concerned about her soul and flaunts her new friendship/relationship with Dante at his new sports club Buckets in front of Zora and Nicki, Dante’s ex-girlfriend. Of course, fireworks ensue within the crew at the grand opening event. Sofia is basically mad and jealous bout Zora’s friendship with Nicki.

Charity is mad and jealous too after Judee’s revelation, but once Charity and Phil are alone in his car, he tells Charity that his relationship with Judee ended a long time ago. Doesn’t Charity know that Judee is married? I would be asking about that first! Did Phil date Judee when she was married? Charity wonders if she is being used, but Phil placates her by giving her the key to his apartment. He then tells her that she should feel free to peruse his apartment where she will find a page in his prayer journal that is dedicated to her and all of the things he wants to do for her. He ends with, “I love you.” He explains that he only agreed to dinner with Judee to “get her on our side.”

Sooner than I predicted, Jacob and Kerissa, unlike Charity and Phil, will be unhappy again very soon. Fernando Amable calls Kerissa to tell her insider information about the Greenleaf estate. We have to wait until next week though, the finale episode, to find out the particulars!

In the mean time, Judee has finally received a copy of the bylaws and discovers that in the event of a tie, the most senior member of the board can break the tie. That means Connie is the tie breaker! Uh oh. And keep your mouth open because more is coming.

On Sunday morning, Pastor Grace steps into the pulpit like she owns it and asks the church to turn to Luke 22:40 where they will focus on what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane. But then, A.J., clothed in white, walks in and Grace is shook. “I’m sorry church. There’s been a change of plans,” she says. “Effective immediately, I’m stepping down as pastor of Calvary Fellowship.” Yes, that’s right, Bishop’s advice prevailed, but maybe Lady Mae’s advice prevailed as well. Maybe she did what was right for her son and for her soul…Is that justice?

ONLY ONE MORE EPISODE LEFT, SAINTS…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 9: God’s Justice… and my other recaps so far. If you would like to keep up with OWN’s “Greenleaf,” and my recaps, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂!

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 7: Reunited…

Hello World,

Y’all already know that Bishop and Lady Mae officially reunited in tonight’s episode just by the title, but trust me, there is a LOT you don’t know so keep reading this “Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 7: Reunited.”

We Belong Together…

Although a family belongs together, A.J. aine trying to reunite with his mother again. In a panic, she calls her other child, Sofia. “I haven’t heard from A.J.,” Sofia says from her Hampton University dorm room. But when she gets off of the phone with Grace, we see A.J. lounging in her room. “Just go home,” she says to him. “You’re innocent.” “I can’t,” her brother says to her.

At the Greenleaf estate, Charity belongs somewhere else…I’m thinking it’s a sanitarium of some sort because this chick is straight preaching to herself in the mirror and she appears to believe what she is preaching. “satan got you good,” she says to her image. Then she admonishes her son Nathan to not be like his Aunt Gigi. “See that’s that pride.” She is truly jealous of her sister and I don’t entirely get why. Grace’s life is far from perfect either, especially now.

Anywho, Charity has to stop preaching to herself in the mirror because Bishop calls a secret meeting of his children. “I think you like secret meetings,” Jacob says to Charity in an accusatory tone. Speaking of Phil DeMars, Grace arrives to the meeting a little late because Phil held her up. Apparently, he wants to build extra sparking spaces on Calvary’s property because of Calvary’s increased attendance. And although Calvary has experienced growth, he doesn’t acknowledge Grace’s preaching as a reason why the growth occurred, Grace tells her family. Charity attempts to stick up for her secret boo. “Are you talking Phil DeMars’ side in this?” Bishop asks Charity, looking at her like the traitor that he doesn’t even realize she is…

Charity tries to explain Phil is simply her “brother in Christ.” So that makes Jacob mad. “He got me fired,” Jacob says. I mean her actual brother is also her brother in Christ, but I guess that’s beside the point as she cannot suck face her with her actual brother. Charity tells him that the 10 stitches and a trip to the emergency room that someone received courtesy of him in the Memphis Red Devils’ fight is what got him fired. Grace says Jacob was attempting to be peace maker before the fight got out of hand.

But before their bickering gets out of hand, Bishop tells his children why he wants to meet with them. “I want you to work up a song to put her in the marrying mood.” Yes, Bishop and Lady Mae belong together and it’s finally time that the two get back together officially. He’s going to propose to Lady Mae, and seeing her children serenade her should convince her to say, “Yes.” But what’s funny about this secret meeting is that it’s not a secret. Lady Mae happened to overhear Bishop’s plan but she doesn’t tell anyone that she knows what will happen in the near future.

Speaking of Lady Mae, she aine playin’ with Kerissa. While Kerissa is relaxing in her suite, Marisol shows up with a camera to take pictures of the surroundings purportedly for insurance purposes, Marisol tells Kerissa. But y’all already know that she is documenting anything in case Kerissa tries to “hold something” on the way out, and Kerissa knows that too. She wonders what would happen if something happened to Lady Mae…Where would her furniture and more go then?…

But Lady Mae has more real rather than hypothetical matters to attend to at the moment. Karine calls Lady Mae to tell her that Misty has put a critical item on the agenda for the Deacons Board meeting. She wants Lady Mae’s name removed from the scholarship fund that she created! I think Lady Mae’s name belongs with the scholarship fund that she created.

And you know who doesn’t belong together? Phil DeMars and Charity, according to Jacob. He tells his baby sister that he saw her with Phil at Calvary late one night. “I saw you with your tongue down his throat.” He gives her four scenarios about why they are seeing each other – 1) He’s using you. 2) You’re in love with him. 3) He’s forced himself on you. Or  4) You’re spying on him for the family. Charity originally claims 4, but then she admits to 2. Of course, Jacob argues with her about her questionable choice in men, but Charity has made up her mind about Phil. “He’s straight,” she screams at Jacob. But was so was Jabari and that didn’t stop him from playing Jacob’s sister…

“What’s going on here?” Grace asks about the ruckus between her younger siblings. “We were arguing about what song we’re going to sing,” he says choosing for the moment to keep Charity’s confidence. He tells her that Charity wants to sing “Reunited.”(Gotta love that classic by Peaches & Herb! It’s probably the best break-up-and-get-back-together song ever!) “What’s wrong with that?” says Grace.

Ex-Factor…

The x factor that can spoil the plan of Charity and Phil is that now Jacob knows there is some sort of unholy alliance at work. He may not be a woman with an intuition but he knows his sister. When it comes to men, her decisions just don’t make sense. Charity rushes to Phil’s office after her discussion with her brother. “Have you sent the file?” she asks him. Remember that Charity recorded Grace saying her answer to the police about her whereabouts as it pertains to A.J.’s alibi was less than truthful. She tells Phil that he cannot anonymously send the file (presumably to the police) because Jacob would figure out that Charity was the snitch behind it all. “Jacob saw us kissing the other night.”

So I can’t figure this next move out. Phil agrees to hold off on sending the file for at least 24 hours to give Charity some time to decide what she wants to do. “I know I can’t force this on you. Your trust and love are my priority,” he says. “Are you for real?” Charity responds. “For better or worse” is Phil’s answer…So what was that wedding wording reference about? Is this some sort of Jedi mind trick that Phil is pulling to pull the wool over Charity’s eyes. Or does he actually care for her? I think he cares for her, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about his cause and or himself more…

The x-factor in A.J.’s life is his little sister. He tells her she is the only one in their family who actually treated him like he is family. Sofia pleads with A.J. again to just go home. “You’re innocent.” “It doesn’t matter if I’m innocent or guilty. I’m a black man.” (Man…I hate that so many black men have to contend with this issue in 2019.) A.J. then explains that Sofia has had it pretty easy as a pretty, light-skinned young woman. He then stomps out as he’s on the hunt for cigarettes before he officially tells his little sister good-bye.

Also filed under heartfelt discussions, Nicki , the girlfriend of Memphis Red Devils’ b-ball star Dante Saunders, comes over to Zora’s spot to confide in her about Dante. Apparently Dante refused to give some speech which would pave the way for him to return to the team, Nicki tells Zora. As Nicki vents, Zora is looking through her Bible. Wow. I cannot believe it. While Zora will probably never be as squeaky clean Christian as Sofia was, her faith in God is starting to grow. But Nicki is insulted. “If you talk to Jesus, you better hope He pays you better attention than you just paid me.”

Zora’s favorite Auntie Gigi (I’m guessing so…) tries to figure out the x-factor in a discussion with a gentleman whose nearby land was bought by City on a Hill. “That sounds like Christians to me,” she says to the man.  The man agrees but other than that, Gigi is clueless about the connection of City on a Hill and Calvary. She is following Phil’s lead in trying to secure more land for parking spaces, but she is hitting some roadblocks as she finding out the land surrounding Calvary is not available for sale.

As of this moment in the episode, Jacob doesn’t know about City on a Hill and Calvary, but he does know about Charity and Phil. Since he has already confronted Charity, it’s time to get at Phil. “You know about my relationship with Charity, and you’re trying to get your job back,” Phil says. Nope, that would not be correct. Jacob, unlike his sister, is not willing to use his family relationships to gain a position, at least not in an underhanded way. He explains that Charity hasn’t had much luck in the man department. “Kevin, Jabari, the list goes on.” Phil assures Jacob that he’s got the best of intentions. “I told you I won’t hurt her,” he says. “That’s all I wanted to hear,” Jacob says although it’s clear that he is still jonesing to whoop Phil.

While Jacob is worrying about Charity, he needs to be watching his wife. This woman has a discussion with the City on a Hill executive. Jokingly, she discusses what what would happen to the Greenleaf estate if Lady Mae and or Bishop went on to glory. The buyer encourages her to find out the answer to her question. He is such bad news. Then he tells her that he has reserved a room for the two of them at a hotel. But Kerissa tells him that she wants him right now in the office. “Let me let my assistant go,” he quickly says in response.

Right Back Where We Started From…

Sofia looks through A.J.’s backpack and finds medicine bottles. She confronts her brother when he returns to her dorm room. “Why’d you go looking in there?” he says. She tells him that she was going to try to sneak some cash into his backpack since she wasn’t sure that he would take it directly from her. Now, it seems the two are strangers like when they first met. “My mother lied for you,” she tells A.J. “I don’t owe you any explanations,” he says. She pleads with him to turn himself in. “Go ahead and call the cops. I don’t care. See you next lifetime.” He leaves her dorm room and maybe her life for good. I’m convinced he’s sick. What does he mean by “next lifetime?” What y’all think?

Their grandmother Lady Mae finds Misty and confronts her about wanting to have her name removed from the scholarship. (What older grown black woman is named ‘Misty?’) Misty tells Lady Mae that it was Connie’s idea after the Calvary member’s daughter was raped by Lady Mae’s brother Mac.

Thinking about Mac, I have to think about Grace and what brought her back to Memphis. She is always searching out the truth (although she did ignore her truth for years). She goes to City on a Hill to see if she can learn something about the company. To her surprise, she sees her sister-in-law there. And she has a discussion with Fernando, Kerissa’s new lover. He says, “I’m deeply concerned about the future of Calvary and as soon as I’m authorized to share my plans with you, I will do so.” As soon as she leaves, Fernando calls Bob Whitmore.

Grace is not the only one seeking answers. Zora goes to her grandfather for wisdom on how to be friends with people i.e. Nicki who don’t have the same Christian beliefs as she now does. “All you can do is love, listen and wait. There is so much power in waiting,” Bishop says. Amen, but waiting is so incredibly hard…

In the next scene, Grace gets Aaron to find out the identity of the owner of City on a Hill. She is flabbergasted to discover that Harmony & Hope is the owner of the company.

And in probably the best scene of the episode, Lady Mae speaks with Vida the daughter about why she started the scholarship and why she hopes to keep her name associated with it. She explains that she wants the women who receive the scholarship to gain skills that would boost their self esteem. She too suffered from low self esteem she revealed. In tears, she explains that she didn’t know that her brother was using the scholarship to victimize young women and that he also victimized her daughter Faith. But she apologizes for his actions nevertheless. She also reveals that Mac likely learned his behavior from their father who did the same to her. “I didn’t know,” she says as she continues to weep. It’s clear that her conscious mind wouldn’t let her know even if somewhere in her subconscious mind, she did.

Vida recognizes that Lady Mae is a fellow survivor and asks her to come to a Sisters of Tamar meeting held at Calvary. “You should come,” she says. “They don’t want to see me in there.” “It’s not about what they want. It’s about what you need to say.” They cry as they hold one another. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve seen a breakthrough at long last!!!

Back at the Greenleaf estate, the Greenleaf adult children should be practicing their song but they argue. Grace confronts Jacob about selling his land to Harmony & Hope and asks why Kerissa was at the City on a Hill office earlier! “Every piece of land that borders our church is owned by Harmony & Hope.” Of course, he didn’t that H&H was behind the sale, and he doesn’t know why his wife is still conversing with the buyer of their property. Jacob reveals that Charity is seeing Phil! Bishop interrupts them and reminds them they should be practicing.

But in the midst of all, Lady Mae shows up, looking shell-shocked. After a brief word with her family, she retreats to her closet where she sits on the ground, still in a daze. Bishop joins her on the ground of the closet. She says, “I know you had plans for tonight and you were going to ask me something.” “Which one of these untrustworthy scoundrels told you?” Bishop replies. Lady Mae says the evening may be no longer appropriate for the question, but she does have an answer for Bishop. Of course, Bishop wants to know the answer. “I would trade a million years at the feet of God’s heavenly choir.” “Yes,” she says simply. Awwwwwwwwwwwww 🙂 Reunited and it feels so good….

Speaking of not reuniting, Jacob goes to his bedroom where he sees Winkie in the bed with Kerissa. She tells Jacob that he had another bad dream and that’s why he’s there. Jacob volunteers to sleep elsewhere since Winkie will be tossing and turning. But I think it’s actually because he realizes that Kerissa is doing something shady after what Grace told him.

Charity also believes that Phil is up to something shady. “Why didn’t you tell me that Harmony & Hope is buying up land all around the church?” she asks Phil later. She overheard Grace and Jacob discussing that earlier. “Are you Bob’s right hand or not?” Phil says he didn’t know that information either. Hmmm….not sure if I believe him but whatever…

Another revelation takes place in another part of Calvary. Sophia returns to Calvary and shows up in her mother’s office which used to be Bishop’s office. She reveals that A.J. was with her although he’s gone now. She tells her mother why she came in person to tell her. “I wanted to be here for you when you hear what I have to say. I found a bunch of prescription drugs in his backpack, Mom. He’s guilty.”

(And where is Noah? He must be walking to Memphis…) See I told y’all that y’all don’t know everythang….

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 7: Reunited… and my other recaps so far. If you would like to keep up with OWN’s “Greenleaf,” and my recaps, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂!

Any thoughts?