Tag Archives: Sophia Greenleaf

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Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 7: That Was Then…

Hello World,

Tonight’s episode was one of those turning point episodes and was aptly titled “That Was Then” so keep reading for this Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 7: That Was Then…

We’ve Only Just Begun…

The episode begins with Grace reading about the Coralie Hunter murder case on her computer as she is planning to take on the case with the newly created legal defense fund for victims of domestic violence. She takes in some gory images that must have been sent to her by Darius. Photographs with blood strewn about the bed like red paint had been spilled. A bloody hammer was the focus of another one of the photographs. The blood and gore take her back to the night she squared off with uncle in a fight for her very life. She recalls the cracked bottle that she used to sink into his neck, which proved to be a fatal blow. Her daughter Sophia interrupts her thankfully, taking her away from that dark place in her memory. But Sophia is still smarting from being told she is sterile. She wants her mother to tell a pastor at Calvary that she is done teaching the Little Saints class. “I’m never going to talk to them like I used to,” Sophia says. This is a new phase in Sophia’s life, a phase that calls for her to believe in the goodness of God even though her current experience doesn’t feel good. This is not easy.

This is also a new phase in Zora’s life. It’s her 18th birthday! Lest Zora believe that her Bible reading will be postponed for the next day, Lady Mae tells her they will have less time with the text in light of her birthday breakfast but their reading will still be done. Also, to help her celebrate her birthday, Jacob & Kerissa have been invited to breakfast. Kerissa tries to give Zora tickets to a Broadway musical that they can attend together, but Lady Mae says she is not allowed to go because it’s past her curfew! “Actions have consequences,” Lady Mae says in front of Zora’s parents.

Charity and Bishop share a tender moment in her suite. Since Charity doesn’t leave her room very much at this point, Bishop updates her on the goings-on in the estate including that Lady Mae has Zora on a 7 p.m. lockdown even on her birthday! Charity says, “When is she going to get herself together?” in reference to her wayward niece. Bishop responds, “When are you?” Charity changes the subject and asks him when he is leaving, but Bishop doesn’t get offended. Instead he tells her that he misses her. While they hug, she says, “I’m gonna miss you too.”

Plans have begun for “A Day With Lady Mae” but Maxine’s assistant Gloria doesn’t believe the space at the Templeton hotel will be big enough. Karine, Bishop and Lady Mae’s assistant, clearly doesn’t like Gloria (I guess it’s because they are both assistants.), but she agrees that with Maxine Patterson, maybe a bigger venue is needed. Gloria suggests that “A Day With Lady Mae” should be held at Calvary. Lady Mae and Karine like the idea as well. However, Karine checks Bishop’s schedule and as it turns out he will be hosting a “Silver Jubilee” on the same day. Karine worries about having to run the idea of having Lady Mae’s event at Calvary instead of off-site by Bishop. Lady Mae responds by saying, “Let me caution you about overvaluing Bishop’s opinion in this time of rapid evolution.” That woman stays speaking in poetry, doesn’t she?

To make matters worse, Lady Mae tries to enlist Grace’s help in meeting with the Boys & Girls Club of Memphis. She wants this organization to be involved somehow with “A Day With Lady Mae,” but her daughter tells her she cannot meet with the organization’s representative. Instead, she has a meeting scheduled with Coralie Hunter. Lady Mae refers to her as a “murderess” and a “tawdry woman who bludgeoned her husband to death with a hammer while he was sleeping.” She is incensed that Grace is choosing Coralie over the “flagship event for the church” and accuses her of doing so out of “sadism and spite.” Calling her mother’s event a “pep rally” and with sarcasm, Grace says, “You understand me perfectly.” Lady Mae says, “You don’t understand me at all.” Somehow and in some way, these two need to begin their relationship again…

Shake It Off…

From his office, Bishop places a call to his friend, Percy Lee Thompson, the funeral home owner. Just like his name suggests, the man is country. When Percy realizes it is his friend not a business call, he says, “When you call, use your cell phone. You had me talking like white folks for nothing.” Bwaaahhaaa! For my white readers, some black people do change how they speak when they are talking to people of different races…

But before the men can continue their conversation, Lady Mae comes into her soon-to-be ex-husband’s office. Lady Mae tells Bishop that their daughter is sponsoring a murderess like she is a child from Africa! “Is this good pr?” she asks. Behind them is this magnificent cross metal sculpture that is embedded in the wall, but I digress. Speaking of cross, Bishop tells Lady Mae that Rochelle Cross is advising him to invest in crytocurrency and this is how he will get the money to pay the IRS. However, he needs more money than what is in his personal account. He also wants to take money from their shared account. Calling her a “strumpet with a bad reputation,” Lady Mae cautions Bishop about accepting her financial advice. “She’s broken our family in half. Do you have to let her take our money too?” She compares him to the old foolish king in Ecclesiastes 4:13. “Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning.” Lady Mae knows how to rightly divide the word, right?! He needs to shake off Rochelle some kind of way. That’s for sure.

Grace goes to the jail to meet Coralie Hunter, but before she is able to do, the Memphis DA, who I presume is there on official business, stops her. He reminds her that he elected not to try her for manslaughter and warns her not to help Ms. Hunter. “Coralie Hunter is no victim.” She tells him that Ms. Hunter was abused by her husband. He responds with, “There is no shred of admissible evidence that he ever abused her. That pond you are about to step into is deeper than you think.” What does he mean by that? Once Grace is allowed inside of inner sanctum of the jail to actually see Coralie Hunter, she is reminded that the jail is where she could have easily been after what happened with Uncle Mac. She can’t shake those feelings off. Ms. Hunter notices Grace’s demeanor and Grace says, “I was once very close to sitting where you are.” She explains exactly what happened to Grace and how murdering her husband was self defense.

Now we discover why Bishop called Percy. Percy reaches out to Charity after a singer cancelled on singing at a memorial service for a dearly departed grandmother to be held at his funeral home. All he has at this point is “prerecorded music and Spotify.” With an open bottle of something next to her, Charity hesitantly agrees. But once she is there and singing for the grieving relatives, it’s clear that she is in her element. Awww, that was sweet of Bishop — getting his daughter out of the house and singing, what she was born to do.

Across town at Triumph, Jacob and Kerissa are still in disagreement about Zora being discipled and disciplined by Lady Mae. Kerissa thinks Lady Mae is just too strict. Jacob asks, “Isn’t being strict your whole brand?” Kerissa says, “If she knew what she was doing, it wouldn’t have taken me 20 years to get you to straighten up and fly right!” And this line was the best line of the episode. In that once sentence, we now know why Zora is willing to accept abuse. Her own mother did and for 20 years. No, it wasn’t physical abuse, but the end result is still the same. Her mother allowed herself to be devalued. Why should she be any different? Jacob is mad that his wife cannot shake the memories of who he used to be and discusses the matter with Tasha Skanks. As expected, she sympathizes and says she wasn’t always First Lady material and that she used to get her swerve on on Saturday nights and come to church the next morning. And instead of proving that they have changed, the two kiss! We all saw this coming…The thing is I feel like Tasha is truly feeling Jacob but at same time, her last name aine Skanks for nothing! Shake Tasha off Jacob!!!

And back at Calvary, Karine tries to get Bishop to sign some papers. I think she hopes he doesn’t pay attention to what he is signing, but he does. He sees that additional security will be needed to secure “A Day With Lady Mae” to be held at Calvary. He confronts Lady Mae about the additional security and the change of venue. Lady Mae explains that with Maxine Patterson more security and space is a must. He agrees but reminds of their deal. Once “A Day With Lady Mae” is over Lady Mae must leave the building. Lady Mae says, “As for me and my future plans, I will go where the Lord leads me to go.” In other words, she aine going nowhere but Bishop is in her sanctified imagination. Bishop and Lady Mae just can’t shake off where they are in their marriage.

Bye Bye Bye…

Darius and Grace discuss her conversation with the DA. “This DA is going to use my story against her and me.” Darius says she need not worry. “That was self-defense too, right?” She flashes back to the moment Grace could have called someone to save Mac who was bleeding his life out of his neck. “I’m not going to call anybody till you tell me where my daughter is.” Self-defense? Hmmm….Will Grace have to go bye bye bye during season for the death of her Uncle Mac? She returns to the jail to tell Coralie that she is going to bail her out of jail! Coralie is astonished at her generosity. Grace says, “You should have more faith.”

I want to say “Boy Bye” when Bishop meets with Rochelle Cross. He tells her that he has more money to invest. “I trust you and your expertise.” And then they both drink something! Is Bishop actually drinking liquor, and brown likka at that, in the house of God? Where dey do dat at? Lady Mae later discovers that Bishop has emptied their shared account! He assures her that their account will be full again in two weeks. She told him NOT to take money from their account. And now he must say good-bye. “You will leave tonight and this time, you will take every last tie and purple robe and gaudy knickknack!” LOL. Bishop goes to stay with Percy the undertaker at his funeral home, which makes sense because it represents the ultimate death of Bishop’s marriage.

In another part of the house, Sophia is trying to find a way to say good-bye to her faith. She literally tears out sheets from the Bible her grandfather gave her and flushes them down the toilet. “The Bible is all lies,” she says. At the same time, she is crying hysterically when Grace finds her. She wants to flush her faith down the toilet, but she can’t forget how her faith in God made her feel. “I don’t want to love someone who treats me this badly.” (Tell that to Zora.) “Why won’t He just let me go?” Because that’s how God is. Chile, there have been times that I’ve been so mad with God, I just want to shut Him out but where else is there to go but to God, particularly when you’re heartbroken?! Sophia is starting to realize that, but she doesn’t want to. God help her.

Meanwhile, Jacob wants to forget his dalliance with Tasha, but he cannot say good-bye to his guilt just like that. Instead, he tries to make amends somehow, telling Kerissa that Zora can home after all. Kerissa is elated because now that her daughter is 18, she realizes that their parental control is coming to an end. She also apologizes for bringing up Jacob’s past.

But before Zora’s parents can tell her that they are taking her home, Zora decides to emancipate herself from her grandmother’s jail, Lady Mae refers to it as a “grand escape,” now that she is 18 years old! That’s is what she meant when she said, it won’t be much longer in a previous episode. Right in front of Lady Mae, she packs her things and flies out of the Greenleaf home where Christian Breezy aka Isaiah is waiting for her in a black BMW jeep! Bye Bye Bye Zora 🙁

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 7: That Was Then 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 🙂!

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Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 6: She Changes Everything…

Hello World,

Although OWN’s “Greenleaf” had a bye week last week, they got right back in the game with this week’s episode so keep reading for my Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 6: She Changes Everything…

Since I used an NFL term (bye week), one might expect that I would continue on the theme of male empowerment as depicted by sports, but I’m a switch hitter (baseball reference) because this episode was all about female empowerment and how women are changing the game! As least that is what Lady Mae would like to do, but more on that later…

Alright, let’s go…

She’s a Bad Mama Jama…

Lady Mae comes down the stairs with a revised proposal of what she and Bishop will say to the congregation about their divorce. “Oh the long awaited rewrite,” Bishop says. “I’ve printed it in large print so that you can read it on Sunday.” That was low-key shade although you’re supposed to print a speech in big letters so that you can see the words without straining. Y’all know Lady Mae has no problem with shade. She is the ultimate bad mama jama. Bishop notices that there is “nothing about saying good-bye” in the speech. Lady Mae says she has come to the conclusion that she is staying. Bishop and Lady Mae exchange more words before Lady Mae screams, “I will be praying for you.” If you have to scream that you will be praying for someone, maybe you shouldn’t…

Instead of a bad mama jama, Charity is a bad mama right now. She is face down on her coach passed out while her son Nathan is screaming his head off. It’s so loud that Lady Mae and Marisol, holding Nathan, confront her. Lady Mae says that Marisol heard the child over the dryer in another part of the house. After asking Charity if she is under the influence, she says, “I’m going to take this pharmacy of yours and throw it in the toilet.” And then she gets gully with it. “Don’t put me in the position where I have to agree with Kevin,” Lady Mae says. “On what?” Charity asks. “Your fitness as a mother.” Wow.

It seems that not even Sophia’s mother can comfort her daughter right now. And even Zora in all of her self-centered stupidity realizes it. She goes to Sophia’s room and apologizes for how she treated her cousin just before she was taken to the emergency room. “I didn’t know you were really sick.” Sophia says, “I forgive you. Now go to hell!” Yeah, she’s mad…”You made a joke about me getting pregnant,” Sophia says. “I don’t want an apology from anyone like you.” Was that Sophia’s way of calling her cousin a heathen?!

Grace is able to distract herself a bit from her daughter’s woes when her man Darius calls. He asks her is the legal defense fund she has created up and running as woman who was apparently abused has now killed her husband.

Speaking of husbands, Rochelle is still trying to steal Lady Mae’s soon-to-be ex-husband. Rochelle meets with Bishop at his office and says she can help him with his tax bill. After telling him about crytocurrency, she says, “People are getting rich quick.” “Can we?” Bishop asks.

Also now in her office as well, Lady Mae calls home to check on Charity. After Marisol informs Lady Mae that Charity is still on her sofa, she tells Marisol to have the power turned off in her suite. That should wake her up! But Lady Mae, like Bishop, also has a guest to entertain in her office. Maxine Patterson shows up at Calvary to much fanfare. After Maxine promises everyone that she will sign autographs and take pictures later, the two, called “sister warriors” by Lady Mae’s starstruck assistant Karine, retire to Lady Mae’s office.

Bishop and Rochelle come out of his office due to all of the hubbub. Rochelle says, “I wonder what Mae’s up to?” (Why does she feel comfortable calling her Mae rather than Lady Mae?) Bishop replies, “The devil only knows.”

Minutes later, Rochelle meets with Grace and Darius. Darius tells Rochelle about the abused woman who finally killed her husband, but all Rochelle can do is gawk at Darius right in front of his girlfriend! “Is that a custom shirt? It fits you so well.” Rather than be straight up offended, Grace is kind of amused by it probably it confirms something she already knows: Rochelle cannot be trusted. She has to keep an eye on her.

Meanwhile, back in Lady Mae’s office, their two assistants agree on a date that Maxine will speak at Calvary. But then, Lady Mae tells the two assistants to leave as a private matter needs to be discussed. Lady Mae tells her about Charity. Maxine says, “I know a soul doctor.” “But is she discreet?” Lady Mae asks. “No, but that’s not her gift.” LOL

She Wolf…

I am so through with Zora!!! The girl took Marisol’s cell phone from her purse to call Christian Breezy aka Isaiah. She played nice with her grandmother Lady Mae when she first came to stay with her at the estate, but now, she is acting like she was raised by a pack of wolves. After Lady Mae reminds her of the rules (no computer and no phone and no talking to that boy) Lady Mae rightly calls her out for her disrespect and Zora responds with, “I hate it here.” Lady Mae says, “What you hate is yourself.” Exactly. Any girl that would continue to be with a boy who beats and disrespects her on some level hates herself! Zora calls her mother Kerissa to tell her that she wants to come home, but Jacob vetoes that request.

Meanwhile in another part of the house, the Iyanla Vanzant (who is playing herself), Maxine Patterson’s soul doctor,  is also attempting to have a breakthough with Charity who looks like she was raised by wolves at this point – hair and eyes all wild… She asks her, “Why take painkillers? All I see is pain” with her trademark term of endearment “Beloved.” (Why is it that every time I hear her use this term, I want to laugh? It’s not right, but I know it’s okay! LOL. Y’all pray for me.).

Charity tells her that “no one cares about me.” Iyanla asks her “Did you embarrass yourself by marrying a man who is gay?” “He hid it from me,” she replies. “I find it hard to believe that he was able to hide a secret that big!” Iyanla says. Say that, Iyanla! I knew from the the first episode of “Greenleaf” that Kevin was gay! Charity goes on to tell her that she married Kevin because he made her feel safe in her home. Iyanla asks, “What would it take for you to feel safe and wanted?” I bet Iyanla helped to write her lines, don’t you?

And yet in another part of estate, Sophia is still in pain (and she will be for quite some time). It must feel like she’s been thrown to the wolves after learning that she is sterile in the last episode. I still find it harsh that the writers feel it necessary to put her through so much. But her boyfriend Roberto is trying to help her through it. He brings a pink teddy bear to her in her bedroom. Still in her pajamas, she says, “Sorry I’m such a buzzkill.” He says, “Want to pray about it?” Sophia responds with, “Not really.” She is feeling sorry for herself and says, “I will never have kids, and I have to take hormones for the rest of my life. He did this.” I’m a bit surprised that she shared all of the details with her boyfriend. I thought she would have kept some of the details to herself, but it’s good that she shared all of it with him. He’s pretty mature for a teenage boy as he is trying to be there for her when it seems that many teenage boys would have have just stopped seeing her. He tells her that the Bible is full of women who were barren but later had kids. She yells, “I’m not barren. I’m sterile.” Aren’t they pretty much the same thing?

Minutes later, Sophia asks her mother to take her place on Sunday and teach her Little Saints class. “How can I stand there and tell them that God is good when He isn’t?” She says that her mother shouldn’t be concerned that she won’t be in church on Sunday. “You quit going for 20 years!”

Everything She Wants…

Bishop and Lady Mae seem to have finally made peace with the fact that their marriage is over as they calmly discuss the statement they will be making come Sunday morning. Still, Bishop tells her to make sure that she adds a farewell because “there won’t be another chance to say it.” Has he met his soon-to-be ex-wife before? She always gets everything she wants…But in this moment, she doesn’t cause a ruckus as the two plan to meet with Iyanla and Charity before they go to church.

Iyanla encourages Charity to share her truth with her parents. “When I was growing up, I felt scared.” Y’all, I thought she was going to follow up that with she was also molested by Uncle Mac! But she said she felt like Faith and Grace were scared too. Then she says she didn’t tell her mother because “I knew you didn’t want to hear it. That scared me even more.” Lady Mae starts to get upset now because it’s evident that Charity has disclosed all of the Greenleaf’s business! And instead of hearing and trying to understand Charity’s pain, she tells her that she needs to get a “backbone.” She tells her that her childhood wasn’t perfect (i.e. she was molested by her father), but “I’ve never blamed my mother for any of it.” Wow, Lady Mae, it always comes back to you. Lady Mae should have blamed her mother to some degree. Lady Mae says, “The world is scary, but don’t look at me. You fix it. That’s how Jesus works not me.”  Lady Mae is a woman in denial and expects everyone else to play along…That’s how Satan works, Lady Mae. So it looks like if Charity wants to get some healing, Lady Mae is not truly going to help…

After this meeting and before church, Bishop says to Lady Mae, “You can have the house. I will take care of the IRS bill, but you have to leave the church.” Surprisingly, she agrees with one stipulation. “I want ‘A Day With Lady Mae.'” (I guess this is a Women’s Service of some sort) Bishop agrees but tells her that after that she has to move on.

At church, Zora is still intent on getting everything she wants and calls that boy while she is in someone’s office. That child is off the rails.

After Charity sings about the “Balm in Gilead,” Bishop, who is in royal blue, and Lady Mae, who is in continuous black,” announce that they have some “news to share. We’re only human and we’ve never claimed to be anything but. We’re divorcing.” Gasps can be heard from all points of the sanctuary, but Bishop continues. “Some of you may ask, ‘Have they prayed about it? Have they tried to work it out? We did. We have.”

Lady Mae goes on to tell the church that she will be still hosting ‘A Day With Lady Mae” and her special guest will be Maxine Patterson, who is in the audience. The theme of the all-day seminar will be “She Changes Everything.”

After the service, Grace walks out in the hallway and hears the chatter about the announcement. Among the statements that she overhears is “I can’t have a pastor who is divorced.” Outside in the parking lot, Maxine shares her plan with Lady Mae. It is one of Sankofa. “We’re reaching back and picking up what you dropped.” In other words, Maxine hopes to help Lady Mae take over Calvary, but she also has a Plan B if Plan A doesn’t work. “We will march up the road and plant a new one.”

Will Lady Mae get everything she wants?

There She Goes…

Instead of thanking Iyanla for getting through to Charity, Lady Mae tells her that she didn’t appreciate being “bushwhacked.” Iyanla points that it was her daughter’s truth. Lady Mae says Iyanla made it seem like her problems were all of her fault. There Lady Mae goes again…deflecting like the devil wants her to… She points that she is already blamed by her eldest daughter but she won’t be blamed by her youngest daughter. And there you have it. Why Lady Mae cannot stand Grace. Grace calls her mother out on her issues. Iyanla sees through the smoke screen and says she can come to her when she is ready to deal with her own pain.

Grace tells Sofia what happened in church and Sofia says she knew something was up because everyone was blowing up her phone all day. Then Grace tells her that although she didn’t go to church, she is going to have to come back. But Sophia sets her straight. “I’m not going to church ever again. “

She goes outside to the pier and throws her chain (I think she received it when she was baptized.) in the lake. And there she goes. Walking away from God. Not Good. But I understand.

Any thoughts?

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 6: She Changes Everything 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 🙂!

 

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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?

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