Tag Archives: Oprah Winfrey

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OWN ‘Greenleaf’ Season 5 Returns on June 23, Develops ‘Greenleaf’ Spin-Off!

Hello World,

Well, Hallelujah, touch your neighbor and pass the offering plate because OWN has FINALLY set a date for the return of “Greenleaf” — June 23 (9 p.m. EST)!!! In the words of another one of my favorite bishops (aside from Bishop Greenleaf), Bishop T. D. Jakes, Saints, Get Ready, Get Ready, Get Ready!!!

►Snippet◄ Get Ready Get Ready Get Ready ❃Bishop T D Jakes❃

I hope on the very first episode of Season 5, the final season, we finally learn who is the real AJ!!! Can I get a witness?!!! See the trailer below!!!

But that’s not the only news that OWN dropped!!!

OWN  is in development with Lionsgate on a spin-off of the network’s critically-acclaimed hit megachurch drama “Greenleaf” from award-winning creator and executive producer Craig Wright, according to a press release.  Check out the teaser below!!!

From the inception of “Greenleaf,” Wright and executive producer Oprah Winfrey envisioned that the story told by the Lionsgate and Harpo Films- produced series would span five seasons, with Wright contemplating a spin-off. These plans accelerated when fans expressed their support for the show after its final season was announced, reaffirming its passionate fan base.

“Greenleaf,” which originally premiered on OWN in June 2016, recently won the 2020 NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Drama Series,” and series star Lynn Whitfield was named Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for the second year in a row. The “Greenleaf” Soundtrack Volume Two was named Outstanding Gospel/Christian Album (Traditional or Contemporary) by the NAACP Image Awards in 2018. The series has also been recognized by the Alliance for Women in Media’s Gracie Allen Awards and by the Black Reel Awards for Television.

“Greenleaf” is produced for OWN by Lionsgate in association with Harpo Films and Pine City. Executive producers are Oprah Winfrey, Craig Wright, Clement Virgo, and Kriss Turner Towner.

Any thoughts?

 

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Greenleaf Finale Recap, Season 2 Episode 16: The Pearl…

Hello World,

You better lick your fingers and affix them to your edges cuz  OWN’s “Greenleaf”  was snatchin’ edges like a hot pressing comb to trembling flesh! Yaaas, it was a sizzling Season 2 Finale to say the least! So let’s get into this Greenleaf Finale Recap, Season 2 Episode 16: The Pearl…

Mother of Pearl…

My favorite “bad girl” of gospel Le’Andria Johnson starts the episode off crooning “Better days are coming.”…”Sometimes it feels cold and you feel all alone, but better days are coming.” Lady Mae is obviously reminiscing as she pulls out a newspaper clipping from when her deceased brother Uncle Mac won the Man of the Year Award earlier this year. (So I saw Uncle Mac aka GregAlan Williams at the Atlanta premiere of “A Question of Faith” on Monday night. He actually stars in the movie which comes out on Friday!”)

She also takes a look at a mysterious deed and a double strand of pearls. Meanwhile, Bishop is having Maricel move all of his suits from their bedroom to Jacob’s old suite! When Grace asks Maricel why is she moving his suits, she replies “Bishop told me to!”Also, behind Le’Andria is Charity singing background while Jabari watches.

Since it is finally time for the St. Josephine Society Debutante Cotillion that evening, Lady Mae gives the pearls to her granddaughters Zora and Sophia. “They were a double strand, but I had them separated so the two of you can share.” She then explains that a pearl is created when a parasite creeps into oyster. “Something painful and out of place turns into something beautiful.” She further explains how the kingdom of God is like a “pearl of great price.” (I loved the parable about the “Pearl of Great Price” as a child. I guess the precious jewelry motif communicated how precious it is to have a personal relationship with God.) I wonder if she thinks some precious healing can come from the death of her brother. After all, he was a parasite who crept into the Greenleaf gravy train where he found his victims.

The bonding moment is short-lived though as Isaiah’s car horn beeps from outside and Zora rushes out the door. Lady Mae correctly surmises that Isaiah isn’t the best of boyfriends, but that doesn’t matter to Zora, she tells Sophia. “The heart wants what it wants. Or else it does not care.” “Selena Gomez?” asks Sophia the millennial. “Emily Dickinson,” Lady Mae answers.

Lady Mae then calls her sister Mavis (Yes, Oprah finally shows up again!) and tells her she found their mother’s pearls and that she has the deed for Mavis’ club. “I think you still own it.” Remember Mac supposedly took her club from her to punish her for trying to out him as a child molester! Wearing a regal blue taffeta gown that cinches at the waist and flairs out and her hair swept up in a bun high atop her head, Lady Mae is ready for the cotillion!

But that doesn’t stop her from shutting down Kevin, yes, Kevin who has finally returned to the Greenleaf estate! “I came to apologize,” he says. “I was wrong to leave like that. I was having difficulty accepting who I am, and what I’ve done. But I’m ready to be a father again.” He asks her to tell Charity what he said, but she is not trying to hear his excuses. Still Kevin persists. “He’s my son, and I have rights.” Chile, Lady Mae asks Maricel to have Kevin’s car brought to the front of the estate so that he can leave. Kevin calls Aaron. “I’m going to need your help,” he tells him. I guess it’s official now. Kevin and Aaron are a thing…

Lucy Pearl…

It’s cotillion time! Time to get their dance on! But not before all of the preliminaries. The Greenleafs, all adorned in their finery, take family pictures and even Darius is included! And then Sofia and Zora, who are dressed in cotillion white and are escorted by Bishop and Jacob, respectively, are presented to society. Both girls boast grade point averages over 4.0! Then Bishop and Sofia and Zora and her father Jacob dance! Lady Mae, while standing next to Tasha Skanks, says, “Like a page in ‘Southern Decor.'” Remember that Tasha saw Lady Mae’s home in “Southern Decor” magazine and purchased artwork by the same artist whose artwork was also featured in Lady Mae’s home? Then Lady Mae says, “I’m so glad it worked out. It always does.” And then we see Tasha and Rochelle Cross exchange a look. Something is up between them for sure. Also, am I the only one who is wondering what happened to Bishop’s Parkinson’s Disease? He was moving with ease!

Speaking of Bishop, Rochelle slithers up to him and says, “Come dance with me. I was hoping for some quality time.” What woman says that to a married man whose wife is nearby?! When Bishop offers to spend time with her at Calvary i.e. in a professional setting, she makes her intentions crystal clear.  “I’m interested in a more personal connection. I have been since day one. Even a man of God is still a man.” Bishop wants her attention, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to draw attention to them in a public setting so he kind of thwarts her advances.

Rochelle goes back to Tasha and reveals the secret I’ve been wondering about since she showed up. “I told that brother of mine there is more than one way to skin a Greenleaf. I don’t care how we do it as long as it hurts bad.” And there you have it. Remember I said in a previous recap that the caretaker who died in that church fire started by Bishop was supposed to have a daughter not a son. Could it be that Rochelle is that daughter and Basie was the younger brother? Obviously, they are siblings…I know this is TV, but they don’t look alike at all, right?

Pearl Jam…

Once the presentations are done, Zora and Sophia are free to have fun or jam with their boyfriends on the dance floor. Jacob cannot help but smile as he watches his baby dance. He tells Kerissa that she should be able to hang out late for the evening, but he changes his tune once she tells him that she found a condom in their daughter’s room. Actually, Jacob’s mouth drops open. Although it may look like Zora and Isaiah better known to me as Gospel Chris Brown or Christian Breezy (what someone called him on Twitter LOL) are having a great time, they are actually bickering on the dance floor. Per usual, he storms off and Zora chases behind him. But this time, Sophia follows the two. She witnesses Isaiah hitting Zora and runs back to tell Jacob what happened! Jacob then runs up on Zora and Isaiah. After Jacob hits Isaiah, he says, “You better be happy I didn’t kill you boy.” Obviously, this is a spectacle in the middle of the cotillion. Then Zora runs off again and locks herself in the bathroom. Isaiah calls on her cell phone, apologizes yet again, promises never to hit her again and says, “Come away with me. I love you.”

The only family member who didn’t see the drama unfold at the cotillion is Charity who is on tour with Jabari and  Le’Andria, who replaced Tamela Mann for some reason. Anywho, after having an intimate dinner, Jabari and Charity are ready for more intimacy! The biblical kind. Yes, chile. With Alicia Keys and Maxwell singing “Fire We Make,” Jabari and Charity are in bed about to kindle a fire of their own. But she is stalls. First, she tells him, she has only been with Kevin. And then she tells him she had an emergency Caesarian section which left a scar. She hesitantly shows him the scar. He kisses the scar and says, “Charity, you’re beautiful.” What a hottie he is!

Pearlie Mae…

Now that the cotillion is over, Lady Mae has other business she wants to address that evening. Since she’s not coming home to Bishop, she probably has more free time. She goes to see her sister Mavis, who is packing. “You’re moving?” “I’ve got an offer from an investor to open a club in Stockholm. You know white folk love their blues,” Mavis replies.

Lady Mae wastes no time in telling her that she still owns the club, but Mavis tells her she doesn’t want the club anymore. Lady Mae says, “I want my sister back.” Mavis replies, “You can’t have me.” After telling her that she is her sister, Mavis says, “Sister. You don’t know what that word means.” She then tells Lady Mae to give the deed to Gigi. Honey, then Lady Male pulls out all of the stops. “I forgive you for James.” She explains to her sister that she knows about the one time that James and Mavis got together. “Is that what he told you? I can’t even count the times I threw your husband out of here.” Wow. “He never loved you. He just thought you was pretty.” Again, wow. Mavis says that James only wanted Lady Mae to build his church business. (Sadly, many churches are primarily businesses but that is not the case for all churches, thankfully. Just sayin’.) But you know my Lady Mae has the one-liners for eternity and back. ” I think what he chose is a wife so what does that make you.” Take that, take that!

Across town in the parsonage, Jacob and Kerissa have the blues too. “How do you want to handle this?” Kerissa asks Jacob the morning after the cotillion. Kerissa cannot understand why Zora, who was raised to have self-esteem, is accepting abuse from her boyfriend. “There is something inside of her that is broken or unfinished.” But Jacob tells her that his sister Faith had a boyfriend who treated her in a similar fashion and she accepted it too. Sooo…We know that Mac had a penchant for light-skinned young girls, but then again, Faith wasn’t very light-skinned. Could he have abused Zora in her formative years too?!!!

Jacob goes to Zora’s room to check on her, but quickly discovers the teenager is gone! They later discover that Isaiah is gone too!

Also the morning after, Lady Mae shows up at the Greenleaf estate. Grace comes down the stairs and asks, “Have you been out all night?” Apparently, she drove around all night long after her meeting with Mavis. Bishop also appears and Lady Mae says, “I want you out of this house. You told me it only happened one time!”

Bishop doesn’t even put up a fuss. “So be it,” he says. Lady Mae asks Maricel to bring her breakfast to the sunroom. Bishop leaves and goes to the Biltmore Hotel, the site of the cotillion, where he is welcomed into the open arms of Rochelle!

What a season! What a season finale! Are your edges intact?!! Check out a snippet of the fiery finale below!

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Finale Recap, Season 2 Episode 16: The Pearl 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 Mid-Season Finale Recap, Season 2 Episode 8: And the Sparks Fly Upward…

Hello World,

Saints, pull up real close to your laptops or your phones because I’m about to serve you from the sumptuous feast that was laid out in this OWN’s “Greenleaf” mid-season finale !!! And you gon be licking your fingers too because it was sooo juicy!!! Taste and see that the Lord is good! LOL

Crash…

Remember at the end of episode 7, last week’s episode, Grace sped off the Greenleaf estate in a Greenleaf security truck to chase down Mac after he boldly sent flowers to the estate in honor of the one-year anniversary of Faith’s passing? Well, this week’s episode starts off with Grace careening through the woods, pressing her foot on the gas until she loses control of the truck. The truck catapults into a tree and Grace’s face lands on the steering wheel with the air bag deployed. For a second, I wonder if she is dead. But I’m like the heroine of the show cannot be dead at this point. And as soon as I have this thought, she stirs and then wakes up, stunned to realize what happened. She crawls through the window and then calls Darius the journalist on her cell phone. (Am I the only one who thinks the truck was about to blow up? I guess I’ve seen one too many action movies! LOL!) I thought Darius and Grace were through, but obviously, I was wrong.

He takes her back to the estate, where he is enthralled by the grandeur of the Greenleaf home. I guess it’s one thing to write about the Greenleaf dynasty, but it’s quite another to see it up close. He tells the family that Grace was “lucky” to have survived to which Bishop responds with, “We don’t believe in luck.” Grace explains the accident by saying she swerved to avoid hitting a deer. Once Darius leaves, Bishop says, “If you ask me, I don’t  think that was any deer.” He tells his daughter that she has to stop pursuing Mac and Sophia tells her the same thing. Grace says, “We all have our crosses to bear.” Sophia says, “Then you are mine.” Can you imagine telling your mama that she is your cross to bear? I can’t…

When Charity and Jabari get together, it won’t be by accident! As Charity is caring for her son, Jabari calls to invite her to Nashville to record with a group that is coming in from L.A. Y’all know recording won’t be the only happening, right? She agrees to his invitation, but now she has to figure out who will take care of Nathan while she is away.

Before the Triumph train crashes, Jacob finally divulges Basie’s poker scam to his wife Kerissa. Kerissa calls Basie and his wife Tasha Bonnie and Clyde and says she should have known something was up when she found that one-hundred dollar bill on the floor. She tells him he’s got to get out of this situation, but whatever he does, he better not go “crawling back to that mansion and that sneering a** mom of yours.”

Macarena…

The “relationship” that Mac has with his girlfriend Lorraine is like a badly choreographed dance. It’s not free flowing or joyous. Everything he does or says is to squelch her women’s intuition which is trying to tell her that this man is no man at all. She’s living with a monster but she gon learn. The lies that some women tell themselves to keep a man is simply sad.  According to Mac, his niece Sophia is the one who is blowing up his phone all day and or all night although we know it is Michaela from his old building. Lorraine says, “What kind of niece calls her uncle so often?” He says, “I like to be there for her if she needs me.” She then admits that she knows what people are saying about Mac, but she doesn’t believe them. She tells him she loves him. Dumbo.

Outside of whatever church the couple are attending, he calls Michaela to tell her she needs to stop calling him. Michaela says her mother has gone schizo, and she needs a place to crash. “I don’t have anyone else,” she says. But Mac still shuts her down for now.

Charity looks like she is ready to get her dance on at the club although she is singing at Sunday morning worship service. Her dress is fitted and short. Kevin notices,  but that doesn’t stop him from glancing at Aaron during the church service.

Across town at Triumph, Basie Skanks listens to his headphones, dancing around and what not in his office before his Sunday morning service starts. He is trying to get pumped as he wants to make a “withdrawal from the banks of Heaven” he tells Jacob, who catches him while he is dancing. Yes, he expects his flock to make up for the funds he lost in poker. He is a delusional shepherd. In service, he tells them to admit they’re “in sin” and they need to “dig deep” and “sow a seed of faith.” Then he says, they got “skanktafied.” See what I mean?

Back at Calvary, Bishop tells his flock that while he could preach about the wages of sin, he wants to talk about the gift on the other side of the equation. “To sin means to turn away, but to repent means to turn back.” I know that Bishop is no angel, but unlike Basie, I really believe that Bishop believes in the power of God even if his humanity fails him from to time. Grace looks at her father as if she wants to repent of trying to avenge the death of her sister on her own instead of leaving the vengeance to God as He commands. But she doesn’t know how it seems.

Kevin agrees to care for his son while Charity goes to Nashville and she says he can stay at the estate while she is gone. Little does she know that while she has to travel across the state to see her soon-t0-be new bae, her husband’s soon-to-be new bae will be just down the hall from her. She may as well be “dancing the dark.”

The dance between Mac and his age-appropriate beard abruptly, and I mean abruptly stops when he gets a call from Deputy Mayor Leonard who says he will not be getting a job for him after all with his “sick self” because of pushback he has already received. He delivers the final blow when he says, “Lose my number.” Mac believes Grace got to the deputy mayor when Jacob was the one who threatened him. When Lorraine asks him who was on the phone, instead of lying as he had in the past, he says, “None of your business.” He then proceeds to call her everything (including “bottom-shelf” and “off-brand” ) but a child of God before telling her to get out! And the woman didn’t want to go although she did leave. Smh. He then calls Michaela and asks, “You still need a place to stay?” I guess since he has no job prospects, he has nothing to lose by revealing his true character.

If Zora and her boyfriend Isaiah were dancing to “Cha Cha,” the music has stopped . He invites her to listen to him record a song at a studio, but when she truthfully tells him that a couple of his notes were flat in front his friends, he asks to speak with her privately. He clutches her arms and tells her, “Don’t do that in front of them.” It’s obvious this guy may be an abuser so Zora calls her cousin to pick her up. The only problem is that Sophia is supposed to be on the way to meet her mother and Darius at a restaurant.

Karma…

Basie feels betrayed when Jacob comes to him and offers to pay Triumph 2’s debt if Basie would allow him to have the church and disassociate it from the original Triumph. When Basie asks how he is going to get the money, he says he has the money as it was a wedding present from his parents. Yes, Jacob had the trump (not Drumpf) card all along. He says Basie is playing a dangerous game with Triumph’s church members. “If you mess with black people’s money, they will rise up and take it back.” Got that right! I despise a money-grubbing, dishonest pastor. I’m so thankful that I was raised by an honest and upright, God-fearing pastor.

At Mac’s apartment, Michaela gets comfortable on his sofa as Mac pours two glasses of liquor before they watch “Imitation of Life.” Darius and Grace wait for her daughter to show up to meet them for dinner at Farm & Table. Michaela and Sophia do have similar looks, and it’s clear that Sophia could have been one of Mac’s victims if Grace had allowed him to get anywhere close to her daughter. I’m so creeped out as I watch Mac touch Michaela’s hair as she sleeps. Then he touches her knee and continues to move his hands upward. He attempts to kiss the child when she wakes up and kicks at him until she is able to escape his grip. Thankfully, she runs out the apartment.

After tucking in Nathan, Kevin takes the baby monitor to Aaron’s quarters where he and Aaron kick back and have a beer. Aaron gives him advice on finding a place since Nathan can’t seem to find anywhere to rent. Kevin tells Aaron, “Thanks for being so nice to me through all this.” Their arms are already touching and then they kiss! After this, Kevin may find a way to keep living at the estate.

Mac the monster calls Grace and tells her, “You should have left it alone, Gigi.” Grace leaves the restaurant and rushes over to Mac’s house. She believes her uncle has done something to Sophia to retaliate against her although she doesn’t quite know what her uncle is talking about. He calls his niece a female dog and their limbs entangle as they fight. They fall to the floor and Mac lands on top of his niece. With his sweaty, contorted face close to hers, he grabs her throat and squeezes. For the second time, I wonder if the heroine is about to die. But just before the life is squeezed from her, she finds a piece of the broken liquor bottle and sinks the shard into his neck! As the blood gushes from his wound, she screams, “Tell me where she is!” Mac got what was coming to him, but if he is dead, what will happen to Grace?! See why God says, vengeance is mine…

And then it’s over! Wasn’t that good? Are you satisfied or do you want more?!  I guess we will have to see what happens when OWN’s “Greenleaf” returns this summer!

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Mid-Season Finale Recap, Season 2 Episode 8 and my other recaps so far.

Check out a snippet from “And the Sparks Fly Upward” below…

Any thoughts?

If you would like to keep up with OWN’s “Greenleaf,” and my recaps, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂!