For one, it allowed more room for the show to breath in the coming weeks. It allowed for new plots to be introduced and it allowed for audience satisfaction. Take a show like Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family. If you think about it, Pretty Little Liars has been telling the same exact story for 6 seasons that it forgot how to make interesting almost 4 years ago. Tyler Perry took one idea and stretched it out into several plots to keep the show fresh and exciting for his audience. Some of it was cringe worthy, Brad forcing Alex to tell him that Randal had a bigger dick than him. And some of it was just flat out entertaining to watch, Marcie and Brad making out on his desk to get back at them five episodes after it's revealed. It would have taken most shows the better half of 2 seasons. Tyler Perry went there in five episodes. That's one of the weirdest things about this show. While the plot can feel like it's moving at the speed of a turtle, out of nowhere you're laughing your ass off at something ridiculous Marcie does or gasping at something Randal has the balls to say. It's ridiculously guilty fun.
We're just going to take a minute to appreciate the talent that is Heather Hemmens, who plays Marcie. Marcie as a character was criminally underutilized for the first 8 or 9 episodes of the show's run. She was boring, she was a bit lifeless and she didn't have a personality to her. Her character development in season 1B is ridiculous. The way the character changes in the span of 10 episodes is a testament to the mind of Tyler Perry and the amazing talent of Hemmens. Marcie goes from the loving, clueless, wife of Randal to a strong woman overcoming the grief and misery he's put her through and is continuing to put her through by staying in their house and refusing to sign divorce papers. 
In "Who's Baby," the audience is losing their minds at this point as Marcie and Brad (the two who were cheated on) decide that in order to get back at their cheating spouses, they would cheat on them as well. They didn't go through with it but Marcie doesn't hesitate to come home and rub her mister (I guess that's the proper term for a male mistress?) right in Randal's face. Taunting him as she touches her lips, asking "is that where you smell him?" Hemmens plays a woman's scorn gloriously. She's an amazing presence to have on the show. The way she follows Randal up the stairs when he's had enough if powerful. He pins her to the wall and Marcie is still taunting him, telling him she was pinned down just like this and kisses him, telling him that's exactly how she kissed him. It was another cringe worthy scene that was sold by the ridiculousness of of the show. This is what it's here for, ridiculously disgusting entertainment. Who says television has to be all about realism and human nature? 
This show is a roller coaster of mess and I love almost every minute of it. After another minute (yes, Marcie goes on for an ENTIRE minute) of her discusses the nasty ways they slept together and finally tells him it was Brad she "slept" with (they didn't sleep together, in case you weren't paying attention. She's just having too much fun). Randal calmly looks her dead in her eyes and whispers, "she's having my baby." The look of pain on Hemmens face makes your stomach drop for her. Here she is, a faithful and loyal wife who found out her husband was cheating with her best friend trying to get revenge on him and in the matter of seconds, she's forced to relive that pain and heartache. The twist in the knife? Marcie was trying to get pregnant herself. The betrayal is too real for this couple and no one can really blame Marcie for being this way. Hemmens sells every bit of fun she gets to dish out. From her confrontation of Alex and Randal in her backyard to her confronting Alex on the steps of her home. My personal favorite is the running gag that she's becoming and alcoholic. This all cumilates at the end of the episode before the finale where Alex and Brad are fighting next door and Marcie is having a ball listening to them yell at each other. She repeatidly tells him, "Don't be a bitch, protect ya bitch!" Randal leaves the house to run to the door and she continuously shouts out to him, "Don't be a bitch! PROTECT YA BITCH!" "Go on pimp!" "Oh you're going?" "Ooooh this gon' be so good!" And it's a testament to the skills that Hemmens has and the wonderful development of her character into someone we actually want to watch. Don't get me wrong, Eltony Williams is doing an amazing job as Randal but I'll sing his praises later in one of my episodic reviews.
Finally we have Brad and Alex. This has to be the toughest to watch. Not just because the characters are pretty dry, but also because they're just not as fun Marcie and Randal. Marcie and Randal are two psychopaths who are absolutely beginning to have nothing but hate for each other whereas this is the more realistic of the two couples. Alex desperately is trying to save her marriage and Brad desperately wants to move on from it but just can't because it hurts too much. We can completely understand this and the realism of their two characters. That being said, I'm not sure where it happens but Brad takes a turn for the dark side and that's when the story gets interesting. I think I'm just going to list everything amazingly hilarious he does. He forces Alex to tell him that Randal is better in bed than him, he forces her to tell him that Randal's dick is bigger than his, he completely wrecks Randal's boat (that he spent the first season and beyond working on, it was coming together quite nicely), he takes a gun from Eddie to kill Randal, kicks Randal's ass and the gun goes off (no one is harmed) (side note: Eddie is the best; he not only gives him the gun to kill Randal and tells him to do it quick and leave no prints, he goes up to Brad and tells him to give him back the gun so he can get rid of it. he is horrible in the best way possible). No, we're not does with Brad's insane laundry list of savage moves this season. He asks the doctor for a DNA test in front of Kelly and Alex, makes out with Marcie, tries to smother Alex in his chest and walks into the hospital the MOMENT Esperenza, Kelly and Natalie conclude that the baby Alex just had is black. Or at least that's what it looked like. I personally thought that the doctor was just holding up a black baby and they jumped to conclusions but...you'll just have to wait until I recap the first episode of season two!
SEASON 1B GRADE (EPISODES 11-20): B+
How my reviews will be working: Clearly the season is already back and up and running. I may review two episodes at a time, but that would be hard because there is so much that goes on in season two I don't know if I could do that. I'm thinking about giving special episodes their own post? But I only have that dillema for the first 7 episodes. Once I'm caught up I'll be doing reviews once a week! Also look out for my review of The Haves and the Have Nots because I can't wait to cover that show when it returns as well!
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