Tag Archives: Jacob Greenleaf

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Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 5: Point of No Return…

 

Hello World,

As this is Holy Week, I wondered if the Greenleafs of OWN’s “Greenleaf” would be a bit more holy in this episode, but if you keep reading this Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 5, you will learn the Greenleafs may send themselves to Hell instead of allowing God to usher them to Heaven…

Creep…

Pastor Grace starts off this episode creeping into the Greenleaf estate shortly before sunrise. Just when she thinks no one notices her tiptoeing in, her daughter Sophia, with the zeal of a brand new Christian,  surprises her as she was praying early in the morning as Jesus recommends in the Word. Her daughter calls her out and says she must be a friend-with-benefits to Darius, but she denies it. She spent the night talking with Darius about how to put Mac in jail she tells her daughter. Sophia suggests that they simply pray and give the matter to God. Bless her Praying Pollyanna heart…I love this African proverb: When you pray, move your feet…

On the other side of town, Jacob and Kerissa have to creep around in the dark for another reason: the lights in the parsonage have gone out! And apparently, it’s not the first time. Kerissa tells her husband she is going to call Basie’s wife Tasha to complain. “If they thought the place was livable, they would be living here,” she says. To make matters worse, Basie Skanks calls them first and tells Jacob about the injunction that will stop the construction of Triumph 2 for at least 28 days. Jacob’s new boss says they will not cower at Calvary’s injunction!  Instead, they will throw a curve ball and show up at Calvary to confront Bishop straight up in his face.

Lady Mae is trying to creep into Aaron Jeffries’ heart. He has moved into Jacob’s room , and she shows him the beauty of where he will now be living. His balcony provides a panoramic view of the greenery of the Greenleaf estate. Lady Mae uses this opportunity to tell Aaron that if Calvary fails, they would have to sell the estate to settle the books.

Father Figure…

Charity and Kevin get along well for a couple who has decided they are divorcing. Charity asks Kevin if he can watch their son Nathan while she meets with Jabari, her album producer, to discuss cover art for her album. He agrees to do so and tells her that with their relationship status, he’s not sure if he will have the same access to his son as he does right now. She assures him that although they are getting divorced, he will still be able to be a present father for his son.

Basie drags Jacob to Calvary’s campus like he is Jacob’s daddy, huffing and puffing in the tradition of George Jefferson from the sitcom “The Jeffersons” aka Deacon Frye from the sitcom “Amen.” Am I the only one who sees the comedy in Basie? I know this is supposed to be serious business, but he seems like a chihuahua: all bluster and nary a bite. Basie with Jacob in tow busts up in Bishop’s office and asks him, “What kind of father does this to your only son?” He then demands that the matter be resolved “peacefully and spiritually.” What does that mean?

As Bishop is busy, Pastor Grace will officiating a wedding at Calvary – if the couple can stop bickering during their premarital counseling. The couple meets with Grace and they argue about the education of their children yet to be born. Apparently, the wife-to-be wants her children to receive a Christian education while the husband-to-be wants secular schooling.

In another part of the church, Charity and Jabari discuss the cover art for Charity’s new album. But Jabari doesn’t want their partnership to end, he tells her that she should be a professional songwriter with his publishing company – which would include coming to Nashville from time to time. Y’all know what’s up, right? Or what he wants to go down…They’re cheesing and hugging as they converse when Lady Mae walks in. Jabari excuses himself before Lady Mae asks, “Should I be concerned?” Then she drops this line: “Be careful. Take it from a woman who knows.” (Insert mouth dropping open) With this line, Lady Mae confirms that she had an affair on Bishop with Pastor Jeffries.

Lady Mae is not the only one dropping bombshells. Charity tells her mother not to worry as she and Kevin are getting divorced. Lady Mae advises Charity to let her marriage bend – bend so much that it is “knotted up like seaweed from a swamp.” (not particularly pleasant imagery for a marriage) But avoid breaking it all costs. Again, Lady Mae’s words reveal that this is a path she has walked on and worn out…Finally, she tells Charity that she and Kevin need to counsel with Bishop and Lady Mae…Would you want your parents to counsel you about your marriage? I just feel like there are some things that your parents don’t need to know about you once you’re grown – and the intricacies of your marriage are one of them….

Speaking of Bishop, he goes to Aaron’s office to ask for his advice about how to deal with Jacob and Basie. He advises him to ignore them as long as he can. Aaron Jeffries is now the acting general counsel at Calvary. At the request of Lady Mae, Aaron even approaches Kevin about representing Charity in the divorce should it come to that. Throughout the episode, he tries to craft the perfect voicemail message, but he keeps on getting interrupted because the Greenleafs need his assistance. Obviously, he’s going to be an integral part of the Calvary team, unlike Jacob…

While waiting for Bishop to discuss the injunction, Basie tells Jacob how he discovered that his father had died in the fire set at Bishop’s church. He was given some hot cocoa before his mother broke the news to him. Basie says, “That night something broke in my life.” When Bishop invites Basie and Jacob to meet with him finally about the injunction, Basie says to Jacob, “The table is set. The only question is what are you serving?”

Bills, Bills, Bills…

Wearing a jean jumpsuit that displays all her curves, Tasha, Triumph’s First Lady, shows up at the parsonage ready to be a handyman. But Kerissa is not here for Tasha’s sunny sermonettes. She wants the lights to work and tells Tasha without any diplomacy. To her surprise, Tasha breaks down and reveals that Triumph may not have the money to properly repair the parsonage. She also reveals that Basie has a lot of financial commitments with the new church and she wonders if her husband is going too fast. “The menfolk hurry and the women worry,” she says.

Preston and Simone won’t have to worry about wedding bills after Simone calls off the wedding. When Pastor Grace presses Simone about why she longer wants to get married, she says that she was disappointed when she discovered that Pastor Grace, not Bishop, would be the one marrying them. She tells her that she doesn’t know how Pastor Grace who is supposed to be a “real Christian” could have just run off and left the church. Yeah, I would not want any ole pastor marrying me either so I agree with that statement. But obviously this woman doesn’t have clue what happened with Grace’s sister Faith and her Uncle Mac.  Sophia, who is new to Christianity, attends baptism orientation class and learns that while she may be baptized again in the future for whatever reason, she will never ever be someone who hasn’t been baptized. Baptism is the point of no return. Agreed.

While Bishop’s first church burning down enabled him to get bill money from his insurance company, there was some irreparable damage, according to Jacob. Basie’s story has fired up Jacob as Jacob tells his father, that they both lost their fathers that night. That was deep. So he intends to fight his father. Jacob tells both of his parents, “Now, I pity you because you can’t raise me any higher, but I can still grow up.” On the way from the meeting, Jacob sees his sister Grace, who accuses him of being childish for building a church across the street from Calvary. He accuses her of coming home and stealing his life from him. Deep down, Jacob doesn’t really want to preach. He just wants to be accomplished at something. I really don’t even know if he would have anything to preach about Sunday after Sunday, but hey, that hasn’t stopped a lot of so-called pastors…#shade…

But for Jacob’s blistering words, Calvary is back in the black after the Fall Revival Bishop announces at a board meeting. I thought a revival was supposed to be about reviving people not a bank account…but reviving a bank account could lead to reviving people I guess…He also tells the board that with Aaron’s help, Triumph 2’s construction could be delayed indefinitely.

Speaking of Aaron, Lady Mae shows up in his quarters with a grapefruit pound cake. (Sounds delish, right?! I’ve never heard of grapefruit pound cake. If you have a recipe, drop one in the comments.) Aaron was about to go out for a jog but decides to sample some of Lady Mae’s baked goods. The cake is so delicious he tells her that he will have to run now! He also explains sweets aren’t needed to bribe him by saying, “I’ll never tell anyone about you and dad. What would be the point?” Tell us!!! We won’t tell!!! How does he know about the affair?!!!

In Grace’s quarters, Sophia is so sweet she offers to pray for her discouraged mother, “a pastor who doesn’t believe in the power of prayer.” Grace is so moved, she almost cries…Sometimes it takes the excitement of a new Christian to rekindle an old (not chronologically) and weary Christian’s faith…

And that is where the episode ends…And that concludes my Greenleaf Season 2 Episode 5 recap!

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Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 3: A Mother’s Love…

Hello World,

The seeds that were planted last season of OWN’s “Greenleaf” have grown roots and are sprouting like it’s spring as of this episode…This was a character development episode rather than an action-oriented episode.We are finding out what each character is struggling with and how their struggles will require them to act in the future.  Read on for the rest of this Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 3 …

Pills and Potions…

This episode begins with Grace receiving a telephone call that one of Mac’s victims, Danielle, attempted to kill herself by taking a bunch of pulls. The girl has to go to the hospital to have her stomach pumped, and the girl’s mother wants Grace to help her child transfer to another school as she is being bullied. Apparently, the other kids discovered that she had a sexual relationship with Mac and terrorize her because of it. After Danielle tells Grace about what happened, her final question to Pastor Grace is, “Why isn’t he in jail?” Mac may not be in jail, but Grace will make sure that he is punished one way or another…

Kevin Satterlee, who has returned to the Greenleaf estate finally, is not taking pills. But he is drinking some sort of potion that he received from his gay conversion therapy group leader. Apparently, whenever he has homosexual thoughts, he is supposed to drink the potion. So what is that elixir made of anyway? Sounds like he is sipping on sizzurp to me. Whatever it is, he may need a case of it because his mother is coming to town from North Carolina to meet her new grandson Nathan and she has a lot of questions. One question she wants answered is why is she just being allowed to see her grandson when his birth was planned for a specific date? She also wants to cook some sort of stew at the Greenleaf estate to welcome her grandbaby. It must be a family ritual of some sort.

The Sins of the Father…

Jacob has encountered a stumbling block in building the new Triumph building across the street from Calvary. Apparently, the land has drainage issues and a hefty chunk of change is needed to pay for the drainage issues to be resolved. Jacob meets with his boss Basie Skanks to tell him about what is going on, but Basie is still enthusiastic as ever. He tells Jacob, “Today’s tests (or is it tussles?) are tomorrow’s testimonies” and that he is David against Goliath! He encourages Jacob to visit a Ms. Clara, a wealthy member of Calvary, to ask for money. Apparently, she is nouveau riche as she acquired her wealth via the lottery. (So Ms. Clara is my former Tae Bo instructor from years ago…Does anyone still do Tae Bo anymore?) I’m thinking Jacob is pretty bold to approach a Calvary member about money to build another church, but she tells Jacob, “Not everyone wants to work in their father’s shadow forever.” But I still didn’t see her writing a check or slipping something in his pocket. Jacob knows he’s wrong for asking a Calvary member for money to build a Triumph building…

Jacob’s daughter Zora is up to no good as well. She’s not too happy to be living in a new location first of all. She calls her bedroom a closet. However, there are some perks to moving to Triumph territory. She is in close proximity to her new boo Isaiah, a singer at Triumph. Although Sophia was the one who originally was crushing on Isaiah, Zora seems to have no qualms about moving in on him. But in her defense, Isaiah never showed real interest in Sophia although he did invite her to see him rehearse once…presumably his motive was to get close to Sophia’s cousin all along though. But on the other hand, Zora is wrong for getting Sophia to cover for her when Zora and Isaiah sneak off somewhere when they are supposed to be at a Triumph youth conference.

Zora isn’t the only one having difficulty getting used to their new digs. Jacob’s wife Kerissa does not even pretend that she likes their new home although Grace tells her she’s done a great job decorating the humble parsonage. Kerissa tells Grace, “If you hadn’t come back, we wouldn’t be living here.” I’m not sure if that is the truth. Although Lady Mae wanted Bishop to groom his son to take his place at Calvary one day, I don’t think Bishop was ever really sold on the idea. And with Grace, his favorite, back in town, Jacob may just need to get comfortable at Triumph and in his little bitty house. Of course, all of this was set in motion because of Basie’s plot to bring Bishop down for killing Basie’s father, which Jacob doesn’t know about yet…

Kissing You…

It seems that Grace has finally put her flirtation with Noah in the past as she plants a kiss on Darius’ cheek after their second date! In fact, she tells him that she feels like her time back at Calvary has seemed like she was “cleaning up the past” but now she feels like she is in present! The right man will have you feeling like you are living your best life now! Having you doing new thangs and what not. Darius takes Grace to a batting cage to get some of her pent up anger about Mac out of her system. It feels so good to Grace that she holds on to that bat…

Kerissa needs to be kissing up to Basie’s wife Tasha who wants to help decorate the parsonage. But instead of kissing up to the First Lady, who looks more like a club chick with her faux fur and herringbone chain, she shuts her down. Tasha is going to get Kerissa in the future as it’s obvious that Kerissa thinks she’s above the woman…I don’t know how and I don’t know when but it’s coming…

Kevin’s mother continues to press her son about why she hasn’t been allowed to visit her new grandson until weeks after he was born. The question finally disrupts a family dinner where her stew was supposed to be served to the Greenleaf family. She follows Kevin when he excuses himself and he finally reveals that while he has “kiss and made up” with Charity, he was staying at a hotel for a while. When she asks him what he could have done to be staying in a hotel, he looks at her until she discerns the answer. Apparently, his mother knows that he is gay…

Batter Up…

As we’ve already discovered, Calvary is having cash issues, but Bishop and Lady Mae have some plans in the works. One of their plans was buy a radio commercial advertising their Fall Revival. But they are mortified when they listen to their commercial which is immediately followed by a Basie Skanks ad. They also discover that Jacob went to see Ms. Clara! Lady Mae, who had been missing Jacob in the Greenleaf estate, has had enough! She decides to confront Jacob and tell him the truth about the game that Basie is playing. At the site of Triumph’s new building, Lady Mae tells Jacob that Basie is Darryl’s son and Jacob is being used to get back at Bishop! Instead of being upset about it, Jacob tells his mother that if he is being played, he has nothing to lose at this point. “I’m 47 years old and have nothing under my belt but kids. There’s no place for me at Calvary and time is running out.” Wow! I see where Jacob is coming from…

Grace believes that she has unleashed much of her anger about her uncle until she shows up for work at Calvary and discovers that her assistant’s daughter,  another one of Mac’s victims, ran into him in town…She goes to the lowly apartment complex where Mac now lives and bashes in the windows of his truck with a bat. (She either went Beyoncé from “Lemonade” or Negan from “The Walking Dead”  on him depending on your pop culture interests…) Mac comes running out and stares at his niece. He looks both hurt and indignant. He doesn’t say a word in this episode but something tells me he will have a lot to say in future episode…

Check out this scene from Season 2 Episode 3 “A Mother’s Love”

 

 

So I am finished and I am done…Y’all get that right…If not, Google it…

And that concludes my Greenleaf Season 2 Episode 3 recap!

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?