Hello World,

Y’all, I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to stay awake enough to take notes as I watched this week’s episode of OWN’s “Greenleaf,” after a looong first day back to work after Hurricane Irma! But chile, I worried in vain because the Lord provided the strength and the writers provided the shenanigans necessary to keep me scribblin’! I feel like I say this ere week, but this episode right here was a DOOZY, and I’m not sure how I feel about it all, but let’s discuss throughout this Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 14: The Father’s Will.

Father Figure…

Last’s week episode ended with Bishop Jeffries of Charlotte, North Carolina initiating a cryptic call to Bishop Greenleaf, and this week’s episode begins with the bishops meeting face to face. Apparently when the chief counsel of Bishop Jeffries’ church had a stroke, he decided to fly to Montgomery, Alabama where his son Aaron the attorney now works for the Southern Poverty Law Center. He wanted to tell him about the job in person and surprises him at his apartment. But instead of surprising his son, Aaron surprises his father: Aaron and KEVIN were cozying up to one another so to speak! Bishop Jeffries is surprised for two reasons: the fact that his son is gay AND sleeping with Charity Greenleaf’s ex-husband! So I have so many questions about this scenario? Is Kevin living in Montgomery now? Did Aaron leave Calvary to pursue Kevin in Montgomery? Are they a couple? Greenleafers, help me out here…

Triumph’s new spiritual father Jacob Greenleaf and Kerissa are Marvin Gay getting it on too, as it’s Jacob first day on the job and Kerissa wants to start his day off right. In addition, she plans to show up late for her job to accompany him on his first day. I think she’s more excited than he is to be pastor of the megachurch.

Jabari, whom Charity probably hopes will be a father figure for Nathan, calls her with exciting news: Tamela Mann (who I interviewed) wants Charity to be a background singer on her tour!

Obviously, Aaron sees Bishop Greenleaf as a father figure and meets with him and his actual father in Memphis to discuss what his father discovered. He tells Bishop before the meeting, “I can’t change who I am” to which Bishop replies, “only God knows your heart,” citing 1st Kings 8:39. Aaron says, “Tell my father that. He will listen to you.” Bishop tells the father and the son once they are together, “Let’s try to find the will of the Father.”

Now that Charity is the sole provider (and parent) for her son, she doesn’t want to pass up the chance and asks Lady Mae if she can borrow their maid to be Nathan’s nanny for the 10 weeks she will be on tour with Tamela. Lady Mae hesitantly agrees and then drops one of her trademark one-liners. “It just seems like a lot of moving pieces to sing back up.”

Father, Forgive Them…

If Jacob and Kerissa thought they would just slide into roles of Pastor and First Lady without any pushback, they should have stayed outside. For one, Tasha’s office remains right next door to where her husband used to be. For two, Britney, Triumph’s treasurer is not a doormat, and the treasurer is an integral part of most organizations, particularly churches.

Bishop Jeffries continue to discuss Aaron’s sexuality with Bishop Greenleaf as a mediator. Bishop Jeffries throws out that his son is violating God’s word according to Romans 1. Aaron counters with, “Judge not lest you be judged.” Bishop Jeffries says, “The way that you are is unacceptable.” Bishop Greenleaf chimes in, “No wonder he kept it a secret. Who would choose this?”  Lady Mae meets with her husband afterward and cautions him against siding with Aaron, “The boy is not child. He’s not Faith.” What did she mean by that? Did Faith disappoint her parents somehow and they treated her the way Bishop Jeffries is treating Aaron? Did they regret their actions? Hmmm…

Back at Triumph, Jacob tells Britney that he wants to integrate people from Real Church, where he served the homeless, into Triumph. Britney cautions him against doing so because not everyone knows the financial specifics of what went down and how that would look odd to some church members.

After the meeting with his father and Bishop is done, Aaron sees Charity and approaches her. She looks like she wants to cuss him out but says with diplomacy, “How can I help you?” These are the words that he always said to Charity when she approached him about facilitating her divorce never suspecting that Aaron was cavorting with Kevin! He tries to apologize for his role in Kevin’s untimely departure. Charity is not trying to hear that. “He left his son without a father!” When Aaron tries to explain that Kevin left because he felt ashamed, Charity shut him down again. “I don’t care how he feels.” She tells him, “If I were a lesbian, I would still be a mother.”

Honor Your Father & Your Mother…

It seems like Aaron, his father and Bishop meet again. Bishop Jeffries asks, “Why can’t you just try to change?” Aaron tells his father that he already tried to change and failed. “It’s just me.” After he says, “I love you” to his father, he walks toward the door but stops when his father says he is glad that his mother passed before discovering he was gay. Aaron says,”She knew. I told her when I was 13.” Bishop Jeffries calls his son a liar before Aaron says, “She knew about you too. All of them. Just because you did it with women doesn’t mean it wasn’t a sin.” He got him there…

So this next scene where Zora and Sofia are preparing for the debutante cotillion was filmed at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Atlanta. I know because I attended a wedding in the very room where this scene was filmed. Anywho, Zora is reciting some “trap gospel” when her boyfriend Gospel Chris Brown otherwise known as Isaiah busts in the ballroom, calling attention himself as he is wearing shades inside and his baseball cap.

After Aaron spilled the tea on his father, Bishop serves it for Lady Mae. “He seemed to imply that Patrice knew about Lionel and other women.” “Women, plural?” Lady Mae responds. “He’s just making up stories to deflect from himself.” Lady Mae, who was friends with Bishop Jeffries’ deceased wife Patrice,  seems particularly riled up by the news about Bishop’s Jeffries’ serial infidelities and we will discover why later in the episode!

Wanting to appear congenial (the key word is “appear”), Kerissa invites Tasha, who still answers to “First Lady,” to the parsonage for dinner. During dinner, Tasha expresses concern about Basie’s whereabouts. “I hope he’s safe out there. I really miss him.” Jacob puts his hand on her hand while Kerissa, who is opposite Tasha, rolls her eyes.

Darius also makes dinner for Grace and she asks him, “Where does you see yourself in five years?” He says in a house with more land. (The Greenleaf estate, perhaps?) He also tells her that he wants to write a book. Grace further probes and asks him does he want children. He tells her that he is a bit too old to have children.

Once Bishop discusses what he learned with Lady Mae, the two of them meet with Bishop Jeffries, who is staying with them while he is in town. Bishop Jeffries apologizes for his son’s involvement in what happened with Charity. Lady Mae says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”  Bishop says, “Mae, let it go.” Lady Mae then cautions Charity about chasing a man and losing your self respect in the process. It seems like her advice comes from personal experience.

Father, father…

Gospel Chris Brown claims he was trying to be “incognegro” with his stunna shades on but totally contradicts that statement when he’s flirting with two or three of the other girls instead of supporting Zora. Sofia calls him out for it too. “The guy is the frame and the lady is the picture. Everything is always about you.” Isaiah gets mad and says, “This is some ish right there. I’m out.” Zora follows him outside to a courtyard where he knocks her into a column before apologizing yet again. “I don’t want to lose you Zora,” he says before telling her he loves her and that he will never abuse her again. What she sees in that boy I don’t know. But I’ve seen it for myself. Some women are attracted to abusers.  Like Chris Brown, Isaiah may have grown up in a household where he saw his father abuse his mother.

Later, Bishop Jeffries and Lady Mae have a conversation alone. She confronts him. “Were there other women?” When he doesn’t give her the answer she wants (plus calling her brother a rapist), she goes off. Apparently, she contemplated leaving her family for him not knowing that she was one of several women he was seeing! Lady Mae cheated on Bishop!!! Lady Mae says,”You’re just a space where a person should have been” and slaps the man!

Across town, Grace is having a better night than her mother. When Darius assures her that all he wants is her and doesn’t want to have children, she does not flee fornication. So how do you feel about an unmarried pastor having sex?

Jacob manages to get Kerissa to put aside her “First Lady” scheming aside (she wants Tasha to move her office to another location in Triumph) for one night at least so that the two can get their lovin’ on too. That woman is more like Lady Mae than her own daughters.

Speaking of Lady Mae, she is nowhere to be found when Bishop Greenleaf bids farewell to his friend in front of the Greenleaf home. “She’s not feeling well,” he tells Bishop Jeffries. Bishop Jeffries says, “Tell Mae I’m sorry we didn’t a chance to say goodbye.” Something about the way Bishop Jeffries says that statement has Bishop wondering, “what’s going on?” Father, Father…I’m sure things will escalate next week!!!

Check out a snippet from “The Father’s Will” below…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap, Season 2 Episode 14: The Father’s Will 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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