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Tina’s Destiny : Mary Mary Season 4, Episode 8 Recap…

marymaryHello World,

In last week’s episode of Mary Mary’s reality show, Tina was still tripping about Erica wanting to do her own thang but unlike in previous episodes none of Tina’s huffing and puffing could blow Erica’s solo plans… and the Marys couldn’t really avoid each other because they were confined to a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean…

Warryn’s Birthday Bash

This week’s episode begins with the final preparations being made for a birthday party for Warryn, Erica’s husband…As the party was being set up outside, the wind knocked the cake that had been placed on a table to the ground, leaving Erica’s sister Goo to find another cake just an hour before the party…But a while later, everything is set up, Goo was able to find an even better cake that than the first one and people are enjoying themselves, eating, laughing and all of that. Warryn and Erica’s daughter Krista sings a sweet song to her father for his birthday. In the midst of this, Erica and Warryn suddenly realize that Tina & Teddy are M.I.A. (Missing In Action).

Tina & Teddy

Guess where Tina & Teddy are? They are in the studio with Grammy Award-winning producer Aaron Lindsey. Although Tina is grumbling about being forced to embark on a solo career, she starts to move forward and decides to meet with Lindsey to help her with a new song. Erica calls her sister during the session and asks her why she and Teddy are not at the party. It is only then that Tina realizes that she scheduled her studio session on the same day as her brother-in-law’s birthday party. Instead of dropping everything and heading to the party, Tina tells her sister she is going to stay in the studio and learned to be that way from Erica as Erica missed other family events in the past due to her career. “You pushed me out of Mary Mary,” she declares.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Honey Atkins

Honey Atkins

It is now time for the Marys’ last show in St. Louis. The only problem is that Honey, Erica and Tina’s mother, who happens to be joining them for this performance has no idea what’s been going on with her feuding daughters…Erica, who has gotten sick of Tina’s constant testifying, has some advice for his sister about their final show. “Steer clear of the stabbing and murdering…Stick to the victorious part of your testimony.” And y’all know Tina…She’s not bowing down to anyone. “My life is my life. If you have a problem with that, then you are just going to have a problem.” Prior to the show, Mary Mary is interviewed on “Afternoons on 11” on KPLR in St. Louis about their final show and Erica’s solo album. During the interview, Tina sounds like she is also excited about pursuing a solo career, but Erica wonders if “Interview Tina” is the real Tina…Time will tell…

Cry Together

Back in the hotel room, Erica starts talking about the show and lets it slip that their St. Louis show is Mary Mary’s last show…Honey blurts out, “I didn’t know. Oh my God. You’re about to make me cry.” Erica explains that Tina has a lot going on with her book, a solo album, an R&B album with Teddy, etc. and that she has a lot going on too. “I’ve been overwhelmed and overworked, and I want to focus on me for once.” Shortly after, Tina comes into the room and gets mad at her sister. “Why you got Mommy crying, dummy?” Goo starts tearing up too and admits that she doesn’t like the news either. In spite of the tears and name calling, Erica is not moved. “I know it’s a hard pill to swallow for my family, but I’m not backing down.” Well, she said that!

Solo Sound Check

Although Honey is sad about the news that her daughters are splitting up their group, she comes to the sound check to get a preview of the final performance. Instead of being a sound check for Mary Mary, however, Tina dominates the sound check and Honey gets to hear Tina’s solo music. Tina begins to sing her new song “Destiny.” Although it is just a sound check, Honey stands with one arm in the air, swaying, like she is a member of an audience, instead of nearly standing alone among empty chairs. “If that don’t reach somebody and touch somebody, I don’t know. They wasn’t listening.” After listening to Tina , Honey begins to change her mind about her daughters’ solo music. “What she dealt with, what she overcame, the world needs to know that.” But Goo worries that if Tina and Erica become strictly solo artists, the music industry will cause them to compete with each other…Goo has a point…Prayerfully, that won’t be the case…

The Show

The time for the last Mary Mary show has finally arrived…Although Tina is late, she does up and it’s show time…Before her performance, Tina testifies as you know she would about struggling with unfaithfulness in her marriage and explains how the song “Destiny” came to be….And then she sings…”I’ve got a destination in my view. The road may be bumpy there, but I’m pressing through.” The humbled resolve in her lyrics is so compelling that even Erica realizes that she was wrong to try to censor her sister’s testimony. “I take back everything I said.” Although Honey saw Tina sing the song in the sound check, she is touched again. “Her attitude. Her disposition. She is a new person.”

Cancer Schmancer

During last week’s episode, Erica gets a mammogram and is told that she needs to go back to the doctor’s office for further testing. As her family has a history of cancer, she is justifiably concerned. After she gets home back in L.A. after the St. Louis concert, she finally hears back from the doctor. Her doctor tells her there was a mix up at the lab, and the results of her test were actually negative. Praise God for sure, but what is going on at that lab that allowed test results to be mixed up??!! You can’t play with people’s lives like that…Still Warryn is so relieved and happy, he decides he will check out Erica’s lady lumps for himself now that the doctor is done with them….LOL…

Reunited

No, Mary Mary didn’t decide to reunite but Tina may be reuniting with Mitch. Yes, that Mitch. The Mitch that Mary Mary fired and the Mitch that sued them…She meets him at a restaurant and tells him about her plans about recording a solo album…Apparently, she has already written 12 songs although she wasn’t originally planning to be a solo artist. “All of these songs started coming to me.” Mitch is excited for her and says, “You are one of the biggest stars I’ll ever meet in my life even though you don’t care about being a star.” That is a poignant and incredibly sweet statement. Maybe Tina’s destiny is to be a solo star…And maybe Mitch can be forgiven….Jesus does tell us to forgive seventy times seven times sooo maybe Mitch can be forgiven…Maybe…

Will Mary Mary stay apart? Will Mitch reunite with Tina?

Hopefully, these questons will be answered in next week’s episode because that’s all I’ve got for this week 🙂

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

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Erica Gets a Backbone : Mary Mary Season 4, Episode 7 Recap…

 

marymaryHello World,

As many Christians know, 7 is the number of completion so as it is the 7th episode of Season 4 of Mary Mary reality’s show, one would expect something to be completed in this week’s episode…Was something completed? Of course, you have to read on to find out 🙂

white dressSo this week’s episode starts in the studio, Tina and her husband Teddy along with Warryn, producer for Mary Mary and Erica Campbell as well as Erica’s husband (for those new to the show), are discussing Tina making a solo album…Aside: I noticed that Tina was wearing a red dress that showed a lot of cleavage…Remember when Erica Campbell wore that white form-fitting dress in a promo shoot for her solo album and was giving major body although she was fully covered? The thing is that Mary Mary have been outside of the gospel music box since jump, and I think that attitude comes out in everything they do from their clothing choices to their reality show…So my question is: Do you think that Christian women should feel comfortable showing their cleavage OR showing off their curves even if they are fully clothed? Okay, so back to the recap…

Studio Scheming…

So while Tina is talking about potentially making music of her own, Warryn is getting excited because he secretly hopes that if Tina starts working on her own music, she won’t focus on Mary Mary… Warryn says, “I need Tina to focus on her solo career and stop worrying about Mary Mary because that will help all of us.” In other words, Erica can continue to work on promoting her solo brand without having to consider Mary Mary…But just when he thinks  his secret plan is working, he realizes he is foiled again when he asks her if she has definite plans for an album and she can’t answer the question….

Speaking of Breasts… pink ribbon

It’s that time of the year that women of a certain age dread…It’s time for Erica to have a mammogram and she is scared….”Warryn beat cancer five years ago, and my father died of cancer,” Erica says to her friend, Yvette, who comes to the doctor with her….Apparently, Yvette has battled cancer three or four times…I so understand that fear…Having lost two of my sorority sisters because of breast cancer, I know, if I don’t know anything else, that breast cancer is no joke…But I’m proud of Erica for not letting her fear immobilize her and that she reached out to her friend to support her in taking of herself…

The “No Love” Boat…

Erica

Erica has no time to worry about the results of her mammogram because Mary Mary has a gig on a Costa Rican cruise…Tina booked the Marys to perform on the cruise and sees the cruise as a way for them to have a vacation with their hubbies AND perform…Warryn & Erica don’t see it the same way…”A cruise ship is where acts go to die,” Warryn says…

Tina

Tina is tranquil for a hot second before she realizes that her room is right by the elevator which could make her an easy target for fans…But before she gets in somebody’s face about it and threatens to leave the boat as the “Old Tina” would do, she simply asks to be moved to a different room without a lot of drama…A round of applause for her self-control…

Erica

Warryn & Erica are still grumbling about even being on the boat in the first place as they discuss the situation in their room…Warryn is pressuring Erica to finally stand up to her sister and let her know that she wants to focus on her solo career not Mary Mary…”If this was Tina, she would do whatever suited her,” he says…

Tina

A few minutes later, at least in TV time, we find out that Tina & Warryn have gotten a new room…Hallelujah, Tina didn’t have to tear the club up to get a new room…While in their new more private room, Teddy and Tina have a FaceTime conversation with their daughter Laiah, who is dressed in a cheerleading outfit and ready to cheer! Tina yells, “Put somethin’ on it!!! Some hot sauce!!!” See that’s why Tina has that red hair…She know she’s fiery like some hot sauce…I had another philosophical question while watching tonight’s episode….I wonder what it’s like to have parents that travel all of the time? My parents were home all of the time…Shoot, I wished they traveled back then so I could have some time away from them…So anyway, I have no idea what it would be like to be a kid and be away from your parents on a somewhat regular basis…

Erica

While Erica is away from her husband, she gets a call from her doctor’s office…I really hate when the doctor’s office calls…Don’t you? The cliche’ “no news is good news” must have been said originally by someone who was glad the doctor’s office hadn’t called…And unfortunately, Erica is told some bad news…The test results are inconclusive, and Erica is told to come back to the doctor’s office as soon as she returns from her cruise….So if that was me, I would have to have the captain to turn the ship back around because there is no vacation at that point…Erica says, “This is not the news that I need to hear as I sail away.” Erica goes back to her room and tells Warryn about the call from the doctor’s office. He says to the camera, “I was personally diagnosed with cancer, and I survived so I understand her stress.” Well, Praise God that he is a survivor!!!

 B-Ball Breakdown

Warryn & Teddy Campbell (it still trips me out they have the same last name although they aren’t brothers and married sisters!) play some basketball on the ship…While they are playing the game, Warryn tries to convince Teddy to encourage his wife to launch her solo career…Teddy seems to agree with his brother-in-law…Warryn hopes his conversation was “another nail in the coffin of Mary Mary.” So I’m thinking that the death imagery was too deep…

The Campbells Times Two

The four of them go to dinner on the boat. Warryn has encouraged his wife to tell Tina that she is going to focus on her career instead of Mary Mary and basically get everything out in the open…And now that Teddy is in on his plan, it should be smooth sailing at this point…But nobody puts Tina in a corner and she goes off like you thought she would…While the sisters are arguing, Warryn looks to Teddy to support them…But Teddy says nothing. “I’ve been praying for wisdom, and I know not to get in the middle of two sisters,” Teddy says to the camera…And after what Teddy did, he basically can’t cross Tina for the rest of their marriage…Erica calls Tina “a major butt hole.” Finally, Tina says to Teddy, “C’mon baby” and they leave without Teddy saying a word…Again, he would need not to ever disagree with her ever again…

Rain Forest Excursion

The four get off the boat in Costa Rica and tour a rain forest…So I’ve been to Costa Rica…I generally don’t like rain, but the rain has made Costa Rica one of the most lush countries I have ever visited…I mean the green is in technicolor over there…I also zip lined in a Costa Rican rain forest…It was exhilarating, but this recap is not of my trip…(I’m planning a summer vacation so tropical locales are on the brain.) While the couples are on the tour, Erica pledges to stand up to her sister once and for all and tell her that Mary Mary is over. “I’ve got to stop Mary Mary no matter who it hurts.” Yeah, yeah, Erica, I will believe it when I see it…From what I can see, erebody is scared of Tina….

Stir-Fried Crap

Those are the words that Warryn uses to describes how he feels after they return from the rain forest…In other words, Warryn is sick…He coughs and wheezes and looks like he is about to topple over while Erica takes him to the infirmary…For a second, she “breaks character” and says, “Not right now. Get that camera out of here.”

The Performance

After all of that drama, the time has finally come for Mary Mary to perform…Tina is the first one to show up for a change and is getting ready with a sound check…After a while, Erica shows up since she was taking care of Warryn…Erica wants to rehearse “A Little More Jesus” from her solo album which gets Tina irate. “First of all this is a Mary Mary performance.” And Erica responds with, “At this point, they like Mary Mary and Erica Campbell.” And then she delivers the best line of the night: “I’m over it. Warryn is sick, my boobs are broke, Tina walked out and we still have a show.”

But the Marys manage to pull it together and perform and Warryn, even though he is sick, comes on stage to play the organ…The show is really good actually and Tina says, “What we have together, it’s not what we have apart.” Particularly, as it has taken them 14 years to build what they have together…Erica agrees but says, “I just want to take a minute for Erica.” Thank you for standing in your truth Erica and not letting your little sister be the boss of you!!! Tina says she has been “loosed” of her Mary Mary shackles pretty much whether she wanted to be loosed or not…

So at this point, they only have one more scheduled Mary Mary performance…will Erica keep her mind made up or will she continue to be double-minded and unstable in all of her ways?

I hope this 7th episode is the completion of this back-and-forth drama about Erica Campbell vs. Mary Mary but I guess we will have to see what happens next Thursday!!!

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mary Mary: The Reunion…: Season 4, Episode 4 Recap…

marymary

Hello World, (Since recaps are so popular, and I’m a writer, I decided to try to recap a show…Lemme know how I did too!)

Now that Empire and How to Get Away With Murder have been removed from my weekly TV watching schedule, I have some brain space available to take in more drama and high jinks. I had said that I wasn’t going to watch Mary Mary’s reality show after their personal and professional lives nearly imploded last season (read my open letter), but I changed my mind. I’m a sucker for love plus I’m nosy. Tina, like the forgiving Lord that we serve, opted to forgive Teddy for his philandering ways and renewed their vows in beautiful outdoor garden ceremony in front of their family and friends…

Bridal Bliss?  wedding

But as you know, there is always going to be a snake in paradise. Touch your neighbor and say, “Paradise doesn’t come without a snake.” (Unless, you’re in Heaven, of course.) This is where this week’s episode begins. Tina, who has been hypnotized by love and forgiveness, invited Mary Mary’s former manager Mitch Solarek, who Mary Mary fired on their show last season and responded by suing them, to her wedding ceremony. But instead of playing nice, he takes the opportunity to slither up to Erica and basically ask her if she is going to get jealous when Tina, who has always had the most dynamic stage presence he adds, gets her solo career going and gets bigger than her. Once Erica tells her husband Warryn and her sister Goo, Mary Mary’s stylist, about his shenanigans, Goo confronts Mitch,  saying his actions were “ugly and foul” and that it “was very Mitch of you.” Gone Goo! ( Y’all know what she really wanted to say, right?! We haven’t been saved foreva!) Rather than being Christian about it (or maybe he isn’t) and recognize that he was flat out wrong, he demeans her, saying she is not Mary Mary’s mediator nor attorney, just a stylist. I guess being their sister doesn’t count. She should have shown him the door wedding or not. Then he turns to the camera and says, “This not over. Let the games begin.”

Cut. Freeze Frame. And this is why I’m a double- minded reality television viewer especially since scripted shows are back on top again! One the one hand, I love the drama. On the other hand, I hate the drama. Was Mary Mary’s former manager who sued them invited to Tina’s wedding because she truly forgave him or was he invited to create some drama that I can write about? Don’t know. What do you think? Goo, Erica & Warryn, however, don’t tell what happened to Tina and Teddy, allowing them to continue on to their honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii blissfully unaware of any trouble on the horizon.

Meanwhile back at the ranch…

Warryn Campbell, one of the partners of My Block Records in L.A., is trying to launch the career of his younger sister Joi Starr. He is coaching her in the studio because she has an upcoming performance in Central Park in NYC. She asks him to come with her although he has promised Erica that the two of them will vacation in Cabo San Lucas. Joi claims he is “throwing her to the wolves” and convinces him to forego his vacation. He wonders if he can convince Erica that a vacay in NYC is just as relaxing as a vacay in Cabo. Ummm hmmm….

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls…

With THREE waterfalls backing them up, Tina and Teddy, who are perched atop rocks, literally sing to one another like they are a tropical and modern-day version of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross singing “Endless Love.” Somebody, choke me with a lei…Just kidding! I do believe in endless love…Apparently, they wrote and performed much of the music at their wedding and decide they should make an album of their wedding music…Okay, Lionel & Diana…

Vacaying/Working in NYC…

During Joi Starr’s (love her name by the way) rehearsal, Warryn’s business partner mentions that 7,000 people will be in Central Park for her performance and that it would be a perfect opportunity for Erica to perform in front of a new crowd, the R&B crowd. At first Warryn doesn’t agree, but then he gets on board and wanders if he can romance Erica enough to agree to work during their “vacation.” Not only has he booked a beautiful hotel room with a swanky outdoor terrace in the middle of the city, he hires a helicopter to whisk them over the city before they come back to a beautiful dinner on the terrace. (See if y’all would have let Pastor Dollar’s partners buy him that jet, Warryn could have borrowed the jet for all that! Just jokes World Changers 🙂 Church hugs 🙂 ) Feeling that Erica has been properly romanced, he asks her if she will be at the sound check for her sister-in-law. Like Warryn, she puts up a bit of fuss, but her ambition wins out and she performs at her sister-in-law’s concert…Wonder how Joi felt…stirring my tea…

I’s Mauiid Now…

This is from Teddy & Tina's Instagram page...Apparently, folk had problems with Tina showing her stomach...If you can't show your stomach on your honeymoon with your hubby, when can you show it?

This is from Teddy & Tina’s Instagram page…Apparently, folk had problems with Tina showing her stomach…If you can’t show your stomach on your honeymoon with your hubby, when can you show it?

Tina is back from Maui and feels like she is a superwoman. (Hawaii will do that to ya. That’s where I went on my honeymoon too.) Not only does she want to record an R&B love and wedding album with her hubby, she also wants to get back to Mary Mary and volunteers to be their manager since they are Mitch-less. Not to mention the fact that she is writing a book. The only problem is the other Mary. Erica is not trying to hear it after Tina was the one who put the group on hold in the first place when her marriage hit the rocks. (And now they singing on rocks…lol…)Erica also brings up the fact that Tina has been messing with Mary Mary’s money since before her marriage was in trouble being late and flaky about performances… “You’ve been kicking me to the curb for a lot of years.” Erica discusses the dilemma with Goo, and Goo says she is being selfish but she should “pray and fast” for direction.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary?

Prayer must have worked fast because while driving in L.A., Erica calls her sister to tell about her decision. When she gets Tina’s voice mail, she says, “It’s on. Let’s get Mary Mary back together.” Warryn doesn’t think Mary Mary should get back together right now and gives Erica the gas face when she tells him she that is what she is going to do before they go to bed one night. When that doesn’t work, he tells her throat is going to break down being singing for herself and for Mary Mary. Erica shuts him down. “My God is a healer. My throat aine going to break down.” Foreshadowing perhaps? I don’t know…Guess we will have to see what happens during the next episode….

Sidebar: Warryn & Erica’s art deco home though…I don’t know too many Christians living like that…somebody pass the offering plate one mo gain for me please 🙂

So how did I do?

Any thoughts?