Initially, it seems like the opening scene may be a love scene between MJ and Brandon (aka Cutty Buddy), but it's actually Kara and Gael. Afterwards, Gael opts to go to sleep, and Kara being Kara opts to go to the living and do some work. She ends up falling asleep on the couch with her laptop on her lap and oversleeps. MJ is texting her asking her where she is, all while enduring her boss' decision to give her another week off. Though Kara wasn't on her way to the network, she was actually heading to her son's school for a parent-teacher conference. But she missed the meeting, and John informed her that the teacher thinks their youngest son may have dyscalculia and should be tested. Kara asks John how much the test will cost, noting she already pays child support, the mortgage on the house John and the kids are staying in, rent for her condo, and is still helping her parents out! Throughout the episode Kara is fighting what feels more and more like a losing battle, as she asks to have her two boys come to her place after school for the remainder of the week. She's popping pills, going off on her sons, canceling dinner plans with Gael and his friends who are in town for just a few days, trying to check Marisol who seems to be trying to take MJ's job, and burning brownies she wants to send to school with her son (so the other mom's won't judge her for sending store-bought brownies). After burning the brownies, she goes to MJ for help, well after midnight. She goes to ask MJ to bake brownies for her, and ends up having a minor breakdown about having made the wrong choice to think she could have it all and get married and have children. But she ends up getting the brownies (thanks to MJ), breaking it off with Gael to ensure any time away from work is spent with her boys (after a love scene in the car), and then suggests to John that she moves back in to cut costs and have more time with the boys (a "roommate" type of situation).
Meanwhile, after being sent home from work for another week and receiving a card from Lisa (which she wouldn't open), MJ calls Brandon (aka Cutty Buddy) over to play house. The episode is basically her hooking up with Brandon with momentary breaks over the span of a few days. Her first break was to run an errand, and Brandon was going to head out, but she asked him to come back after his workout. And he of course obliged. So she leaves to give Cece her first installment of $5000. Later, she has to take another break when Niecy walks in on her and Brandon having sex in the pool. So she helps Niecy with her resume (she ends up getting a job selling flat irons, in spite of the judgmental interviewer), while Brandon chills at the pool. Later, she's done some investigative work and discovers Cece is using the money for an African-American bookstore. She pays Cece a visit at the bookstore. They have their typical back and forth, and then she asks Cece why she only asked for $25,000 when she clearly needs more for the bookstore. Cece said she only asked for $25,000 because that's how much she asked God for and anything more than that would be stealing. Interesting logic. Logic MJ told her was akin to the slave masters enslaving Black people in the name of Jesus. But Cece was unmoved. And I am still a Cece fan. She's still dropping knowledge. And she's using the money for an African-American bookstore, that softens the fact that she's extorting MJ (a little, lol). MJ returns home to play house with Brandon to the point where he tells her she's broken his penis. So she gives him a break and goes to the kitchen, where she finally opens the card from Lisa. It's an invitation to an event where Lisa was going to be speaking in 2016. Then MJ did what she seemed to be trying to avoid by playing house with Brandon, she broke down and fell to the floor crying. Brandon came to comfort her, and then by the pool he introduced her to the method his grandfather used to stay at peace with life and death as a mortician...Cuban cigars and shots of whiskey.