Greenleaf: Season 3/ Episode 5 “Closing Doors” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Nearly everything is going downhill for the Greenleaf family. Charity hits rock bottom, something huge happens with Sophia, and Tasha and Rochelle take additional steps in their plan.

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Network
OWN
Director(s)	Allan Kroeker
Writer(s)	Ivy Mariel Pruss
Air Date	9/19/2018

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The Takeover: Grace, Connie, Mae, James, Clara

With the tax issues being more so personal than institutional, per Clara’s money manager, and Clara unsure what is happening between James and Mae, she backs out of helping them. With that, Mae believes it’s time to talk about taking over the church. She goes over it with James, who tells her it isn’t gonna happen and Connie, who pretty much says the same thing. Especially since she and the deacon board are putting all their chips on Grace.

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Which, of course, leads Mae to storm Grace’s office like some wicked Disney stepmother about what will and won’t become Grace’s. Thing is, Grace doesn’t want Cavalry. As she reiterates to Connie, since Mae is now upset, she is way too progressive for the board. Yet, the counter is, would Grace be willing to march the church forward to a for sale sign over her beliefs? Rather than maintain her family’s legacy, that is?

Commentary

Mae needs back up since it seems no one really supports her plan. James rolls his eyes, Connie makes it seem this conversation came up before and the answer was no, so what is Mae to do? The episode ends with James prepping their shared announcement but it doesn’t seem like he wrote what Mae wants. So is she truly doomed to exit the church or, perhaps more embarrassingly, go from the stage to the audience?

Well, based off the preview for the next episode, to air on October 3^rd, it seems she is calling in Maxine to bolster her position. Maybe making it where, between James and Mae, whoever handles this IRS issue may get the church? I mean, lest we forget, as much as Cavalry is a house of worship, it is also a business. So whoever can keep that business booming, that is who the deacon board may align themselves with.

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When The Devil Claims To Be God: Rochelle, Tasha, Jacob, James

Not to be forgotten amongst everything else that is happening, Tasha and Rochelle are still trying to take down the Greenleaf family and pave a way for Basie to comeback. One of those ways includes having Jacob open a bank account, for his defunct church, and beginning to siphon money from possibly Triumph and maybe Cavalry. How? Well, being that Jacob trusts Tasha, even calls her family, she can easily get him to sign whatever – thus leading to the account opening.

As for Cavalry? Well, with Rochelle having it where Clara won’t get involved, who else does James have to turn to really? So, he asks her for help and she says she will. Which will probably just exacerbate the church’s money woes. For, based off how hell-bent Rochelle is, anyone else believe she wouldn’t burn down her life to take down the Greenleafs? After all, they’d be the front page, pictures and all, she would just be a name buried beneath the folk.

Commentary

Well, let’s backtrack, considering how smart Rochelle is, surely she wouldn’t burn down her business, which looks quite fancy, just to take down James and his family right? She can’t be that desperate? Plus, with her talking about setting up a fund for Basie to comeback, she needs to keep her job to keep this money thing going.

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But, one of the things needed so that this could run smoothly is Tasha and it isn’t clear if dangling Basie’s return might be enough. Jacob kept her on, entrusts her, treats her like family, and she has a conscious. Especially since it was Jacob’s father, not Jacob, which caused all this mess. So why should he be punished? While he has committed adultery in the past, he seems to have put in quite a bit of effort into mending fences and recovering the state of his family. Which, as a Christian woman, shouldn’t Tasha be fostering his ability to continue to do so than tear him down because of his father’s sins?

Leading to the big question: Will Tasha screw over both Rochelle and Basie, in the long run? Also, what would be the consequences of that? If Rochelle and Basie revealed what she did help with, would Jacob be able to forgive her? We haven’t seen Kerissa’s dark side in a while, would she be ready to whoop Tasha’s behind? There are many things to ask when it comes to how this may play out but one thing is for sure – Tasha will be a liability more than an asset and she is going to get bit in the ass no matter how this goes down.

A Test of Faith: Charity, Sophia, Grace

Charity pretty much has hit rock bottom. She had to hand Nathan over, to avoid charges being pressed, and now she is angry at the world. How angry? Well, let me put it to you this way, Sophia is having what perhaps she thought was just period cramps. However, what they’re really Dermoid Cysts, which caused her to have ovarian torsions. This requires a hospital visit and Charity comes along and has THE AUDACITY to say to Grace, if Sophia dies she is there for her.

Let’s take a moment.

Charity, high off OxyContin, talked about Sophia dying and talk to the possibility to Grace. She follows that up to talking to Kerissa about Zora and that drama. Making you think, somebody is going to knock Charity TF out. Luckily, at least for her face, all that happens is she busts through vending machine glass trying to get a candy bar. Because, you know, she doesn’t have a problem or anything.

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As for Sophia? Well, for the sake of her health they take her ovaries. Mind you, this was not said before the surgery or when Grace was signing over approval for said surgery. This is what Sophia learns after and with Roberto talking about marriage, kids, a future, waking up without ovaries, knowing part of this planned future no longer exists? As, again, seen in the previews, it shows Charity may not be the only one with a major character shift this season.

Commentary

Let’s just write off what Charity is going through as a mix of post-partum depression combined with loneliness for, what is there really left to say? We all understand she is going through something because of Kevin, Jabari, and all that, but she is venturing to that place where, at first, you wanna laugh, but then you think about the situation. And in thinking about it, you realize nothing is funny and what she is doing right now is calling for help. Not just attention, but H-E-L-P!

But Sophia? Depending on how her loss of faith is handled, she maybe neck and neck with Mae when it comes to the most memorable performance of the season. For as noted, probably most of the show, Sophia has never been a character to strongly focus on. She was Grace’s kid, Mae and James’ favorite grandchild, a goody two shoes, and while Zora gave her the opportunity to be part of some drama, she usually was there to help extinguish it a bit. Not throw gasoline.

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So, with what just happened, it should be interesting to watch her fall from Grace (no pun intended) and see whether she follows Zora’s path or the show crafts one unique to her. For I really would hate for her to decide to never mind waiting for marriage since she can’t get pregnant now, lose Roberto and then try to make up for lost time – or just have a ho phase this early in her life. That is, until she gets an STD and slows things down.

I mean, can Greenleaf get that dramatic? I don’t know. However, with the way Charity is being handled, I feel like the line has been pushed as to what we can expect from this show.

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Is Percy here to stay or just someone around for now?
2. With the way Darius was talking, is he against marrying Grace someday?
3. WILL WE SEE BASIE COMEBACK THIS SEASON?!
4. Anyone else imagines Grace going on her own, like Jacob, and having her own church between this season and the next?

Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs

I don’t know where the pride ends and the weakness begins.
— Grace

Highlights

1. Sophia finally has a storyline that isn’t her latching onto someone else’s.
2. What may come of Tasha’s involvement with Rochelle, especially since it seems she has lost her drive to screw over Jacob?

Low Points

1. Charity comes off like a caricature. You want to feel for her and recognize her pain, but everything which happened in the hospital just makes you want to roll your eyes. But what should we expect out of a character whose whole thing was feeling neglected or forgotten about?

On The Fence

1. Depending on what Maxine contributes, this whole taking over Cavalry thing might be a hot mess. One which might be entertaining but handled in a soap opera kind of way.

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