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Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 12: Day of Reckoning…

Hello World,

From the moment a “Day of Reckoning” began until the very last second, it was a non-stop thrill ride so I won’t waste another instant in beginning this Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 12: Day of Reckoning…

The Cold Light of Day…

This week’s episode begins where last week’s episode ended. Grace follows her mother, the only definite parent she can claim at this point, outside the sanctuary and continues to question her. “Is Lionel my father or not?” “I told you I don’t know,” Lady Mae screeches. Then in classic Lady Mae fashion rather than owning up to her wrongdoing, the Greenleaf matriarch gets indignant and asks her daughter if she is going to out her at some appointed time in the future. She implores Grace to reveal the secret now rather than have her wait in agony. “Scream it down the halls and save me the circus,” she says. When her daughter tells that she does not intend to out her, she then gives her a command. “I never want to speak about this again.”

Wow, it must be nice to live in Lady Mae’s head! She is incapable it seems of feeling guilt and even responsible for her misdeeds. She has just revealed that she doesn’t know the identity of the father of the daughter she has spurned since she was born it seems and now she is giving that same daughter directives!

In the next scene, we witness another troubled pair – this time it’s Jacob and Kerissa. After Jacob’s showdown with Basie last week, he is frantically trying to call him, mainly to find out if Tasha is safe and get her on their side after the FBI raid also last week. Basie is so unhinged at this point that even his wife would not be spared from his wrath. Kerissa says, “Stop calling Basie and call Tasha.” Jacob replies, “He has has her phone.” As Kerissa watches her husband fret about another woman, she is starting to lose it as well. “One thing you haven’t done since you came home is hug me.” Jacob tries to calm Kerissa down by telling her that he doesn’t care about Tasha that way. “Tasha is our only way out of this. “

The Three Musketeers, Basie, Rochelle & Tasha, are at Tasha’s home (I guess Basie’s home too…at least it used to be before he up and left) discussing what they’ve done so far and their plans now that the Greenleafs are aware of their plans. “I think he half believes he hit this,” Rochelle says with laughter. During last week’s episode, she tried to convince Bishop he slept with her when he knows that he did not. She is a gaslighter of gargantuan proportions. But Basie knows this is not the moment to play. In fact, it’s time to pack. Tasha says, “I’m not going anywhere.” He asks his sister to pack a bag for her. That would be sweet if they weren’t criminals trying to escape from the consequences of their crimes. He opens a suitcase and it’s chock full of money. “Is that the money you were supposed to invest for Bishop?” Tasha asks Rochelle. Basie says they will escape by crossing the border to Mexico. He tells his sister and Tasha to meet him later at a place by the Raceway. “We will be there,” Rochelle says.

Back at the Greenleaf estate, Lady Mae and Maxine are getting prepared for “A Day With Lady Mae” by getting in-house spa services. Clothed in terry cloth bathrobes, they discuss what happened with Grace earlier. “What is she tells Bishop?” Lady Mae says. “What is that old sinner going to do,” says Maxine before she cackles. Lady Mae laughs as well. They sure are smug about sin, right?

Speaking of Grace, she calls Aaron and asks him if he would be willing to take a paternity test. One of the things that I appreciate about Grace is that she is always seeking the truth…even when it could hurt…

Eternity and a Day…

Now that Bishop finally knows that Rochelle is as sinister as a snake, he is finally in position to fight this IRS debacle with his whits about himself or is he? Bishop, Grace and Grace’s attorney friend meet to discuss his options considering that he is up against bank fraud and wire fraud charges. The attorney says that he should claim cognitive dysfunction or in another word senility. Y’all know Bishop aine tryin’ to hear that. He gets up and says that he is about to do a service. “If you haven’t noticed, I don’t have my book of prayer with me,” he says, “because I’ve got the whole service up there.” He points to his head. I get what Bishop is saying. No one wants to claim senility at the age where it really could be a possibility. That’s kind of how I feel about the gray hair craze. It’s cute on girls younger than me. And another thing. Bishop aine tryin’ to give Lady Mae any more ammunition than she already has. “I’m keeping my church. I’m not losing it to my ex-wife.” And thirdly, Bishop does have a direct conduit to his Creator and He told him that everything will be alright in the end. “The Lord gave me a vision of my last moment of life, and it wasn’t in a prison.” When Grace asks him to tell her about the vision in more detail, he asks her does she believe in visions. When she admits that she doesn’t, he says, “I can’t tell you because you wouldn’t believe me anyway.” Do you believe in visions? I do…

Speaking of visions, Zora is finally seeing the light! She tells Isaiah about a promo video she has made for Isaiah’s tour and rather than be appreciative of her efforts, Isaiah seems disinterested. “I shouldn’t care about your tour more than you do.” Instead of addressing what she said, he asks her to pack his clothes for his tour. Since she has performed in so many roles for his profession and was prevented from going to Spelman College, she says, “I want an official title.” He says her title is “my girl.” Bwoi stop. I hope she is hatching a getaway plan like Basie and nem.

Rochelle is trying implement their getaway plan when Coralie Hunter calls her. She is ready to get her children out of foster care and doesn’t want to wait until after her court date. “They are not safe,” she says. She also tells Rochelle that she needs money. That is all Rochelle needs to hear to spring into action as she was once a poor foster child herself.

Back at Calvary, Bishop doesn’t only have to worry about nonbelievers. He has to worry about backstabbers as well. He encounters Deaconness Connie who is meeting with another bishop in charge of Harmony & Hope Ministries. “We have churches in over 100 countries,” he says. “Our next stop is North Korea.” But it’s obvious, he is checking out Calvary too. He questions Bishop’s title at Calvary. “It’s still Bishop and I don’t see that changing any time soon.” He goes on to say “I will leave you two to conspire.” When Bishop Greenleaf walks away, the Harmony & Hope bishop says, “That’s a man who knows his days are numbered.”

Across town, Grace and Jacob are staking out Coralie’s house where they hope to see Rochelle. While in the car, Jacob admits that he kissed Tasha once. “When are you going to grow up?” Grace asks her brother. She asks him if he loves Kerissa. He has to think about it and then says that he does. He describes a bone in her cheek that he feels when he kisses her “Good Morning.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be with a man who has think about if he loves me.

Finally Rochelle along with Tasha show up at Coralie’s house! When the doorbell rings and Grace and Jacob come inside, Rochelle realizes that Coralie set her up. “Grace told me what you did to her family,” Coralie says. Now that her true character has been revealed, Rochelle is no longer holding anything back. She accuses Grace of hypocrisy. “I know that I’m a sinner deserving of hell.” Then she yells, “I know what you did in Phoenix.” Wait. Hold.The.Phone. What did Grace do in Phoenix? Was Faith’s funeral the only reason she came back to Memphis or was she running away from something as well? Y’all know? If so, tell me.

At any rate, Tasha and Jacob go outside by themselves as Grace asked to speak with Coralie alone now that Rochelle has left the building. Tasha refused to go with her by the way. He tells Tasha that their extramarital exploits are over. “I’m a married man, but I hope you will still help us clear this thing up.”

Meanwhile, Zora finally realizes, like Jacob, that her heart is really with her family. “I’m going back to Memphis,” she tells Isaiah. She is tired of the “side chick crap” and all of the other grunt work that she has been doing for Isaiah without getting paid for it. Of course, he attacks her, but this time, she fights back, even knocking him to the floor! And when he gets up and comes at her again, she uses her phone to film what he is doing so he stops. Go girl! Sophia picks up her cousin at the airport. Finally, the prodigal daughter has returned…

Where the Day Takes You…

The time has almost come for a “Day With Lady Mae,” but first Bishop updates Lady Mae on what has been going on. He tells her about Deaconness Connie’s meeting with the Harmony & Hope Ministries Bishop. I think his name is Philip Demars or something like that. But at this point, Lady Mae only has a one-track mind as she is so close to the brass ring that she has been reaching for nearly all of her life. She has a perfect solution that she offers to Bishop. “Why don’t you seal the day with a public announcement that I will be co-pastor.” But Bishop knows his wife.   “I will not be weighed down by you. You are just another sinner. Tell me everything you did.” When Lady Mae acts like she doesn’t know what he is talking about, Bishop says, “Pride goeth before a fall.”

Lady Mae doesn’t have time to consider Bishop’s warning as the time for “A Day With Lady Mae” has finally come. We’ve been hearing about this coming out party I mean service almost since Episode 1 right?! This better be good. Charity and Maxine (Ms. Patti baby) start off the service with a beautiful selection “Change.” (Man, I would be sooo nervous if I had to sing with Patti The LaBelle!!!) Even Cunning Connie, our favorite deaconness, is moved. With the backdrop of photographs of Lady Mae, the duo introduce Lady Mae. “I call her Mama,” Charity says. “And starting today, I call her Pastor Greenleaf,” Maxine says. Looking like a fuchsia flower in bloom, Lady Mae swishes onto the stage. I thought she would be in a power suit to appear more like a pastor, but later on, I realize a feminine dress is most appropriate for her message.

Grace is in the room but she is standing at the back. Just then, she gets the results of the paternity test that she took with Aaron on her phone. She doesn’t look at the results though.  She leaves the service and goes to see Bishop. To make matters worse, Bishop is having a moment. I think it finally hit him that he is in deep trouble and he dug his way there. Grace had his back from the very beginning, although he is just now realizing it. “You never stopped fighting to save us all, and I thank you,” he says. “I treasure you and all you’ve done for me my precious daughter.” He tears up then. Awww, this is going to hurt if Gigi is not Bishop’s baby.

By now, Lady Mae is preaching and has no idea what is going on outside of the sanctuary. She preaches about the “dreaded day of reckoning” she heard about from preachers when she was growing up. Even though she was a little girl who had done no more than stolen a chocolate cookie at that age, she was still convinced that she deserved hell. She said that unlike a male preacher, a female preacher would have spoken about the “undying love of my Lord.” “I’m going to replace all of that fear with love.”

Speaking of love, Jacob, now back with Kerissa at home, tells his wife that he loves her. He says he truly realized it when he was with Gigi the night before. But Kerissa has finally reached her limit. “It’s too late,” she says. “I want a divorce, Jacob.” But before the conversation can continue, Zora shows up! Jacob grabs his daughter and hugs her.

A happy ending is not what Basie has in mind when he shows up in Bishop’s office and points a gun at him. “I didn’t mean to kill your daddy,” Bishop says. He tries to convince Basie to put down the gun, reminding him that he has lost his church, wife and if he kills Bishop, his soul.

And then we are back in the sanctuary with Lady Mae. “The day of reckoning is today. It’s any day that you step out on faith, say thank you Jesus and take what’s yours.”

Basie must have heard that message all the way in Bishop’s office because he is ready to take Bishop’s life. “You’re going to burn just like my daddy.”

And that cliffhanger is where the episode ends…smh…wow…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 12: Day of Reckoning 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 8: Dea Abscondita…

Hello World,

Let’s skip the buildup and get right into this Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 8: Dea Abscondita! As you can tell by the title of tonight’s episode, which means Hidden Goddess in Latin, it was all about the women stepping up and taking control of their power…

Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves…

Tragically, Zora is still determined more than ever to leave with Isaiah or as I fondly call him Christian Breezy no matter what her mother and especially her father has to say about it…When Jacob tries to get at Christian Breezy because Christian Breezy knows Jacob’s father is not afraid to “lay hands” on the boy, Isaiah pulls out his cell phone, talkin’ ’bout he gon film it all for his followers to see and that he is about to be attacked! At that, Kerissa gives her cell phone to her daughter, but that boy throws it out of the window. Kerissa’s final words to her daughter are “Be careful. Please be careful.” It’s evident in her carriage that Kerissa, not Jacob, will leading the Save Zora Crusade from now on.

Kerissa, Jacob & Lady Mae return to the inside of the Greenleaf home to strategize about their next action to Save Zora. Kerissa calls Isaiah’s parents. Jacob mentions replacing her phone. Kerissa says, “My daughter is gone. I’m not going phone shopping.” For the last season or so, Kerissa has taken care to be deferential in how she speaks to her husband probably to build him up as the man of the house, but babay, she is no longer circumspect. Jacob immediately takes notice. “You can’t just ice me out,” Jacob says to her. Kerissa says, “I won’t let Zora turn into Faith.” She then pushes her hand onto his chest. “Take your phone.”

Over at Percy’s house, although Bishop says he can do it all by himself, his circadian rhythm betrays him.  Dude cannot sleep. He tells his new housemate that he didn’t get to sleep until after 3 a.m. Percy, with his country self, draws from his folksy wisdom and tells him what happened after he split from his THREE wives – Joanne, Luella & Rhonda LOL! He was fine until Rhonda, he says. After Rhonda, he had panic attacks that he felt in his heart. What does that have to do with Bishop? Bishop has only been the husband of one wife…as far as we know anyway…who knows what the writers have up their sleeves…

Grace, ever on her crusade to save the world, has bailed Coralie Hunter out of jail! Along with Rochelle, the two walk out of the jail to a feeding frenzy of journalists. Rochelle tells Coralie, “I can replace that scrawny boy you have with a beast of an attorney.”

Once again, Percy has hired Charity to be the funeral singer, but she arrives a little bit late to the funeral home. She says there was “drama at the house this morning.” Bishop asks her to explain what she means and ends up calling Lady Mae. Lady Mae says, “James, we have everything under control. Resist the urge to make meaningless activity.” Lady Mae is like, “I can do this.” Did y’all notice that Bishop had on some green-framed glasses or were they blue? Either way, they were nice…

Run the World (Girls)…

Thelma & Louise I mean Kerissa & Lady Mae stake out Isaiah’s parents’ home waiting to see if the on-the-run lovers will show up there. While waiting, Lady Mae gets Kerissa straight. “If you think I didn’t do everything I could to get my daughter back, you are mistaken.” She further explains that some children just get away from you no matter what you do. Kerissa says, “I won’t let that happen to Zora.” “You may not have a choice,” Lady Mae says to her daughter-in-law.

Since Jacob’s plan of action is no longer needed, he is at Triumph where he sees Tasha for the first time since that kiss. He tells her that “what happened between us, that kiss was a mistake.”  He tells she will need to stop texting him as well. So I was surprised by Tasha’s reaction. She is genuinely brokenhearted that he doesn’t want to continue down the road to a full-fledged affair. She starts to tear up and says, “Nothing seems to ever work out for me, Jacob.” I mean I can sympathize with her to a certain extent as her husband just up and left her. But that doesn’t mean she can just take someone else’s husband. And I really feel her plot to take down Jacob has fallen by the wayside. What we see now are genuine feelings. And if I’m not mistaken, Jacob is feeling something too. Jacob wants to be righteous but I fear he just can’t be right. Before the conversation can go even deeper though, Bishop stops by for an impromptu visit. He sees Tasha’s tears and feels the tension in the air and says,” Did I interrupt anything?” Jacob says, “Tasha just lost a friend.”

Once Bishop and Jacob are alone, Bishop suggests calling someone to help them retrieve Zora because Bishop seems to have friends everywhere. Jacob blows up at his father and says, “She is an adult. This isn’t something you can fix with a phone call.” Bishop responds with, “Kerissa wasn’t wrong to send you away. That temper of yours is not helpful to anyone especially you. I’m still your father and that girl’s grandfather.” Awww, hush up Bishop. He is feeling left out of Greenleaf business and wants to feel needed.

Back at Calvary, District Attorney Price is waiting for Grace in her office. Grace tells Rochelle to wait for her outside and she goes into her office to meet with the man. He wastes no time in telling her that she has gone against his “strongly worded advice” and lets her know that Coralie Hunter will either be charged with 2nd degree murder for which she will be in jail for 20 years or get a life sentence without parole. Of course, Grace thinks both choices are unacceptable. The D.A. tells her that if she proceeds any further, that she could find herself on trial! He brings up Mac’s murder again and says he has this “funny feeling” that what she did was actually premeditated murder. He says, “You think women should take the law into their own hands and kill men” and how what she did wasn’t even Christian. “Have Ms. Hunter take the deal.”

Coralie lawyer’s echoes what the D.A. says and tells Coralie that if she agrees to the 2nd degree murder charge, she can get parole after 15 years. Grace points out that she is a victim of abuse. The lawyer, who is clearly overworked as he points out that he is working on 12 other cases, is unsympathetic. And apparently so is the judge. “He’s not a fan of this #MeToo movement.” He gives Coralie the option to think about what is being offered and says, “I’ve got to get to places where my work is more appreciated.” In the mean time, Grace has made arrangements for Coralie to see her children.

Rochelle tells Grace that she knows someone at CPS, which I think is Child Protective Services. Grace asks how does she know someone at CPS because like Bishop, Rochelle knows people all over Memphis. She says she met this particular contact through the Big Sisters program where she MENTORED four girls! What? “I got four girls out there running the world,” she says. “I won’t stop till all the folks who try to hold them down are brought low.” Grace remarks that she sounds like she is out for revenge. This all takes place as Coralie is visiting with her children. Once Coralie’s visit is over, she tells Grace and Rochelle that she just can’t go to prison. Rochelle’s interaction with Coralie and her conversation with Grace shows that she does have a soft spot for girls in dire circumstances. It probably reminds her of how she felt after she lost her father in that church fire. Grace better watch out…

I’m Every Woman…

For the first time during this episode, Sophia shows up. As in the last few episodes, she is still in mourning and rightfully so. Marisol delivers a package to her bedroom. When she opens it up, it is a scrapbook that Roberto her boyfriend has made and includes pictures of the two of them. In one of the final pages of the scrapbook, he has placed a picture of them on top of a picture of Rhodes College, a Christian school the two had talked about attending together. She looks through the scrapbook but is unmoved.

Back at the stakeout, Isaiah and Zora finally show up! When Isaiah goes inside of his parents’ house for a moment, Kerissa runs over to the jeep and pleads with Zora to give her a minute to talk to her. Zora hesitantly agrees. Kerissa describes the moment Zora was born. She tells her that she didn’t have word to describe her and was just taken in by her wide, brown eyes. “You were everything,” she tells her daughter. And she explains to Zora that she wanted to give her everything and meet her expectations for her life. She points out that Zora has nothing now except a “boy who beats you up. A ticket to nowhere.” She also warns her that is the last time that she will try to get Zora to change her mind about the course of her life. After this, it will be “you, your bad decisions and God. And God is going to win.” Smh…You do know that you can resist God for only so long before He gives you over to yourself to reap the consequences of your actions without the safety net of His love. Oh what a perilous state is that, Saints! Zora says, “I will take my chances” like she is hard. But when her mama walks away, you can see the formation of a tear. Girl, you’re just a girl trying to be a woman…

Meanwhile Bishop is finally learning what it means to mess with Lady Mae. He returns to gate of the Greenleaf estate and tries to get in but the gate code has been changed! No time was wasted. She aine playin’ with him. Once he finally gets into the home, he discovers Lady Mae working out her frustrations at the piano. Bishop comes in there whining about the gate code and talking ’bout he is still the head of the family. Lady Mae retorts with, “You’re the head of no one” except for maybe Rochelle whom she refers to as a “pile of saggy cornbread and pantyhose you gave my money to.” Tee-hee. Bishop says that he needs Lady Mae’s assistance in “reminding these children that I exist.” Cry me a river, Bishop. Lady Mae goes into her poetry again and refers to herself and Bishop as “two faded stars that went out long ago.” It seems that she is starting to realize that she and Bishop have set things in motion that contributed to why things are the way they are for the Greenleafs. Bishop says, “You can soothe yourself with that poetry.” She tells Bishop that he has her sympathy. “Sympathy is not a currency. It is not to be traded. It is a feeling. If you want a friend, talk to Jesus.” Bishop just needs to realize that he aine runnin nathan no mo…

Upstairs, Sophia finds her mother sitting in a chair in the dark. Grace is obviously exhausted. She announces, “Mom, I don’t want to go to Rhodes.” She notes that Zora isn’t going to college and that she is almost 18 as well. “I don’t want to go to a Christian school. It’s just not where I’m at right now.” I get that. My parents encouraged me to go to a Christian college, but I never had any interest in attending one. I didn’t want to feel cloistered away from erebody and erethang. But in the end, God found me anyway. My first job after college was working at a Christian newspaper! LOL Watch out Sophia, God aine lettin’ you get away that easy 🙂

Now that his talk with his father has come to an end, Jacob can return to his tiff with Tasha. In the interim, Tasha has packed up her essentials in a box and is leaving the premises! She explains to Jacob that after Basie left, she decided to stay on at Triumph because she liked Jacob and now she more than likes Jacob. “You’re married and I’m technically married. Just know that I’m sorry for everything.” He doesn’t quite understand what she means, but he will surely learn.

Once he returns home, he discovers Kerissa wrapped up in a blanket, looking through an album of childhood pictures of Zora. She says, “I didn’t make dinner.” Jacob says, “I don’t care about dinner.” Kerissa says, “Our little girl is gone.” She gets up and leaves Jacob on the couch.

Although Bishop doesn’t believe that Charity has the chops to take over Calvary, his friend Percy believes that he has found a successor for his funeral home business in Charity! He tells her that she has a gift for comforting people. “You know what to say and what not to say…I’ve never met anyone that can take over.” She says, “Thank you. It means a lot to be seen and valued.” And that is what Charity has been seeking all along. She betta think seriously about that offer.

The next morning at Percy’s, Bishop, who is wearing red pajamas, has not gotten any sleep. Percy breaks things down for this friend. He tells him that some people, who have found themselves in a crisis, have forethought while others have hindsight. Some, sadly, discover they have neither. “Jimmy, at least you’ve got one.” I think Bishop has hindsight. He knows he needs to make things right with Lady Mae. The question is, “How?”

Once Percy leaves him on the porch by himself, Bishop whispers a prayer. “Not my will, Thy will be done. Nothing more and nothing less and nothing else.” Somebody pass the offering plate because that should be a sermon preached every day in the heart of a Christian, but we all know it’s easier said (prayed) than done.

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 3 Episode 8: Dea Abscondita 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 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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