'Being Mary Jane' review on YBBG (Full Episode)

My brudda from another mudda, Brotha B, asked that I watch this show/movie from BET. I'm still without TV (by choice), so I finally scoured the internet looking for it. Voila!I found it.

Being Mary Jane stars Gabrielle Union as Mary Jane Paul. We find out in the scene with her baby brother that her real name is Pauletta. Mary Jane is living the life as a successful feature anchor with credentials to keep her skyrocketing career wise. Her home life isn't so grand. With a dysfuncitonal family, ailing mother, and heartbreaking love life, Mary Jane is trying to keep it together.

I honestly did not know what to expect from this show. After the week I've had with exes popping back up and having uncomfortable conversations with them...I needed a break. LOL


I went in with a opened mind, although when I talked to Brotha B I was not interested in watching at all. The show started out with a booty call from a drunken man who Mary Jane later found out was married. Apparently she had been seeing him for quite a while.

He claims he had to get drunk to tell her something...he loves her...never mind the fact that he's married.

There are some things I found very interesting in this story...

Mary Jane is very loving and principled. She tries to follow the rules and is frustrated by people who don't. For example, her chunky niece is pregnant again and no one in the house is working. Of course Mary Jane lectures her, but then turns around and runs to the rescue. This seems vaguely familiar to me...okay...more than vaguely...

As headstrong as Mary Jane is, she is a sucker at the same time. She puts on up a strongfront but with a little opposition, she backs down. When she wanted to do a show on the Psycology Today article calling Black women ugly, her latina cohort said she should just let it go. Mary Jane refused, but when the coworker said she'd already sacrificed enough for them both to be in the position they are in, Mary Jane relented. I guess the heiffa didn't think about all the sacrifices Mary Jane had made... but anyway...

It seems like everyone loves Mary Jane and resents her at the same time. She is a shining example of success and their own failures. Her mother is always nagging, older brother always begging and she can't stop crying. Bless her heart.

Which brings me back to her love life. Mary Jane has the five men that a lot of women have in their lives at this stage.

• The daddy who believes in her, but is a constant reminder of the husband she doesn't have 
• The ex who coulda, woulda, shoulda been
• The semi-current that ain't nothing but bad news 
• The platonic friend who is the best shoulder to lean on and playa-pahtna in the world
• The perfect man in her head who she has yet to meet

That poor thing is so desperate for a family that she steals her ex-boyfriend's (not the married guy) sperm. Do I know women who would stoop to those levels? You want me to be honest...or tell a lie? 

Being Mary Jane is the typical Black girl goes to college, makes good, and becomes a forlorned grown woman story. She has always done the right thing, yet what she wants, love and family, is hard to get. At least that's how I saw it before I actually saw it.

The show actually gives you a deeper look at the complexity of seemingly having it all while feeling as though you have nothing at all.

I think I will tune in again.

But the show doesn't start until 2014!!! :-/

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