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Greenleaf Recap Season 5 Episode 1: The First Day…

Hello World,

Y’all, as the opening episode for Season 5 of OWN’s Greenleaf just ended minutes ago, my mouth is still agape…So much to think about for this new season, but I won’t waste another minute considering the possibilities because I need to get on with writing this Greenleaf Recap Season 5 Episode 1: The First Day…

First Time I Met the Blues…

Y’all it’s a sad day. Bishop is readying himself to say goodbye to Calvary now that Harmony & Hope Ministries is going to demolish the building. Dressed in all black everything, he is alone in the sanctuary and goes up to the glass podium at front where he surveys the expanse of the empty sanctuary. It’s undoubtedly a majestic space. Too bad it will be turned into rubble. Grace, who is also dressed in black, shows up at his side and lays her head on his shoulder. They eventually walk down the stairs of the stage together. They’re wearing black, but they’re most definitely blue.

In the next scene, they are outside the church where a Harmony & Hope journalist is reporting on the progress of the demolition. As Bishop and Grace watch, posters with Bishop’s image on them are thrown into a dumpster as if trash is simply being thrown away. Grace says to her father, “Why did you make us come here? Doesn’t that break your heart?” At first, he eloquently disagrees with Grace until a cross structure is thrown into the back of a truck with absolutely no grace at all. “That makes me sad,” Bishop says. “To see a cross handled like that. Maybe you’re right. Maybe this was a mistake. Let’s go.” (Did y’all see the cardboard cutout of Bishop though? That was kind of funny.)

Lady Mae, who is at the Greenleaf estate, is handling her blues in another way. She is fasting. Marisol the maid attempts to give her some sustenance. “At least, let me make you some tea,” she says to her. But Lady Mae refuses. Marisol points out that she could be fasting for at least 40 days regarding this matter. Of course, Lady Mae has a quip for that. “Jesus saved the whole human race in 40 days,” she points out. Then Charity shows up, and of course, she has more to say. She calls her daughter “Little Miss Benedictine Arnold” and tells her she is a “traitor to her whole family.” Wow. She’s right though…

And then Aaron, Grace’s half-brother, shows up. Now that the truth of Grace’s parentage has been revealed, she seems to be at peace with all that the revelation entailed. In other words, she is absolutely fine with Aaron the attorney now when before his presence used to perturb her. He tells her that he is at the estate to see Grace but until she shows up, the two talk. She tells him that she is fasting to get a sign from God regarding what the Greenleafs should do about the fact that H&H is demolishing the church. And if you remember from the final episode of Season 4, Lady Mae has agreed to lead the church along with Bob Whitmore as Bob requested. However, it seems that Lady Mae only agreed to Bob’s proposition to buy some time to hear from the Lord about what to try next. And the fast seems to be working but not in the way that was expected. She tells Aaron, “…But right now, I don’t even want that old church back.” With a quizzical look on his face, Aaron says, “Is the fast making you loopy?”

Bishop walks in then and addresses Aaron without saying a word Lady Mae. “He’s upset with me about a misconception,” she explains. Grace walks in next, and Aaron tells her he has something to tell her but he thinks A.J. should be there too.

You know who else has the blues? Jacob and Kerissa. In their suite, the two continue to “discuss”the terms of their divorce. Jacob calls Fernando Kerissa’s “Latin Lover” and says he is passing out wills and chlamydia! LOOOOLLLL!!! Kerissa ignores Jacob’s verbal jabs and plainly tells him that if she does not get what she wants in the divorce settlement, the will that somehow implicates the Greenleafs will be made public. Apparently, through the will, it is revealed that Uncle Mac was the executor of the estate and that a botched burglary led to the Greenleafs getting their home.

Speaking of challenged couples, Dante the basketball player and Sophia make plans to get together at his house later in the evening. However, Sophia lets it slip that Nikki, Dante’s former girlfriend, is still staying with Zora at the Greenleaf estate. Obviously, this situation is bound to cause conflict in this new season…

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face…

The plans to demolish the Calvary building and build the Memphis location of H&H Ministries continues. Inside the Calvary building, Phil DeMars and Charity see each other face to face for the first time during this episode. If you remember from the Season 4 finale episode, he tells Charity that instead of marrying her, he is marrying Bob Whitmore’s daughter Judee. I bet Charity regrets the first time she ever saw his face. He says, “God is good,” and she replies, “All the time.” (Does every churchgoing black person know that phrase?) He tries to figure out if she is going to cause any problems as the plans continue to proceed. A meeting with the deacons and other church leaders is coming up, and they will both need to meet with them. She says, “My family hates me. I have no love life.” Her associate pastor position at H&H is pretty much the only thing she has to look forward to going forward, she says. In other words, she doesn’t plan to make any trouble, but we know that couldn’t be true. Phil says, “I just want us to present a united front.” Charity responds with, “It will definitely be a front.” Bloop….

Back at the Greenleaf estate, Aaron meets with Grace to tell her what is going on regarding her son A.J.’s case. Also, A.J. is at the meeting. Aaron tells them that they no longer have to worry about A.J. turning himself into the authorities. Apparently, the A.J. doppelganger was discovered as the one who has been robbing pharmacies and selling drugs. Sadly, Aaron also reveals, the doppelganger (remember he was in all black in the Season 4 finale) was shot and killed the night before in some type of shoot-out. “The fact that the guy they’re blaming is dead is basically a miracle.” Aaron expects Grace and his nephew to be relieved at least about the fact that A.J. no longer has to turn himself in. But they seem to have mixed emotions…neither sad nor happy…Aaron says, “Should I call the cops and have them reopen the case?”

Speaking of unsolved mysteries, Darius Nash, Grace’s former boyfriend, is back. I thought they made a great couple, and it’s mystery to me why these two couldn’t make it work despite some of the issues they had. For right now, at least, Grace shows up at newspaper office where Darius works for professional reasons. “Tell me you’re not my new editor,” he says. When she tells him,”No,” he responds with, “Thank God.” He tells her that getting over her was difficult, but that doesn’t stop Grace from asking him for a “favor.” They discuss the A.J. doppelganger among other things. Grace wants Darius to use his sources to get to the truth regarding these matters. Just by their similar facial features alone, they would make at least a great looking couple!

Former couple Phil & Charity meet with the deacons and other church leaders and tell them that church members will be meeting in a gym for a year while the new church building is constructed. Charity makes it her business to tell them that they don’t have to fear being sheep without a shepherd although they are being temporarily displaced. She says she will feed them through her sermons. Charity, Charity, Charity. Aine nobody tryin’ to hear you preach. However, she does tell them that she is going to preach a series entitled “The Cornerstones of Faith: The Forgotten History of Black Women in the Church.” It sounds like a great series, but coming from Charity…Anywho, Phil gets a little uncomfortable with all the black stuff since H&H is supposed to be a multiracial church going forward. But Charity tells Phil that when Judee shows up and brings white members with her, she can preach about “vanilla, white Jesus and snow.” However, until then, it’s black like that. LOL. That was funny.

So Darius isn’t the only blast from the past as long we’re discussing couples. Remember Jacob and his mistress Alexa from Season 1? She’s baaack! Jacob goes to see her at her place.  And she doesn’t live alone. “You’ve got a kid?” “Yes,” she says with an attitude, “Her nap time is almost over so what do you need?”

Speaking of needing something, Carlton, Calvary’s choir director, shows up at Charity’s office. As much as he loves Charity, he tells her that he cannot “serve up Pinkberry hymns in a gym.” She starts crying when she realizes that he is quitting! He attempts to console her by saying, “We will still see each other socially.” But Charity says, “I wish I could quit too.”

Back at Alexa’s place, she can’t believe that Jacob is up in her face asking her for something. “You got me fired and thrown out of my church and the next church.” Jacob wants to find out what Alexa knows regarding Mac and this will since she was his assistant. Jacob reveals that he and Kerissa are getting a divorce. “She finally got sick of it,” Alexa says. Jacob says, “You married?” “Do you see a ring?” Alexa responds with as she holds her hand up in the air.

All the while, Jacob is staring at Alexa’s daughter, who is clearly biracial. Alexa finally addresses what Jacob is scared to ask. “Is she yours?” she says. “I would have never kept her if she had been yours.” Ouch. But I don’t believe her. (I guess we will find out more later.) In the mean time, Alexa does reveal that Mac kept a storage locker where Jacob can probably find out more information about this mysterious will. He then apologizes for the way things ended between the two. Obviously, Jacob will being seeing more of Alexa’s face as this season continues.

In the next scene, we see A.J.’s face. He is clearly troubled as he keeps throwing a small ball to the wall and back I guess to get rid of his nervous energy. Grace comes into her suite and can tell that A.J. is agitated. He says, “I did it, and we both know that I did it.” But Grace tries to convince him that his guilt doesn’t matter anymore. “No one knows who this kid is, and for whatever reason, it’s over. You’re free, and this guy paid the price.” At this point, I could not help but think of the sacrifice that Jesus made when He died on the cross. We are the sinners, but yet He paid for our sins with his death. Jesus’ sacrifice leads me to a theory about A.J.’s doppelganger that I will reveal later. Keep reading…

Grace finally says, “You’re free. I cannot pretend that I’m not incredibly happy about that.” Remember she gave up her position at Calvary to ensure that Phil DeMars didn’t tell that she made up an alibi for A.J. so this A.J. doppelganger seems like a blessing from God to her…even if somewhere inside of her, she’s not completely at peace either…

In another part of the house, Bishop meets with his former assistant Karine, her grandmother Clara and Misty, another woman in the church, about what is happening to Calvary. Apparently, they didn’t realize that they are going to be displaced for a year while the new H&H building is being constructed…That’s how the devil works. You think you’re signing up for one thing, and it’s only later when your decision can’t be undecided that you realize that there is a catch…

Speaking of someone else who is likely not a catch…at least Sophia’s catch…She shows up at Dante’s house for their planned evening, but his almost ex Nikki is there. Dante tells her what’s going on, and it’s clear that their relationships is not quite over. He offers to call her when Nikki leaves. She says, “I’m hurt, but I’m not mad.” Oh Sophia. And she is clearly no longer the saved and sanctified church girl as her back is all out in her outfit…

First Love…

Obviously, it’s good that Sophia’s plans are aren’t coming together as Grace is making dinner reservations for her and her children to celebrate. While she tries to make the reservation, however, Darius calls and tells her he knows why Bob Whitmore even came to Memphis in the first place…

Bishop, however, seems to not be worrying about Bob Whitmore anymore and you will know why soon. Marisol told Bishop about Lady Mae’s fast and what she wants to do – look for a new tactic to get the Whitmores to leave Calvary alone and a sign from God about how to proceed. So now that he knows that Lady Mae did not truly align herself with Bob, he wants to get aligned with her again. He goes to her and tells her about his meeting with the women from Calvary and how felt when he saw Calvary’s cross just being tossed in a truck like random trash.

 

He says they need to forego a “master plan” and instead, start a “day to day journey” toward a “new church.” And he says, he wants her to helm the church with him as the “sheep” still need shepherds, and her last “A Day With Lady Mae” showed him he had a powerful preacher in his helpmeet. He tells her the first thing they have to do to start this new journey is to get remarried in City Hall! “How’s that for a sign?” he says with a grin. Lady Mae says, “Are you crazy?” Bishop responds with, “At my age, the word is demented.” Awww…

So Bishop isn’t the only one pining away for lost love…I guess…In his swanky and contemporary digs, Phil stares at a picture of Charity…As if on cue, she shows up and Phil attempts to hide the picture of her so that she doesn’t realize that she has been on his mind…She attempts to give him his engagement ring back, but he tells her to keep it. He also tells her that he will always love her. Charity is rightfully confused and says she doesn’t know how he feels about anything much less her. “I don’t know how you feel about oxygen.” She concludes that he must at least like oxygen since he’s breathing, but other than that, she can come to no conclusions. Finally, Bob reveals why he has to marry Judee. If he doesn’t, Bob will not allow him to lead the new church, he reveals to her.. “I’ve been working for this for 20 years.”

In the mean time, Grace has arrived at the newspaper office and Darius reveals what he knows about Bob. The Phoenix, Arizona resident bought a home in Memphis roughly a year ago although he has yet to move in. Additionally, he has made donations to several local charities. Apparently, Bob, who is a Republican, is interested in running for a Senate seat. He needs to establish his residency and a reputation as a giver. And a multicultural church led by H&H would convince potential voters that he is for everyone…Hmm…But Grace thinks it’s too late to use this information to stop the demolition of Calvary, but Darius says to Grace, “Have a little faith.” So is Darius returning to his Christian roots? If I’m remembering correctly, I think he left the church due to church hurt…Saints, help me out here…

But before the two can put their heads together to work out a plan to overthrow the Whitmores, Grace gets a text that she has been invited to a wedding. And when she goes back to the Greenleaf estate, she realizes that all of her family has gathered there for this wedding. Bishop tells them that he and Lady Mae are heading to City Hall, and they are invited to come along (even Charity) in a caravan of vehicles from the estate. In his joy, Bishop tells Zora that he wants their wedding on Instacart…LOL…He meant Instagram…And Zora fixes her mouth to call her cousin a “skank.” As if she can talk…

But in all of the hubbub, one person is missing: A.J. Grace goes up to her suite and cannot find him. However, a bathroom door is locked, and she suspects he is in there. When she frantically calls his name, and he doesn’t respond, she slams against the door until it comes open. To her shock, there is A.J. on the ground. He is clearly dead or nearly dead as he slit his wrists I think…That was a jarring scene, right? How very sad…

Well, I have a theory about this. As I said before, what this A.J. doppelganger did for A.J. reminds me of what Jesus did for all of us. Judas Iscariot from the Bible felt so guilty about betraying Jesus that he later killed himself. I think that the A.J. doppelganger was the real A.J. and somehow the real A.J. told the fake one what happened to him and the fake one assumed the real one’s identity. Maybe they were in jail together at one point. And when the real A.J. was killed, it was too much for the fake A.J. to handle and so he committed suicide. How else did the A.J. doppelganger know Grace’s name when he “wandered” onto the Greenleaf estate?

Do you have a theory?!

At any rate, and I say this every season…but’s true every season…this is gonna be an exciting season for sure…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 5 Episode 1: The First Day… 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?

 

 

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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?

 

 

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Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 5: Unwanted…

Hello World,

So y’all, this episode has been the BEST episode of Season 4 and let me explain why in this Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 5: Unwanted…

Everything She Wants…

This explosive and yet internally rich episode begins with the baby of the family Charity explaining to her baby Nathan why he will be seeing less of his mama. I will be preaching soon, she says to her son who has nothing to say (because he can’t talk yet!LOL) about her nonsensical statement. This poor chile (not Nathan her son) thinks that everything she wants she will get…Grace busts into Charity’s suite and breaks up the mother and son bonding time. She confronts her sister about leaving that reckless message on the voicemail of Noah and Isabel. “She kicked him out and now he’s moving in with his folks. You broke up a marriage.”

As Grace interrogates Charity, she tries to act her like phone call was innocent but when she is by herself, she knows that she has invited God’s judgment on her. She watches a television preacher preach, “Judge not that you not be judged…When you go messing with other people, you’re playing with fire.” We all know that what you sow, you shall reap. Charity has sown duplicity to serve her own goals so she shouldn’t be surprised when she reaps duplicity to serve someone else’s goals. (Phil DeMars, anyone?)

The newly named associate pastor Jacob starts off this episode with a noble cause unlike his baby sister. The first time we see him, he is sitting on his bed, praying that God will use him to serve the homeless in the city of Memphis. “Use me mightily on their behalf,” Jacob says. In other words, he wants what God wants and Charity wants what she wants without seeking God’s will.

Grace, Jacob and Charity’s mother’s, Lady Mae, who readily goes after what she wants and seeks what God wants (at least some of the time anyway), is searching through Bob Whitmore’s book. She tells Kerissa, “I’m looking through his book for clues about why he set up camp here.” After she explains what she is doing, she still feels Kerissa staring at her. She asks her what does she want. “I can feel a need stalking me from a mile away.” Kerissa asks if she and Jacob can take their furniture in their suit to furnish their new home. But Lady Mae denies her request, reminding her that the first time they left for the “flimsy parsonage,” they took furniture then. And then when they were run out of the parsonage, they left the furniture there for that “Nigerian to sell on Ebay.” She tells her daughter-in-law that this time the couple has to buy their own furniture. I’m with Lady Mae. This is not a newly married couple who needs a head start. It’s not Lady Mae’s fault that Basie, Tasha and Rochelle tricked them like they were toddlers playing Peekaboo. Jacob and Kerissa need to grow up, at least financially anyway…(And had they kept their land and sacrificed short-term gain for long-term wealth, they would be able to achieve this…)

Bishop is occupied as well. Bishop and his former assistant Karine are uploading all of his sermons onto a hard drive. Apparently, he’s doing research for a speaking engagement in Atlanta. “I can’t tell you how much I miss preaching.” As you may remember, Lady Mae doesn’t think Bishop should venture away from Calvary, even for one Sunday. “Nero did stay in town while Rome was burning,” she says.

Although Charity is pretty much a spoiled brat, after she’s had some time to think, she realizes her action was flat out wrong. What she wants isn’t worth what it costs. She unburdens herself by telling Carlton the choir director what happened with Noah and Isabel.  Carlton tells Charity, “Hell is for those folks who don’t want to turn to God.” Although Charity wants to do right, a part of her still wants to wrong. “I haven’t fully turned away from the sin that got me into this mess.”

Any Way You Want It…

Also at Calvary, Phil DeMars, with his shady self, walks up on Grace and tells her to take Jacob’s proposal for a homeless outreach program off of the board agenda. But Grace continues to let Phil know that he’s not the boss of her. After she gets him straight, she walks into her office where she finds her son! “Did anyone see you come in here?” she asks A.J. He assures her that his arrival was under the radar. While in her office, he takes the opportunity to gaze at photographs of his extended family including Bishop and Lady Mae. “They look like good people.” Grace gets a bit nervous, probably thinking about the fact that A.J. is closer than ever to meeting them. But A.J. reassures her. “I’m not here to blow up your spot.”

He then pivots to the reason for his risky visit. “Are you going to give me money or not, and it’s not like you don’t have it.” See…So I know this kid wasn’t exactly raised, but he needs some on-the-spot home training. What you are not gonna do is talk to me like we are on the same level. Although she abandoned him, she was the one who brought him into this world. At least, he can speak to her in a respectful tone. And then when Grace asks him about how his job search is going and offers to get him a job, he says, “I’m not a d**** charity case.” Grace wants to have a relationship with her son finally, but I’m sure this is not the way she wants it to be.

But before A.J. can continue hitting up his mother like she’s his personal ATM machine, Phil busts in on the meeting. He senses he has interrupted something important but asks about the whereabouts of Karine. Grace tells him that she is with Bishop. “Oh, she’s taking a sick day,” Phil says after noting that Bishop doesn’t work for Calvary anymore. But Grace tells him Karine is on the clock and her meeting with Bishop is really helping Grace. When it comes to Phil, Grace is determined to have it any way she wants it.  After Phil leaves, A.J. gets up to walk out the way he comes in, but Grace directs him to a different door. She explains this it is the door that is used in case of a fire. A.J. says, “I guess I’m fire.”

Speaking of fire, Nicki, the girlfriend of Memphis Red Devils’ b-ball star Dante Saunders, calls up Zora to invite her to a “super lit” soire (party) at Dante’s house. Y’all know Zora is ’bout that life.

Following Grace’s meeting with A.J., she meets with her attorney and half-brother Aaron. He explains that with the help of Grace’s inheritance from their father, Bishop’s IRS bill has been paid in full. “The worst is behind you,” he says. Not so counselor, from where I’m sitting. Grace must agree with me because she asks her brother if he could employ a young man at the church. She explains that “he’s got a record” and “needs a routine.” Aaron agrees to do so and asks Grace to send the young man to his office later that day.

While Grace is still keeping her secret a secret, Charity realizes she is not willing to get to Grace’s secret on behalf of Phil DeMars. “Phil, I can’t do this anymore.” She explains that her phone call to Noah’s house led to his wife’s decision to kick him out of their home. “I wan’t to be AP,” she says,”but I don’t want to mess up people’s lives to get there.” Phil DeMars tries to convince her to continue spying for him. “Uncovering evil is not evil,” he says. But Charity says, “If a thing doesn’t want to be seen, I’m not going to lift up a rock. I’m not like you.” (That almost sounds like a Lady Mae line, right?)  Thank God Charity is coming to her senses!

I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party…

Lady Mae and Bishop always find a way spoil the party and have discord. “Give them the furniture,” Bishop says to his ex-wife. “Bless them as they leave.” Lady Mae says that she wants her son in her house, but she does have a way to make a deal. “Don’t go to Atlanta.” “Quid pro quo,” Bishop states. (Where have a heard that term lately?) “I’ve already told Desiree yes,” he says. She responds with, “I’ve already told Kerissa no.” Lady Mae says, “The fire of loyalty to the Greenleaf name is dying and it needs tending.”

Grace’s fire a.k.a. A.J. shows up at his Uncle Aaron’s office. Once the two introduce their selves to one another, as much as they can anyway with Aaron not knowing that he is meeting his nephew, A.J. lauds the virtues of his half-sister. He calls her the “real deal,” recounts how she has been known to give the shoes off of her feet to strangers and explains how she feels life more deeply than others. He finishes his praise with, “She’s special.” A.J. doesn’t know what to say so he asks about the location of the bathroom. As they say, when you have nothing good to say, say nothing. Aaron was having a praise Grace party and A.J. didn’t want to spoil it.

Phil DeMars doesn’t want to spoil his personal connection to the Greenleaf estate. So he approaches Charity again. She promptly tells, “Get behind me Satan.” LOL

But Phil is persistent, telling her that she really doesn’t know the real him. He invites her to dinner for her to get to know him better. Oh Charity. If a man is asking you to turn on your own family, then no amount of getting to know him is gonna make him a good dude.

Back at the Greenleaf estate, Bishop and Lady Mae are still at it. She tells him that Bob Whitmore invited her to speak at the National Women’s Gathering for the Harmony & Hope churches to be held in D.C. But she politely declined the invitation in order to maintain her “presence” at Calvary. She hopes that Bishop will realize that he needs to follow suit. But Bishop is an Alpha male to her Alpha female. “Do you know what it feels like to be ignored and unwanted?” he says. “You’ve never been unwanted ever. All I want is one more Sunday.” Not being in the pulpit is starting to get to Bishop. Lady Mae reveals that when Bishop was following behind Lady Mae’s sister Mavis and Rochelle Cross, that made her feel ignored and unwanted. “I want to be respected and heard,” she says. “I think you mean obeyed,” says Bishop. “I haven’t once mentioned Lionel and how that made me feel.” Lady Mae spits out, “If it’s that important to you, go to Atlanta.”

Phil DeMars wants Charity to feel like he wants her. At dinner, he explains that he ghostwrites all of Bob Whitmore’s sermons and books. “I”m Bob Whitmore.” He also says how he would like to be the pastor of Calvary as it is the only black in the Harmony & Hope churches. (There’s your clue, Lady Mae.) She starts to feel like they have something in common as he has been forced to be in the background although their gifts have made the church shine, much like Charity I will admit…

Although Jacob isn’t exactly wanted at Calvary, he does work there. He presents his proposal to help the homeless in front of the board. His presentation actually goes over well, but an emergency call from Zora causes him to rush out of the meeting like his pants are on fire. Zora warns him that Dante, whom Jacob is supposed to be supervising, is having a wild party at his house and it’s getting out of control. Dante is threatening to burn the confederate flag and when a white team member bucks on Dante, a blaze of a fight is ignited. Jacob tries to stop the fight even as partygoers document the mess on their cell phones.

I Want To Be Loved…

When Grace hears that A.J. blew off the interview with Aaron by excusing himself to go to the bathroom and never coming back, she confronts him about it. A.J. explains how Aaron’s praise of Grace made him uncomfortable given how he was treated by Grace. “He thinks you’re so good.” A.J. explains that because she thinks she is good, she cannot be trusted. Given the fact that he was shuttled from foster home to foster home and obviously endured abusive conditions all because his mother chose not to raise him, he knows that Grace is not what she and others think she is. “It’s the ones who think they’re good that you have to worry about.” Finally, he says, “Grace we’re done.” And then he takes it a step further. “And the next person who asks me who I am, I’m telling them.”

Back at the Greenleaf estate, now that Bishop’s sermons have been stored on a hard drive, he watches one of his old sermons in which he is reminded of a message that he preached. The message that he preached actually spoke back to him. “God is longing to sit with you and talk it all out…When you’re life is too hard, we’ve got to have a talk with God.”

Two people that are having a tough time talking in this episode are Lady Mae and Kerissa. Before she can plead her case again, Lady Mae criticizes her daughter-in-law for enlisting Bishop in her request to take the furniture with the family when they leave. And since Kerissa is leaving, she decides to let Lady Mae have it in her own bedroom no less. She tells her that “no one has ever hurt me the way you hurt me.” She explains that the reason that she sought the approval of Lady Mae was that her own mother was always in a competition with her. (But Kerissa always seems like she is competing against all of the Greenleaf women, right? Name one woman that she truly gets along with…I am glad that we’re getting some backstory on Kerissa though…) She blames Lady Mae for everything and calls Lady Mae an “old rusted jalopy with a corpse in the trunk.” Wow! If this is her way of getting the love she wants, this is not the way to do it. Obviously Lady Mae agrees with me because she slaps her daughter in a way that reminds me of those old-time night soap operas like “Dynasty.” Those slaps reverberated like gun shots fired!

Bishop walks in on them and for some reason believes the two have made peace?! But Lady Mae does say, “We’ve come to an understanding.” After Kerissa leaves, he tells her that he is not going to Atlanta after all. “God is trying to get me to slow down and see myself, see Him.” I guess this is what God told him once he decided to speak with God about his dilemmas – missing preaching and regaining control of Calvary the right way. You can’t escape your pain. You have to face it, Bishop…

Kerissa is gonna need to talk with Jesus now. Jacob comes home and tells her what happened with Dante. As a result, he has lost his job with the Memphis Red Devils. “You’re going to have to wait on that house.” Bwaaaahaaa…As crazy as that moment is, it’s not THE moment of the episode. That happens next.

The next morning, Grace walks in on her mother, who is studying Hebrews in the kitchen in preparation for her Bible study with Zora. She tells Grace that the book “mystifies her.” Grace explains that she is little mystified herself and needs her help with something. Lady Mae says, “What is it?” Grace replies, “My son.”

And scene…A mic drop moment for reals…What we gon do? What we gon do? When Lady Mae gets involved, the drama will be on 10…And from the preview, I can tell that even a newfound grandson is not gonna stop Lady Mae from reaching her destiny…You reach for Lady Mae, you will be left looking at a nub…convict or not…A.J. thinks he wants to be loved but not like this…

So the reason I LOVED this episode and think it’s the best one so far this season is that we finally got to see into Kerissa after three seasons of not knowing anything about her background, we got to see a good old-fashioned soap opera slap between two divas and we got to see Lady Mae realize that Grace is her daughter in more ways than one…What say you?

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 5: Unwanted… 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?