Mary Jane’s little brother Paul (BJ Britt Jr.) is back!
The business savvy sibling of MJ (Gabrielle Union) made his return last night on the third episode of season four of Being Mary Jane. Many of us were wondering where he was, having left him in a precarious situation with a boss that was laundering money in Los Angeles.
We now find him in New York City, living in a $15 million home owned by one of his “clients” and working in real estate. Offering to find MJ a home of her own, she considers what that means for her budding romantic relationship with Lee (Chike Okonkwo).
Life is much little less enjoyable at work with Justin (Michael Ealy) and Ronda (Valerie Pettiford) making things miserable for MJ. At the staff news meeting, everything proposed by Kara (Lisa Vidal) and MJ gets shut down or assigned to someone else. When asked why she’s being overlooked, Justin reveals that he thinks MJ is “haughty” and reference her “ugly Black woman” her previous job in Atlanta.
“The serious interviews are not meant for you,” says top producer Garrett (Ashton Holmes). At that point MJ realizes she’s going to have to shake things up to change the producers’ perception of her from boogie to down to earth.
Back on the home (read: hotel) front, MJ is still happy with Lee who introduces her to his favorite reality TV show that stars Mercedes Wilkerson (Cardi B). Serving as his “master in American culture”, MJ decides Mercedes is just the right phenomenon to get her in Garrett’s good graces and one-up Justin.
MJ wants to “humanize” Mercedes and bring in a young demographic. Kara pitches the story in the next news meeting and gets approval… for Justin.They argue, spit nasty words and when it comes down to the day of the segment he replaces MJ’s interview questions with ones about fashion.
Consequently, the interview was horrid. Mercedes calls MJ “old” and shares no details on where to purchase her line of swimwear-lingerie. After the segment, MJ cusses her out, which is filmed by someone in Mercedes posse. But in a twist of fate, the video is leaked and creates a viral discussion about double consciousness for Black people in majority White workplaces.
Only problem: In one-upping Justin and Ronda with this unlikely win, MJ gets transferred from television to the network’s “resident web correspondent”.
For MJ the job is always unpredictable but her love life, luckily, is not.
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When viewing an apartment with Lee, she reveals that she’s considering what he wants in a home as well. While they agree it’s too early to move in together, it is clear they want this to work. MJ is even open to sticking her fingers in Lee’s butt while having sex— something he reveals he enjoys. But his ambivalence to agree to one day moving in upsets MJ and she excuses him from her presence.
And here’s what makes him different! He comes back the next day to make up. Lee explains to MJ that what they had was an argument, but that doesn’t mean they broke up and tells her his kids are coming into town to meet her in the spring. Anxious because she’s turning 40 in two months, her British lover notes, “Let go of what you think is suppose to happen. Just let it be.”
Crossing our fingers that she actually does this.
On a mini sidenote, Kara spends the majority of the episode with Orlando Lagos, a football player who has a desire to be a television anchor. They do a lot of flirting, practice his on-camera skills, and potentially hook up. But we have a feeling Kara is leveraging this relationship to get in good with Garrett who wants an exclusive on if Orlando’s retiring from the NFL.
Something about New York City brings out the savage in people, and it looks like MJ and Kara are settling in just fine.
