Hello World,

I’m not surprised, sadly, that Charity still plays the fool, but other than that, there were plenty of surprises in tonight’s OWN “Greenleaf” so read on for for this Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 8: Surprise…

You’re In For A Big Surprise…

Tonight’s episode begins with Judee Whitmore, Bob’s daughter, paying Grace Greenleaf a visit in her office at Calvary. She fawns over a picture of Lady Mae’s three daughters Grace, Faith and Charity, but Grace isn’t trying to entertain Judee and her fake smile. “What brings you to town?” Grace asks as she takes the framed picture from Judee. She asks if Charity’s changing up the welcome song a bit was the reason? Judee says H&H doesn’t micromanage like that… Of course not, I say (type) sarcastically. Judee says, “You’ve met Fernando? Is he not the handsomenest?” Grace continues to move the conversation until Judee tells her the real reason why she is in town and why Harmony & Hope bought up all of the land around Calvary. H&H wants Calvary to be on par with The Potter’s House in Dallas! H&H wants to build a community center, a gym, FIVE restaurants, more parking and more!!! “We were going to surprise you,” Judee says to Grace. “We hope to roll out in two weeks when Daddy comes to town.” Grace is flabbergasted.

Of course, Grace promptly tells Lady Mae and Bishop what’s up. “I don’t like it, and I don’t believe it,” Bishop says. Lady Mae asks Jacob if his wife, who is her new younger nemesis now that she is on good terms with Grace,  knew they were selling their land to H&H. She then accuses Jacob of being led like a “pony on a rope at a carnival.” She tells him that he should be in charge of their marriage rather than Kerissa running the show. She also notes that Kerissa would sell water from the lake on the Greenleaf estate if she could make some money. SMH…

Jacob attempts to take the pressure off of him buy bringing up Phil DeMars. “What has that greasy Negro done now?” Lady Mae asks. LOL!!! He reveals that Charity is seeing him. “According to her, they’re in love.” That did the trick. Kerissa is no longer on Lady Mae’s mind. She blames herself for being a bad mother as Charity continues to seek “unhappiness and disappointment” in her relationships with men. How sad…

While she takes a minute or two to lament another one of Charity’s poor relationship choices, she does move on to another important discussion. “We have to have a meeting with the deacons before they vote,” Lady Mae says. Obviously, she is not feeling this much larger and improved Calvary campus because she doesn’t trust H&H’s motives. Grace is reluctant to call a meeting as she doesn’t want to seem to be invested in either option – expansion or no expansion. “I have to be a good cop,” she says.

Lady Mae comes up with an engagement party for herself and the Bishop as the perfect opportunity to meet with the deacons without actually meeting with the deacons. Lady Mae also notes that they will get Connie to show up if they don’t invite her. “The poor thing can’t resist a chance to be rude.” “Mama, who is gonna talk like you when you’re gone?” Grace says. (*Clutches Pearls* Why is Grace saying something like that? When Lady Mae is gone? What’s going on here? Is this foreshadowing? I pray not.)

I don’t know exactly what Kerissa is up too, but she is also planning some surprise. Of that I’m sure. Later on that evening, in their suite, Jacob and Kerissa have an unusual discussion. Kerissa starts the conversation by telling Jacob that they didn’t get the house, according to Nadine the real estate agent. I’m glad they weren’t able to get it. Lady Mae needs more time to completely shut Kerissa down. She is getting on my last nerve this season. Anywho, after sharing Nadine’s news, Kerissa asks Jacob who would inherit the Greenleaf home after the elder Greenleafs die? (There it is again. Are the elder Greenleafs going to Glory at the end this season?) She then talks about the elder Greenleafs buying Jacob and Kerissa out as it to pertains to the home.

But Jacob also has a question for Kerissa. “What were you doing at Fernando Amable’s the other day?” “Getting you cuff links,” Kerissa says, obviously lying.

Girl, you knew this was going to come up. You didn’t think to plan a better excuse? #Greenleaf pic.twitter.com/4g0QB9dSaK

— Greenleaf OWN (@GreenleafOWN) October 23, 2019

It’s obvious to Kerissa that Jacob suspects that Kerissa aine livin’ right. Lady Mae Wannabe Kerissa proceeds to call her husband a “son of iniquity” and “Jezebel’s favorite fool!” Wow! But Kerissa doesn’t stop there! “After all of the pain you put me through, where were you?” She recalls the “dozens of nights” she spent in bed alone.

Sophia’s in for a surprise as well. She has been replaced. Zora has replaced her cousin with Nicki, Dante’s ex. The two are giggling, sitting with their knees up on Zora’s couch, over pictures from a slide show that Lady Mae asked Zora to make in honor of the engagement party.

What A Surprise…

After Judee meets with Grace, she meets with Phil and tells him about H&H’s plan to expand Calvary’s campus.  “What do you think of the plan?” she asks. “Do I matter?” says Phil who is obviously in his feelings. He complains that Grace knew about the plan before he did. “Is there anything else I don’t know?” Judee answers with, “Just that things are going to keep progressing and that you are appreciated.”

Phil isn’t the only one in his feelings about surprises. Bishop is surprised that his baby girl is slithering around with Phil DeMars behind the family’s back. Charity complains that she can’t preach nor date. “What do you see in this man?” Bishop asks. Charity says, “He’s kind, hard-working, chaste.” She says also he knows what it’s like to be on a team but never be asked to bat. “Can you keep a secret?” Charity asks her father. Bishop agrees to do so. “Phil writes every word that Bob Whitmore says.” Bishop lets her have it. “He’s woefully ambitious and he’s also dumb.” But Charity tells her father that she is in love with him and begs him to give Phil a chance. Bishop tells Charity to invite Phil to the engagement party. “Tell him I will give him a chance.”

At Calvary it’s no surprise that Deaconness Connie shows up at Karine’s desk, fishing for information about the engagement party just as Lady Mae said she would. Although she wasn’t invited, Karine, who has received instruction from Lady Mae, agrees to put her on the guest list.

At the Greenleaf estate, Kerissa also goes fishing for information. She corners Bishop in his suite and asks to get a copy of the Greenleafs’ original marriage certificate, presumably for Zora’s slide show. “So you keep everything in here?” Kerissa asks her father-in-law as he haphazardly opens a safe that contains the document right in front of her. (Did you see him wringing his hands afterward? Remember Bishop is supposed to have Parkinson’s disease.) She pays attention to the numbers that Bishop uses to open the safe because you know she wants to get into it at some point without Bishop’s supervision. But he has no clue about her underhanded motives. “Handle that relic with care,” he says to Kerissa. “You know how Lady Mae gets.” Kerissa promises to do so just as Lady Mae comes into the suite. Bishop explains why Kerissa has a copy of their marriage license after Lady Mae gives Kerissa the evil eye. I kinda think something would have popped off right then between these two if Bishop hadn’t been around.

Unlike Kerissa, Bishop aine tryin’ to give Phil DeMars any passes. But now that Bishop has at least agreed to invite him to the engagement party via Charity, she doesn’t waste any time. “Mommy and Daddy are having a party tonight and they want you to come.” She explains that it is an engagement party. But rather than be excited to have an opportunity to spy on the Greenleafs in their own home, Phil is reluctant to blur any lines. He says that he doesn’t want to make it to the finish line with just a girlfriend…Erea excuse me?! And to her credit, Charity responds to his statement by telling him that if making it to the finish line with a girlfriend isn’t enough for him, he can just keep moving – by his lonesome.  Phil realizes that he is making a mistake. “What time should I be there?” (You know when a man doesn’t care for you, he aine tryin’ to look your parents in the eyes.)

Judee is surprised to learn that the elder Greenleafs are throwing an engagement party.  She confronts Grace about the Greenleafs using the party as a way to convince the deacons to not vote for the expansion. But Grace shuts her up by inviting her to the party. “You can be my plus one,” Grace says.

Although Jacob no longer  officially counsels Dante formerly of the Memphis Red Devils, he still meets with him as he has an idea about how to repair his reputation following the brawl at his home. He tells Dante about how LeBron James repaired his reputation by opening up his I Promise School. He explains that he doesn’t have to actually open a new school but he can financially support an already established school like Excellence Academy, which is his wife’s school. Dante is rightfully angry about Jacob’s self-serving suggestion. “All I see are hands,” Dante says about people who want to be in his circle. Jacob realizes his error and clumsily tries to explain that he is trying to get on his wife’s good side. “I was going to sit down there and pray with you,” Dante says before storming off.  That was dumb on Jacob’s part. And it certainly surprised me. Well, maybe not. Jacob does owe a debt to Kerissa after his philandering ways earlier in their marriage, but it’s like a screw has come loose in Kerissa’s head…

Soul Surprise…

Speaking of new ventures, Judee meets with the deacons to explain H&H’s new vision for an expanded Calvary. They ask how will this expansion be funded. Judee explains that H&H will put up the cash for everything in exchange for 12 seats on a board that H&H believes will double as the campus expands. “A 5o-50 partnership,” Judee explains cheerily. As Judee, Grace and Phil leave for the deacons to discuss among themselves, Connie says, “I would love to find a way to do this.” Grace looks she aine feelin’ none of it. “Whose side are you on?” ask Judee “I’m on God’s,” Grace says.

It’s finally time for the engagement party. Grace and Charity get into a quiet disagreement as it cannot be heard above the din of the party. Charity says, “Don’t buddy up to me.” Grace tells her sister that she is literally in bed with the enemy. Charity comes back with the fact that Grace totally mishandled her son’s alibi and that if people knew what truly happened, they would have been run out Calvary and that it would have been Grace’s fault. “You are something else,” Charity says to Grace. Charity, baby girl, being smart and wrong every once in a while is permissible but being dumb over and over again is unacceptable.

Speaking of family members at odds, Zora and Nicki continue to hang out together so much so that Karine’s mother Clara mistakes Nicki for Sofia. Sofia is so insulted that she leaves the party. She eventually runs into Dante at Zora’s place as he is dropping off Nicki’s items there. Out of the blue, he asks her to take a ride with him. Some of the best romances have started that way…(And since Nicki took Sofia’s cousin Zora away from Sofia, it is only fitting that Sofia take Nicki’s man 🙂 )

But what Phil and Charity have is not a burgeoning romance. I was kinda willing to give Phil a chance too, but after tonight’s episode, I’m done with him as well. After speaking with Phil about Charity, Bishop tells Lady Mae that either he is “insincere and unbelievable” or “sincere and utterly unfeeling. He will never get my blessing.”

And it’s a good thing too because Charity doesn’t know is that Phil was once with Judee. After she spots him with Charity, she says, “Fraternizing with the locals?” He says with Charity, it is different. “Like it was with me?” Judee responds.

Rewind, WHAT? #Greenleaf pic.twitter.com/GCPHfOFDuX

— Greenleaf OWN (@GreenleafOWN) October 23, 2019

After all of that, it’s finally time for Lady Mae to deliver one of her speeches and her engagement party is the perfect setting for such. In her preacher voice, Lady Mae tells the partygoers that she is looking forward to being a partner with her husband again, but that it will not be a 50-50 partnership because God is part of the partnership, and that no partnership, personal or otherwise, should be so-called equally  portioned because God has to be included. “….We have to leave space at the table for God.” Of course, Lady Mae’s speech is all about convincing the deacons to not go into a so-called equal partnership with H&H.

While all of this is going on, Kerissa goes back to the safe in the elders’ Greenleaf suite and finds it empty! She should know by now that Lady Mae is always a step ahead! LOL

Can’t fool Bishop. #Greenleaf pic.twitter.com/qTTDdlcTp9

— Greenleaf OWN (@GreenleafOWN) October 23, 2019

Judee goes outside after Lady Mae’s speech as she clearly recognizes what has transpired. “What a freaking mess!” she says to Phil who has followed her. She reveals that her father just told her about H&H’s plans for Calvary three days before and that her husband has filed for divorce. So Phil is an opportunist, I’ve decided, and now that Judee is free and feeling somewhat unsettled about her father’s plan, Phil will come to the rescue in more ways than one.

Also on the way out the party, Connie claps as she walks up to Lady Mae and praises her for her performance at the Sisters of Tamar meeting and the party. She calls her a “one-woman repertoire.” I cannot believe that someone told what they heard Lady Mae share in that meeting. What a violation of trust! Lady Mae, however, manages to keep it together and tells Connie to, “Go with God,” as she escorts her out the door.

Later that night, after the party, Bishop goes to see Charity in her suite. He asks her to put her relationship with Phil on hold until Grace becomes the permanent pastor at Calvary. “Grace first and then me?” Charity asks. Bishop tells her, “If this is the great love that God has for you, then it will keep.” He knows good and well that Phil is not sent from God for his daughter…Of course, Bishop’s request is just the incentive she needs to tell Phil to finally use that recording with Grace admitting that she lied to be her son’s alibi.

But that isn’t the biggest surprise of the night! Judee comes to see Grace yet again and she has more news! The reason why H&H wants to secure those 12 seats is that H&H wants to install Grace as the permanent pastor going forward. Even Phil doesn’t know. “It will only happen if you get those seats on the board,” Judee says. “You are full of surprises,” Grace says.  Do you believe her? I wouldn’t be able to trust her…

Only TWO more episodes are left…at least that is what I saw as I was watching…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 4 Episode 8: Surprise… 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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