The third episode of the hit BET drama Being Mary Jane, starring Gabrielle Union, was an explosive continuation of the third season premiere. The show aired on Tuesday night, Oct. 27, and took viewers down a shocking and somber path, while tackling issues of suicide, child molestation and betrayal.
The Tuesday night episode began with the character Lisa, played by actress Latarsha Rose, doing what would seemingly appear to be a regular nightly routine. A little glass of wine before showering and dressing for bed, followed by a couple of more glasses of red wine, and then - a cocktail mixture of prescription pills that left her laid out across her bed, foaming at the mouth, and ultimately dead.
As Entertainment Weekly pointed out, viewers did not see that coming. Viewers watching the 2-hour season premiere expected Mary Jane to remain a little angry and hurt at the betrayal of her friend Lisa, who shared an intimate moment with the love of her life, David, and caused her horrific car accident. But, no one could have expected Lisa to be so overwhelmed by guilt and hurt that she would take her own life.
Rose spoke with EW about her character's death in the "Sparrow" episode, and the sensitivity behind the issue of mental illness and suicide. She and creator Mara Brock Akil wanted to approach the issue with great delicacy. Rose explained how she found out that her character was going to be killed off during an early morning breakfast with Akil who explained her vision for Lisa.
"They wanted to handle this with care and they wanted the scene to have this quality, a certain ritual," Rose told EW. She explained that they thought about everything that someone contemplating suicide may think of on that day. "How does she approach this last day? What goes on in a person's mind, spirit when they've made that choice," Rose explained of her conversation with Akil when tackling the issue. "I was ready to jump into that journey, like how do you play a character who is making this choice? And it was great because it was an opportunity close out an arc, and see a character from beginning to end."
Lisa's funeral was arranged by Mary Jane, who had to move passed her hurt from the betrayal to not only organize funeral arrangements but, provide the eulogy at her friend's funeral, as requested by Lisa's mother. The story shed light on the estranged family of Lisa, who she hadn't spoken to in more than 15 years due to molestation allegations. During Mary Jane's eulogy she exposed Lisa's stepfather, who had molested Lisa from the age 9 until she was 16 years old. From the episode viewers can gather that Lisa's mother never wanted to accept it as the truth and decided to staty with her husband, which alienated her daughter."
Mary Jane requested that the stepfather stay away from Lisa's funeral but, against her wishes he showed up anyway causing Mary Jane to reveal to everyone in the room how Lisa had been abused as a child. As reported by VH1, Mary Jane delivered a very "poignant" eulogy where she spoke to everyone about sharing their "truths" no matter how ugly they may be. Lisa was one who suffered from depression and had been diagnosed as bipolar and had many deep rooted issues; which was evident from past episodes. This last form of hurt and being isolated from her best friend was probably more than she could bare as Mary Jane's mother in the episode pointed out, as she told Mary Jane "we killed her."
If you have lost someone to suicide, @afspnational has resources for you: https://t.co/uzmsxjcK9q #StopSuicide #BeingMaryJane
— #BeingMaryJane (@beingmaryjane) October 28, 2015
Mary Jane closed out her eulogy with these words retweeted more than 60 times on Twitter last night from the Being Mary Jane Twitter Page.
"Just make sure that U tell everyone that u love, that u will love them, no matter how ugly their truth is" @beingmaryjane @itsgabrielleu — MsLusk813 (@MsLusk813) October 28, 2015
Watch the full episode below.
