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| Being Mary Jane Season 3 Finale BET |
Three must be a charm because, finally for this series, our
language was spoken and in a most non-traditional way. Being Mary Jane inspired thought,
consideration but mostly had us embroiled in a myriad of issues, some discussed
ad-nauseam.
I called this season, empowerment. Empowerment was intricately woven into every episode. Empowerment sounds easy, but MJ showed us,
it’s not.
Empowerment is that force that grabs the ball and runs toward
the goal. While propelling forward, that
same force may finesse around a few stumbling blocks but when a three hundred
and fifty pound line-backer is bull-dozing at the bulls-eye target, you, with
the same brut intention, empowerment runs forward, braced for impact. Empowerment doesn’t guarantee that you get it
right, it means you try. MJ illuminated
with empowerment.
On what I consider to be BET’s greatest work to date, we propel
toward self-awareness, compassion, intelligence, vulnerability and candor which
some hailed as insensitivity. This
season we got the whole person, not just the broken one slow to self-sacrifice
and chasing down unavailability. MJ became the woman we longed to champion; the
one when standing at the buffet table, you were more interested in engaging her
opposite the hardened shrimp cocktail.
Our champion rewarded us with candid conversations about
love, sexuality, mental illness, marriage, motherhood or lack thereof, family,
commitment, community, views and placement in one’s community, and intra-racial
conflict. Our champion showed us what it
looks like when it’s too late because time and space wait for no one. If that weren’t enough, divergent views were
displayed and without apology.
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| Being Mary Jane Gabrielle Union, Raven Goodwin, Stephen Bishop, Lisa Vidal, Margaret Avery, Richard Roundtree, Aaron D. Spears |
We were strapped in for a roller-coaster ride of emotion using
some of the Black community’s most iconic figures: the powerful, evolved, lost,
pimp, preacher, poor, needy, the un-evolved, the highly evolved and those stuck
in the middle. Being Mary Jane took the stereotype and turned it on its head.
Navigation and negotiation was depicted brilliantly from the
NAACP insertion, to the extortion between MJ and CeCe, Marisol and Kara. Big Brother intervened sometimes on our
behalf, sometimes not, depending on your chosen side.
We were given conscious truths shrouded in intention and
choice with lines like, “I didn’t sell out, I bought in…” And the eulogy… The thought that when we ask
how someone is doing, the true feeling is we don’t want to know because their
truth too ugly… Then the charge to tell those you love them no matter how ugly
their truth is. This is not only the
making of good television, it awakes the deferred sleep walking consciousness embedded
in most.
But what I loved most about this season was MJ’s biggest
lesson. The ability to discern and learn
to remove herself from the table. Nina
Simone once said, “You have to learn to remove yourself from the table when
love is no longer being served.” So when David stopped serving love, when Lisa
couldn’t or when others put their love on hold, MJ got up from the table.
This season MJ loved with love no matter how it looked to
someone else. It was love because it was
authentic. It was true. That’s what we witnessed this season. We didn’t have to agree or disagree. We got to watch. We were moved. And
isn’t that what good television does?
I look forward to Season 4 with great anticipation. Not sure where the writers will take us, but
they’ve proven that they are poised to figure it out. Bravo! Cast and Crew, Bravo!
What did you like most about Being Mary Jane this season? What was your favorite take away?
Catch full episodes BET, On Demand
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