‘Greenleaf’ Recap: James and Mae Clash + Kerissa Confronts Zora

James begins to throw shade at Mae, and Grace notices something is wrong.

The episode opens with James spending time with Grace and Sophia. He’s practicing his cotillion dance with Sophia, when Mae joins the party. She tells them that Maricel is in the hospital with her sick husband.

Mae then says that she is not coming into work. As a result, Charity won’t have a babysitter to go with her on the tour. This pleases Mae, but James disagrees, strongly. He agrees with Grace in that they should all help take care of Nathan.

“I think she should go. I think Gigi is right. We should all chip in.” – James

When Mae asks who’ll lead worship, James says Carlton can do it.

“Is that a problem for you? You see, we’re just trying to give your daughter the same access to her own happiness that you’ve taken so freely over the years.” – James

Mae quickly caught the shade and responded.

“What is the sense of trying to make decisions when we don’t know what the h*** is going on?” – Mae

James gets another visit from Rochelle.

James is in his office when Rochelle stops by. He tells the secretary to close his office door. Rochelle drops off another donation. He figures something is wrong. Rochelle tells him that she is seeing her doctor for her cancer screening results.

He offers to take her to the screening.

Skip wants to maintain a “relationship” with Triumph.

At Triumph, Skip stops by and tells Jacob he is going to run for Memphis Mayor and wants Jacob to be his spiritual advisor.

Skip brings up how he can fund Jacob’s homeless foundation. Jacob tells Skip he will consider it.

Charity is frustrated, and James consoles Rochelle.

Charity is flustered about Mae changing her mind about Maricel. Mae is firm that Maricel needs to be there for her husband, although doctors say he will be fine in a few days.

In the waiting room, Rochelle thanks James for coming with her.

At the office, Mae tells Grace that Maricel’s husband is an undocumented immigrant and is fearful he could be deported. Grace noticed something else is up and asks if everything is okay with her and James. Mae admits that they’re having issues.

When Mae heads to James’ office, their secretary tells Mae that he left with Rochelle. Meanwhile, Rochelle leaves the doctor happy, telling James that she is cancer free.

James awkwardly states he needs to be getting back home after she hugs him.

Jabari is frustrated that Charity needs two weeks to figure out if she will tour or not. Charity says she’ll make it work.

Kerissa tries to find out what’s going on with Zora.

Zora is looking over her wounds from Isaiah’s last assault when Kerissa knocks on her bedroom door. She tells Zora that one of her teachers came to her concerned about her. Zora insists that nothing is wrong.

“I’m as good as it gets. I wear long sleeves, and you have a problem with it. Then, I used to get grief for talking too much. Now, And now, apparently, I don’t talk enough. I’m maturing.” – Zora

Grace is at Darius’ place getting dressed. She tells him that she can’t spend the night because of Sophia, and she openly wonders if they can just go out to eat. She invited him over for dinner with her family, but is having second thoughts. She tells Darius that something is up with her parents, and Darius assures her that everything will be okay.

James and Mae are getting ready for bed, and he lets her know that he spent time with Rochelle at the doctor’s office. Mae tried to dig into him, but James was one step ahead of her, telling her that he got a check, and she is “fine.”

“I’d hate to think you were being denied any crucial information.” – James

Kerissa confronts Zora about the condom found in her room.

Kerissa recapped her conversation with Zora to Jacob, and he thinks she is just being a teenager. He mentions how he did crazy stuff at her age, like smoke  weed. Afterwards, Kerissa goes into her room, searching for clues. She is opening up drawers and sniffing her clothes. Shen she goes through her bedding, and finds a condom.

Charity is talking to James, venting about the struggle she is having with Mae. She really wants to go on tour and feels that Mae is blocking her blessings. He asks Charity how will Nathan be cared for, and she says she will make sure he is okay. James gives his blessings and says he will handle finding someone to lead worship.

Kerissa grills Zora after she finds the condom under the pillow. After Kerissa says making Jacob wait for marriage made him respect her, Zora quips, “Did it?” Kerissa then slaps Zora.

Kerissa apologizes but tells Zora that Isaiah is no longer allowed in their home.

Jacob reveals Skip’s donation to the Elders.

Jacob is in his meeting with the elders and Brittney. Brittney tries to stop his proposal for busing by bringing up insurance, and mentioned that their congregation may not want to be around homeless people.

However, Jacob put his foot down, and says that “the city is going to pay for it.”

While getting dressed, James tells Mae that Charity is going on tour with Tamela Mann and Carlton will be coming back to lead Worship. Mae is not happy about this.

Grace and Sophia greet Darius family dinner. Darius brings them gifts, and Sophia gives Darius a gift of her own.

Darius is telling everyone stories about his father’s past. When he mentions that his parents loved each other so much that they died just a few days apart, James throws some pretty lethal shade to Mae.

“To have a bond like that with another person…I can’t imagine.” – James

This makes everyone else uncomfortable and Darius nervously sips from his glass of wine.

When Grace escorts Darius out for the evening, he tells he that he could notice the tension between her parents.

Tasha learns from Basie that the Greenleafs can’t be trusted.

Tasha randomly gets a call from Basie. He tells Tasha that they conned him out of their church and killed his father. When he can’t confirm she will ever see him again, he tells her to do right by him and take down the Greenleafs once and for all. She agrees tearfully before they hang up.

The next day, James heads over to Carlton’s home to ask him to return to Calvary as the leader as their music ministry. Carlton initially declines, but after James tells him he is an inspiration for his sermon and the church will become more open to the gay community, Carlton accepts.

At Triumph, Tasha is leading worship with Nelson as Jacob and Skip are sitting in the pulpit. When Jacob begins his sermon, he mentions the outreach with the homeless, and introduces Skip to the crowd. As Jacob tells them about the grant Skip set up, Britney is stewing.

“Now there’s some folks who said this couldn’t be done. But obviously, they haven’t met my God.” – Jacob

At home, Mae finds Jacob on the balcony. They both seem to be ready to talk about the affair with Lionel. He demands to know when, and doesn’t get an answer. She says that she did it as revenge for James sleeping with her sister Mavis.

Mae wants both of them to put their affairs behind them, but James tells her he can’t do that since she held her secret for years, and he told her his wrongdoing right after it happened.

The episode ends with Tasha heading into Jacob’s office. She stops by to tell him that Kerissa can now have her office. When she leaves, she looks around one last time, making it clear that she is plotting.

What are your thoughts on the episode?