The episode starts where the last episode left off, Patrick has left after the intervention turned into an ambush. MJ calls her father out on it becoming an ambush, and he continues to stress the need for people to start protecting the children instead of the adults. He asks MJ if she's going to give him the address to pick up D'Asia, but MJ opts to pick up D'Asia herself (she was at Kara's place). D'Asia stays the night with MJ, but it is clear she's not exactly buying the story that her father had to work late. Before going to sleep she asks her aunt if her dad is back on drugs, and MJ tells her he isn't and repeats the lie about him working late.
The next morning MJ prepares to take D'Asia to school, but before they get there Patrick is already waiting in the parking lot with a lunch for D'Asia. Vice Principal Harrison drives up to the otherwise empty parking lot and asks Patrick why he's there so early. He tells her that D'Asia stayed with family, and he wanted to bring her her lunch. So Vice Principal Harrison offers to take the lunch for D'Asia so he can beat traffic and get to work. She also mentions to him how proud D'Asia is of his new job, which leads to him tearing up (though he blames it on allergies). Later, while harmlessly, yet nosily, looking in the lunch Patrick brought for D'Asia (it had a sweet note telling her to be herself and that he loves her), Vice Principal Harrison spots MJ walking D'Asia to the school. She also notices she has a lunch with her, which I'm sure set off a red flag in her mind. Later, when Paul Sr. picks up D'Asia from school (after MJ said she couldn't after having a conversation with Kara where Kara told her she needs to stop being her parent's guard dog and be selfish for once, especially with what all she is trying to do at SNC) D'Asia only has the lunchbox she had with MJ. So I suspect Vice Principal Harrison never gave her the lunchbox Patrick brought for her.
While Paul Sr. was picking up D'Asia from school, Patrick was rushing to get to her school too. But his car broke down in the middle of the street. He ran all the way to her school just in time to see her getting in the car with his father. He yelled for D'Asia, ran up to the car, but Paul Sr. drove off anyway. Can't imagine what D'Asia must have been thinking. Vice Principal Harrison saw the ordeal and asked Patrick if D'Asia was in danger. When she confirmed she was not, she invited Patrick up to the office for water. He called in to work to take the rest of the day off, and Vice Principal Harrison offered to give him a ride home. While there, he told her he was a recovering drug addict and told her about the prescription pills. She essentially tells him sometimes people have to stop blaming others and look at themselves. Patrick then goes to his father house, storms past Paul Sr. and P.J. (who came home after MJ called him and told him he needed to come home to help with things the night D'Asia stayed with her) and went upstairs to get D'Asia. Despite threatening to call the cops, Paul Sr. didn't.
Now it was Niecy who told Patrick what room D'Asia was in, but all he said was thank you, grabbed D'Asia, and left. As if Niecy wasn't his daughter too. And by the look on her face, you could tell it hurt her. Add to that, she and PJ later overhear Paul Sr. apologizing to his wife about making the choice to use all their savings on Patrick and having her live in this chaos. Niecy seems to take the apology about Patrick and chaos as including dealing with her, and I took it to mean that as well. And apparently PJ did too, because he then talks to Niecy about her needing to do more than just have a minimum wage, 20 hour a week job. He tells her it's time for everyone to step up and take care of their own, and that she can't keep waiting for someone to save her. He also tells her she has their support, and he's going to help her with it. But Niecy counters by saying everyone comes down on her, but it was her who found her father overdosing, and it was her who called and asked for help (including asking her grandfather to take them all in). Then she points out it's like she saved her father for D'Asia and not for herself. PJ grabs her and hugs her and proceeds to tell her they are going to work on a two-year plan for her which includes her seeking more help from the families of the fathers of her children, PJ paying for her children's childcare and preschool, and her going back to school (she wants to go to cosmetology school).
Now before I get to what's going on in MJ's world, I'll briefly touch on Kara. When she comes home and finds her ex husband working on an essay he's submitting to be included in a collection being put together by his former assistant, now colleague, (she emphasizes the fact that it is only being submitted for consideration) instead of working on his book, she asks him how he got there. She tells him she knows how she got there, a work-ethic from a mother who worked 3 jobs and running away from men who remind her of her gambling father (hence moving to Atlanta), and trying to have the best of the best to make the work her mother did mean something (including marrying a White guy, because people said they were more sophisticated). At first he tells her she's good at mind games, but finally he answers after she says she really wants to know how he can have such low ambition. He tells her he's always been like that and was with her because he believed her when she said he was good enough, he cheated when he realized he wasn't good enough for her, and that he moved back with her when she realized she didn't have enough money. And that's how he got there! Her response...he was right, he never had enough ambition for her, but the kids need electricity so she's going to pray his essay is chosen.
And now...to MJ. She's working on revamping Talk Back and it seems possibly working on pitching a book to a publisher (not quite clear in the brief scene). She doesn't have a set date for Talk Back and not much resources. She has a producer, associate producer, and an intern. She's also brought on the young woman who called her out for being a sell out when she spoke at a college in the last episode. Marisol asks to help MJ with Talk Back, but MJ politely declines. MJ and her think tank meet in the conference room, but before they could get started, they are booted out by Kara and the team working to revamp Mark's show. So they move to the break room, but it is impossible to get any work done in there. So finally they move to MJ's house. They settle on a topic and format for their first pitch, and then Cece randomly shows up at MJ's place. She asks MJ to do her a favor as a friend and come to her bookstore as a way to help her drive up business. MJ is hesitant, but she eventually agrees. As Cece walks out, she notices they are working on Talk Back, and she proceeds to give them some insightful suggestions, like not going with the predictable stand alone followed by panel format. With Cece suggestions incorporated in her pitch, MJ gets a firm date set for Talk Back. I got all excited thinking maybe Cece is going to become a permanent member of the show and join MJ's think thank for Talk Back. But then...despite wanting MJ to make an appearance at her bookstore as a favor for a friend, Cece comes back to MJ's house asking for compensation for her contribution to Talk Back being relaunched!!! MJ thought she was joking at first, but Cece wasn't playing! Ugh, Cece...why??!!