Ready To Love: Season 8/ Episode 13 “The Finale” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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It’s time for final choices, and let me start by saying: As usual, we don’t end the season with three couples.

Aired (OWN)

April 7, 2023

Recap

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Bad Timing – Mercedes, Mark Anthony

For Mercedes, the issue is that Mark Anthony is pretty, but she didn’t come to Miami for pretty. She remembers that she came to Miami to find herself and work on that person. She didn’t come for a long-distance relationship, and while for many, their friends or family seemed to be mostly ignored, that isn’t the case with Mercedes’ friend. So in terms of Mark Anthony and Mercedes, while she thinks he is beautiful, it seems to be a case of bad timing for her to be in the kind of relationship he is offering.

Happily Ever After – Cynthia, Anthony, Jeffri, Andre

While Cynthia’s family is a bit unsure about Andre, as are Jeffri’s, regarding him and the kids, and maybe him not fully ready for what they are offering, he still finds love. He chooses Jeffri, who is ecstatic to be with her biblical husband, and as for Cynthia? She gets Anthony. Someone who is a bit more her speed, can deal with her ex, and while he may need some work on the communication department, he doesn’t have to majorly step up like Andre would have to.

It’s A No For Me – Tony, Morgan

Morgan has been repeatedly told Tony has red flags, that she has seen him wave like he was on a high school flag team, but she thought he deserved a chance, grace, but no more. With her brother also being worried about how aggressive Tony could be, Morgan decides that she won’t be choosing Tony back when it is time to choose. Which, based on the confessional, left him pissed.

Things To Note

What Could Happen Next

1. Going by the preview for the reunion, Jeffri and Andre are going to break up, and Tony probably is going to show that anger he held in when he was dumped

Collected Quote(s)

• It’s not perfection that we’re seeing. It’s a healed woman. — Anthony

Review

Notable Performances or Moments

Morgan’s Revenge

Making it to the end is no easy feat, but it has increasingly not been about you finding the one. As noted many times, sometimes it is just about not being offensive, seeing the journey as a game to be won, or in the case of Morgan, biding your time to have an epic moment.

To us, Morgan would have been one of those people who, if she was eliminated, would have showed her whole ass, and that whole “Pastor Morgan” persona would have given way to the one who would put Nair in someone’s hair. Case in point, I feel like she didn’t want Tony for quite a few episodes, but after embarrassing her with the Natasha situation, paired with Lyndon’s reveal, she wanted to get him back in a very public way, and when he would have to admit failure.

So, what better moment than at the end, him choosing her first and her rejecting him. She has the upper hand, cameras are around, so Tony has to mind his temper, and she can just smile, knowing she got the better of him, and can punish him for what he has done wrong to her.

Highlights

Mercedes Putting Herself First

Relationships are tough enough, but to add distance? That makes them all the more harder. For as much as distance makes the heart grow fonder, that is only true when, as Mercedes’ friend said, there is a foundation there. Mercedes and Mark Anthony were compatible, but with him spending a good part of the season eyeing Jeffri and Mercedes, no foundation was built.

I mean, we’re at the end, and one of the first things Mercedes says about Mark Anthony is that he is pretty like she is a little kid talking about a shiny toy in her grandmother’s house. But who can fault her for being a person with an attractive person wanting their time and attention? It can leave you dumbstruck until things get real.

Cynthia Got Her Happy Ending

After a certain point this season, my sole focus and hope was for Cynthia to be with someone deserving of her. She, as Anthony said, was healed, open, and truly ready to love. She knows how to communicate, has her personal life together, and just as much as she was soft and vulnerable, she also made it clear she was not one to mess with. She was the total package.

So her ending up with Anthony leaves me hoping they made it because Cynthia should be the poster child for this show and the type of women and men that get cast.

On The Fence

Andre and Jeffri

This is in no offense to Andre and Jeffri, but I got nothing from them. They didn’t have that “Finally finding the right one for me” that Cynthia and Anthony had. They didn’t have the “Right person, wrong time” that Mercedes and Mark Anthony had, and certainly didn’t have the Morgan and Tony volatility either. I think Andre’s return, and maybe the pursuit of Jeffri in some ways, was less about finding love and, I don’t want to say ego, but something beyond what the show is for.

It’s just something about him harping on Mercedes not checking in on him, almost makes me feel like he just wanted to stick around and be the one to deliver that message to her. Not to say he is that petty, but I feel like Jeffri, as lovely as she is, was chosen because she was already hooked, and Andre wouldn’t have to compete, vs. that was the one he saw for himself long term.

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