RECAP: "Freedom"-Being Mary Jane S2, E2

I am so glad Being Mary Jane is back on TV! Picking up from last week's season premiere, Mary Jane wakes up to noise in her house,and grabs a bat to approach the intruder! It's actually David, who makes her breakfast, half naked. He tries to kiss on her, but she backs away from him. Instead, she apologizes for everything, including giving up on him and stealing his sperm. He asks if he can kiss her, and does. However, they are interrupted by an unknown baby, who is David's son, Andre! Turns out to all be a dream, and Mary Jane wakes up to Isabelle crying.

Niecy is cooking breakfast, and lets Isabelle cry to "teach her independence," which is ironic because Niecy lacks independence herself! When MJ realizes that Niecy has screwed up her French oven, she continually texts Patrick to figure out when Niecy is going to move back. Patrick ignores her and makes his own breakfast and watches TV. A little later, Patrick comes over, and Mary Jane vents about Niecy staying there, and honestly wants her out soon. Patrick is "working" on a better living situation for everybody, but no telling when that will come. At that moment, we see that Niecy's son Trevion has drawn on MJ's walls, and it's yet another reason why Niecy and her kids have to go!

Later, MJ and a cop watch an abused prostitute, as MJ plans to do a story about sex trafficking in Atlanta. The cop is honest with her, saying that the ones that can usually be saved are the ones that just became a part of this. Pimps literally buy, sell, and trade girls like they were merchandise, and the reason they stick around are because of the threats they get on their lives from their pimps.

Back at work, Mary Jane continues to research stories, and eventually brings a group of girls to tour the studio. Kara comes through, and tells MJ she has found a girl who has been sold in Atlanta who may be able to add to the story. The girl's name is goes by Polly and is 17. However, she wants to meet MJ before actually going on air. At that moment, Mark comes over frantically, announcing that his parents are in town. Apparently, every time that they have visited him, MJ has acts as his beard. Though she's busy, she agrees to step in for him again.

That night, Mark's boyfriend Eric gets mad about this situation, and understandably so. I get that Mark doesn't want to put himself out there to his family, but I don't think he's really fooling anyone. Plus he's hurting Eric in the process, and himself really. Eric lets Mark know that he needs to own who he is--a black, gay man. It's literally been years since they've been doing this. When his parents arrives, Mark tells Eric to leave out of the back door and head over to Mary Jane's, which I know has to be so hurtful.

Meanwhile, back at the station, one of the girls touring the studio asks her dad to go to the movies, Her dad thanks Kara, and adds that they met briefly before. As he is about to leave, Kara strikes up a conversation with him. He asks where he can get a drink close by while he waits for his daughter, and she invites him to drink at the office.

At Mark's, he and Mary Jane make up stories for his parents about their fake engagement. His mom
asks the really good questions (seemingly already knowing that this is all a sham). She asks if MJ's parents approve of Mark, when will they actually get married, or, at least, when will Mark get a real ring! No one's that busy. Mary Jane continues the facade as Mark goes to get more wine. Beatrice just comes out and says she knows he's gay, and wants him to share his life with them, and stop hiding. Mark admits to his father he's always been gay, but his father feels like this came out of nowhere. Stan is more upset that he's been lying to him all this time. Even though he is admittedly a homophobe, Stan tells him upfront that the son they raised would've had the courage to be whoever the hell he wanted to be regardless of what anyone thought, including them. Mark has been putting his parents off whenever they wanted to visit to hide his life. It's sad, but there are many in the black community that are homophobic, and those that are of the LBGTQ community, at times, feel like they cannot be open about who they are. I love this show, because it brings up these kinds of topics for open discussion at home, on social media, etc.

Later that night, MJ goes to meet Polly at a diner. Polly reveals that she eats a happy meal every day for cheap from her pimp. Mary Jane asks her about her day, which consisted of watching TV, since she was "on the blob." The pimps apparently get violent with the girls being on their period like they can help. Polly's registered in high school, but doesn't go. It turns out that she's actually 15, not 17, which makes the sad situation even worse.

At the office, Kara is talking to the guy about her work as a producer and how she often works late to create quality shows. She still considers herself on the  climb in her career, and she wants to win an Emmy for working for a network. She admits that her work and her being the breadwinner affected her marriage, as well as her ex screwing the real estate agent. He asks if he can take her out for a proper drink one night,  but she's not interested in dating Latino men. He's a little offended, but he knows she wants to see him again. He gets a text from her daughter saying the movie's over, and tells Kara to let him know if she wants that drink. He leaves his business card, revealing his name is Gian Montoya.

At the diner, Polly talks about how the men she's with are gross. Some men don't even want sex. They just want someone to listen to them. Mary Jane tries to get Polly to tell her her real name, which Polly refuses to reveal. However, she admits that "Polly" was the name of her imaginary friend who "always protected her," and she uses that to give her strength through all this. Mary Jane tells her that there are many girls who need to hear her story. However, Polly wants money in exchange. When MJ reveals that she can't pay money but could offer her something else, Polly walks away, saying "It's always about the money." As Mary Jane goes after her, Polly's pimp walks in and angrily tells her to get in the car. MJ asks for Polly's price to get her out of this, and the pimp wants to sell her for $20,000! Mary Jane reveals she only has checks which angers the pimp and he drags Polly away.

At the end of the episode, Mary Jane looks through clips of other girls who may be able to talk on the show. As she Jane is taking notes, Mark comes over. He tells MJ that he and Eric broke up, after Eric thought long and hard about their relationship, and realizes that Mark and MJ have the better relationship. During the day, they were just marking time. There was no real depth. It means so much that he came out to his parents, but he shared that moment with MJ, not Eric, so it's for the best that they broke up. As MJ continues to look at a video of another prostitute, she calls Niecy and tells her that everything is going to be fine. Everyone is going to be right there to help her while Niecy figures it out. It's clear that MJ doesn't even want Niecy to consider this life.

Be sure to check out all new episodes of Being Mary Jane on Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. ET only on BET!

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