“Greenleaf” Season 3 Episode 5 Recap: Love and (Un)Happiness
As soon as Clara said “money people” last episode, we knew the Greenleafs weren’t getting the IRS money. Sure enough, her money manager declines, saying he’s worried about the debt being personal and not church business. (She can’t write it off as a charitable donation if the money isn’t given to a charity.) Rumors about James and Mae’s marital problems are spreading (obviously due to nosy deaconess Connie), and Clara doesn’t feel right supporting a divorced bishop.
Mae wants James to tell the church about the divorce and step aside from Calvary, so she can take over. James claims nature’s way is for him to take over. (Whether he means women pastors are unnatural or just divorced women pastors are unnatural, the bishop needs to spit out that chauvinist Kool-Aid he’s been drinking.)
Mae’s got Zora doing early morning Bible study while Kerissa is at home missing her little girl. Sophia is also up early to go running, but as she’s almost back at the house, she experiences pain in her side.
Charity is not in jail. Good for her. She’s back at the house, packing Nathan’s bag and staring at a bottle of oxycodone. Like a child, she blames Grace for getting arrested, even though Grace stopped Kevin from pressing charges. (It would be too much like right for Charity to take responsibility for something she has done.)
Over at Triumph, Rochelle wants Jacob to sign a form for opening a bank account for the Real Church. Tasha reminds Rochelle that Real Church doesn’t exist anymore, but Rochelle wants her to get in formation, work that Fashion Nova dress, and get Jacob to sign. (Tasha is clearly not the brains of the operation or she would realize that an account for a non-existent church would get Jacob in financial trouble, which is Rochelle’s goal.) When Tasha later has second thoughts about her task and meets with Rochelle without the signed authorization form in hand, Rochelle threatens that if Tasha doesn’t handle business, she will never see Basie again.
Back at Calvary, Mae tells Connie of her hope of taking over the church. Connie says she and the deacon board want Grace, who is pretty much Mae’s enemy. Mae thinks Grace takes everything from her, and now she could take Calvary from her. Mae will not have it. When she approaches Grace about what she thinks is a coup, Grace says she doesn’t want to lead Calvary, and Mae says she never will.
Percy Lee Thompson, James’s funeral director friend, is back. Percy Lee had some IRS troubles as well but got himself out of trouble by hiring a lawyer and selling off assets. Percy tells James to talk to Rochelle because she’s into cryptocurrency. James wants the lawyer’s number, but Percy Lee wants Rochelle’s number.
Charity angrily hands over Nathan to Kevin. Maybe she’s so angry because of separation anxiety and wanting to keep Nathan close after losing her other child. Maybe she’s mad at Kevin for how he acted. Either way, her anger causes her to turn to the pills in her bag. She pops a couple to zone out and numb the pain.
Grace tells Connie that her politics may not fit with the deacon board. They have a conversation about what church means. Grace sees church as unconditional love and change. Connie tells Grace about Mae’s plans. Connie is counting on Grace as Calvary’s savior, while Grace’s plan is to pray about it and wait on Jesus to fix her parents’ marriage.
Bishop takes Percy Lee’s advice and goes to see Rochelle. He apologizes for his mixed messages and what he said at the party. Rochelle guilt trips him, saying he can’t throw her out and then come ask for favors. She declines to help.
Sophia tries to talk to Zora, inviting her to Zaxby’s. Zora doesn’t want to hang with her cousin, not even for some Zax sauce. Sophia is still experiencing pain; Zora jokes it might be due to pregnancy. The pain in Sophia’s side soon becomes unbearable.
Grace doesn’t want to take over Calvary but might want to run her own church one day. She wonders if Darius would want to be First Gentleman. (That’s a term?) Darius thinks First Boyfriend would be fine, but Grace says she wouldn’t have it. Then she gets the call about Sophia, who is in the hospital due to an ovarian torsion (an ovary twisted around its ligaments). Charity is at the hospital high and starts going on about losing a daughter. The doctor says he’s ready for the mom, and Mae starts to go with Grace. Grace says she’s good, and Charity says it’s Grace’s M.O. to ruin everything.
Sophia is also high off the pain meds. She thinks Roberto wants to marry her because at lunch he said he respects her boundaries and could see a future with her. High Sophia is dreaming about weddings, houses with mailboxes, puppies, and babies. Darius, Mr. “First Boyfriend,” doesn’t seem to dream of a future, which could be why Grace declines his call.
The family is assembling at the hospital, which means Jacob and Zora get to talk as do Zora and Kerissa. High Charity says Kerissa and Jacob messed up Zora, but they could still have one good kid with the boy. High Charity is too loud for the hospital and overly aggressive with the vending machine, which she eventually breaks. She doesn’t even realize her hand is bleeding as she eats the candy. (She needs to get it together or she’ll lost custody.)
Grace goes to the chapel to pray. Charity gets her wrist wrapped, and it’s revealed she’s on the oxy leftover from her C-section. Bishop tells Mae that the “kids” need their parents. His proposal? Fix the marriage. Put the past behind them. (It’s always the one in the wrong that wants to let the past go.) Mae can’t go back. She assembles the family in the chapel for prayer. (They pray together but can’t seem to stay together.) James, who doesn’t turn his phone on silent in the house of the Lord, gets a text from Rochelle apologizing and offering to help.
The cause of the torsion are two large ovarian cysts messing with Sophia’s organs. The doctors fixed the problem but couldn’t preserve the ovaries. Sophia will never be able to have kids of her own. No babies with Roberto in a house with a mailbox. When Sophia wakes up, Grace tells Sophia about the complication. Sophia wonders why God would let this happen to her.
Tasha finally brings Jacob the papers, which he signs without reading. Jacob thanks Tasha for being so helpful. He puts his hand on Tasha’s shoulder and calls her family, as he signs the last of the papers that will allow Rochelle to siphon off money from his church.
Mae is looking at Howard Divinity School pamphlets when James walks in. Bishop prayed about it and sees no choice but to announce the divorce on Sunday. He apologizes again. Then Mae tells him to close the door behind him, as the chapter of their lives as a married couple is closed.
Do you think Grace and Darius have a future together? Will Sophia suffer a crisis of faith? Comment below with your thoughts.
