NOTE: This post contains SPOILERS for the TV drama series executive produced by Oprah. Greenleaf premiered on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) on June 21, 2016. Season 2 begins March 15, 2017.

You can almost feel the history behind all their flaws and all that they’re going through. -Merle Dandridge, actress

It is about time a TV series dealt with the world of organized, profit-motivated religious organizations. I like the idea for this show, as well as the story and the characters and the angle they take in relating the narrative. It is an imagined glimpse into a secret world of powerful people who profess piety and modesty, but can’t live it and we get to see them at their best and worst. I want to see it get multiple seasons. But the scripts have to get better. They need to be outlined better and the dialogue needs to be more subtle in relaying information as well as doing so in a natural manner in which real people speak. So far, they have tried to cram too much information in each sentence. -Excerpt from IMDB review

Episode 7: One Train May Hide Another

Jacob (Lamman Rucker) and Kerissa (Kim Hawthorne) are working as a team now (which is VERY good to see). Kerissa is ALSO a strong woman, but she has to live in the same household as Lady Mae (who obviously favors Jacob out of all her kids). Alexa (the flirty, leggy blonde) who Jacob had an affair w/ earlier in the season was fired from her role Bishop’s secretary. Corinne, the new (plus-size/nonchalant) secretary, is someone that “my son would keep his hands off,” Bishop (Keith David) jokes w/ Mac (Gregalan Williams).

 …during the Lady Mae, Mac and dad scene, the dad in his drunken rant called Lady Mae a high yellow whore, and how she wasn’t even his! Which makes the possible abuse of Lady Mae from the dad even more plausible. The relationship between both Lady Mae and Mac is very interesting. You could see how torn Mac was, yes he is disgusting, but you truly saw the layers between him and Lady Mae slowly start to peel back. –Viewer comment

We learn more about Mac in this ep; he’s NOT a cartoonish villain. But wasn’t that fantasy involving the troubled teen girl (forgot her name) disturbing? And I’m sure SOME viewers noticed (as Shaka Smith noted on Black Hollywood Live) the resemblance between the beautiful girl in the classic portraits book and Sophia (Desiree Ross)- creepy! 

Isabelle (Anna Diop) decides to pack up her drawer of stuff from Noah’s house and go stay w/ her parents until the wedding. He is surprised by this sudden decision of hers, and it turns out to have been a BIG mistake (or error in judgement, if you prefer). Gigi (Merle Dandridge) comes over to Noah’s to talk re: what to do re: Mac, but then they kiss, and things escalate quickly! They spend the night together, after telling each other “I love you.”

Episode 8: The Whole Book

Gigi does “the walk of shame” from Noah’s (which is on the estate) to the mansion. Lady Mae (Lynn Whitfield), who had trouble sleeping, knows EXACTLY what her daughter has been up to- awkward! 

Isabelle throws shade when she asks Gigi about who her plus one will be for the wedding. When Gigi quickly replies that it’ll be her daughter, Sophia, Isabelle replies: “Well, I pray that you meet someone on the dance floor.” Though Isabelle is younger, smart (a teacher), and beautiful, she is clearly threatened by the fact that Gigi and Noah (Benjamin Patterson) were childhood sweethearts. 

I liked how it wasn’t neccessarily a black-white thing, but… it’s about how the police department treated black people. –Shaka Smith

Officer David Nelson, who Gigi  had been counseling, leaves his hotel room to come for to Calvary for SUN services. Gigi greets him in the driveway, glad that he’s not leaving the community (after his recent acquittal). Suddenly, David is shot by the brother of the teenage boy he killed earlier in the season.

Episode 9: The Broken Road

It looks like the (openly gay) choir director, Carter, will be hired at Calvary. However, he’ll be hired as a 1099 (independent contractor), Uncle Mac tells Charity (Deborah Joy Winans), b/c he has sued two employers in the past. Earlier, Charity had explained to Bishop that Carter’s partner was laid off and needed health benefits. We see that Charity and Carter are becoming VERY close pals; her husband, Kevin (Tye White), is being shut-out. 

Jacob and Kerissa have a (VERY awkward) talk w/ their teen daughter, Zohra, re: Uncle Mac. She munches on pizza and wonders why her parents are acting so serious. Zohra is SO cute and funny in this scene! (I’m impressed by the youngsters who play Zohra and Sofia; they seem like real cousins trying to figure stuff out- religion, family, etc.) Later on, when Zohra confides in Sofia, Sofia admits “I always thought he [Uncle Mac] was nice.” Zohra wisely concludes: “I think that’s how it starts.”

Isabelle, after briefly meeting w/ Gigi, can sense what’s up. She marches over to Noah’s office and demands the truth; however, Noah just silently stands there, looking guilty. Isabelle takes off her engagement ring, throws is across the room, and declares the wedding off. When he tries to explain himself, Isabelle shouts “Don’t say my name!” It’s her way off taking back her power (as you may recall from Roots). She storms out, saying that the dysfunctional family (the Greenleafs) are only his problem now! (Remember how they were paying for the wedding; Mac had even decided to gift then the $800 cake.) 

Episode 10: March to the Sea

Kevin is still looking at men on that app (similar to Grindr); Charity is pissed off, and asks to see his phone. When Kevin refuses, she decides that he should sleep on the couch. Charity is several months pregnant (w/ twin boys); she does NOT need stress in her life! I think Kevin loves his wife, BUT is not in love w/ her. 

As we’d assumed at end of the last ep, Bishop shot Mac in Mac’s office; it was merely a flesh wound (bullet went all the way through). Gigi runs in and takes the gun, then wants to call 911. BOTH her dad and Uncle Mac (who was trying to blackmail Bishop) insist that the police NOT be called. Lady Mae comes in and sees to her bother’s shoulder; she ends up getting some blood on her hands(reminding me of Lady Macbeth). Gigi finally decides to call the police! In the next scene, Mac is in the stretcher; Bishop is in handcuffs w/ cops leading him out of the church.

Sophia called her dad, Ray (a chef/restaurant owner); he flew into Memphis from Phoenix. I really liked the scene where Sophia tells a (skeptical) Ray that she LIKES going to church; it’s better than spending SUN at the mall, shopping w/ her friends (as she did back in Phoenix). There is a spiritual side to Sophia, who is also quite intelligent; usually, we don’t see teen girls portrayed in this manner in the media. 

We don’t know what all happened between Gigi  and Ray (who is white, as I’d already assumed from Sophia’s looks), BUT they don’t have a warm/friendly relationship. They were never married, but shared custody of Sophia. Gigi broke the law taking their daughter across state lines w/o asking Ray.