Tyler Perry’s ‘The Oval’ Episode 5, 'Secret Allies,' Recap
We pick up tonight’s episode of The Oval right where we left off—with Nancy and Barry in the police station trying to figure out what happened to Ruth. The detective has Barry ID the body, and it’s definitely Ruth. It turns out that she was stabbed to death with a seven-inch kitchen knife. Barry is a mess—not because Ruth is dead, but because he still doesn’t have his daughter back.
Things get worse when the detective starts questioning where Barry was last night. He wasn’t home, but he lies and says that he was. Barry’s mom looks at him sideways but says she went to bed early and that she’s “sure he was there.” The detective says she has to question him because they need to talk to everyone who had a grudge against Ruth. Barry is not feeling this and cuts the interrogation short.
Richard got fired due to Gayle’s lie about being assaulted, however, he doesn’t know yet that Gayle admitted to lying and that the president plans to reinstate him. For now, Richard goes to tell his co-workers that he’s been let go. Sam, who is head of security, vows to fight for his friend. Not only does Sam want to help Richard get his job back, he also vows to help look for his granddaughter, Callie. He said he will put in some calls and see what’s what.
In the middle of their conversation, a news report comes on a nearby TV about a community up in arms about gun violence. They cut to a vigil lead by a woman who wants to catch the person who killed her husband. Remember last week, when Richard and Barry tussled over Barry’s gun and it went off? Now we know someone got shot. Richard puts two and two together but keeps his mouth shut for now.
Eventually, Donald walks in and Sam asks him to talk to the president about Richard’s job. Donald says he’ll see what he can do. Then he tells Sam to reassign Kyle to another family because he’s not feeling him. Kyle, in case you forgot, is the psycho secret service agent who we suspect has had an affair with Donald.
It gets even crazier later on when we learn that Kyle is harboring Bobby, the man who stalked Donald’s wife, Lilly, at their home. Bobby is still wounded, so he’s laying low, but he and Kyle are working together. As a matter of fact, everyone thinks Bobby is dead because that is what Kyle led them to believe. But Kyle and Bobby are trying to sabotage Lilly and Donald. It’s easy to assume that it’s because Kyle wants Donald, but you never know with this show. It could be even more scandalous than that, but we’ll have to watch and see.
Now let’s fast forward a bit. In last week’s episode, Victoria said she wanted Lilly to go shopping with her. Basically, she says she needs to soften her image, so she briefs Lilly about the shopping trip. She explains to Lilly that she wants to look like a cross between Jackie O and Michelle Obama but with clothes that are cheap. That latter part is shade, in case you didn’t catch it. You’ll see where this is going. Anyway, Lilly says she looked up the boutique they’re going to and that the clothes are not just cheap, but also not on par with a Jackie O or Michelle Obama in terms of style. Victoria knows this because she’s planning something bigger, but their conversation gets interrupted when Gayle comes walking past them.
Gayle is determined to get out of the house to see her man, Picky, who actually doesn’t want anything to do with her. Remember, Picky is a drug dealer, and now that Gayle is the first daughter, she automatically comes with police. So that’s a no. We’ve also established that Gayle is a brat who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. But Victoria is not about to let her daughter get over on her. So Victoria confronts Gayle, they go back and forth, and in the end, Victoria snatches a Taser from her secret service agent and stuns her own daughter like a dang dog in the street. All the White House staffers watching this are horrified, but they say nothing. Instead, they get Gayle cleaned up, because she peed herself, and mind their business.
Now we get to Victoria and Lilly’s shopping outing. Turns out, Victoria had Lilly roll with her to a boutique owned by her hubby’s mistress. (That’s what I meant about Victoria throwing shade by calling the clothes cheap.) She walks in, pretends it’s all about shopping, lures the mistress to the fitting room and proceeds to beat that a**. They legit have a knock down, drag out fight while everyone else watches, horrified. The secret service is used to the shenanigans from the first family by now, but they’re still disturbed, and Lilly is now getting indoctrinated into the chaos. As it turns out, Victoria revealed to Lilly later on that she had her come along because she needs an ally. Lilly’s husband knows about President Hunter’s mistress but never tells Victoria anything. So, Victoria wants Lilly to be her eyes and ears. Lilly is shook by this point, so of course she agrees.
Finally, we get to the end of the episode, where Richard decides not to tell his family that he was fired once they realize he’s home when he shouldn’t be. However, his wife, Nancy, suspects that something is up. She doesn’t question him because he says he’ll explain what’s going on with him later. In the meantime, she goes to fix him some lunch. While Nancy is in the kitchen getting ready to prepare the food, she reaches for her seven-inch kitchen knife and it’s gone and she looks quite disturbed because she’s wondering what we’re all wondering. Ruth was stabbed with a seven-inch kitchen knife, so did Barry kill Ruth after all? If so, how did he find her but not the cult or Callie? Would he actually go that far?
There are so many questions that need so many answers that we will have to wait for. Let’s meet back here next week to discuss!
