Being Mary Jane Pilot (RECAP)

“42% of black women have never been married. Mary Jane is one of them. But she doesn't represent all of them.”

Being Mary Jane is an upcoming scripted series on BET which stars Gabrielle Union as Mary Jane Paul, a successful TV journalist who seems to have it all, but is struggling to meet Mr. Right. The pilot premiered last night, and I must say it was a good one!

"Successful. Sexy. Searching," is the tagline for the show, and it's describes Mary Jane to the tee! We see right from the get go that Mary Jane is doing her thing, with her gorgeous big house and beautiful care. However, she’s very much alone. She has had relations with one guy, but, after finding out that he’s married, she ends it, hosing him down after a romp the night before. She even goes as far as to tell the man’s wife when she sees her in passing one day, who was a big fan of hers up until that day.

At her job, Mary Jane and friend Kara work as a journalist and producer team. While Mary Jane really wants to do stories that trouble her about the black community, but the big shots at the network don’t think that it’s worth it. Aftre getting great ratings for her story on women raping men in Zimbabwe, Mary Jane marches to go talk to them about doing a story on why black women are deemed ugly by some of the mediabecause of the color of their skin. Kara brings her down to earth and tells her that she doesn't want to be known as the angry black woman at the network with her story.

She also has issues with her family who all need to get their lives together. For starters, her brothers, both grown men, still live at home and don’t do much. Patrick, who is supposed to be taking care of his sickly mother, doesn't do anything but sit on the couch all day. Her other brother Paul has a job spinning “Open House” signs, and selling weed on the side. Needless to say, they both don’t really have much going on for themselves. Patrick’s daughters both have kids of their own, with M.J.’s niece Niecy pregnant again (Mary Jane was surprised to find that she was eight months along!). Patrick secretly resents her success and how she always does everything for their family (as we see when M.J. buys Niecy a stroller she really wanted, after Patrick asked M.J. for $500 early on in the episode. We find out he wanted to get it for her to feel like a good father to Niecy and, I think, more of a man).

Towards the end, M.J. watches the Dark Girls documentary at the office, when she gets an IM from an old friend David who asks her to go to dinner with him that very moment. She gets ready with extra clothes left there. Tara calls her and tells her that it's definitely just a booty call, which Mary Jane already knew, which is why she had some alone time beforehand to ward off temptation. She calls David sitting in front of the diner, and tells him that they’re both grown. A booty call should be a booty call, and dinner should be thought out and planned within a day's notice. Good for her for putting the standards out there. David shows up that night with chips and salsa, and asks for consensual sex, which she agrees to. However, she steals his sperm from his condom and preserves it in the freezer, getting the idea from the story she did earlier in the show. Keeping her options open?!

I definitely think that this will be a good show. I love Gabrielle Union and the way she plays this character. This isn’t EVERY black woman’s story, but I’m sure many can relate in some way. It’s not far-fetched at all, and kept my eyes glued to the television. It’s a great plot, and I hope that it does well when it premieres next year. Yes, unfortunately, we have to wait til early next year for the show’s official premiere, but it will be well worth the wait!

What did you think of Being Mary Jane?

Images via BET