From her sadistic relationship with her father Henry to her torrid affair with a family friend, it appears that Lady Mae’s secrets run deep. Ahead of Calvary’s annual revival, Bishop James calls on his friend, Bishop Lionel Jeffrey (Tim Reid), to attend and preach in front of the congregation. Nothing seems amiss until we witness the look between Bishop Jeffrey and Lady Mae as soon as he crosses the threshold of the Greenleaf mansion. It was a mixture of both hatred and lust, and I knew then that whatever happened between the two of them, which was so passionate that they actually considered running off together, isn’t buried as deep in the past as they might like it to be.
I also don’t entirely trust Bishop Jeffrey. While he seems to be keeping up appearances, the presence of his son, Aaron, definitely caused me to raise my eyebrows. Bishop James and Lady Mae are still desperate to squash Pastor Skanks and Jacob from erecting Triumph 2.0. It just seems all too convenient (even for TV) that Bishop Jeffery’s son Aaron has the solution to their problem. With one call from his father, Aaron comes to town to file an injunction on the construction of Triumph 2.0 with the hopes that Jacob and Skanks will give up on building the new church. Still, Aaron’s presence alone wasn’t the only thing that raised the alarm for me. The fact that Bishop James is so willing to let Aaron move into Jacob’s old quarters made we wonder if he didn’t have some inkling of Lady Mae’s affair with Bishop Jeffrey. There is something much more sinister happening here. I don’t know if Bishop Jeffrey has just sent his son to spy on Lady Mae or if Aaron knows about their affair or what, but things jut aren’t adding up.
Charity and Kevin’s relationship was also at the center of “Revival,” but it looks like there will be no resurrecting their marriage. With a sexy new bob and her music producer giving her the eye, Charity is ready to pull the plug on her relationship, and I can’t say that I blame her. Her look of horror when Kevin tried to come on to her made me laugh and cringe at the same time. Though they have decided that their marriage over, the duo has chosen to keep it under wraps for now. Hopefully, that means Kevin will refrain from taking that toxic poison he was given by his support group to combat “impure thoughts.” Overall, I’m not too worried about these two, they are still really good friends, so perhaps their split won’t be volatile. Hopefully, this will be an opportunity for Kevin to finally be true to himself.
Bishop and Lady Mae aren’t the only one’s getting in touch with old friends. One of Grace’s girlhood friends Rebecca, a fellow Pastor has come to visit for the revival. She and Grace reminisce over old times and Rebecca bonds with Sophia, who seems to be in search of something of her own in the wake of Zora’s absence. Seeing Rebecca also brings forth old memories for GG. Back in the day, Grace, Faith, Rebecca, and Charity had a singing group called Mystic, and seeing her sister on those old tapes reinvigorates Grace’s desire to do something about the fact that Uncle Mac is just out here in these streets.
When warning off Mac’s new love-interest and destroying his car only brings the police to her doorsteps, Grace decides to pull one of the police detectives into her fold. She’s going to go after Mac for sure, but this time it’s gong to stick. (At least I hope it does.)
Meanwhile, Jacob didn’t get much screen time this week except for a short sequence of him streaming Calvary’s revival on his laptop. In his heart of hearts, I believe all Jacob truly wants is to be accepted by his father; I don’t believe Triumph will be a permanent home for him. However, he’s going to have to stand up and assert himself if he’s going to get anywhere; we saw a glimpse of that side of Jacob last week so he might not be out for the count just yet.
Still, “Revival” wasn’t all about unveiling secret and lies. Near the very end of the episode, Sophia decides to get baptized. For a brief moment, her decision to commit herself to Christ seems to link Lady Mae and GG together. I wonder how long that will last.
What did you think about this week’s episode of “Greenleaf”? Were you stunned by the revelation of Lady Mae’s affair?
“Greenleaf” airs Wednesdays at 10 PM ET on OWN.
Aramide A Tinubu has her Master’s in Film Studies from Columbia University. She wrote her thesis on Black Girlhood and Parental Loss in Contemporary Black American Cinema. She’s a cinephile, bookworm, blogger, and NYU + Columbia University alum. You can read her blog at: www.chocolategirlinthecity.com or tweet her @midnightrami
