Tag Archives: Grace Greenleaf

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Greenleaf Recap Season 1 Episode 11: Men Like Trees Walking…

Only Two More 'Greenleaf' Episodes Left!!!

bishop

Hello World,

So I’ve missed two weeks of recaps as two weeks ago, I interviewed Deborah Joy Winans who plays Charity on OWN’s”Greenleaf” in place of my weekly recap (if you haven’t checked out “‘Greenleaf’ Star Deborah Joy Winans Shares About New Greenleaf Gospel Album, Her TV Husband & Her Aunt CeCe: My Interview (With Audio, please do so!) and last Wednesday was my wedding anniversary, but babay, I’m back!

I swear (and I don’t LOL) “Greenleaf ” never fails to disappoint! This show just works! I’m not even sure why yet, but I every week, they serve up the drama and I just eat it up!

So on to the recap…

Pain in the Pews…

There’s nothing sadder than a preacher preaching to empty pews, and that is where Bishop Greenleaf is headed if he doesn’t get right with God or somebody…The episode starts with him in an empty sanctuary recalling how he had just preached…He was sweating and shaking and saaanging “my living shall not be in vain” but the congregation was not moved…Correction, some were moving but in the opposite direction….Someone got up and left right in the middle of Bishop’s sermon and the sanctuary wasn’t even full to begin with…

The head deacon or deaconess (which I prefer to call her because how many times do you get to say deaconess) confirms what you can already tell: Attendance and tithes are down at Greenleaf and have been for four weeks! She pleads with the Bishop get a “fresh face” in the pulpit….someone who is “unsullied.” She suggests Jacob or even Grace to which Bishop responds, “She’s the one that got us into this mess.” Yes, Grace, the Bishop’s favorite child, is now on the Bishop’s hit list! He assures the deaconess that Greenleaf will survive it all. But the deaconess replies, “The Lord doesn’t want His church to survive, He wants us to thrive.” Amen and pass the offering plate LOL!

Orange is the New Black…

Mac is finally wearing an orange jumpsuit in prison as he should be after the family secret that he sexually molested his niece is out in the open. But Lady Mae knows that another secret is being kept but this time by the Bishop. Apparently, Mac has something on the Bishop and is using that secret to blackmail him. She tries to get him to share the secret but he remains silent to her anger.

The fallout from the shoot out at church continues to reverberate as $4500 is needed to secure Lady’s Mae’s annual Women’s Day event at the Peabody Hotel, but the money hasn’t been approved by the powers that be at the church although the expenditure is usually approved without issue. Lady Mae decides to take out her own checkbook and write the check for the amount. Let the church say, “Ouch.” How many tithes went into that $4500?!

He’s a Healer…

One of the reasons that I love Grace’s daughter is her inquisitiveness particularly as it relates to Scripture…As the daughter of a pastor, I’m so used to hearing Scripture that I don’t necessarily see the word of God with fresh eyes. But I imagine that if I was introduced to Scriptures a bit later in life, I would have just as many questions (although I still have questions…don’t get me wrong…) Sophia asks her mother Grace, who can still quote Scriptures by heart although she had been away from the church for many years, why did Jesus have to heal the blind man in Mark 8:23-26 twice? You know I’ve never gave it much thought, but why would Jesus, who is the Healer of all healers, have to heal twice to get it right…Obviously, there was a deeper meaning as the blind man says at first, “ I see men as trees, walking.” So this verse is where the title of this show comes from…More to be revealed later in the recap…read on church!

That’s Just My Baby Daddy…

For all of this time, it has been a mystery regarding the identity of Sofia’s father. At one point, I thought her father may been Noah, but we learned in last week’s episode that Ray, a white man that Grace met in Phoenix after she fled from the Greenleaf estate, is Sofia’s father. And despite the fact that Sofia is about that Greenleaf estate life, Ray wants full custody of her as Grace left Phoenix without properly informing him of her plans. She gets served the papers at church…

Speaking of Lawsuits…

Grace is not the only one who is heading to court and finds this out at church…Bishop Greenleaf meets with Alexa’s attorney as the attorney alleges her client was fired without cause. Remember Jacob’s side piece? (Kerissa makes a joke about side pieces as Kerissa and Jacob attempt to help their young son put puzzle pieces together. When the boy picks up a small piece that goes one side of the puzzle, she says Jacob should help as he is good with side pieces…funny…) Alexa’s attorney (and Alexa is in the meeting too by the way) says a lawsuit won’t be filed if the Bishop compensates for her loss. Now with the tithes going down and Lady Mae writing a check for $4500, where is the Bishop supposed to get some cash pray tell?

In a moment of synchronicity, Jacob comes to see his father just as Alexa and her attorney are finishing their meeting with the Bishop…And this isn’t the only time that Alexa is mentioned in the episode…So obviously Alexa will continue to be a temptation for Jacob…

But for the moment, Jacob is not thinking about Alexa and pleads with his father to reinstate him at Greenleaf. Instead of reinstating Jacob, the Bishop attempts to redirect him by reminding him that being a pastor was never his dream and that he only became involved in the church after Grace left. Jacob finally gives up trying to convince his father that he is ready to return to Greenleaf and instead apologizes for getting involved with Alexa. The Bishop says, “Pray for her. She’s chosen a painful path.” What does that mean, saints?!!

Ever Seeing but Never Perceiving…

For all of Sofia’s inquisitiveness with her mother, Sofia is totally quiet in youth Bible study so much so that the leader asks her what she thinks of Mark 8. Although she didn’t know what to think when she asked her mother, she has obviously continued to think about the passage and she has an answer for the leader. She says that every person is rooted in something although we cannot necessarily see it with our natural eyes…I like that…

Gaming the System…

Although Jacob doesn’t necessarily perceive it, his actions are rooted in pleasing his father although he has a funny way of showing it. Since his father won’t reinstate him at Greenleaf, Jacob decides to go to the other megachurch in town – Triumph (where Alexa is a member) – and convince Pastor Skanks to hire him there…Jacob approaches the pastor while he is playing basketball at a gym…The pastor lets out an expletive when he realizes that Jacob, the crown prince of Calvary, is coming to him for a job…Okay, I need at least one pastor, other than Grace, that I can admire on this show…

Instead of simply hiring Jacob, Pastor Skanks (as his name suggests, he really ain’t ’bout nohin’) shows that he is really playing chess rather than basketball and tells Jacob that he must set up a meeting with the Bishop so that Pastor Skanks knows that he didn’t hire the Bishop’s son behind his back…

Almost a Golden Wedding Anniversary…

In the midst of all this, Bishop and Lady Mae are celebrating 45 years together! (Ironically, my parents celebrated 45 years of marriage on Sunday!) Well, let me correct what I noted. Bishop celebrated their wedding anniversary by sending her flowers but he later sees the flowers nearly dead on the floor of her office. If Bishop wants them to make it to their golden wedding anniversary, he better tell Lady Mae everything…

Just Call Me Nicety…

I think my favorite character next to Grace is Lady Mae because she is the champion of being nicety…She can be so nasty but because she says and does almost everything with a smile on her face. You think she is being nice when she is really being nicety…nice plus nasty equals nicety…After she discovers that Melisse,  chief housekeeper at the Greenleaf estate and better known as Lovita Alizé Jenkins-Robinson LOL, is the one who confirmed there was shooting at the church to the media, she turns around and gives her one of those scholarships (you know the ones that are used to keep people quiet). In other words, she has paid for to go to nursing school simultaneously releasing from her job at the Greenleaf estate…

My Secret

So actually Bishop isn’t the only one in the family who is holding on to a secret in the wake of the Mac revelation…Kevin, Charity’s husband, has a secret too…but it’s the worst kept secret on the show…The leader of a local charity Adrian becomes particularly friendly with Kevin and he reveals to him that he doesn’t want to be like his father who left his family when he was a little boy…Adrian assures him he is not like his father…Hmmm…whatever…It’s obvious that that this man has feelings for Kevin and Kevin might be feeling him too…Although Kevin has twins on the way, even his desire to be a good father won’t be enough to squelch his other desires…

Below is a video from Jacob’s b-ball game with Pastor Skanks….

Y’all I’m tired…but those are my thoughts…What y’all think of my recap of episode 11?

TWO MORE EPISODES LEFT!!!

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Greenleaf Recap Season 1 Episode 7: One Train May Hide Another…

mac

Hello World,

This week’s Greenleaf recap will focus on Robert “Mac” McCready, the general counsel of Greenleaf World Ministries and brother of Lady Mae Greenleaf as his inner workings were explored in this episode…

A little background before I jump in…Mac is on Grace’s hit list because she believes that he molested her sister Faith and the molestation was a contributing factor in her sister’s death although the rest of the family doesn’t seem to believe that Mac was molesting his niece…Now that you know that, we can move on…

It Was All a Dream…

This episode begins with Mac in his plush, modern high-rise apartment that was probably secured through tithes and love offerings. He is shown with a light-skinned black girl…I wonder who she is, but then he wakes up. So obviously he was dreaming about this pretty girl, who looks similar to Grace’s daughter’s Sophia…What is he doing dreaming about this young girl?

Anywho, once he wakes up, he gets dressed and heads downstairs to the lobby of his high-rise apartment complex where he sees this girl. Apparently, she lives in the building and is having a difficult time with her mother as she tells him that her mama is off her meds…Obviously, she feels comfortable in confiding in him for some reason….

Memphis Man of the Year…

Once he arrives at Calvary, we learn that he has been named “Memphis Man of the Year,” but while this accolade is a milestone in his career, federal auditors are in the building and are a threat to his standing. Obviously, this audit could be trouble for the Greenleafs, but Mac is trying to handle it. They request the minutes of deacon board meetings for the last three years! Simultaneously, Mac is also concerned about Charity’s new hire Carlton, the music director. He tells Charity that Carlton has filed lawsuits against previous employers and that he is concerned that Carlton may do the same thing at Calvary. However, Charity points out that Carlton filed those lawsuits because he was discriminated against due to his sexuality and how that won’t be a problem because everything is already out in the open. Mac is not convinced and determines they need to meet with Carlton.

Daddy Issues…

To his surprise and at the wrong time considering a camera crew will be arriving to highlight Mac for his award, Mac’s father, apparently a drunk, shows up on the Calvary campus. Mac’s father, who looks like a broke down Dick Gregory with a cane, waits for Mac in his office. His father congratulates him on being named “Memphis Man of the Year” as he read about in the local newspaper and tells him his mother would be proud of him if she was still alive. Mac barely responds except to put some money in his hand and get him out of the building. Apparently, Lady Mae’s father is not welcome for some reason.

Mac encounters Zora, Jacob’s daughter and Sophia, and they ask him questions about the validity of Jesus coming back from the dead and the existence of hell. Mac gives the answers you would expect to them, and Sophia says, “He doesn’t seem so bad.” Obviously, Grace has told her something about her great uncle.

Lady Mae also confronts her brother after she hears her father somehow got onto church grounds although he is not welcome. Mac assures her that he will take care of the issue and goes to see Noah Kendall, head of security, about the matter. Noah tells Mac that a new person on their security team was not aware that their father was not allowed on the Calvary campus. While in Noah’s office, Mac overhears Noah arguing with his fiancée Isabel about the cost of a wedding cake she wants to buy for their wedding. More on that later…

Speaking of daddy issues, Jacob is still trying to get back in the good graces of the Bishop after being removed from his post following his adultery revelation. Since Mac is a direct conduit to his father, Jacob meets with Mac to show him his business plan about getting his father back on television. As I said in last week’s recap, I wondered why his father hasn’t been on television before considering the success of his ministry. From Jacob’s conversation with Mac, it is apparent that Bishop Greenleaf has been on television before and something bad happened. Mac says the bishop “will never go on TV again.” Hmmm….I wonder what happened….Mac also gives Jacob a reality check despite the the fact that he presented a solid business proposal. He tells him now that Gigi is back, “there’s no way you’ll get reinstated.” Jacob questions Mac and says, “You’re still here.” So obviously, Mac did something that he could have been banished for but was kept on anyway….Maybe Grace is right about her unc.

There’s Something About That Name…

Although Mac is a somewhat agitated about the audit, he feels he is handling things until he shows up in the conference room with the minutes the auditors requested, but no one is there. Instead, he sees Grace’s business card on the table. Just her name is enough to get him riled up especially when he later discovers that the auditors are now requesting the personal tax returns of the Greenleafs for the last three years. They ask him to explain what are “love offerings” as the term appears several times on the minutes. Mac explains that love offerings are financial offerings that members bless the Greenleafs with above and beyond their usual tithes. The head auditor asks Mac if the Bishop has been reporting love offerings.

In the next scene, Mac stomps into Grace’s office and shouts, “You need to stay the hell out of business.” Grace is understandably confused about Mac’s anger and asks him to explain himself. He tells her what happened with the audit. She tells him that the auditors came to her and simply asked her if they had any programs for disabled vets. But Mac is not buying it. Obviously, their conflict has nothing to do with the audit, and his next words prove it. He says, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” But Grace tells him that she does indeed know and says her words so calmly even while he looks like he is about to blow up even when he is alone in his office afterward.

Flashing Lights…

Although Mac is amped enough to have a heart attack, he has to calm down because the camera crew has arrived and he is about to be interviewed about being “Memphis Man of the Year.” As expected, Mac says all of the right things in front of the cameras like giving credit to the Lord for his award and how young people should “read, study and stay in school” to achieve what he has achieved…

But after the cameras and lights are off, Bishop approaches Mac to have a private conversation with him in his office. (Aside, did you notice that Bishop’s new assistant is on the plump side and wears glasses?…obviously, she won’t be a temptation to Jacob like Alexa was…) Bishop is mad that he had to learn from the auditors that they are requesting his tax returns. He says, “When were you going to tell me? After they put me in prison.” So, up until this point, I wasn’t sure that the Bishop was a bad dude but this conversation has confirmed that the Bishop is not the upright man that my father, who is also a pastor, is. Oh well…He tells him that he needs to fix this issue and stop going all over town looking for people to save…Wonder what that means?

While Bishop is upset handing over tax returns, Lady Mae is incensed when her father has returned to Calvary again at the worst time. It looks like the “Memphis Man of the Year” reception is being held at the church because Mac is in a tux in this scene…The father has called Lady Mae, his daughter, a “high-yella whore.” Wow! Instead of just being drunk, Lady Mae’s father now has blood above his eyebrow. I wonder what happened. She says, “I cast you down in the name of almighty Jesus.” Mac tries to handle the situation by giving his father more money although Lady Mae tells him to not give him a cent.  After the father shuffles off with his wad, Grace stands there, staring at Mac, which is enough to get him all paranoid again.

In the midst of all of that, Mac calls Noah’s fiancée and tells her to order the $800 cake her and Noah were arguing about. He says the cake will be their wedding gift to them…It seems that he is always trying to find a way to buy loyalty…

Home Sweet Home…

After a long day at Calvary and the “Memphis Man of the Year” event, Mac returns home to see the young girl in the lobby. Apparently, she does not feel comfortable going to her place. This really grown man invites the young, forlorn, girl up to his place. Mac fixes himself some whiskey and gives the girl a non-alcoholic beverage initially. Mac tells her that he was once a disillusioned young person himself and even tried to commit suicide at 12 years old after his mother died on some train tracks. She was crossing the tracks in front of a train that was stopped, but she didn’t see the other train coming. Obviously, the title of this episode has to do with that incident.

Mac explains that the mother had a co-dependent relationship with him, and the train incident happened after he refuses to care for her in way that a child shouldn’t have to care for an adult. He says he told his mother that he had a girlfriend and wouldn’t be available to her in the same way. (Does this explain his pathology? Is this why he goes around town trying to save people like the Bishop said? Did his emotional growth stop at that age as a result, and that is why he is attracted to young girls? I don’t know. I’m no psychologist…) The girl, who seems suicidal herself, can relate to his feelings, and he agrees to give her “just a taste” of whiskey. The episode ends there….

So I’m convinced at this point that Grace is right about her Uncle Mac…

If you watched this episode, did I get this Greenleaf recap correct?

Below is a snippet of Mac’s office face0off with his niece Grace…

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

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Greenleaf Recap Season 1 Episode 6: Good Morning, Calvary

grace

Hello World,

Yes, I am writing recaps for each episode of “Greenleaf” for this first season at least and yes, I know I missed last week’s episode. But I have a great reason why I was unable to do so last week. I was getting my hair done and the appointment ran late. Yes, that late…smh…

Anywhow, I swear Oprah, her team of “Greenleaf” writers and OWN are determined to unearth every issue that has ever happened at somebody’s church throughout these not-so United States (right now, anyway). You will see what I mean…

Sisters of Tamar (not Tamar Braxton although she was named after the biblical Tamar I’m sure)…

This episode begins with a meeting of a sexual abuse survivors group that Grace formed. During this meeting, a woman named Stacy shares how her life seemed doomed from the moment she was born as her father felt he couldn’t afford another child. After her parents divorced, her mother began dating a man who became a father figure and began sexually abusing her. When Stacy’s husband comes to get her after the meeting is over, his aggressive tone suggests that although Stacy may no longer be abused by mother’s boyfriend, her husband has taken his place.

Jacob’s Ladder…

When you think of a ladder, you typically think about using it to climb higher, but if you’re already high, you can use a ladder to go lower even if you would rather not do so. That is the position that Jacob finds himself in during this episode. After Kerissa reveals that Jacob was getting it on with Alexa, Bishop Greenleaf’s assistant, in last week’s episode, the Bishop is now ready to deliver his punishment. Jacob will be relieved of all of his ministerial duties for 90 days.  Oh, by the way, the Bishop has fired Alexa as well. Jacob accuses his father as using his infidelity as a reason to make GiGi (Grace), obviously his favorite, a preaching pastor rather than just a pastor on the Calvary staff.

When the Bishop tells his wife Lady Mae that Jacob is on punishment, she says that Jacob is only human and it’s not like the Bishop hasn’t been human before. Was she insinuating that the Bishop has cheated on Lady Mae before? Could be….But I’m not sure at the moment. Like Jacob, Lady Mae is afraid that this is the Bishop’s chance to get Grace in the pulpit as he obviously wants.

The Bishop wastes no time in approaching Grace about preaching to the 4,000 people that come to Calvary’s Memphis location the following Sunday as he will be preaching in Calvary’s Birmingham location. Apparently, they have churches in Birmingham, Alabama; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Knoxville Tennessee. She says so, but then he commands, “You’re going to do it.”

When Lady Mae realizes that Bishop has convinced Grace to preach on Sunday, she goes to see her daughter privately and asks that she does not use her sermon as a “switch to punish us publicly.” I wonder why Lady Mae is so threatened by her daughter’s presence. I’m thinking she is uneasy with how much influence Grace has over her father and the fact that Gigi tells the truth whether or not church folk approve…

Trapped in the Closet…

Charity Greenleaf continues to clash with Greenleaf choir director Nigel so much so that she complains to her husband. I’m surprised that Kevin is able to tear himself away from his phone, as he obsessively peruses various gay dating sites, long enough to give her advice, but he does.  He suggests that he simply fire Nigel and find a suitable replacement. When she takes his advice, she is overwhelmed by the number of applicants. Kevin suggests that she treat the process like dating and simply and quickly subtract the applicants she knows she is not interested in and interview the remaining applicants. He should know since it seems he may be dating someone and not his wife in the near future. She bonds with one applicant so much that after they sing an impromptu rendition of “Jesus Be a Fence Around Me” (Jesus be a fence around your husband because he is going to get out…), she offers him the job during the interview. However, before he accepts her offer, he tells her he is openly gay and will be bringing his partner to church. Charity doesn’t mind his candor she says and he accepts her offer.

However, once Kevin learns of Charity’s selection, he does not approve as the choir director’s openness with his sexuality demonstrates how closeted he is…

Swing Out Sister…

With his sister poised to be hottest new preacher pastor at Greenleaf, Jacob realizes that he must have a plan B to secure his position. He meets some sort of business executive who could potentially guarantee that Calvary becomes a televised ministry. I’m surprised that as big as it is, the church is not already televised but maybe I’m missing something…Anywho, Jacob invites the business executive, whom he has bonded with over fantasy football, to the Greenleaf estate so the business executive and his wife can spend some time with Jacob and his wife. Well, the wife starts throwing herself at Jacob while her husband makes a play for Kerissa. When the evening is over, the flirty couple invites Jacob and Kerissa to enjoy their hot tub in a cabin as a foursome. Yes, they swing like that…

Once they leave, Jacob asks Kerissa if she is down for what this couple is proposing. She answers, “Who knows what your stock is going to be once [Grace] closes that Bible on Sunday?” Kerissa is such a team player! And Jacob appreciates her willingness to be on his team so much so that he tries to start something with his wife (hey Alexa is gone), but she is not trying to do that…In other words, Kerissa is willing to get down with another man for her husband but not actually with her husband…That’s deep and even Jacob realizes that…

So on the night that they are supposed to get together with The Swingers (since I don’t know their name) with Kerissa in a strappy little purple number, Jacob decides that he longer wants to meet them. He tells Kerissa he doesn’t want another man touching his wife and says, “You’re mine.” And just like that, Kerissa happily dissolves in her husband’s arms…Great scene!

Sermons on Demand…

As Gigi never wanted to preach a sermon in the first place, she is stumped about what what she will say on Sunday. Zora, Jacob’s daughter, says when her father doesn’t know what to say, he buys a sermon online and reads it in front of the church. Gigi doesn’t believe her and decides to google buying sermons. To her surprise, she finds a site where she can download a sermon on demand for a small fee of course. But before she can continue to think about her sermon, she gets word that Stacy was beaten up by her husband and needs a place for her and her daughters to stay for a while. When she cannot find a suitable location, she puts them up at a hotel. She is surprised to discover that Stacy doesn’t intend on staying away from her husband forever as she wants her daughters to have a father as she didn’t have one. Still Grace continues to hope that Stacy will have the strength to be able to stay away from him anyway.

At church on Sunday, Lady Mae, who is happy to see Jacob and his wife smiling and happy together, tells him that Grace will not be able to get the upper hand although she is preaching. She says, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God and believe in me.” So that is a Bible verse: John 14:1 and refers to Jesus, but it seems that Lady Mae was referring to herself…So obviously, she has got a scheme planned. Her husband may be the head, but she is the neck which is how she was able to get Deaconess Connie Sykes back on as the head of the deacon board in this episode after the new head of the deacon board would not approve of the purchase of a new plane that the Bishop plans to buy…

So when Grace gets up in the pulpit, she begins to preach what seems to be a rather innocuous sermon she bought based on Matthew 6:28, but when she sees Stacy, donning sunglasses, sitting next to her abusive husband in the pews, she backs away from the New Testament and heads back to the Old Testament with Job 3:26.

I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

Yes, Lady Mae has every reason to be scared of her daughter Grace which is why the Bishop met with Grace’s favorite aunt Mavis. He believes she can tell him why Grace really came back to town, but instead of answering his question, she tells him he already knows the answer to her question…What happens at night is always revealed in the morning….my words not her words…Good Morning, Calvary…

Check out Aunt Mavis and Bishop Greenleaf discussing Grace below…

I cannot wait until next week…

Any thoughts?