The Being Mary Jane Finale Is the Cheesy Rom-Com Mary Jane Would've Wanted

From Oprah Magazine

• BET just aired the two-hour film finale of its long-running series Being Mary Jane, starring Gabrielle Union.

• While a bit cheesy and over-the-top, the romantic ending was fitting for Union's character, who spent four seasons looking for love.

When BET announced in 2017 that instead of a fifth season of the series, they'd be offering a two-hour finale film, I was weary. Though the decision was fitting (BMJ actually also began as a two-hour film, with such high ratings it was later turned into a series) after four seasons, I wondered how the network could possibly wrap up Mary Jane's messy life in just two hours.

It turns out I was right to be weary. To say the series' attempt to give a proper ending to not just Mary Jane but also her career as a morning TV host, her quest to find love, and her journey to have a baby, felt rushed would be an understatement. Through one hour and 20 minutes (don't forget those commercial breaks!) we sped through updates on MJ's life at a breakneck pace.

Last season ended with Mary Jane heartbroken after her boyfriend, Justin, (played by the always-delightful-to-look-at, green eyed Michael Ealy) left angrily after finding out Mary Jane didn't vote for him to take the role as executive producer of the show she hosts, Great Day USA. Instead, MJ went for her best friend, Kara-which Justin took as a sign that she didn't really love him. But at the beginning of the finale film, we see Justin down on one knee, proposing to Mary Jane. He apparently came back two days later to apologize-and propose. There's just one problem: During the 48 hours he was gone, Mary Jane made the snap decision to finally utilize the embryos she had frozen for years and gets one implanted via IVF.

Of course, she doesn't tell Justin this news when he pops a diamond ring on her. Instead, she happily accepts-but a few weeks later, he walks in on Mary Jane in the bathroom as she looks at a pregnancy test. She is, indeed, pregnant. After some intense arguing, Justin tells her he has no idea how they can make this work, and he leaves, wishing her and her baby the best.

Fast forward and suddenly Mary Jane is very pregnant and at a birthing class all alone. On the way out, she happens to bump into the tall, dark, and handsome Morris Chestnut, who plays her ex-college boyfriend, Beau. (I have to say, it was fun to see Union and Chestnut together in a movie again years after The Brothers and Two Can Play That Game.) Apparently, Beau used to be nerdy-but he's experienced one hell of a glow up. Rather quickly after a simple catch-up coffee, Beau insists on being there for Mary Jane during her process, later explaining that he himself was a foster child and he has no issue raising a kid that's not biologically his. So despite her growing bump, the two begin to date...and, um, get reacquainted during a rather steamy bumping-and-grinding scene. (See what I did there?)

In between all of this, we catch up with MJ's niece, Niecy, who quits her salon job and finds a business advisor to help her come up with a plan for her own salon. Of course, her and said business plan advisor end up falling for each other, and though Niecy's family is underwhelmed by her initial proposal to invest in her plan, eventually they surprise her with her own at-home hair salon.

We also get a sad update on Kara: She learns that she has breast cancer and, knowing her family history, opts to get a double mastectomy. For as unbelievable as this episode was, I have to say Lisa Vidal's acting is always on point; her scenes admitting to Mary Jane that she has cancer and later, explaining to her baseball player boyfriend, Orlando (Nicholas Gonzalez) that the surgery meant removing both of her breasts were tear-jerkers (that deserved way more nuance and air time). But the good news for Kara is that, like Niecy, she also gets a happy ending: Orlando proposes, and she accepts.

But of course, we're all here for Mary Jane's happy ending, and she sure does get one. After delivering her son at 7-months via an emergency c-section, she and Beau are living life happily. And then she returns to work (apparently without much of a maternity leave...) during Kara's medical absence to find that Justin is filling in for Kara as executive producer. Which means Mary Jane is back to working with her ex. If you're like me, you could probably see where this was going a mile away: In pure Being Mary Jane fashion, the morning show host finds herself in a love triangle. Justin never quite stopped loving Mary Jane, and soon, he and Beau find themselves in the same room tensely arguing over who really loves Mary Jane more. After the fight gets physical, Beau storms off and Mary Jane runs to check on Justin at the farm house (?) he recently bought.

It's there that he admits "I left because I was angry, but I came back because of the Airman’s Odyssey," which is the book Mary Jane has kept at her bedside since she was a little girl. He quotes back to her a line from the book he's memorized: “Loves does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” Well, then, obviously they have sex...in the brand new farm house. I ain't mad at Mary Jane, until her babysitter calls with an emergency and I remember that MJ has a newborn at home. Justin comes with her, and he's just starting to bond with the babe when...yup, in walks Beau, who at first doesn't see Justin and heaps a ton of apologies at Mary Jane before getting down on one knee and proposing.

That's right: Just an hour in and our girl MJ has gotten not one, but two proposals. And then, we're at the end of the episode: Mary Jane in a wedding dress, staring at her reflection. And then she walks down the aisle toward her mystery groom, which I predicted was going to be Justin, obviously (come on, we all know Beau was just a-really, really good looking!-decoy) and ding ding ding! I was right. Justin is there looking as fine as ever, and under an umbrella of gorgeous flowers, after four seasons of agonizing over her man issues while trying to have it all, Mary Jane Paul finally gets her happy ending.

“I guess what I feel most in this moment is relief. Relief in having finally come to the realization that all the online checklists and all the how-to books, all the poems and the post-its and the positive affirmations are just...chatter," she says in a voiceover. “I realized the only affirmation you need is let go and let love because the second you get out of your own way and stop orchestrating, it just happens. The moment you stop saying me and without thinking say us, that’s the moment you’re finally able to allow the love you want in.”

It's corny. Like, roll your eyes and yell "really?!" at your TV-level corny. The closing features Natalie Cole's "This Will Be," which is basically the song played at the end of every romantic comedy ever made. The show writers also sneak in a sweet make-up session for Mary Jane's estranged parents, who have decided to get back together and run off to a vacation in the Bahamas. It's all very unbelievable and taken straight out of the script of any run-of-the-mill romantic comedy.

Part of me wishes that Mary Jane could've received a more layered, less expected ending- something real that reflected the experiences of single Black women, which has been at the core of this show since it began. Instead, we got the finale of Mary Jane's story wrapped up in a bow, complete with a gorgeous baby, stunning wedding, and a hot man. "The unicorn," as she calls him. But while I'm still rolling my eyes at the Being Mary Jane finale film's melodrama, I can't help but think that this is probably exactly how Mary Jane would've wanted it to end. After all, despite all of her flaws and messiness, for four seasons, all she really wanted was to have it all-love included. And she got it. For Mary Jane Paul, her ending was perfect.

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