“For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.” Mark 4:22 (NIV)
Secrets don’t stay secrets for very long and many of the Greenleaf’s secrets are out- or on their way out in episode 13, “Silence and Loneliness.”
Kerissa (Kim Hawthorne) has spilled the tea on everything that’s been going on with Basie Skanks’ (Jason Dirden), gambling debts and how it has begun to affect Triumph- since it was the church’s money that Basie gambled and loss during his poker games. She has gone behind her husband’s back and told her in-laws, Bishop Greenleaf (Keith David) and Lady Mae (Lynn Whitfield) all about how Jacob (Lamman Rucker) emptied their savings account to pay off Basie’s debt; which is how they acquired the house and the land but, now she wants more – much more.
She wants Triumph! She wants Jacob to be the pastor of Basie’s church and she wants to claim her position as first lady of the church, and she’ll stop at nothing to do it. Kerissa somehow persuades Basie’s accountant to provide her with the receipts proving his indiscretions and mishandling of the church’s money.
And she hands those receipts right on over to Bishop and Lady Mae so they can help her make this happen. With proof in hand, Bishop marches right over to Skanks’ office and threatens to deliver the accountant’s reports to the police if he doesn’t publicly step down as pastor of Triumph and hand the position over to his son.
Initially, Skanks declines the Bishop’s offer and reminds him that blackmail is a sin. But, he quickly changes his tune when he receives another visitor to his office who is not as verbal as Bishop and decides to lay hands on Skanks.
The same crooked gentleman that the Bishop witnessed speaking to Skanks in his office during his last visit a few episodes back, is the same gentleman who barges in Skanks’ office and causes him to make a non-joyful noise. Though viewers aren’t privy to the actual beating, we do see a very badly beaten Skanks engaging in a very emotional conversation with his wife Tasha (Asia’h Epperson) who pleads with him to turn himself into the police.
She’s beyond scared by how far this has gone, especially since she has been begging him to stop the gambling but he wouldn’t listen. Or in his words, “[he] couldn’t hear.” She tells him that this has gone too far and agrees with Bishop on involving the police and handing over the church to Jacob.
Basie finally agrees and makes a phone call to Jacob offering over the position of Pastor. Jacob is reluctant to accept due to the stipulations surrounding the transfer of authorities but, ultimately agrees to take over Triumph after Basie turns himself in. The only problem is – Basie’s now M.I.A.
Yep. Just like Kevin (Tye White) here’s another character who has just up and disappeared. After confessing his sins to the congregation and publicly handing over the church to Jacob, Basie is nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, Kevin may still be missing but it doesn’t look like Charity (Deborah Joy Winans) is actually missing him. She’s busy working closely with Jabari (Sean Dominic) on writing and selling these songs but, they’re still not as close as she would like them to be. A new customer comes to the studio to review and makes changes to a song written by Charity before she decides to purchase it, and before she leaves, the client ends up kissing Jabari right in front of her.
Ok, so the kiss is just a peck on the cheek but it rattles Charity to the point where she needs answers from Jabari on where they are in their relationship. “Do you like me?” A simple question that Jabari kind of dances around answering to Charity’s liking. It seems like he’s all about business and getting their songs sold and on the radio. But later, he makes his intentions perfectly clear.
After dinner with the new client Charity and Jabari go to the studio to tinker around with some new music and Jabari speaks his peace. He tells her that the reason he’s been so hard to read in their relationship is because he’s being careful. She has a baby and is recently divorced so he doesn’t want to move too fast or jump too deep into something with someone who has “so much going on.” But yes, he REALLY likes her and he shows her just how much by kissing her – an actual real kiss this time, not just a peck on the cheek.
In other relationship news, poor Zora (Lovie Simone) continues to hide more and more about her relationship with Isaiah (Roshon Fegan) from her parents and everyone else. He’s gradually progressing from just verbal abuse to borderline physical abuse. During their car ride, things go left. Zora wants to go to the cotillion and of course she wants Isaiah to be her date.
But, he doesn’t want to go and decides to make alternative plans on the same night and wants Zora to come with him instead. When he asks who she’s going to the cotillion with if not him, her answer is “someone else.” He doesn’t like that so he slams on the brakes causing Zora to her bump her head on the dashboard. Now, not only is she concealing her abusive sexual relationship but, also using makeup to conceal the big red bruise on her forehead.
The biggest secret in this episode comes from Gigi (Merle Dandridge), though. We knew her Uncle Mack (Gregory Alan Williams) molested her baby sister Faith, which resulted in her suicide but Gigi has conveniently left out the part where tried the same thing with her first. What?!!?
She tells Darius (Rick Fox) that he took her to a secluded area on their family land, but she was able to fight him off before things went too far. She never told anyone about it. Now she blames herself for not saying anything to her parents or to Faith, who was targeted next. Not only is Gigi still dealing with the emotional impact of Mack’s death she’s now having recurring flashbacks of him and it’s taking a toll on her.
So much is going on. We’ll have to stay tuned for the next episode to see what else will be revealed.
Wanda J. Coppage is a full -time Music Director at an Urban AC radio station, journalist and proud Virginia State University alum – Go Trojans! As a music enthusiast who can’t go a day without hearing R&B/Soul or Classic Hip Hop as well as a TV passionista, why not live a life that covers both?
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