Black-girl realness and Latina-girl truth telling were on full display.
Girls’ night out at M.J.’s members-only club is rife with girl talk about the imagined size of President Obama’s you-know-what, male stalkers and prenups—or “legislating love,” as M.J. calls it. After her girls leave, M.J. dashes back in to get some lip-lock action with her anonymous white boo.
SNC pays a stylist to come to M.J.’s home. These are the perks of playing nice with the network execs. When Cutty Buddy texts in the middle of the day, her male stylist eighty-sixes her response. “It’s all about your timing. Late enough where you don’t have to feed him, but not too late where you yawning. Nobody wants to waste their gas for a lazy lay.” This dude could be M.J.’s very own Iyanla.
Mark is outed by the tabloids after the paparazzi catch him kissing a man in the parking lot. The SNC execs are ecstatic because they think it could be a great marketing promo. Do an LGBT package, make him the face of gay politics, up the network’s ratings. Mark ain’t here for playing the game. He covers foreign policy and plans to keep it that way by traveling to Nigeria. Greg won’t risk sending a newly outed reporter to a conflict region, so Mark quits.
The mystique of Cutty Buddy (we learn that his real name is Brandon) is gone. During a midday sex session, he has a seizure. I’m going to go ahead and say dude is on steroids. M.J. nurses him back to health, but she didn’t sign up for all this. It was just supposed to be about her getting her back blown out on a consistent basis.
At work, M.J. graduates from puppy stories to immigration with guest Goldie Taylor, the real-life political commentator and writer. Goldie debates the other guest about the GOP’s lip service about getting the Latino vote. M.J. doesn’t step in with the passion we’re used to. Sister Goldie checks her about making sure she’s still using her platform for our issues. In other words, girl, come back to us. We need you in this fight.
Greg tries to be less of a jerk to M.J. because he needs her to talk some sense into Mark. The network can’t afford to lose him. He is the face of the network with his hit daytime segment, now that M.J.’s “Talk Back” segment is gone. Greg tells M.J. that he fought just as hard for her as he’s doing for Mark. She uses this opportunity to apologize. “See, white guys aren’t so bad after all,” he responds. M.J. is now the face of the network.
Kara is still not here for Marisol. They’re the last two at work and have the awkward “You have to represent the Latino community right” conversation. Unfortunately, this is what happens when folks believe there can only be one after centuries of a group being excluded from corporate America. “Yeah, go home. No brownie points if you ain’t got nothing to do,” Kara snaps. Marisol asks Kara what’s her problem.
Kara thinks Marisol set back all Latinos by accepting the job through a quota program. Marisol knows better. Marisol understands that it doesn’t mean she isn’t qualified; it just means that she wouldn’t have even been offered the opportunity without affirmative action. Marisol claps back, saying that progress is not about being a “decent” producer whom networks can get for cheap. That one stung. Kara tells Marisol she’d better decide whether she wants to inspire little girls who see her on the air to buy books or crotchless panties.
Cutty Buddy is back for more, but M.J. can’t get past foreplay. She wants to know what’s up with the seizure. He’s trying to make his football team and has no desire to put his health first. He leaves without either of them getting an orgasm.
Nichelle tells M.J. that she can dump Brandon now that she knows way too much about him. Plus, she has the new white boo she’s making out with all in the club. Nichelle and M.J. have the realest “ho” conversation about black women’s autonomy. M.J. and Nichelle—like countless black women—love sex. They know that no matter how many partners they’ve had or if they’re virgins, men (and society) are going to call them hos anyway, so they might as well do what the hell they want. They even shade the women who have babies and then act like they were never hoeing. Instead of this being a slut-shaming convo, it was a real one where they affirmed each other to let that ho flag fly. No shame.
M.J. and Mark are on two different sides of the coin in their careers. M.J. is OK with selling out if it means she gets to be a celebrity with perks. Mark has no interest in using his sexuality for SNC’s gain. He’s thinking about taking his own team to Nigeria. Mark thinks his news story is worth fighting for. M.J. thinks it’s time to live and leave the fighting to the next crop of journalists. “I could tell those idiots I had the cure for cancer and they wanna know about a Kardashian,” she says. Selling out comes with a price, though. M.J. better damn well make sure it’s worth it.