‘Greenleaf’ Recap: Aaron Drops a Bomb About Kevin + Mae Goes Off on Lionel

Lionel reveals Aaron’s sexuality and Kevin’s latest location.

Lionel is with James and Mae in their living room.

After a bit of prodding, Lionel tells them that he discovered that Aaron is gay. He found out as he visited him in Montgomery, Alabama to surprise him with a job offer. Lionel tells them that he discovered Kevin in Lionel’s place and he felt like he interrupted something.

Mae told Lionel that they knew that Kevin was gay. James asked if Lionel is talking to his son and Lionel said no.

“He will not listen to reason. According to him, he was born gay.” – Lionel

Lionel asks James to talk to Aaron about this situation, and James agrees to do it.

Jacob gets set for his first day as pastor at Triumph.

Kerissa is extremely happy about Jacob staring his new job as Senior Pastor of Triumph. He has a staff meeting, and Kerissa wants to show up so she could “set a tone.”

Charity is spending time with her son when Jabari calls her. He is really happy to deliver news that Tamela Mann wants her to sing backup on her upcoming tour.

Aaron and James prepare one another for their sit-down with Lionel.

James is with Aaron at Calvary walking into James’ office. Aaron apologizes for James and Mae finding out about Kevin the way they did. James accepts his apology and lets him know that Kevin still has responsibility in running out on Charity.

“But to be clear, Kevin made his own choices since then, and we don’t hold you accountable for any of that.” – James

Before they get to the meeting, Aaron tells James that, “I can’t change who I am. I can’t not be gay.”

James replies, “What I know is only God knows the heart.”

Jabari lets Charity know very good news, but Mae doesn’t see it that way.

Charity runs down to breakfast to tell Mae and Grace about the offer to sing backup on Tamela Mann’s tour. She asks Mae if she can have Maricel join her on the tour to babysit her son. Mae is not a fan of this idea.

“Well, now, she has a job and a life of her own and a daughter…” – Mae

When Mae finds out Charity would be on tour for 10 weeks, Mae really starts to dislike the idea, letting Charity know of how James’ time as a pastor on the road was hard on her and the kids.

Grace says, “This is a great opportunity,” in support of Charity. Eventually, Mae says she can ask Maricel. Charity runs off excited. Grace tells Mae to pray on it when she tells Grace she isn’t sure she can go along with this.

Back at James’ office, James does the best he can to mediate the dispute between Lionel and his son, encouraging to listen to each other.

“Listen and try to find the will of the Father.” – James

However, neither Aaron or Lionel seem to be very willing, as each are set in their convictions.

Jacob and Kerissa meet Britney, Triumph’s treasurer.

Jacob and Kerissa are being shown around Triumph by Britney. Britney asks if Jacob will keep Tasha over the Ministry of Music, and Jacob is willing.

“Whatever Sister Skanks wants to do, we’re here to help her do it.” – Jacob

Britney is happy to hear this, but Kerissa appears to not be in line with this.

Aaron and Lionel fail to find common ground and Lionel questions James’ loyalty.

Back at the office, Lionel and Aaron are going back and forth about homosexuality, quoting bible scriptures. James does the best he can to remain neutral. Lionel is irked by James’ neutrality in all of this.

“I suggest you get on the side of God in all of this. At least, because that’s where I’m camped.” – Lionel

Aaron tells James that he wants Lionel to accept him for who he is, and Lionel scoffs at this notion.

“Who you are is unacceptable.” – Lionel

At this point, the father and son begin to argue. When Aaron walks out, Lionel tells James that he thought he would be on his side more than he was.

James replies, “You’re behaving as the boy always thought you would.”

“No wonder he kept it a secret. Who would choose this?” – James

Jacob is having his staff meeting with the Triumph staff and he tells them, “you’re very good at what you’re doing, so I figure, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

However, he asks tells them that there are really good people he wants to be involved with the church. These are the homeless people he met running the Real Church.

Meanwhile, James recaps what happened between Aaron and Lionel with Mae. He tells Mae that he isn’t seeing eye to eye with Lionel on how Lionel should reconcile his relationship with Aaron. Mae asks him if he condones Aaron’s homosexuality, and James says, “I’m not sure this is mine to condone or not condone.”

Mae reminds him that Aaron’s involvement in Kevin’s life contributed to Kevin running off from Charity and their son.

“Kevin is no Moses.” – Mae

“And Lionel is no Jesus.” – James

James strongly believes that Aaron is not going to change his sexuality, and Mae rolls her eyes. She feels that Aaron doesn’t deserve the treatment he’s getting from James.

“He’s not your child. He’s not Faith.” – Mae

Mae instantly apologizes for what she just said and ends the conversation. She goes off to Charity to deliver the news about Aaron and Kevin.

Britney lays down her opinion on Jacob, but he isn’t fully open to it.

Back at Triumph, Jacob is in the sanctuary’s pulpit in awe of the church he is running. Britney walks in and tells him it’s not a good idea at this time to buy buses for the homeless to use, especially with cloud surrounding the church’s finances.

Jacob tells Britney that he will consider her advice.

Charity goes off on Aaron.

Aaron stops by Charity’s office to talk. She immediately goes off on him. He apologizes to Charity, saying he’s been involved in a thing that made many people unhappy, including Kevin.

“Kevin should be unhappy. And I am only talking about one thing; His son. He left his son without a father.” – Charity

She then tells Aaron, “If this whole thing was turned around and I was a lesbian; I would still be a mother.”

Aaron tries to tell Charity how Kevin feels about his sexuality, but Charity stops him.

“I told you I don’t care how he feels!” – Charity

She then kicks Aaron out of her office.

Kerissa runs into Tasha in her office being consoled by women. They offer to stay with her but Tasha declines their invitations. Kerissa stops by to see how Tasha is doing. When the women leave, Tasha tells her she’s happy to be at work.

“It’s like all I do is walk around the condo and then circle back around to Basie’s shoes.” – Tasha

Tasha tells Kerissa Basie took only one pair of shoes. Kerissa invites Tasha over for dinner and Tasha accepts. One of Tasha’s friends return and asks for “First Lady.” Both Kerissa and Tasha reply, “Yes.”

Aaron drops a bombshell on Lionel and James.

Aaron and Lionel are back in James’ office and Lionel is pleading with Aaron to accept how he feels about his homosexuality. However, things get tense when Lionel asks him to change. Aaron says he tried and prayed for years to change but couldn’t. Aaron then gets up to leave and Lionel sarcastically says, “Blame me. I’m the bad guy here.”

However, Aaron takes this to heart, revealing that his mom know about his sexuality, and Lionel slept with multiple women outside of Mae and his wife.

“I told her when I was 13, it’s true. And she knew about you, too. All of ‘em. Just because you did it with women, doesn’t mean it wasn’t sin. – Aaron

Lionel tries to tell James that Aaron is lying, however, it doesn’t seem that James believes him.

Isaiah openly disrespects Zora’s cotillion and James tells Mae about Aaron’s revelation.

Zora is talking to Sophia andSophia’s boyfriend at cotillion practice. She points out her bowling alley date and how a girl begged him to be her Cotillion escort. However, Zora’s mood changes when Sophia asks about Isaiah. She isn’t sure if Isaiah will be there, but he runs in late, wearing casual clothes. Zora asks him to remove his sunglasses, but Isaiah says he needs them on to shield his identity. However, Zora eventually convinces him to take the glasses off.

In their bedroom, James asks Mae if she knew about Aaron being gay. Mae loudly proclaims she would have never put him down the hall from Kevin if she knew. James then asks if she knew about Lionel and other women. This question stuns Mae, who says she never knew about them either. James tells her that Aaron said something that implied Lionel’s wife Patrice knew about the other women he’d been with.

“She never told me anything like that. Not ever, and she told me everything. If you ask me, that boy is just making up stories to deflect attention from himself.” – Mae

Everyone at Cotillion practice waltzing and Isaiah decides to break line and perform a spin dance move, grabbing his crotch. The instructor gently whacks Isaiah with a stick and tells them to get back in line. Zora looks ashamed of what just happened.

Tasha is over Jacob and Kerissa’s for dinner and they are talking about Britney.

Tasha tells Jacob and Kerissa that Britney wants things run as she sees fit. However, Kerissa agrees with Britney about the buses. Tasha offers to talk to her, but Kerissa insists that she and Jacob can handle it. Tasha suddenly gets quiet and starts to tear up at dinner. Her mind went to the whereabouts of Basie.

“I hope he’s safe out there.” – Tasha

Jacob grabs her hand to console Tasha and Kerissa sits back and rolls her eyes.

Grace is over Darius’ condo and he finished making dinner for them. Grace is impressed with everything. During their date, she asks about his future in 5 years. Darius says he wants to write a book. She asks about kids and he says, “Nah.”

Mae subtly calls out Lionel.

At dinner, Charity tells Mae and James about her changed plans for the tour and Mae is still not down with the idea. She scoffs at the notion of Tamela’s assistant baby sitting her grandson. When she asks who will lead worship while she’s on tour, Charity says, “Carlton is available.”

Mae then jumps to say that Kevin has her confused.

Lionel apologizes to Charity for Aaron, saying he’s lost sight of God’s law. Mae uses this moment to subtly confront Lionel.

“Which one of God’s laws are you referring to specifically?” – Mae

Lionel refers to Romans 1 of the Bible, and Mae retorts, “But the Commandments are the laws.”

James realizes what Mae is doing, and begins to rub his forehead. Mae proclaims that while she is against Aaron and Kevin’s homosexuality, she isn’t going to let go of Lionel’s womanizing. Lionel says he is confused about what Mae is going on, and Mae says, “You and I both.”

Charity jumps back in and says, “It’s my life.”

Mae replies,”I know it’s your life, but I don’t want to see you throw away your dignity running after this Jabari character trying to get love from him while your son is sleeping in a pimped-out bus.”

Charity yells back, “I would never do that.”

“A woman has a unique, God-give ability to express and experience love. But the downside to that is it puts you in a very vulnerable position. I just don’t want to see you lose your self-respect over a man, because no man is worth that.” – Mae

James raises his eyebrows to what Mae is saying, and seems to being to put two and two together about Mae and Lionel.

Isaiah assaults Zora, again.

When the couples are taking a break, Sophia and her boyfriend walk over to Zora wondering what she and Isaiah were doing.

“It looked like you two were practicing for So You Think You Can Dance.” – Sophia

Zora asks if they were jealous, and Sophia’s boyfriend says, “Of those discontinued Michael Jackson spins? Not so much.”

They then point out the other girls taking selfies with Isaiah saying he should be over where Zora is. Zora replies, “…he’s just superstar adjacent.”

When Isaiah walks back over, Sophia lets Isaiah know that he needs to focus on the Cotillion, and not his playboy ways.

Isaiah then turns to Zora to tell her that Sophia is shading him, Zora tells him she wants him to calm down on the groupies and the selfies at the practice. This angers him very much and he storms off. Sophia tries to keep Zora from running after him, but she fails. When they get outside, Isaiah berates Zora. He ends up shoving her into a concrete column. Zora is shocked at what Isaiah did, angrily pushing Isaiah away him as he grabs her arms to apologize.

“It’s just when you judge me like that, I just feel like I’m gonna lose you or something.” – Isaiah

He then kisses on the cheek, telling her that she is the best thing that’s happen to him, promising to never abuse her again.

She accepts the apology, kissing him.

Mae goes off on Lionel.

Mae walks in on Lionel in the study, confronting him about the other women. Although Lionel tells Mae that Aaron is lying, she demands to know if there were other women.

“There’s no one, no one as important to me as you.” – Lionel

Mae sees right through it.

“Negro, please.” – Mae

She begins to go off on him, saying, “How many other stupid women did you tell those pretty, little lies to?”

Lionel replies, “A few.”

She then tells Lionel, “As a man, you are disgusting.”

Lionel retorts, “Your brother was a rapist and James isn’t a saint.” He then tells her that her “sissy ex son-in law” turned Aaron out. Mae then violently slaps Lionel and tells him to never come back to her home again.

“You are not good enough. You are nothing! You don’t exist enough to be considered.” – Mae

While Mae argued with Lionel, Grace is getting closer to Darius. Darius insists to Grace that he really wants her. Kerissa is at home, asking Jacob to move into Tasha’s office. Jacob reminds her that she is the First Lady of Triumph and to take it one step at a time. He then begins to get intimate with Kerissa. Meanwhile, Grace and Darius are intimate at their place.

The next day, James is walking Lionel out. Before he leaves, James tells Lionel that he needs to still keep his son close to him, despite their differences. Lionel tells James to tell Mae that he’s sorry.

James looks confused by this request and Lionel tells him he’s apologizing for leaving without saying goodbye to her.

 

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