On the second to last episode in this season of Being Mary Jane, Paul lets his son have it and vows to take Deja away from him if he keeps on doing drugs. Patrick storms out, through with his family, and MJ confronts her dad. “It wasn’t supposed to be an ambush.” But Paul doesn’t care because he’s tired of taking care of adults.
While MJ deals with the sting of ambushing her brother, she confides in Kara what happened and how it made her feel. But her friend tells her that she is doing her parents dirty work, and it’s time for her to be a little selfish because she has a lot going for her
Next we see her on the phone with her father telling him to let up on Patrick but he doesn’t want to hear what she has to say. He believes that his son is wrong and should not be taking any kind of drug, illegal or prescription, and he stands by that.
With all that is going on, it means MJ is on Auntie duty. She picks Deja up from school and spends some time with her young niece. She also calls and tells PJ everything that’s happening, and he shows up the next day. But Paul is not that impressed when he shows up. He tells his youngest that if he is not on his side, he can go back to California.
At work MJ, meets with a woman about Straight Talk’s format and it’s awkward. The woman is on her phone and rushes MJ out, but not before saying something about MJ bring her another “the ugly black woman” pitch and their conversation is over. MJ is speechless but doesn’t let it get to her. On her way to her office, Marisol asks if she can join her team on the production side but MJ tells her that she doesn’t have any room for her on the team for Straight Talk right now.
Speaking of her team, there is a lot of friction between the members but MJ lets them hash it out because she believes it is good for the show. To add to the tense interactions, they can’t find a place to meet, so they move their meeting to MJ’s house.
As they throw ideas around, CeCe shows up to ask MJ to be a guest speaker at the bookstore. She objects at first, but CeCe’s persistence wins. After MJ agrees, CeCe interjects herself into their brainstorming session, and she tells them how “predictable” they are. She then schools them on what they really should be talking about in the revamped segment.
Meanwhile, while on his way to pick up Deja from school, Patrick’s car stalls in the middle of the road so he gets out and runs to get her. As he makes his way there, Paul has already picked her up and ignores Patrick’s sweaty, running self. He actually causes a scene in front of everyone, driving off without even acknowledging him. One of Deja’s teachers, who is definitely feeling Patrick, takes him to her office to help him calm down. While he calls out from work, she offers to take him home. There, he spills his heart to her. He tells her he’s going to fight for his daughter, and she encourages him to do so.
And he does. He barges into his parents’ house and takes her home. Nicey is clearly hurt by the concern Patrick shows for Deja because she feels he never showed that much love for her when he was addicted to drugs.
After he leaves with his daughter, Paul goes back into his room and has a conversation with Helen. He expresses his regret for the way they have handled their family. He apologizes to her because it may be the last thing he can do for her which leads me to believe that Helen is keeping something about her health from her family.
PJ feels the disdain that Nicey has, and tells her she needs to get over it, but she doesn’t want to hear what he has to say. PJ tells her to grow up as she keeps playing the victim. But to her, he just doesn’t understand that her life feels like it’s going nowhere. “That’s because you’re waiting on someone to rescue you, he tells her. He explains the need for her to be her own hero and then offers to put her on a two-year plan.
Kara has a heart to heart with John after a long day at work, and it doesn’t go so well. She explains all the things in her life that got her to where she is (good and bad) and then asks John how he, “a white man in America” got to where he is. He doesn’t want to go there with her, but she keeps pushing him, so he tells her the truth, and it’s not pretty.
In the end, CeCe shows up unannounced once again to congratulate MJ on Straight Talk coming back so soon. Then she goes all CeCe and asks her for compensation for the advice she gave MJ, which caused her to have two shows, because, “A woman gotta eat.” Yea she went there.
Next week looks so promising, and I can’t wait to see how it all ends.