by Jacqueline J. Holness | via After the Alter Call
As usual, the writers of OWN’s “Greenleaf” put their feet into this holy stew of a show, episode 2 of Season 2,…but thankfully, this episode was decidedly calmer though no less entertaining than the season opener…And for good reason too…I don’t think I could handle another explosive episode just yet…But what this episode did do was identify the strings that will be woven into the tapestry of this season…Y’all like that? My attempt at being poetic at 11 o’clock at night…
Alright, I’m going in…
Cross My Heart…
This episode starts with Bishop and Lady Mae having pillow talk about Basie Skanks and Jacob moving out of the Greenleaf estate. What I find most entertaining in this scene is that rapper-sized cross pendant that Bishop is rocking…Did I see chest hair nestled underneath the cross pendant? Not to mention his wave cap…Playa, playa even…Although Lady Mae doesn’t want her baby boy to leave, Bishop says he is ready for the movers to come and move Jacob’s furniture “piece by ill-gotten piece!” Lady Mae asks her husband to tell Jacob the truth about Pastor Basie, but Bishop refuses. Plus, he’s not really sure that Basie is who he says he is because he only remembers Daryl James, the caretaker, having two daughters..
In another part of the house, cousins Sophia and Zora giggle about Sophia’s crush on Isaiah Hambrick, the young hottie gospel singer at Triumph. Zora encourages Sophia to stop checking his Instagram page and slide into his DM. (Aww, #younglove) She also tells her cousin that Isaiah rehearses at Triumph every Saturday. You know Zora is fast, right?
And in yet another part of the house, Jacob and Kerissa discuss their impending move to the Triumph parsonage (a home for the pastor of a church for my folk who didn’t grow up in church). Apparently, even Jacob was surprised by Pastor Basie’s announcement that Jacob is going to be the new pastor at the second location. He says, “He should have told me he was giving me that church.” Still, while Jacob doesn’t like the way his pastorate was announced, in his heart, he believes he is making the right decision to move on from Greenleaf…
Cash Rules Everything Around Me…
Now that Bishop is no longer being investigated, he and his rib, Lady Mae, are free to scheme, I mean plan, in his office instead of at their home. They’ve decided that Carlton, the choir director, has got to go in order for them to raise money for the Fall Revival. Lady Mae summons her daughter to Bishop’s office by putting some weird bird sculpture on her desk. When Pastor Grace sees the sculpture, she knows that her mother is summoning her and shows up at Bishop’s office. Was the sculpture a bird? Was that a Phoenix rising? Anywho, Lady Mae tells Grace that she would like to have Betty Wilcox’s check before she leaves to go to New Orleans and that the only way that will happen is if Carlton is fired. In last week’s episode, Betty told Grace that church members weren’t giving as they once had because Carlton married his boyfriend and don’t approve of the union. Grace cannot believe that her father would co-sign on Carlton’s being canned, but he says, “I can’t lose half of my deacon board over one choir director.”
Although Greenleaf is paying Jabari Johnson $50,000 to produce Charity’s new album, he won’t be cut from the staff because it’s clear that Charity and Jabari have some chemistry…I’m not sure if that chemistry will just be contained in the music or will it evolve into something more….Judging by how Jabari described the vocals on one of Charity’s songs as “pressing against each other,” he could be pressing up on her during Season 2 of OWN’s “Greenleaf.”
The Devil is in the Details…
Pastor Jacob meets with Pastor Basie at Triumph church to discuss Pastor Basie’s surprise announcement and other matters related to his new position. He tells Basie, “You could have given me the heads up,” but Basie drops another surprise on him as Basie says he was directed by the Lord?! In other words, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision….Yeah right…Jacob continues to question his new boss until Basie shuts him down by saying that when Jacob was under his father, he “languished like an anemic little weed.” He also tells him, “I’ve given you everything you’ve ever wanted. Don’t accuse me of lying.” Jacob can see his point, but then Basie has yet another surprise announcement. He wants Jacob to go door to door in the neighborhoods surrounding Calvary Fellowship World Ministries and personally invite people to Triumph rather than Calvary. When Jacob points out that most of those people already attend Calvary, Basie does not care…
So Jacob goes door to door handing out bags and mugs with Triumph’s logo on them. One woman calls Jacob out! She says, “Does Bishop know you’re here recruiting?” Then she tells him, “I don’t care if that mug came wrapped in the cloth they wrapped my Lord in when he died. I’m with Calvary!” Let the church say, “Ouch!” LOL…Funniest line of the episode!
To read the rest of the recap for “Strange Bedfellows,” click HERE!!!