The producers of BET’s ‘Being Mary Jane’ crammed two seasons of dating madness, petty Black girl issues and a year’s worth of discontent into a two-hour series finale on Tuesday, April 23.
When the series began, audiences were introduced to Mary Jane Paul, an “unbothered” career driven woman who was focused on conquering that corporate ladder by any means necessary. However, the character, played by Gabrielle Union, was also contradictorily known for sleeping around with married men and other indiscretions. Fans were dragged on a highly intense transformational journey as Paul segued from a stereotypical overachiever to becoming uber obsessed with marriage first and then having a baby, all while becoming comfortable with her own sexuality.
While the series was known for sex scenes that were certain to have twitter trending, the series finale took things to another level with a racy scene between Mary Jane and an ex-boyfriend having sex while Paul was in her third trimester of pregnancy. Here’s how it all went down:
- The finale showed a distraught Mary Jane deciding to have a baby with her last embryo, behind her boyfriend’s back.
- After he dumps her, she decides to raise the baby by herself.
- All is well until an ex-boyfriend pops up and begins spending time with Mary Jane.
- After the ex’s sexual advances remained polite and non-intrusive, Mary Jane informs him that one of the symptoms of pregnancy is “horniness” and proceeds to give him permission to have sex.
- The audience then proceeded to watch a very pregnant Mary Jane Paul experience a very graphic but intimate sex scene with a man who wasn’t the biological father of her baby.
The scene was tasteful, yet it received backlash online simply because it’s a taboo idea.
BET taking this risk with “Being Mary Jane” is further proof that today’s woman continues to redefine their sexuality and push the boundaries of what is considered “sexy” or “not sexy”.
The series will be missed, but hopefully, there will be more programming from a black female perspective that challenges the norms and cultural stereotypes that no longer serve our narrative.
