Tag Archives: Basie Skanks

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Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 4: Revival…

Hello World,

So I know the title of tonight’s episode  of OWN’s “Greenleaf” was “Revival” as the episode revolved around the Fall Fevival held at Calvary Fellowship World Ministries in Memphis, Tennessee but it could have easily been called “Lovers & Friends.” And you will see why as you keep reading this Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 4!

Lovers & Friends…

Tim Reid aka Venus Flytrap on “WKRP in Cincinnati” (Yes, I’m old enough to remember that show although I was a very little girl at the time) aka Ray Campbell on “Sister, Sister” aka Aunt Viv #2’s from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” real-life husband makes a guest appearance on this episode! Reid portrays Bishop Lionel Jeffries (I believe that is his name) He comes into town at the invitation of Bishop to speak at Calvary’s revival. Prior to the revival, the Greenleafs host what appears to be a cocktail party before the revival. I go to a small church so maybe I just don’t know but whoever heard of a cocktail party before a revival? Saints, y’all school me on this…

On the way to the cocktail party from the airport, Bishop and his friend Lionel, whom he picked up at the airport,  catch up about what is going with the Greenleafs namely Mac when Lionel notices a billboard with Jacob and Pastor Basie advertising the new Triumph location. After Lionel arrives, he manages to be in the same room alone with Lady Mae for a moment. He tells her, “I didn’t come here to cause you any trouble?” Say what?…Some people think Bishop may have been involved with Lady Mae’s sister Mavis at one point. Well, by the looks of things, Lady Mae has a past too and it involves Lionel…more on that later…

At another corner of this cocktail party, Pastor Grace aka Gigi and a childhood friend it seems, a Pastor Rebecca, are “getting in the spirit” by sipping champagne… Me no likey…I know this show is pushing the envelope but dis tew much. What y’all think? Also at the cocktail party is comedian J. Anthony Brown who portrays a Rev. Richard Adenoids. Remember the Reverend from the “Tom Joyner Morning Show? “High-larious!!!

Once the festivities are over, Kevin approaches his wife about getting to know her Bibically again now that he is back in the Greenleaf estate…She says, “You want to have sex with me?” He tells her yes, and they make a date to get it on. But she ends up rejecting her husband, telling him, “It feels strange to make a plan.” But can we all agree that although Charity may no longer be attracted to Kevin, it’s not because he’s not attractive…Anybody want to say, “Amen?”

In another bedroom, Lady Mae chastises Bishop for not taking his medication as she notices that his hands were trembling during the party. He tells her that he didn’t take the medication on that day because the medicine makes him sick….Hmmm…I’m sure more will be revealed regarding Bishop and the medication he is taking for Parkinison’s.

Dilemma…

Now that the preliminaries are over, it’s time for Revival. Prior to the service, Bishop James meets with Bishop Lionel in his office. Bishop James and Bishop Lionel must be close as he reveals the details that led up to his son defecting to Triumph. He says the church is going up like bamboo! Bishop Lionel tells him his son Aaron, who lives in Nashville and works in zoning, may be able to shut down Jacob.

Once the service starts, Charity and her producer Jabari sing a duet sounding like Deborah Joy Winans’ (who portrays Charity) real life Uncle and Aunt BeBe & CeCe Winans. But Charity and Jabari are far from brother and sister. Although they are singing gospel music, they are singing back to back and catching each other’s eyes like they could make more than music together. Kevin notices their chemistry as well as he stares at them as if he is trying to figure if something has happened or is about to happen between the two.

Then, J. Anthony Brown aka Rev. Adenoids continues to warm up the crowd, thanking his first lady for being there and thanking his second lady for “not showing up.” 🙂

Later on that night, Kevin confronts his wife about Jabari and asks,” Is there something going on between you too.” She tells him that it was the Spirit that showed up in their performance. That was not the work of the Holy Spirit, Charity…

Across town, in the basic apartment complex where Mac has been banished, Grace is conducting her own surveillance outside of her uncle’s apartment since he is not in jail. She is literally sitting her vehicle in the dark.  At this point, she plain out stalking the man. She is shocked when Mac escorts an age-appropriate, light-skinned black woman from his apartment to her car after he kisses her. Once Mac turns his back and heads to his apartment, Grace rushes out of her vehicle to the woman, beating on the window. Mac turns around and hears her tell the woman that she is dating a child molester. This woman must not be from the area because she could have known about Mac in two ways: as a powerful man at Calvary (at least he used to be) and as an accused child molester as Grace made sure that flyers detailing the allegations along with his mug were disseminated all around town. What is most shocking is when Mac fixes his lips to tell Grace, “And you call yourself a Christian?” I know you are supposed to forgive as a Christian, but you are also supposed to repent too, and I don’t see Mac repenting about anything…

After this incident, at Calvary, presumably the second day of Revival, Grace is confronted by her friend Pastor Rebecca about the fact that Grace hasn’t preached in a while. Grace tells her, “I don’t know if I feel called to right now.” Before she is able to fully explain her statement, police officers show up at the church and step to Grace. They tell her that while Mac is not pressing charges this time, she needs to leave him alone. She asks them do they know that he raped her sister.

In another part of the megachurch, Lady Mae and Lionel have a private conversation. She lets him know that her “husband doesn’t need [his] help and neither do I.” Then she drops this bombshell: “You think I should have run off with you when I had the chance. That whole thing was a mistake.” So it seems that Lady Mae had the opportunity to be the First Lady of another church! Well, close my Bible and take me to Heaven!

Opening the second day of Revival is duo Mary Mary singing “Heaven.” First, Kirk Franklin appeared on the opening episode, now Mary Mary, I wonder what other gospel artists will me making guest appearances. Jacob watches some of this on his laptop in his home before Kerissa shuts the laptop. Bishop Lionel speaks about not being alone even when you feel like you are alone.  He tells the church to tell one another “you are not alone.” He makes good on his word when he brings in his son Aaron to help fight Bishop’s son Jacob. Bishop will not have to fight this battle alone. Aaron tells the Bishop that since Triumph’s land is located on a flood plain, Bishop can file for temporary injunctions to stop the building of the church.

After the second night of Revival is over, Kevin tries to get his wife in the mood again. Again, she shuts him down again and says, “It should happen naturally. It doesn’t feel like that anymore.” She concludes with, “It’s over.” And just like that Charity and Kevin are kaput….Awww…I feel bad for them…

So something may have happened at this point, but my satellite service was interrupted due to a storm…Let me know what I missed…if anything…

Up Where We Belong…

My service resumes in time for me to see Sophia come up to the front of the church to give her life to the Lord on this last day of Revival! She gets a big hug from her grandfather and in the next scene she is baptized by him looking like an angel in all white. Sophia’s baptism seems to revive her mother too as she seems engaged in the services for the first time in a long while. She asks her daughter to put into words how she feels now that she is her sister in Christ. She says, “Infinite.” That is exactly how you feel when you are baptized. You feel infinite and finite at once. A beautiful experience. The most beautiful experience I’ve ever had…

While Lady Mae shunned Lionel at first, she is now welcoming Aaron, his son, who will be moving into Jacob’s vacated room at the Greenleaf estate at her invitation! He is going to be stay in town to walk Bishop through this process of stopping the building of Triumph by Basie Skanks…

In the very last scene, Grace is not giving in or giving up as she takes a meeting with a woman. I’m not sure if the woman is another police officer or some sort of consultant, but whomever she is, her services have been solicited to put Mac where he belongs: in jail.

Check out this video from “Revival.”

And there you have it: My Greenleaf Season 2 Episode 4 recap!

Any thoughts?

P.S. If you would like to read these recaps as soon as I post them, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂

 

 

 

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Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 2: Strange Bedfellows…

Hello World,

As usual, the writers of OWN’s “Greenleaf” put their feet into this holy stew of a show, episode 2 of Season 2,…but thankfully, this episode was decidedly calmer though no less entertaining than the season opener…And for good reason too…I don’t think I could handle another explosive episode just yet…But what this episode did do was identify the strings that will be woven into the tapestry of this season…Y’all like that? My attempt at being poetic at 11 o’clock at night…

Alright, I’m going in…

Cross My Heart…

This episode starts with Bishop and Lady Mae having pillow talk about Basie Skanks and Jacob moving out of the Greenleaf estate. What I find most entertaining in this scene is that rapper-sized cross pendant that Bishop is rocking…Did I see chest hair nestled underneath the cross pendant? Not to mention his wave cap…Playa, playa even…Although Lady Mae doesn’t want her baby boy to leave, Bishop says he is ready for the movers to come and move Jacob’s furniture “piece by ill-gotten piece!” Lady Mae asks her husband to tell Jacob the truth about Pastor Basie, but Bishop refuses. Plus, he’s not really sure that Basie is who he says he is because he only remembers Daryl James, the caretaker, having two daughters..

In another part of the house, cousins Sophia and Zora giggle about Sophia’s crush on Isaiah Hambrick, the young hottie gospel singer at Triumph. Zora encourages Sophia to stop checking his Instagram page and slide into his DM. (Aww, #younglove) She also tells her cousin that Isaiah rehearses at Triumph every Saturday. You know Zora is fast, right?

And in yet another part of the house, Jacob and Kerissa discuss their impending move to the Triumph parsonage (a home for the pastor of a church for my folk who didn’t grow up in church). Apparently, even Jacob was surprised by Pastor Basie’s announcement that Jacob is going to be the new pastor at the second location. He says, “He should have told me he was giving me that church.” Still, while Jacob doesn’t like the way his pastorate was announced, in his heart, he believes he is making the right decision to move on from Greenleaf…

Cash Rules Everything Around Me…

Now that Bishop is no longer being investigated, he and his rib, Lady Mae, are free to scheme, I mean plan, in his office instead of at their home. They’ve decided that Carlton, the choir director, has got to go in order for them to raise money for the Fall Revival. Lady Mae summons her daughter to Bishop’s office by putting some weird bird sculpture on her desk. When Pastor Grace sees the sculpture, she knows that her mother is summoning her and shows up at Bishop’s office. Was the sculpture a bird? Was that a Phoenix rising? Anywho, Lady Mae tells Grace that she would like to have Betty Wilcox’s check before she leaves to go to New Orleans and that the only way that will happen is if Carlton is fired. In last week’s episode, Betty told Grace that church members weren’t giving as they once had because Carlton married his boyfriend and don’t approve of the union. Grace cannot believe that her father would co-sign on Carlton’s being canned, but he says, “I can’t lose half of my deacon board over one choir director.”

Although Greenleaf is paying Jabari Johnson $50,000 to produce Charity’s new album, he won’t be cut from the staff because it’s clear that Charity and Jabari have some chemistry…I’m not sure if that chemistry will just be contained in the music or will it evolve into something more….Judging by how Jabari described the vocals on one of Charity’s songs as “pressing against each other,” he could be pressing up on her during Season 2 of OWN’s “Greenleaf.”

The Devil is in the Details…

Pastor Jacob meets with Pastor Basie at Triumph church to discuss Pastor Basie’s surprise announcement and other matters related to his new position. He tells Basie, “You could have given me the heads up,” but Basie drops another surprise on him as Basie says he was directed by the Lord?! In other words, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision….Yeah right…Jacob continues to question his new boss until Basie shuts him down by saying that when Jacob was under his father, he “languished like an anemic little weed.” He also tells him, “I’ve given you everything you’ve ever wanted. Don’t accuse me of lying.” Jacob can see his point, but then Basie has yet another surprise announcement. He wants Jacob to go door to door in the neighborhoods surrounding Calvary Fellowship World Ministries and personally invite people to Triumph rather than Calvary. When Jacob points out that most of those people already attend Calvary, Basie does not care…

So Jacob goes door to door handing out bags and mugs with Triumph’s logo on them. One woman calls Jacob out! She says, “Does Bishop know you’re here recruiting?” Then she tells him, “I don’t care if that mug came wrapped in the cloth they wrapped my Lord in when he died. I’m with Calvary!” Let the church say, “Ouch!” LOL…Funniest line of the episode!

It’s also hilarious when Basie’s wife takes Kerissa to the parsonage for the first time. Some would call it modest. I call it homely. The roof was old and dusty looking. It’s one story. The grass looks like it needs cutting. Instead of moving up on like the Jeffersons, they’re moving from the palace to the poorhouse….But hey, for better or for worse, right? I wonder if Jacob and Kerissa would known about this detail in advance, would Jacob have agreed to be the pastor of Triumph’s second location? I think the Bishop forced Jacob’s hand as he said his (whom Jacob called a false prophet straight up in his face) father doesn’t respect him as a pastor, son or man. Lady Mae agrees with Jacob’s assessment of his father’s opinion of him, but when she points that out, Bishop tells her she is jealous of Grace. Probably…I mean Grace has the kind of relationship that any daughter would want with a father while Lady Mae obviously had a sick relationship with hers…

When Grace cannot get Charity to convince her mother to reconsider the decision to fire Carlton, she takes another course of action. She calls Darius Nash (Rick Fox…I cannot believe that most of his hair is gray…He’s been handsome for a long time and he still is!  A silver fox! ) ) who asked her out on a date earlier in episode. I thought she was going to tell Darius what was about to happen to Carlton so that he would write a story about it and shame the church board into keeping Carlton, but they end up going on a date after all.  It’s a dinner and dancing date (with Pastor Grace drinking beer and everythang…Darius assures her that no one in the club goes to church) but in the course of the evening, off the record, of course, she does tells him what is about to happen with Carlton. I still think she wants to know this tidbit on the sly, and she hopes he will run with it. But she does find herself attracted to him with the all the smiling and laughing that happened during their evening together.

Too bad Sophia is not having the same luck with Isaiah. He invites her to come see him rehearse at Triumph, but he pays more attention to Zora who came along with Sophia for moral support. So am I the only one who thinks Isaiah sounds like he is singing to a woman and not to God? Something about the way he holds himself as he is singing…

Man Down…

Daddy McCready is about to die. While Lady Mae refuses to visit him since he has already served his purpose by not testifying against her husband, her husband is willing to see him on his death bed. While there, Bishop attempts to ask him about whether Daryl had a son, but Mac, Daddy McCready’s son, shows up. Bishop tells him, “The Lord says I have to forgive you, and one day, I may, but I will never forget.” Then he says, “I will leave you to deal with your father until you have to deal with ours.” Another good line!” Daddy McCready admits to his son that he doesn’t want to die, but Mac attempts to comfort him by saying that his death will be like the time his father threw him in a lake. “At first, it will be cold and scary, but then you’re going to swim all the way across to Jesus.” That was sweet.

In another father and son scenario…Although Kevin and Charity’s son Nathan is here, Kevin is still staying in a hotel away from his family. And Charity still hasn’t come to one of his gay conversion therapy meetings.  He gets upset when he realizes that his son is suffering from a rash, and he didn’t know anything about it. The leader of the meeting encourages him to stand up as a man with Charity and demand that he be more involved with his son. His stance works, and Charity invites him to spend the night at the estate…In my opinion, they are still going to break up, but it was a nice moment…

Tired of waiting for Grace to fire Carlton, Lady Mae decides to fire him herself. She offers to serve as a personal reference should he need it for another job. Instead of simply accepting what Lady Mae is telling him (that it was a financial decision only), he plainly asks her what she thinks about gay marriage. She replies, “I believe what the Bible says about marriage.” Carlton offers to pray for her.

When Grace finds out what happened, she shows up at Carlton’s house and invites Carlton and his husband to come to Greenleaf even if Carlton is no longer the choir director. Carlton says, “I’m sick of people who love you all week, but shove you into a closet on Sunday morning.”

The episode ends with Jacob, who will finally be the man of his own house, and his family leaving the Greenleaf estate in a Cadillac. That Cadillac is going to crush their little bitty, new-to-them but otherwise old driveway. Still, Kerissa caresses her husband’s shoulder as the Greenleaf gates shut behind them. As a wife, you’ve got to stand by your man, that’s for sure…

Check out Darius asking out Grace below…

So that concludes my Greenleaf Season 2 Episode 2 recap!

Let me know how you liked this Greenleaf recap in the comments, please and thank you 🙂

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

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Greenleaf Season Finale Recap, Season 1 Episode 13: What Are You Doing Here?

BISHOP'S SECRETS ARE FINALLY REVEALED!

finale

Hello World,

And just like that OWN’s Greenleaf Season Finale is done! I enjoyed watching every episode of this first season, but I must admit this episode left me wanting more…but maybe that was the point…because I HAVE to know what happens with all of the story lines because clearly all of the story lines did not end with periods….there were more commas than anything…So let’s get into this Greenleaf Season Finale Recap, shall we?

Mac Attack…

Mac summons Bishop Greenleaf to see him in jail. If you can believe it, Mac asks the Bishop to be a character witness at his sentencing hearing! Yes, this unrepentant sinner has asked the father of the child he molested to support him as he is sentenced for what he did to her and other young women. Thankfully, Bishop tells him to go to hell despite Mac threatening to disclose whatever secret he has on Bishop. Apparently, Mac’s elderly father also knows the secret. (Thankfully, that secret at least was revealed by the end of the episode so read on!)

And since Mac is still locked up, he is longer available to be the “caretaker” of his father who shows up at Calvary from time to time when he needs cash from his son. Although Mac is in jail, that doesn’t mean that life on the outside has stopped so Mac’s father decides to hit up his granddaughter Grace for some money. He tells her, “You put my boy jail so you’ve got to take care of my @$$.” From the callous yet careful way they act around each other, it’s obvious they do not have the typical grandfather-granddaughter relationship. I wonder why Grace was kept away from him obviously…

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing…

True to his name Pastor Basie Skanks proves that he is sleazy when he brings Jacob to the site where he wants to build a $40 million Christian community center to include an indoor water park! The center is across the street from Calvary and is the site where Bishop wanted to build a community center and park. (Remember on episode 4 in which the Bishop ultimately rejected the Deputy Mayor’s offer to get the property in exchange for Bishop’s public support of the city’s police officers?) And not only does Skanks want to build the center across from Calvary, he also wants Jacob to run the center. When Jacob questions Skanks about his questionable motives, the pastor says the Lord wants him to do this and he is only a messenger…Wow…

This Woman’s Work…

At long last, Women’s Day has finally arrived! Lady Mae preaches on Proverbs 31:30. Lady Mae tells the women who are decked out in their Sunday best hats and flowery and flouncy dresses that while charm and beauty are weapons, fearing the Lord is the greatest strength a woman possesses. I want to know what First Ladies Lynn Whitfield, who plays Lady Mae, consulted because her First Lady mannerisms are flawless. She imparts Scripture like she is truly the helpmate of a man who has made his living in the Gospel. She explains that the Hebrew word for fear doesn’t mean “cowering” but rather it means awe! While rubbing her belly, she explains that Mary the mother of Jesus was filled with awe about how God’s plan to save the world came through a woman. Then she acknowledged that Calvary was at a crossroads and said that the only way forward for the church is in the footsteps of a virtuous woman!

Although Isabel left town as a virtuous woman, she gives her virtue up to Noah once she is reunited with him following the Women’s Day event that she attended. And that’s all that happened for the Isabel/Noah plus Grace story line. So this is at least one story line that will develop in Season 2!

Speaking of Grace, she meets with her father also following Women’s Day event. Last week, he donned a cream jogging suit and this week in his meeting with Grace, he was wearing another luxurious jogging suit, but this one one was orange. Maybe the orange means he is going to jail…Oops, did I reveal that…uh oh…keep reading! Clearly he is no longer angry at her because he asks her to be a preacher at Calvary. He says, “I know you because I know myself. I’m a preacher. You’re a preacher.” Guilt goes a long way…Although Grace was contemplating moving back to Arizona to be close to Sofia since she will be staying with her father in Phoenix for the summer, she realizes that she is needed more in Memphis…

The Master’s Calling…

Despite Jacob initially being threatened by Grace’s return to Calvary, he shows up to hear her preach. While there, Jacob tells Bishop about Basie’s plan. Rather than get angry, he seems unfazed and tells him that Basie is only trying to get back to him. He also says that Jacob can be his spy and even if the center is built, he will march around the center seven times and it will fall to the ground (Read Joshua 6 if you want to know more about this.). When Jacob questions his father about his motives with allowing Jacob to work for Basie, he says, “It’s not my plan. It’s the Lord’s plan.” Between Basie and the Bishop, I can’t…smh…

Although Charity is supposed to be on bed rest, she shows up at the service to sing her haunting rendition of “The Master’s Calling.” (Check out my interview with Charity aka Deborah Joy Winans HERE.) Although she beautifully delivers the song, you can feel her sadness as she looks to her husband Kevin singing the words, “I don’t walk to walk away from here.” Although Kevin is no longer on the couch and he suggests going to a gay conversion therapy program, it’s clear their marriage may not survive…

After Charity finishes, Grace strides up to the front of the church to do what she is called by the Master to do. She says she will be preaching on Romans 3:23 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Yes, Lord….we all have…And rather than cover up the sins all over Calvary, Grace starts off by acknowledging the sins of her uncle followed by a moment of silence for his victims. Then she declares that after that moment of silence, no longer will anyone be silent about abuse. “The silence ends today!” Amen! “Are you ready for a new thing, Calvary?” she says to kick off her official sermon!

Following that scene, Lady Mae goes to see her sister Mavis who spares no words in saying that she was complicit in Mac’s cover up! Lady Mae goes off and calls her a “charmless whore” or was that “childless whore?” I like charmless considering her Women’s Day sermon…Lady Mae is nothing if not articulate, ain’t she? Earlier in the episode, Grace went to see her aunt who told her that she did not want her to end up being a preacher like her father and how he was a different person before he was called to be a preacher. (And being a preacher is not why Grace originally came to to town so she thought. And maybe that is why Grace really came or is here…see title…) Mavis believes that his decision to become a preacher is what led to the family becoming enslaved to being a First Family and all that it entailed i.e. Lady Mae allowing her daughter to be molested while she looked the other way. Lady Mae claims she didn’t know what was going on, but I don’t believe her. Do you?

Return of the Mac…

After Grace realizes that her grandfather is dying, she places him in a hospice. Her grandfather tells her that he would like to see his girls before he dies, but Grace tells him that she doesn’t think that is going to happen. However, she does point out that at least his son cared for him although he is in jail at the moment. Grace’s grandfather says that Mac didn’t care for him either, but only gave him “hush money.” When Grace asks why he was given hush money, he reveals that he knows that Grace’s father burned the First Baptist Church knowing that the caretaker was in the basement. The fire wasn’t an act of God like it was thought to be…Hmm….I wonder if Bishop plans to burn down Basie’s community center rather than march around it to make it come down…

The schism in the Greenleaf family continues when Ray shows up to collect his daughter as Grace and the rest of the family say their goodbyes from the stairs of the plantation-styled home where the Greenleaf family lives. As Ray speeds off with daughter with Grace standing there helplessly, Lady Mae says, “Now you know how I feel every day.” And we still don’t know why Lady Mae hates her daughter Grace. The only thing I can think of is that like Mavis, Grace will not protect the wealth of Calvary and the Greenleaf family at all costs…

And just when you think that is bad enough,  Mac returns to the Greenleaf estate in a police car with the sirens going. All that remain are Lady Mae at the door while Grace is at the bottom of the steps in the same spot she where she stood watching her daughter depart. Like the villain that he is, he walks by Grace, strides up his to his sister and kisses on her on the cheek (Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss no less) before going inside. Meanwhile, from an upstairs window, Bishops looks down at the scene and in his eyes, you can tell he knows the police are there for him…And the finale ends!!! I guess we will find out what happens when Greenleaf returns for Season 2!!!

Below is a video of some of the highlights from tonight’s episode!

So how did you like the Greenleaf Finale and my Greenleaf Season Finale recap? What questions do you still have? What are you looking forward to in Season 2?

Any thoughts?