'Greenleaf' Season 5 Episode 1 Review: A new church, wedding and suicide attempt has us hooked to the OWN show
Spoilers for Season 5 Episode 1
Oprah Winfrey's co-produced 'Greenleaf' has finally returned on OWN after wrapping its fourth season a year ago, and if the premiere of this fifth and final season is to be believed, they are leaving no stone unturned to keep the audience hooked for one last time. After Season 4 earned the lowest ratings in the show's past, albeit the best ones for the network still, 'Greenleaf' is pulling out all the big guns with reunions aplenty and plots twisted enough to keep the brain occupied.
The Season 5 premiere borrows all the timeless tropes to lay down the dynamics right at the beginning; there's Phil (Sean Blakemore) confirming with Charity (Deborah Joy Winans) if they are cool, while Karissa (Kim Hawthorne) threatened Jacob (Lammar Rucker) if he doesn't take care of her through this divorce, she'd expose his parents. Grace (Merle Dandridge) and AJ (Jacob Gibson) are still wracking their brains about what could the possible outcome of the latter's crimes be despite Aaron (William H Bryant Jr) informing them that a whole other person had been blamed for AJ's crimes. And this happens parallel just as Jacob is on the brink of finding out that maybe Karissa's accusations against his parents aren't entirely wrong. Maybe Bishop (Keith David) and First Lady Mae (Lynn Whitfield) did cover up a murder to move into the lavish mansion they are currently staring at.
Jacob's investigative pursuit is paralleled by Grace's, who seeks out Darius of course, to figure out who this stranger taking the fall for AJ might be. Darius is obviously too puppy-eyed in love to even reconsider not helping Grace. It is however AJ's reaction to the whole situation that has our intrigue. After Grace asks him to celebrate his freedom AJ looks like he's ready to leave everything — the guilt consuming him over. We get a momentary distraction from AJ's spiral in terms of Sophia's ever twisting love life that sees her beau with his ex on their date night. And on the other hand, the Bishop and First Lady decided to cut the former out of their relationship and become spouses again.
Tired of having church at the gym, the two realize the only way to get a brand new church on their own jurisdiction would be to remarry. And no matter how "demented" or "crazy" it might sound, the shock value of their decision is balanced by the way Charity returns Phil's engagement ring with ample poise and subtle snark to make one whistle and cheer for her. Once again, the beauty of 'Greenleaf' lies in how interconnected everything is, and soon Grace's request to hunt down intel on the man taking the blame leads them to the very reason Phil leaves Charity — Bob. Phil admits it is this very Bob who posed such a threat to a job he had worked so hard for 20 years, that he had to marry Judee instead. And it is also Bob who is desperate for the Cavalry purely because he wants to run for Republican Senate and owning a church is always leverage.
Even with everything coming together like puzzle pieces, and the Bishop and Lady Mae announcing they are to be remarried that very afternoon things end on a tragic note. It's the hardest to bear because it involves Grace, who from an almost kiss with Darius goes to barge into AJ's room to find him on the floor with his wrists slit. AJ's guilt has been prominent throughout the episode, and even with Grace reassuring him it's what "God wanted", AJ could find little respite in the man he made fall. Scandalous, dramatic, and even salacious as ever, the megachurch drama is only getting started with another season full of twists spirals, and shockers. The premiere itself is reason enough to tune back in every Tuesday at 9 pm on OWN.