It's MJ's 39th birthday, and she's treating herself to a Tesla (yes, a Tesla!) and a $30,000 Birkin bag! Given her hesitancy to give her card to Jason Bolden for the Birkin, and the payment plan she's on with Cece, this episode's quote is most appropriate. "'Get it...you deserve it!' - Says the 80% of Americans living in debt." It's also interesting to see this scene juxtaposed to the scenes with Niecy. Niecy continues to work at her job selling flat irons at a kiosk in the mall, and it's not easy selling $130 flat irons. However, she's made a set of friends who also work at the mall. It's clear the show is presenting them as a younger version of MJ and her group of friends who we just saw in the last episode, with a different set of priorities. They are sharing their employee discounts and swapping stories about being single mothers (except for one who is called stuck up for saying she's not having sex to avoid becoming a single mother). And in a later scene, when Niecy comes home with shopping bags after getting her very first check, MJ calls her out for spending half her check on stuff she doesn't need (including a bedazzled Michael Kors shirt). Niecy grabs the gift she bought for MJ's birthday and storms off. More on this scene in a bit.
Meanwhile, Mark has sold his house, received his severance package, and completed his final broadcast for SNC. He's preparing to go to Nigeria, and the show uses actual clips and footage covering what's going on in Nigeria involving Boko Haram. The show does a wonderful job of covering Mark's departure from SNC, the country, and MJ's life. He shares a scene with Kara, and we see his final words on air, as well as a going away speech at SNC. There are also a couple of scenes where he and MJ discuss his leaving in a way that is meaningful given how close they are. Also, at SNC, we see Kara finally getting in a groove with her sons, who she picked up after school and brought back to the office. They seem to be in a good place.
The episode also spends some time on MJ's brothers and their work lives. Patrick is the top seller for his company now, and it's thank to a pill he and his co-workers are taking. The first time we see "donut time," one of his co-workers smashes the pill and snorts it. Patrick and the other co-workers, including a woman who is convinced to take it partially by Patrick saying it works for him but she has to decide for herself, swallow the pill. In a later scene, Patrick has placed money in the reading material of a co-worker who then gives Patrick a bag of the pills for him to stay up and work in the office long after closing. Don't know if Patrick even realizes it yet, but he has clearly found a new drug of choice.
Meanwhile, PJ has flown in from L.A. after their mother had a fall and had to stay in the hospital over night. MJ was convinced it was all a ploy to get her to come back to the house that evening for a surprise birthday party after she saw PJ had flown in and saw Patrick cooking a triple chocolate cake (MJ's favorite) for D'Asia (who MJ notes doesn't like chocolate). But when she returns that evening, there is no surprise party. So instead, she ends up talking to PJ about the news she heard from a co-worker while the network was having cake for her birthday. The project management position PJ took on in Inglewood last season is setting him up to be the fall boy for bid rigging, a federal crime. But PJ knew the legal risks behind it last season, when he took it on for the chance at $25 million, and he stands by his decision. He tells MJ she's not the only one concerned about the family, and he wants to lift the family back up financially, noting their parents should be taken care of and not taking care of their grandkids and great-grandkids. But MJ tells him he's just going to be the fall boy, as the company is already under investigation, and it will kill their mom if he goes to prison.
After realizing Patrick really did ask MJ to come back that evening to care for their mother, and not for a surprise bday party, MJ bathes her mother. She then helps her get into bed and massages her aching leg. Her mother advises MJ to dance while she can, after saying she was too afraid of looking silly and being laughed at to dance (including at her wedding). Then she tells MJ, "Happy birthday." Unlike her brothers, her mother didn't forget. Nor did Mark, who had a bday cake waiting for her back at her place.
Before she went home though, she had a conversation with her father after Niecy stormed off. After her dad tells her he felt the same way as MJ when he saw Niecy with all of the shopping bags, he adds that she was the same way when she was young. But MJ quips back that she didn't have kids, to which her father tells her she has to stop punishing Niecy for the kids because they're here. MJ then confesses to her father that she had an abortion six years ago when she was with David, because she thought it was the responsible thing to do instead of having her dad see her as a pathetic burden. She then goes on a rant about not having the courage to let everyone else carry her burdens like Patrick and Niecy do. She says she could have been home blowing out candles with her six-year-old instead of being upset with her whole family for forgetting her birthday. Her dad hugs her and tells her he's sorry.