Tag Archives: Aaron Jeffries

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Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 9: Runaway Train…

Hello World,

It’s hard to believe that yet another week has passed by and once again it’s time for another OWN “Greenleaf” recap and in this case: Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 9: Runaway Train…Some episodes are action packed with nary a moment for me to put down my pen and other episodes are more contemplative and I have time to consider the implications of what I’m witnessing on the screen. This episode was the latter. At long last, I think Bishop is finally starting to entertain the idea that Rochelle may not be what she claims to be, but more on that later….

Water Runs Dry…

The time has finally come for Bishop’s Silver Jubilee celebrating his 25th anniversary. It looks like it’s going to be a grand affair and shades of purple, the color of royalty, will be splashed over everything from the programs to the sanctuary. Grace realizes that some of the details that make such an occasion truly a celebration like the decorations will be lacking a certain cohesiveness without Lady Mae’s direction. “Who is helping you with this?” Grace asks her father. Bishop has to admit that he has no help even from his assistant Karine, whom he shares with Lady Mae, as she has been busy with the upcoming “A Day with Lady Mae” with Maxine. But Karine does find the time to hand Bishop the divorce papers that have finally been drawn up and delivered to Calvary via a courier. Karine specifies that both the Bishop and Lady Mae have to sign the papers. Bishop muses that he will be a “free man” upon signing the papers, but when he sits his office by himself, the expression on his face shows he is not at peace with the fact that the well that was his marriage is now dry.

Back at Percy’s house, it may not be too much longer before Bishop has worn out his welcome. Bishop tells his old friend about the divorce papers and Percy asks his living arrangements. “Now that you and Mae are done and Mae has the house, what arrangements have been made?” In other words Bishop, you don’t have to go home (because you don’t have one) but you need to raise up outta here! Bishop admits the divorce papers “threw me a bit.” Percy says, “Don’t let them sit too long. You have some living to do.”

Bishop and Gigi come together again for another discussion at the Greenleaf estate and he asks about his granddaughter Sofia. Grace tells him that she is still the same – isolating in her room. Bishop decides that he will visit her. However, but before he can do that, Grace asks him about Rochelle. “Is it true that you invested a large amount of money with Rochelle?” Apparently, Lady Mae told Grace that Bishop intends to make the money needed to pay the IRS through his investments with Rochelle. “I don’t trust her,” Grace says. Bishop asks his daughter why she is working with her on the legal defense fund if she doesn’t trust Rochelle. “I’ve accepted her help because I don’t trust her. The way she swooped in and drove a wedge between you and mama. Daddy, get that money back.” That’s right, Grace. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Who said that originally? Very wise statement. Another way to say that is, “Every shut eye ain’t closed and every good-bye ain’t gone.”

On the way to see Sofia, Bishop sees Charity, Kevin and Aaron playing with Nathan. “Look at the happy family,” he says. As he continues, Aaron comes up to Bishop and says, “My father has called you a few times. He has pancreatic cancer.” Y’all know Bishop ain’t been cool with Bishop Lionel Jeffries, Aaron’s father, ever since he discovered that Lady Mae and Lionel had an affair back in the day. “Are you two on speaking terms?” Bishop asks Aaron. “Barely, but he’s sick,” Aaron says.  Will Bishop reach down into his well of forgiveness and offer the water of reconciliation to a dying man?

Run To You…

Bishop finally makes it to Sofia’s room. “You got a second for an old man?” He assures her that though he and Lady Mae have their differences, he will be around. She invites him in. “I notice that Bible I gave you is out of rotation.” Sofia says, “I should give it back to you.” “Hold on to it for a while,” he tells her. She tells him that she hates her life.

He lets her know that he knows how she feels since he has to grapple with Parkinson’s Disease. Y’all, we haven’t heard anything about his condition in over a season it seems. In fact, this is the first episode since his condition was revealed that we actually see evidence of it. Throughout this episode, he is constantly stretching his hands I guess to alleviate the pain. I think it was a mistake to not address this condition in a consistent way as the story of Bishop and Lady Mae’s unraveling unfolds. We all know when someone is chronically sick, that very much determines how you interact with the person. Anyway, he tells Sofia that he understands why she stays holed up in her room as you get to avoid everyone’s “clumsily stated ‘concerns.'” He also tells her  that it’s a fact of life that the body eventually “falls apart and everything is taken away in the end.” He invites her to come to church on Sunday for his Silver Jubilee. “God has given me a special message just for you.” I must admit, as I watched this, I was  jealous remembering my own grandfather, who was also a pastor. He’s been with God in Heaven for several years now, but I can still hear his voice – booming and clear and brimming with wisdom. Sofia is lucky to have a grandfather that she can run too and I hope she realizes that before it is too late.

Bishop returns back to Percy’s place where he sees Percy’s “friend” Theresa, standing alone,  wearing a black dress that shows all of her shape. I loved her curly Afro! I’m trying to grow one myself ever since I cut my locs off. “Is Percy around,” he asks. “He’s conked out,” she replies. She tells him she can stick around, presumably to “service” him as well but Bishop is not interested in what she’s serving…

The next morning when Percy wakes up, he encourages Bishop to mend fences with his old friend Lionel despite his affair with Lady Mae. “You only get a few people in life you can work things out with. He may be one of yours.” Percy has so much wisdom to be hanging out with whores.

This is the Bishop World Tour episode because Bishop goes to see his son Jacob and his grandson at his home next. Bishop lets his son know that he sensed something when he interrupted Jacob’s meeting with Tasha. “When I came to your church the other day, it seems to me that you two were in the middle of something.” Jacob assures his father that he’s no longer the philanderer that he once was and nothing was going on. But tonight is not about Jacob’s pending downfall (and you know it’s coming), it’s about Bishop’s divorce. Bishop admits that he is conflicted about signing the papers. “It’s not about having doubts. It’s complicated. I don’t see anyway forward that looks right. The papers are sitting in my briefcase like a bomb.” Jacob encourages his father to not sign them – at least immediately- until he’s truly ready. In the end, do you think he will run back to Lady Mae?

Runnin’ (Dying to Live)…

The time has finally come for Bishop’s Silver Jubilee, but before it goes down, he has a behind-the-scenes discussion with his baby girl. Although Charity has been feeling better lately, right now, she is feelin’ some type of way about the fact that her ex and Aaron seem to be moving right along with their lives. She tells Bishop the couple is buying a home together, and they are considering marriage. “Why does everyone get their fairy-tale ending except me?” Bishop admits he has similar feelings when he sees Lady Mae not skipping a beat as their divorce is coming at a steady pace. In fact, she’s coming into her own, he says. But he cheers himself up by opening up the newspaper and seeing what “holy ruckus” Grace is causing on any given day, listening to Charity’s CD or watching Jacob’s online sermons. In those moments, he’s grateful to Mae for giving him these three children. All I could think about was Faith. He should have mentioned her in some way in this moment too. She’s dead, but she still existed. Was he not grateful for her too?

Shortly after that conversation, though, I forgive Bishop when he sings a beautiful duet with Charity. They sing, “If I Can Help Somebody,” which kicks off the service. Grace is up next. “That was some good sangin’ Daddy. Now what I can say by way of introduction, celebration and revelation about my Daddy, My Bishop…He’s a man of faith. He doesn’t walk by sight. We all owe so much to the faith the Bishop has had in us.” She encourages the congregation to welcome him with “holy enthusiasm.” When he walks up, he whispers to Grace, “Rochelle is not what you think.”

She says, “I hope you’re right.” Because you know Rochelle is there too. Bishop delivers a rousing word so much so that Deaconess Connie says that the Silver Jubilee turned out better than anything Lady Mae and Maxine have up their sleeves. Bishop points out that this is not a competition.

Bishop is really only concerned about one person, the one whom God gave him a word for, his granddaughter Sofia. When it becomes clear that Sofia was not moved by the Spirit in the service, (‘I don’t think I have a spirit,’ she says), he invites her to his office to tell her the “meaning of life.” He compares life to a runaway train and how our parents didn’t intentionally bring us into a world in which they had no control over, a runaway train of sorts, but that is the situation. He says God, the grand conductor of this runaway train, needs our help in letting people on the train know that He loves them and he’s trying to bring this runaway train to “safe and satisfactory end.” “Happiness isn’t the absence of sadness. It’s being in the adventure of life in God’s world with others.” I feel like this, as the Bible states, Remember your Creator in the days of your youth before the evil days come. In this world, we will have troubles and experience things we may never understand, but God is there to help us as we go through. Nothing separates us from His love although it feels like it sometimes. Sofia keeps runnin’ from God, but where else can she run? We are all “living to die and dying to live.”

Nowhere to Run…

Following the Silver Jubilee, Bishop is again at his BFF’s house. Isn’t funny that you never see Percy at Calvary? True friends don’t have to be in agreement about everything as long as they share some commonalities. Bishop asks him where is his “company” for the night. Percy tells him that sometimes he has to curb that appetite out of self-respect. “You never forget your paying for it.” He tells Bishop that he’s lucky to have that young woman Rochelle who is willing to “rub his feet” and more. Again, Bishop is stretches his hands, obviously feeling the effects of his Parkinson’s Disease again.

The next time he sees Rochelle at Calvary, he confronts her. “What are you doing in my life?” He continues. “I’m an old man. My hands shake. My body is not what it used to be. What do you want from me?” Rochelle pretends to be incensed and tells Bishop to look at the app where he can see that his investment is yielding a return. He hugs her and apologizes for doubting her interest in him.

In the next scene, Bishop finally gets around to see his former friend Lionel at the assisted living facility where he’s staying now that he is sick. When he finally enters Lionel’s room, Lionel says, ” I just want to say I’m sorry. I don’t expect that you will forgive me.” Bishop tells him it was the betrayal by a friend that broke the heart of Jesus. “I forgive you but this is the last time we will see each other in this life.”

When he returns to Calvary, he finally decides to sign the divorce papers. The revelation of Lady Mae’s affair with Bishop was part of the reason that we got on this runaway train leading to the divorce of Bishop and Lady Mae. Now that he has made peace with what happened maybe there is nowhere else to go but down the road of inevitability. He takes the papers to Lady Mae’s office and tells her that he signed them. “Why did you sign them, James?” Lady Mae says.

If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time that we’ve seen her speak in this episode. Her question puzzled me. I think there was a part of her that never expected him to sign them. He says in response, “Because I know that I have no right to this marriage. Perhaps I never did. Whether you sign them is up to you.” Dressed in purple, Lady Mae does sign those papers. But both of them have tears in their eyes…

But be encouraged Saints, y’all know that Bishop and Lady Mae go together like peas and carrots. LOL. There is no separating them…

When Bishop returns to his office, he discovers the Bible that he gave to Sofia is on his desk. She still hasn’t figured out that she has nowhere to run except to God, but she will understand it better by and by…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 9: Runaway Train 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 🙂!

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Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 14: The Father’s Will…

Hello World,

Y’all, I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to stay awake enough to take notes as I watched this week’s episode of OWN’s “Greenleaf,” after a looong first day back to work after Hurricane Irma! But chile, I worried in vain because the Lord provided the strength and the writers provided the shenanigans necessary to keep me scribblin’! I feel like I say this ere week, but this episode right here was a DOOZY, and I’m not sure how I feel about it all, but let’s discuss throughout this Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 14: The Father’s Will.

Father Figure…

Last’s week episode ended with Bishop Jeffries of Charlotte, North Carolina initiating a cryptic call to Bishop Greenleaf, and this week’s episode begins with the bishops meeting face to face. Apparently when the chief counsel of Bishop Jeffries’ church had a stroke, he decided to fly to Montgomery, Alabama where his son Aaron the attorney now works for the Southern Poverty Law Center. He wanted to tell him about the job in person and surprises him at his apartment. But instead of surprising his son, Aaron surprises his father: Aaron and KEVIN were cozying up to one another so to speak! Bishop Jeffries is surprised for two reasons: the fact that his son is gay AND sleeping with Charity Greenleaf’s ex-husband! So I have so many questions about this scenario? Is Kevin living in Montgomery now? Did Aaron leave Calvary to pursue Kevin in Montgomery? Are they a couple? Greenleafers, help me out here…

Triumph’s new spiritual father Jacob Greenleaf and Kerissa are Marvin Gay getting it on too, as it’s Jacob first day on the job and Kerissa wants to start his day off right. In addition, she plans to show up late for her job to accompany him on his first day. I think she’s more excited than he is to be pastor of the megachurch.

Jabari, whom Charity probably hopes will be a father figure for Nathan, calls her with exciting news: Tamela Mann (who I interviewed) wants Charity to be a background singer on her tour!

Obviously, Aaron sees Bishop Greenleaf as a father figure and meets with him and his actual father in Memphis to discuss what his father discovered. He tells Bishop before the meeting, “I can’t change who I am” to which Bishop replies, “only God knows your heart,” citing 1st Kings 8:39. Aaron says, “Tell my father that. He will listen to you.” Bishop tells the father and the son once they are together, “Let’s try to find the will of the Father.”

Now that Charity is the sole provider (and parent) for her son, she doesn’t want to pass up the chance and asks Lady Mae if she can borrow their maid to be Nathan’s nanny for the 10 weeks she will be on tour with Tamela. Lady Mae hesitantly agrees and then drops one of her trademark one-liners. “It just seems like a lot of moving pieces to sing back up.”

Father, Forgive Them…

If Jacob and Kerissa thought they would just slide into roles of Pastor and First Lady without any pushback, they should have stayed outside. For one, Tasha’s office remains right next door to where her husband used to be. For two, Britney, Triumph’s treasurer is not a doormat, and the treasurer is an integral part of most organizations, particularly churches.

Bishop Jeffries continue to discuss Aaron’s sexuality with Bishop Greenleaf as a mediator. Bishop Jeffries throws out that his son is violating God’s word according to Romans 1. Aaron counters with, “Judge not lest you be judged.” Bishop Jeffries says, “The way that you are is unacceptable.” Bishop Greenleaf chimes in, “No wonder he kept it a secret. Who would choose this?”  Lady Mae meets with her husband afterward and cautions him against siding with Aaron, “The boy is not child. He’s not Faith.” What did she mean by that? Did Faith disappoint her parents somehow and they treated her the way Bishop Jeffries is treating Aaron? Did they regret their actions? Hmmm…

Back at Triumph, Jacob tells Britney that he wants to integrate people from Real Church, where he served the homeless, into Triumph. Britney cautions him against doing so because not everyone knows the financial specifics of what went down and how that would look odd to some church members.

After the meeting with his father and Bishop is done, Aaron sees Charity and approaches her. She looks like she wants to cuss him out but says with diplomacy, “How can I help you?” These are the words that he always said to Charity when she approached him about facilitating her divorce never suspecting that Aaron was cavorting with Kevin! He tries to apologize for his role in Kevin’s untimely departure. Charity is not trying to hear that. “He left his son without a father!” When Aaron tries to explain that Kevin left because he felt ashamed, Charity shut him down again. “I don’t care how he feels.” She tells him, “If I were a lesbian, I would still be a mother.”

Honor Your Father & Your Mother…

It seems like Aaron, his father and Bishop meet again. Bishop Jeffries asks, “Why can’t you just try to change?” Aaron tells his father that he already tried to change and failed. “It’s just me.” After he says, “I love you” to his father, he walks toward the door but stops when his father says he is glad that his mother passed before discovering he was gay. Aaron says,”She knew. I told her when I was 13.” Bishop Jeffries calls his son a liar before Aaron says, “She knew about you too. All of them. Just because you did it with women doesn’t mean it wasn’t a sin.” He got him there…

So this next scene where Zora and Sofia are preparing for the debutante cotillion was filmed at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Atlanta. I know because I attended a wedding in the very room where this scene was filmed. Anywho, Zora is reciting some “trap gospel” when her boyfriend Gospel Chris Brown otherwise known as Isaiah busts in the ballroom, calling attention himself as he is wearing shades inside and his baseball cap.

After Aaron spilled the tea on his father, Bishop serves it for Lady Mae. “He seemed to imply that Patrice knew about Lionel and other women.” “Women, plural?” Lady Mae responds. “He’s just making up stories to deflect from himself.” Lady Mae, who was friends with Bishop Jeffries’ deceased wife Patrice,  seems particularly riled up by the news about Bishop’s Jeffries’ serial infidelities and we will discover why later in the episode!

Wanting to appear congenial (the key word is “appear”), Kerissa invites Tasha, who still answers to “First Lady,” to the parsonage for dinner. During dinner, Tasha expresses concern about Basie’s whereabouts. “I hope he’s safe out there. I really miss him.” Jacob puts his hand on her hand while Kerissa, who is opposite Tasha, rolls her eyes.

Darius also makes dinner for Grace and she asks him, “Where does you see yourself in five years?” He says in a house with more land. (The Greenleaf estate, perhaps?) He also tells her that he wants to write a book. Grace further probes and asks him does he want children. He tells her that he is a bit too old to have children.

Once Bishop discusses what he learned with Lady Mae, the two of them meet with Bishop Jeffries, who is staying with them while he is in town. Bishop Jeffries apologizes for his son’s involvement in what happened with Charity. Lady Mae says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”  Bishop says, “Mae, let it go.” Lady Mae then cautions Charity about chasing a man and losing your self respect in the process. It seems like her advice comes from personal experience.

Father, father…

Gospel Chris Brown claims he was trying to be “incognegro” with his stunna shades on but totally contradicts that statement when he’s flirting with two or three of the other girls instead of supporting Zora. Sofia calls him out for it too. “The guy is the frame and the lady is the picture. Everything is always about you.” Isaiah gets mad and says, “This is some ish right there. I’m out.” Zora follows him outside to a courtyard where he knocks her into a column before apologizing yet again. “I don’t want to lose you Zora,” he says before telling her he loves her and that he will never abuse her again. What she sees in that boy I don’t know. But I’ve seen it for myself. Some women are attracted to abusers.  Like Chris Brown, Isaiah may have grown up in a household where he saw his father abuse his mother.

Later, Bishop Jeffries and Lady Mae have a conversation alone. She confronts him. “Were there other women?” When he doesn’t give her the answer she wants (plus calling her brother a rapist), she goes off. Apparently, she contemplated leaving her family for him not knowing that she was one of several women he was seeing! Lady Mae cheated on Bishop!!! Lady Mae says,”You’re just a space where a person should have been” and slaps the man!

Across town, Grace is having a better night than her mother. When Darius assures her that all he wants is her and doesn’t want to have children, she does not flee fornication. So how do you feel about an unmarried pastor having sex?

Jacob manages to get Kerissa to put aside her “First Lady” scheming aside (she wants Tasha to move her office to another location in Triumph) for one night at least so that the two can get their lovin’ on too. That woman is more like Lady Mae than her own daughters.

Speaking of Lady Mae, she is nowhere to be found when Bishop Greenleaf bids farewell to his friend in front of the Greenleaf home. “She’s not feeling well,” he tells Bishop Jeffries. Bishop Jeffries says, “Tell Mae I’m sorry we didn’t a chance to say goodbye.” Something about the way Bishop Jeffries says that statement has Bishop wondering, “what’s going on?” Father, Father…I’m sure things will escalate next week!!!

Check out a snippet from “The Father’s Will” below…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap, Season 2 Episode 14: The Father’s Will 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 🙂!

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Greenleaf Mid-Season Premiere Recap, Season 2 Episode 10: Call Not Complete…

Hello World,

Whew! Part 2 of the Mid-Season Premiere packed a wallop, didn’t it? I won’t dillydally anymore. Let’s just dive into this OWN’s “Greenleaf”  Mid-Season Premiere Recap, Season 2 Episode 10!

Call Me Maybe…

This episode begins and ends with a call. Lady Mae calls her estranged sister Mavis to invite her to their brother Mac’s memorial service of sorts to be held on Moss Lake at sunset on Saturday. Mavis doesn’t answer the call so Lady Mae must leave this information in her sister’s voicemail. In addition to describing the logistics of the service, she tells her sister that this may be a new beginning for everyone. Mavis may or may not call her sister back.

Grace and Darius seem to be moving right along with their new relationship as she sleeps over at his place although they don’t sleep in the same bed. I should hope not, Pastor. Although she is the associate pastor of Calvary, Grace does opt to skip Sunday morning service. Darius tells Grace that he is considering a job offer in New York, particularly since they agreed that he won’t write about Grace even though her murdering the Man of the Year is the hottest story in town.  In every episode since Season 2 began, Grace seems to be drifting farther and farther away from her calling to preach. Was she really called in the first place? Maybe…(Aside: Her bruises healed fast, right?)

Jacob believes he has been called to preach outside on his land to people without the burden of a building. He tells the small gathering, “I asked God what should I do?” particularly since he has no money. He says the Lord said to him, “You know what to do.” “He told me to feed my word to my sheep.” So Jacob preaches a word and then hands out food to the people with his supportive wife and beautiful children at his side. Of course, Jacob’s open-air preaching does not go unnoticed by the other Greenleafs across the street. Lady Mae tells Jacob. “The two of you didn’t learn anything from your season with Basie.” (Where is Basie, pray tell?) Bishop is plainspoken with his criticism, telling his son he is following in Basie’s footsteps all the way to hell! If you can’t say, “Amen,” say “Ouch!”

Sophia seems to be fulfilling her calling at the children’s church as she demonstrates the permanence of God’s love with a candle atop a cupcake that won’t blow out no matter how many times you blow on it. The children squeal in delight! Oh to be a child again when all was solved with a cupcake and a candle!

Although Charity is the baby of the Greenleaf siblings, she is definitely grown as her ex-husband has vanished like a ghost! It looks like Kevin told her that he is gone for good in that note from last night’s episode! Lady Mae asks Charity to get in touch with Kevin and find out what’s going on with him. She calls him and leaves a message. “It’s the person who you called your best friend.”

Like her cousin, Zora has a calling of sorts as she helps her father set up a website in the style of a Go Fund Me page where they solicit donations to support the ministry. Despite her support of her father, she hasn’t completely left Basie and the Triumph church behind. Sophia and her boyfriend Roberto along with Zora and one of Roberto’s friends go bowling. Obviously, Sophia and Roberto hope his friend can lure Zora away from Isaiah but Zora doesn’t seem to be feeling Roberto’s friend as she gives him the bland face the entire time they interact at the bowling alley.

Your Body’s Callin’…

Bishop asks his bride out to lunch and tells her, “What a pleasure it it to have you as  partner this life.” How sweet! Lady Mae agrees to have lunch her holy hubby who is planning a seven-part series “From the Pit to the Palace.” I wonder who was in the pit and who is now in the palace…Anywho, he is considering turning the series into a book. But his plans to have an intimate lunch with Lady Mae are shelved when a major donor, a Ms. Rochelle Cross (LeToya Luckett) wants to have lunch with Bishop and his wife. He asks his wife if she doesn’t mind a “threesome.” Lady Mae opts to bow out of the lunch as she is not feeling up to meeting someone new but encourages her husband to meet with the woman without her if the woman’s check has cleared the bank.

Charity approaches Aaron about hiring a private investigator to find Kevin. Before Aaron obliges though, he leaves yet another message on Kevin’s voicemail telling him that Charity is looking for him and lets him know that if he wants to remain hidden, he doesn’t have to tell anyone where Kevin has found himself. Where do you think Kevin has gone?

Obviously Bishop has not met this mysterious Ms. Cross before and automatically notices her leopard booties and bare legs. I love her pixie cut! I’m not sure why Ms. Cross made such a sizable donation to Calvary but apparently she was once a member of a Gethsemane Baptist Church. Is that the name of the church that Bishop burned down where Basie’s father the caretaker apparently died? Remember Bishop didn’t think the caretaker had a son. He remembered that the caretaker had a daughter…Could she be the caretaker’s daughter and ready to get revenge? As a major donor to the church, Bishop offers her a membership in the Bishop’s roundtable which comes with access to the church jet apparently…Okay…But Ms. Cross says the only access to a roundtable that she needs is the roundtable where she and Bishop are meeting. I guess that mean’s she wants private access to the man. With that, Bishop takes out his handkerchief and wipes moist droplets of sweat from his face. “Check please,” are his final words.

Instead of meeting in a restaurant, Grace and Charity take a trip over to the parsonage to have dinner with their brother and his wife Kerissa. Although Grace missed church on Sunday, she heard that her brother is forming a church across the street. Although it is not a building, the most important part of a church, the bodies, are making his endeavor hard to ignore. In addition, the three Greenleaf siblings haven’t spent time together apart from their parents in a while and they need to catch up with each other.

Almost immediately, Jacob and Kerissa ask Charity about Kevin and why did the two of them break up. For the first time since Kevin and Charity’s marriage began to deteriorate, Charity admits the exact reason why. “Kevin is gay,” she says before she starts laughing. What a weird reaction. And then Jacob starts laughing. But at the same time, I understand. Sometimes, a situation is so painful and startling that you just have to laugh or you will cry. She also explains that Kevin doesn’t want to be gay and maybe that is why he has disappeared.

Now that the ice has been broken, Grace can get into the ultimate reason why she wanted to meet with her brother. “I want to get a sense of how committed you are to this street corner preaching.” She further explains, “it was a crazy idea when Basie had it.” Obviously, Jacob and Kerissa are offended. Kerissa says, “Do you think you are only person who God talks to?” But then Grace offers to let Jacob have her job as associate pastor and challenges him to be there for the family since Bishop is sick. “You cannot desert the family.” “Like you did,” Kerissa responds. “Somebody is needed to manage things,” Grace continues.  Jacob says he likes the freedom of not having to worry about raising money for upholstery and paint, etc. Grace tells them she is thinking about moving to New York since her views don’t seem to fit in with the church’s views. Please, she just wants to be with her new man.

Call Him Up…

When Bishop returns to the estate, he finds Lady Mae in their red living room. She tells him, “I’m waiting for the Lord to guide me to the right scripture for Saturday.”

As Grace and Charity come into the family home, she calls out Grace for her hypocrisy as she was gone for 20 years until recently. “You want to accuse Jacob of deserting the family?”  She continues, “We put in our time so it’s your turn now.”

Zora and her father take a look at his website and discover that donors have contributed roughly $3,100 to the ministry. Jacob wants to use the money to buy food for the people, and Zora tells her father she is proud of him. But Kerissa suggests the money be used to create a building fund and does not seem as committed to Jacob’s ministry calling as she did at the beginning of the episode. “Not unless the Lord wants me to build,” he says. It seems that Jacob is content to have a simple ministry but maybe Kerissa feels that his outreach should be a stepping stone to a larger ministry like the one across the street…

Later, Aaron approaches Lady Mae in her office and tell her that he must leave Calvary. She tries to convince him to say. In the end, she accepts his resignation. “Would you give your father my fondest regards.” I’m guessing the only way that Kevin will come back is if Aaron goes.

Grace decides to tell the whole story of what happened in her fight with Mac to Darius and says he can write about it he chooses to do so. Darius has something to tell her as well. He is not taking the job in New York.  To me, if you are called to do something, you must be willing to make sacrifices for the calling. Obviously, at least for right now, Grace and Darius are called to be together. They kiss…And just maybe Grace is still called to Calvary although she needs to call Jesus and get some direction from Him and Him alone…

In the final scene, the family meets on a rock in the middle of a creek (not a lake) for their memorial service for Mac. Surprisingly, Grace shows up and even releases a tear as Mac’s ashes are released into the water. Mavis doesn’t show up though and it doesn’t seem like she even acknowledged her sister’s message. More will be revealed I know…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Mid-Season Premiere Recap, Season 2 Episode 10 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?