[I shouldn’t have to say this given that this is about the SERIES FINALE, but SPOILER ALERT. ALL THE SPOILERS ARE PRESENT.]
Though I haven’t written about it once this season, I’ve been, and still am, an avid watcher and fan of Greenleaf. Next week’s episode will be the series finale and I’m honestly sad about it. What will I do without Bishop and Lady Mae? And Grace and her shenanigans? And Jacob and his? And Charity’s insufferableness? There’s a whole slew of people I’ve become invested in (and a few I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in real life) that will disappear into the ether and annals of Black History and Entertainment. I still maintain that the show’s tagline should be: Grace Greenleaf shows up, shenanigans ensue. I told that to Merle Dandridge (the actress who plays Grace) in 2018 when I had the pleasure of interviewing her, RICK.FOX., and executive producer and writer, Kriss Turner-Towner at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival. She was not plussed. I loved that she owned her character.
Be that as it may, Greenleaf is a show that literally left nothing on the table so they can feel very comfortable in knowing that this show lived its best life. If it could happen on this show, it did. All the way down to (SPOILER ALERT) finally killing off—at the very least it’s implied—a main character in Bishop James Greenleaf (played by Keith David) after he exorcises whatever demons he has left in the series’ second to the last episode that aired Tuesday night. He didn’t get shot, for the record; a much more culturally relevant death befell him: a heart attack. This show is so beautifully Black. You should totally watch it if you never have. Even with that spoiler alert, how you get there is the fun part.
With that being said—and in my sadness Greenleaf, you will be missed—I wonder how much they’ll get to in the finale. Since they didn’t leave anything on the table they covered a lot of ground in their five seasons. Shit, there are whole people who have come and gone that I’m only remembering since I’m thinking real hard, you know, squinting my eyes kind of thinking. Here are 10 things I hope they get to during the series finale.
1. Is somebody gonna call Mavis and tell her—again, presumably—that Bishop is dead?
I mean they did have a whole fling before Bishop and Lady Mae (Lynn Whitfield) got married—the first time. And she is Lady Mae’s sister after all and family comes to funerals. Plus, I’m pretty sure we’d all like to see Oprah (she played Mavis) one last time on the show before it goes.
2. Speaking of Mavis/Oprah, what is Lady Mae going to do with the club/bar they bought?
Originally, they planned to turn into a church since it seems like Calvary (that’s their church if you’re still reading this far through all of the spoilers; it had been bought out by a megachurch organization run by a white man who just got run out of town, I think) won’t be demolished and the Greenleafs aren’t leaving? Mavis used to own and operate said club/bar but has been a ghost for the most part in the past few seasons. Now Lady Mae owns a nightclub? Can a church own and operate a nightclub? Or will they sell it since they really don’t need it anymore? Inquiring minds would like to know. I was trying to pull up.
3. Where the hell is Kevin?
Is he coming to the funeral? Are he and Aaron (I’ll get to him in a second) still a thing? Kevin is Charity’s (Deborah Joy Winans) ex-husband but it turns out he’s gay so they got a divorce and then he (Kevin) started dating Aaron, the Greenleaf’s family lawyer and (as it turns out) Grace’s half-brother since Lady Mae had an affair with Bishop’s good friend Lionel back yonder and got pregnant. Lionel also happens to be Aaron’s father. Kevin should probably not come to the funeral.
You know what? This whole shit is insane now that I read just those three bullets.
4. Is Zora going to New York City?
Zora is Jacob Greenleaf’s daughter. Jacob is played by Lamman Rucker and she was in a relationship with an abusive gospel singer at one point and was gunning for Tariq St. Patrick’s spot as “worst kid ever.” It got so bad that her daddy, Jacob, literally punched out a teenager at a formal event. Jacob’s a pastor by the way. Apparently not a very good one since nobody seems to want him to be in the pulpit very much. Also, he and his wife, Kerissa were a whole mess. Zora is trying to escape. Will she do it? She said she would. I guess we’ll see? Maybe.
5. Will Charity somehow convince us to hate her less?
I love Deborah Joy Winans, but I hate the character she played. Whew chile, the ghetto. She was the most (clap your hands for emphasis on “the.most”) insufferable individual. I’d bet good money that not a single solitary soul liked her character by the show’s end. So much so that when she finally stood up for herself in Tuesday night’s episode to Phil DeMars, I didn’t even care. Maybe she’ll have some miraculous redeeming moment.
6. Speaking of Kerissa, what is she about to do now?
Nobody really liked her. I hope we get a montage of her doing something and real talk, I don’t even care if she makes it positively though she probably will, she’s just as conniving as she thinks Lady Mae is. I only care about Winky (she and Jacob’s) son.
7. Is AJ, Grace’s son that she gave up for adoption 20 years ago that she went to go find last season, going to still build the car (and give his life to Jesus)?
He and Bishop were supposed to build a car together and he seemed to be looking forward to it. He also seemed to connect with Bishop really well. I want to see a flash-forward sequence where the car is done.
8. Where the hell is Basie Skanks?
Basie was a pastor of a rival church who along with his sister Rochelle Cross (played by one of my top favorite people on earth, Letoya Luckett-Walker) wanted Bishop dead because they think/thought he killed their father in a church fire so many years ago. Said church fire is how the Greenleaf’s ended up with their ginormous house and largesse. They hate that man, but Basie disappeared and went on the run a few seasons ago and is presumed dead, or at least that’s what his (ex?) wife says. I don’t buy it though.
9. Who is about to lead Calvary now that Bishop is gone?
The plan was for Lady Mae to be the lead pastor of this new church at the club/bar Mavis used to own, but Grace is supposed to be the greatest preacher you ever did hear. Will they lead together? Shoot, is Calvary still going to be Calvary?
10. Who will Grace choose?
Both Noah (her baby daddy, well one of them), the father of AJ and the person she lost her virginity to at her family church and Darius Nash (RICK.FOX!) are two suitors chasing after her. Will she make a choice? Or will she let them both be? I wanna know. Joe said that first.
That’s just a few questions I have. I’m sure there are loads more. What do you have? Also, most importantly, what is I’m gon’ do now that Greenleaf is gone? I guess all I can do is sing the intro music….Amen.