The first season of Greenleaf was released in 2016 on Netflix and also on OWN. This channel is Oprah Winfrey's. The latter also has a fairly substantial role in the series.
Greenleaf tells the story of Grace Greenleaf, a former pastor who returns to the family property, twenty years after a violent argument that had distanced him from his family and religion. However, she comes to attend the funeral of her sister Faith, accompanied by her daughter Sophia. Faith committed suicide under strange circumstances.
His father James was the bishop of the Calvary religious community, which was highly respected in the area. His brother Jacob and sister Charity live with their respective families in the family ranch house. They also have a role in the community, Jacob has been James' backup since Grace left and Charity takes care of the choir.
Mae, Grace's mother and James' wife, also has an advisory and management role for the business. She has a brother and a sister. His brother is Robert "Mac" McCready and is the community's lawyer. Mac is a very influential person in the community and in the city. He even received a Man of the Year award during the series. His sister Mavis runs a bar in town. However, she and her family no longer speak to each other. His knowledge of a secret about Faith's death is partly responsible. Unlike Mae, Mavis is close to Grace. We discover as the episodes go on why Grace decided to leave years earlier. Her sister Faith had been raped for years by Mac. When she confided her secret to Grace, she was quick to reveal it to her parents. Getting scared, Faith retracted her statement and Grace, shocked, made the decision to leave to protect herself.
So Grace returns with a sense of revenge to take and wants Mac to pay for his crimes. She will do this with the help of the testimony of several young women who have experienced the same thing in the community.
At the end of the season, Jacob will decide to leave the Calvary community to go to Triumph a competing community because he no longer feels like he belongs. Grace will remain in Calvary but will lose custody of her daughter. Indeed, Sophia's father believes that she should not have flouted the rules of shared custody to let her live in the same house as a person she knew to be a pervert.
Charity, on the other hand, is going through a difficult time. She is pregnant with twins which makes her happy, but she also discovers that her husband has feelings for men.
This series has a lot of positives but also negatives. Its credits are really nice. Fans of the credits of Desperate Housewife will certainly see it as an inspiration but it is quite representative of the atmosphere of the series. The enhancement of family pressures is well constructed. The strained relationship between Mae and Grace, the love ties between her father and Grace, and the relationship between James and Jacob are a success.
In Greenleaf, the Church is a business. The roles of the characters are very easily comparable. There are those who are naturally gifted, those who are in search of glory and those who want to find their place in it.
Some characters are endearing including Charity who gains confidence in her as the series progresses. It's very nice to see her blossom in a role that she likes (singer then mom).
Grace's investigation to prove Mac's guilt is not very original. Many other fictions have already dealt with this story arc Moreover, we feel from the beginning that it will get there. The originality here is that he manages to escape thanks to the help of James. It's not yet known what power Mac has over James for him to get away with it.
The script is far from original. There are very few original points of suspense. The theme of the prodigal maiden has been treated thousands of times. Sometimes it feels like you're watching a telenovela with better actors and better direction.
For Oprah Winfrey to choose to be a producer and actress of Greenleaf is because she must consider it good. Let's hope that season two dazzles us more than this first season!
