Tyler Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots

[Brian Kinney]

@Daniel Avery this would be fantastic - if Quentin Tarantino could write and direct it! But we know that will never happen. 'TV Line' also has some wishes how the show should end. And while it appears to be logical to the storylines I fear most of it will not completed how it should:

5. WYATT MUST DIE (...)
4. JUSTIN NEEDS TO GET HELP (...)
3. THREE COUPLES SHOULD GET HAPPY ENDINGS (...) Jeffrey and Madison, Benny and Rianna, and Candace and Mitch (....)
2. THE VILLAINS HAVE GOTTA PAY… DEARLY (...) the unholy trinity of Veronica, Jim and Katheryn have to get their comeuppance. Ideally, Veronica will wind up being blown to bits by the bombs that she’s earmarked for her family (...)
1. HANNA MUST STRIKE IT RICH (...)

I disagree about Katheryn's destiny. Killing Jennifer Sallis was actually about a mother who knew that her son becomes the victim of the D.A.'s actions (again almost dying because the bitch gave him the money for drugs - well aware of his history). Before that Jennifer claimed that Amanda was murdered. Above all it was one of my all-time favorite soap scenes when Katheryn walked to the stairs after the killing and cared for the flowers. The actress Reneé Lawless (who reminded me a bit about the time when I watched The Bold & The Beautiful because of Darlene Conley's Sally Spectra) delivered so many memorable moments but without the malicious glee Veronica is displaying. And Katheryn stayed longer in jail than any of the other characters - I think compared to Wyatt's drunk-driving responsible for the death of a child and Veronica's murders and murder attempts it's unfair. She already got her "comeuppance". Freedom for Katheryn!

So far that 'TV Line'-article had more than 540 comments. The story about the cancellation from a week ago received more than 1.000 comments - people seem to be very angry about it.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Fans of the show tend to gravitate to TVLine because so few other sites give them any coverage. TVLine would often do recaps and gossip when no one else did. I do wish the commenters would get a grip and quit writing as if Tyler Perry is running the site, though--all the "Please don't cancel the show, Tyler"-type posts are misdirected to TVLine's administrators and clog up the site. Besides, the decision was made long ago and a "done deal"; they've probably already filmed the last episodes and released the actors and crew to go look for other work. Eight seasons is a good run.

Speaking of which, some of the HAHN actors might now be available to play roles on NuDynasty (which also films in Atlanta). My imagination is running wild.

As for their list of Must Haves:
5. Yes, put him out of his misery.
4. They're generous--I've wanted him written out for several years and believe he would not have stuck around had he not been Tika Sumpter's babydaddy.
3. Jeffrey and Madison could very easily decide to pack up and leave town; I'm not invested in Benny or his latest girlfriend; I like the idea of Candace/Mitch but I fear TP's affinity for Tika Sumpter means he will want Candace to come out on top (with the Perpetual-President-Elect).
2. I agree with you that Kathryn has suffered enough--but Veronica deserves a cinematic, cathartic, karma-filled death that befits her heinous reign of terror. Jim could be bumped off randomly and left by the side of the road in a Hefty bag for all I care. As long as he doesn't emerge in any way 'victorious' at the end.
1. I don't think Hannah's life would be improved by becoming rich. I mean, did money make ANY of their lives better? I think the best happy ending for her would involve a solid, honest romance, but it would not be as rewarding to the viewer if it's rushed (and it would have to be, since there's only eight episodes left).

 

[Daniel Avery]

One month away: the final eight episodes!

‘The Haves and Have Nots’ Final Season Premiere Date, Cancelled at OWN | TVLine

 

[Daniel Avery]

...and tonight is the night: HAHN returns for the final eight episodes.
[rubs hands together]

For all the wishing and theorizing about what we will see, I think it will be satisfying enough just to see actual, measurable plot progression!!!

 

[Daniel Avery]

So we got some plot progression with Jeffrey/Madison courtesy of Justin's fiery exit which, while not as gruesome as Extra-Crispy Erica, was kind of gross. The crack from Colby about Jeffrey "smelling like bad barbecue" was hilariously tasteless, and his attempt at "helping" Madison help Jeffrey yielded a joke so good I'm wondering if the censor caught it (paraphrasing):
Madison (as Jeffrey tries to push him away emotionally): "I keep trying and trying, but he won't let me in."
Colby: "That's never stopped you before."

But like I said, they had some plot progression simply by lingering on that one story for the entire first half of the episode, which amazed me. The old formula had each story getting one or two scenes at most during the hour, not allowing much to happen simply because they only had three minutes in an hour-long episode. If they continue to use this new format (first half dedicated to one story, second half to three or four others) they might actually be able to wrap it all up well.

I'm still not quite sure what the Mitch/Jim thing is all about (I know it involves Mitch skimming some money off the top in some Malone thing with Jim), so their scene didn't have the impact that it should have (with me, anyway). And I've always felt the stuff with Charles, Landon, and DC was superfluous. And frankly I think the Hannah/Veronica scenes were kind of fan-service-y since they've had much more legitimate reasons to come to blows over the years and managed to resist.

 

[Brian Kinney]

Maybe Hannah is build up to finally explode against one of the people who bully her? Prior to Veronica there were the lawyers and Jim. It's interesting to me that Perry has no problem to show hierarchy thinking among black characters - I've seen that in crime shows sometimes but never on a soap with such hurtful insults. My nightmare finale sees Veronica going into politics.

Right now I don't understand David and Jim. Is David still working with Jim against Katheryn or not? David has nothing to win with that and aside of his dealings with Jim he is a decent person. That has to stop before the finale!

Mitch and Jim was just to show the balance of terror I think. They both know how to threaten the other. But Jim has more to lose if Wyatt becomes a victim again because Mitch is able to manipulate his clan and he has more people to count on. Would his uncle Vinny really turn against him - after the trouble with the Cryers where Mitch's moderate handling proved to be better for the Malones? And should Mama Malone return I doubt she's dropping her charming grandson. Transferring the crime dynasty's business over from Vinny to Sandy in the future wouldn't be wise either. Assuming that Perry thought about how a mobster family operates.

I hope DC isn't the happy end for Candace (but... still better than my nightmare Veronica there). Charles and Landon don't have a life outside hotel rooms or offices and seem to be in another show. When I've read announcements for Perry's White House soap I was convinced it would be a spin-off with them and Candace. That didn't happen so we're stuck with them and it's so boring I hope the jealous cocaine snake is back soon.

The first half of the episode focusing on Jeffrey and Madison was okay but the preview for the next episode makes me fear the worst for Colby whose barbecue line will be fonduely remembered...

I hope we don't have to see Justin's mother again because his brother is also in the preview and it's too much time spend with extensions of a dead supporting player who was around too much himself and given that Wyatt and Katheryn are still in the hospital/ jail reducing the contact to other characters and missing drama (Wyatt needs Jim to go full crazy). I don't think it's Covid related because the other actors seem to be close in their scenes.

 

[Daniel Avery]

They were doing the "story bubbles" (one to three actors always grouped together and interacting in limited venues/sets) long before Covid because it is a tried-and-true method of filming a lot of material in a short period of time cheaply. It was expanded once Covid hit because it was easier to test those two or three actors and a smaller crew, make sure they were healthy, and then film multiple scenes for a few days on a lone, deserted set (hotel, home, etc.). Much easier than large crowd scenes with multiple lighting/camera changes requiring larger groups of people in tight quarters. Before Covid I admit I was growing tired of seeing the same sets and repetitive scenes/dialogue between the same actors, but now I understand it's a necessary evil. It is rather laughable at this point that "The President-Elect" hasn't been inaugurated after so many years and is living like a hermit.

I was kind of amused at how they brought back Justin's mother Pearl for that "too little, too late" appearance. The guys were more kind to her than she probably deserved, but it was certainly not the time to point out how she failed her mentally-ill son for what seems like years (but in HAHN time is probably three months). My guess is that TP probably only had her appear as a sort of "blast from the past" guest-starring gig that TV shows often engineer when they're in their final season. Pearl was a nasty piece of work most of the time but Maree Cheatham took a one-note character and made her a scene-stealer back when she was Candace's nosy, casually-racist neighbor. I'm not sure the show wants to spend too much time ironing out the very wrinkled lives of the Lewises (Pearl, Justin, and that other son of hers who seemed to only exist to bully and beat Justin), but if the show had been continuing longer it would have been an interesting area to explore. As it is, I think they will likely use that brother a bit more and then lose that whole family of characters since they were never meant to be front burner.

Another such "blast from the past" that we seem to be getting is Kathryn's lover-boy Roderick, her "kept man" last seen fleeing town when an INS agent came a-knocking. They wrote Kathryn's dialogue this week as if he did not flee after all and is still hiding out in Wyatt's old loft apartment--probably just so we can see him one last time. As much as I want Kathryn out of jail and kicking Jim's butt some more, I have to remind myself that as soon as Kathryn gets sprung from the Big House, Hannah won't be running Kathryn's fortune and getting in the way of all the evil-doers who want to sink their hooks into it.

The undercurrent of the relations between Jim/Kathryn and David/Veronica is that they have enough "dirt" on each other (from various cover-ups and schemes over the decades of knowing one another) that none of them will rat on the other for fear of their own misdeeds being revealed. They use this to justify David not killing Veronica with his bare hands but also justify why David helps Jim with his schemes and generally acts like Jim's "mop up service". David is the only character with his own catch phrase: "I'll handle it." Well, there should come a point where this nebulous threat of "his past crimes being revealed" isn't enough to make David keep being Jim's mop-up man and letting Veronica try to kill him over and over. But what more could they do? I mean, short of Veronica killing Jeffrey right in front of him, I can't see what could be done to get David to finally crack.

 

[Brian Kinney]

Maree Cheatham! I should have looked up her name much earlier when she was Candace's neighbour. Of course, Knots Landing's Mary Robeson -almost 30 years ago (1992-93). The actress is 81 - aged well.

Geovanni Gopradi aka Roderick is also returning as Beto in NuDynasty.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Oh, MC and I go waaaay back. I'll forever equate her with "Stephanie Wyatt," who was the main mover/shaker/all-purpose scene-stealer on the daytime soap Search for Tomorrow for most of the late-1970s and early 1980s. Stephanie alternated between good and bad over her time, mostly a villainess but occasionally the victim or sympathetic anti-heroine. She was many things to the people of that town, but she was never boring. Yes, she was also rotten ol' Mary Robeson, and played that to the hilt. I think Tyler P likely knew her from her myriad of soap roles (not just Stephanie or Mary---the woman has a huge resume) and knew she'd be able to tackle a smaller role and make her memorable.

Mentioning the Roderick/Beto thing makes me wish that Dynasty would do a wholesale raid of the now-unemployed HAHN cast and sign a few key members to contracts. [whispers] Aaron O'Connell as Steven [/whispers]

 

[Daniel Avery]

Given last night's episode was the second of the final eight episodes, I was expecting more to happen. Yes, Colby got the stuffing kicked out of him but all that chit-chat between Benny and Candace may have made me doze off a bit. I've never really cared for Benny in the first place, so having a big chunk of the episode dedicated to him buying a house with that ill-gotten money (as if he didn't learn his lesson the last time that happened) did not enthrall me. It was set-up for the "real" plot, I guess, since we've seen Benny's real estate agent is the abused girlfriend of that Malone brother (and they'll be having a blow-out next week). Brytni Sarpy (who pays Rianna the real estate agent) had left her role of Valerie Spencer on General Hospital when she filmed this, and was not yet cast on The Young and the Restless.

Brava to Hannah for putting the screws to Veronica (54 million of them), but am I the only one who was disappointed that Hannah did not yank off Veronica's wig in their fight? I love a good wig-snatchin' every once in a while. For the first time in I-don't-know-when, Veronica is on the ropes and she knows it. I guess Kathryn's ultimate fate hinges on who finds that file (and what they do with it). From what I gather, the file has proof that she owns the gun that was used to kill the DA. We know what Veronica will do with it if she finds it, and can be reasonably certain that Jim and/or David would destroy it to help Kathryn beat the rap. But what would Hannah do? As much as she loves/respects Kathryn, wouldn't Hannah have a crisis of conscience when asked to be part of destroying evidence and allowing Kathryn to get away with murder? After all, that's one of the 'big' commandments that got broken.

Back when they were all running around trying to cover up the murder, I remember Kathryn packed up all the furniture in the "original" house, put it all in storage and left Jim to live in that empty house. Veronica convinced Kathryn to burn the house down to make it harder for investigators to find any forensic evidence linking Jennifer's death to the Cryers. Jim mentioned in passing how stupid it was to burn the house down when the furniture (especially the antique Oriental rug that Jennifer bled to death on) had only been "visibly" cleaned, then put in a storage facility. Kathryn pointed out that the rug had cost $250,000 and no way was she going to get rid of it (!!). That rug has always lingered in the back of my mind as the real "smoking gun" that has likely been forgotten.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Last night's episode should have been titled "Attack of the Secondary Players, Plus Candace". No Jim, No Kathryn, No Hanna, Veronica, nor David. Instead we got an exhaustively dull series of scenes with Benny getting ready for a date (including an interminable scene with Benny buying a suit). Jeffrey behaved like such a naive idiot ("Why would he lie to me?" Jeez, Jeffrey, are you headless???) that sometimes I feel he can't possibly be the biological child of David or Veronica. Madison has the patience of a saint, but even his halo got a bit heavy to carry last night. Candace has lost her ever-lovin'-mind by turning down near-naked Mitch, and of course no showcase of third-string players would be complete without Mitch's unstable, whiny Malone cousin showing up to bully that girl Benny was buying the house from. Bad enough Benny goes to a nice restaurant and orders a well-done steak and steak sauce , but he ends up having a bar-room style brawl with the Malone guy.

I can only hope that the preview for the next episode lives up to its promises, because this episode was a waste of an hour.

 

[Brian Kinney]

Hope? Did you miss this?

 

[Daniel Avery]

Poor Madison: even when he ends up between the legs of a really hot guy, he isn't allowed to enjoy it. [/snickers]

From what I saw of the preview, this might be how Wyatt escapes the hospital (again). He needs to escape so someone can run him over with a car, or push him off a building, or run him through a meat grinder or something. Put him (and us) out of our misery.

 

[Brian Kinney]

At this point I would understand if the hospital staff would kill Wyatt together as in Murder on the Orient Express. There is really nothing left in him that made him somehow tolerable in the first (maybe two or three) seasons. For a moment I thought he would do something terrible with the bedpan... I really don't want to see that.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Never mind that Wyatt is supposed to have a guard posted at his door, blah blah blah....the writers need to have him escape in order to do something to finish up his storyline. I get the feeling they will wrap up the stories of the second-string characters first, saving the "big" characters for last.

Kathryn mentioned Roderick (or is it Broderick? What-evs) two episodes back for the first time in ages, so maybe Wyatt decides to hide out in his old loft apartment--where Roderick is apparently now hiding out. Kathryn asked Hanna to visit Roderick to let him know they were going to sell the loft (translation: GTFO), but before he can clear out, the cops/ICE show up looking for Roderick. They see Wyatt lurking in the shadows and since the two men look similar, they shoot Wyatt as he tries to flee.

If Wyatt dies, then Kathryn will not have a proper heir. She will need to change her will, and that might bring ALL the cockroaches out from under their rocks trying to get their piece of her fortune. She might decide to make Hanna her heir, which would make a bad situation even worse. Jim might decide to have Hanna murdered.

It occurs to me that if Mitch and Candace were to hook up for real, they could be quite the power couple: he could take over the Malones' "business dealings" and she would be the brains behind the operation.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Last night's episode was a return to form, mostly.

I always thought that Malone guy who was hassling Rianna the Real Estate Agent was Mitch's cousin, but he is in fact Mitch's brother. No family resemblance there.... Well, even less of one now that Benny's re-arranged the guy's face. Now I guess Mitch and Candace will have to get married (put her and her family in the Malone family orbit) to save Benny from being murdered.

Speaking of the Malone guy, I find it amusing that he's such a racist/prejudiced/bigoted jerk who casually attacks/murders people, yet keeps saying "that black kid" (referring to Benny) as if he grew up in a world where the N word doesn't exist. I know WHY they don't use it in dialogue, but if any character would not be above using that epithet, it would be him. They occasionally have a character use the F word (and bleep it out), but in HAHN World, I guess even the scum of the earth doesn't use THAT word.

I was kind of right about Broderick and Wyatt becoming roomies...but I was left wondering just who that Lena chick was. She seemed totally unfazed by Wyatt's arrival on the scene. Maybe she was too coked up to make any sense of the situation? Was she a neighbor who remembered him from when he lived there (in his short-lived period of sobriety)? Well, she seems like the perfect type to turn him in to get a sweet, sweet reward check (and keep all of Wyatt's mini-pharmacy). Now I really think Hanna will walk right into the middle of all that, since Kathryn asked her to stop by to talk to Broderick.

Poor Madison! Oh, the indignity. I hope the nurse or orderly who discovers Madison is kind enough to cover up certain parts of him with a pillow or something. Given how poorly those scrubs fit people, I have to wonder what Madison's co-workers must have thought of him going commando all the time. Talk about a Swinging Single.

I was wondering if they had dropped the whole storyline with "Laura," Veronica's assistant....but she and that hottie husband of hers popped up as if on cue. It might be too obvious to actually happen, but I could still see Veronica killing Laura (or getting that mercenary guy to do it) and using the body to fake Veronica's death. But since Laura revealed she's not the "real" Laura (she's an identity thief), then that puts another level of danger on such a plot actually succeeding.

Jim really pulled that "Amanda Card" out of nowhere, didn't he? I don't think he really believes Celine did it---but I think he believes that Wyatt probably did. Wyatt drunkenly "confessed" to killing Amanda when he was arrested for shooting Jim, but the show never made any more of that. But trying to pin it on Celine will make her sputter and get all defensive, and throw Veronica off her game--which is all he really wants them to do.

 

[Brian Kinney]

Three episodes left to wrap up everything and we get...

Akil and Marco in a fight

- obviously for the demo reel of both performers because they have a martial arts background. I somehow liked how fast they became buddies but of course they're now doomed to die. As is Sandy because he's too stupid to kill Benny and Vinny is aware of that.

I assume Veronica visiting her boyfriend from the past in the gay club has the purpose to make us believe he could be Jeffrey's biological dad? I looked up for the actor Ray Campbell and IMDb credits him as William for three more episodes in 2020, S7E17-19 but I don't recall that. And while the exchange with the drag queen was funny - again: only three episodes left. Why do I have the strong feeling we don't get a real series finale?

 

[Daniel Avery]

It does beg the question if they knew these was the final eight episodes when they (he?) wrote them.

The clumsy way they introduced the idea that William might be Jeffery's father so long ago, then didn't bring it up again until this episode, gives me the idea that the actor might have been in earlier episodes, but was edited out for some reason (most likely due to time constraints). Heck, that very scene (that very long, pointless scene) could have been the one that got cut. It was equally clumsy that she made such an effort to go there and linger...but not tell him what she came to say.

The only theory I could come up with was that she "chickened out" because she really does care about William, like maybe she fell for him and he broke her heart by coming out to her. In the current media world where they have to invent plot-based reasons for characters to be racist/homophobic/anti-whatever, this would be a convenient (if far-fetched) reason for Veronica to be such a homophobic bee-atch. Sometimes haters just gonna hate and there's no definable reason for it, but on TV they seem determined to explain it. But why bother trying to "explain" her at this point, when it won't do anything to undo all the mayhem she has generated and continues to generate? A redemption arc for Veronica would be ridiculous---that ship has sailed, as they say, and there is so little time left.

As for Benny/Sandy, one thing Sandy might learn too late is that no matter how big a fish you think you are, there is always a bigger fish in the pond. He thinks that it's open season on Benny since Mama Rose is no longer 'protecting' the Youngs (well, Benny and Candace, anyway)....but one call from Candace to Charles (or even just Landon) would place both of them under the protection of none other than the incoming President of the United States. The Malones might have a dozen or so goons in their employ, but Charles would have the Secret Service, the FBI, CIA, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines! That would be fun to watch, don't you think?

 

[Brian Kinney]

That would be indeed fun and would make sense... so we know it doesn't happen.

 

[Brian Kinney]

Two episodes left and I'm concerned we don't see what's happening with Colby after he got beaten up.

Next week "Veronica Bitch" (as she references herself) at David's place - maybe Jeffrey finds out who his real daddy is.

In the final episode Wyatt is as usual in the season finales almost dying I assume because the boring Benny with almost-girlfriend, Landon/Charles/coke friend and corrupt Senator scenes all prove they didn't know of the cancellation at that time. But nice to see the British guy with Broderick again (Jim also thinks it's Roderick ).

Candace seeing Oscar again could've been the start for a worthy series end moment if it hadn't been set in this dreadful fleabag motel. Or is everything just a dream of hers?