‘Divorce In The Black’ Movie Spoilers & Ending Explained: Why Did Dallas Hurt Ava’s Father?

Many films discuss how a partnership or relationship could be ruined if one of the partners is emotionally unavailable and toxic. It only adds to our understanding of how a relationship should be, it should not affect anyone to the point that it causes trauma to either partner. Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black is one such movie that discusses a woman trying hard to stay in a marriage with her husband, but she eventually chooses to walk out.

Spoilers Ahead

What happened at the church?

Divorce in the Black begins in a church where Ava and Dallas’ family attend the funeral mass of Dallas’ brother, who died in a shootout. Ava’s father, Clarence, was the pastor during his sermon and began to admonish the boy who died, which offended Dallas’ mother, who was feeling aggrieved. Dallas’ mother created a whole scene in the church and tried to defend all her sons, who were notorious criminals. Dallas and Ava were trying to do a balancing act, but his mother went a step ahead and removed her deceased son’s body from the casket and buried him near their home. Dallas’ family was not very well off. His mother and brothers used the victim card according to Pastor Clarence. The scene at the church caused further division between Ava and Dallas, who had not been in a good place in their marriage for the past few years. 

Was Dallas not happy with the marriage?

Dallas was not happy at the turn of events, and he insisted Ava’s father had insulted him and his family in the church. Dallas was inclined towards his mother’s feelings, who herself was verbally abusive and unkind to Ava ever since she married her son Dallas. 

Dallas was fed up with Ava going out of her way to try to make him see reality and asking him to get help for his childhood trauma. Dallas began to feel suffocated in the marriage and started acting distant, while Ava was the steady person and refused to give up on their marriage.  Ava had her reasons to back his bad behavior, which proved he had been unhappy in the marriage for a while. Ava was asked by her parents to leave him, but all she had in her defense was the advice her parents gave to the diocese in the church, which was to keep hope in relationships and not to abandon them. Dallas and Ava were invited to dinner by Rona and Jim. He chose to leave without Ava to which Ava chose not to react. It was during dinner that Dallas announced he wanted to divorce Ava and created a scene. 

How did Rona help Ava?

Rona was the only ray of hope in Ava’s life, as she went out of her way to help her best friend trudge through such hard times. Rona was the only person who was aware of the emotional abuse Dallas had put Ava through, and she was not his biggest fan. Ever Since Dallas’ announcement, Ava was upset beyond words, and Rona helped her see the bright side of the situation. She could restart her own life as she was financially independent. Rona wrote a long letter, mentioning reasons why she never liked Dallas. Her husband Jim was Dallas’ close friend, and he was the one who was playing a balancing act between two people he was close to, his wife and his best friend. 

Did Ava move back to her parents’ home?

Since the separation, Ava has moved back to her parents’ home for some introspection on how she could move forward in life. Her mother accidentally read the letter written by Rona and was devastated to know her only daughter had been through years of trauma. Her father also showed her many videos from over the years that involved Dallas, including their wedding. Ava did not look happy in any of the footage that had Dallas in it. Ava was slowly getting back on track as she got to spend some time with herself and her family. 

How did she meet Benji?

It was during her stay with her parents that she ran into Benji again at a local fair. She had met him a while back, but at that point, she was in a peculiar situation as she was escorting her drunk husband home. When she met Benji at the fair, the situation had changed, and both opened up to each other about their lives. Benji was a single father, and she had begun to admire him. On the same night, she wanted to feel physically satisfied by a man, and she conveyed the same only to Benji. He politely declined, stating he liked her, but he would sleep with her only when she truly wanted him and not because she wanted to get back to Dallas. However, both began to hang out as friends, and since he belonged to the same town, he was aware of the nature of Dallas and his family.

Did Ava hesitate to sign the divorce papers?

A while later, Dallas showed up drunk at Ava’s place of work, demanding that she sign the divorce papers as soon as possible. He was also informed by one of his brothers about Ava and Benji’s meeting, which further fueled his anger. Ava was fed up with Dallas’ threatening antics, as she had no energy to defend his bad behavior. She showed up at the lawyer’s office, eager to finish the matter, and signed the divorce papers quickly, which unsettled Dallas. 

Was Dallas acting insecure after the divorce?

A few hours into the divorce, Dallas began to showcase his insecurity. He believed Ava and Benji were having an affair back when she was with Dallas, which was why she wanted to get rid of him and signed the divorce papers without any hassle. He showed up at a party thrown by Rona celebrating Ava’s divorce and wanted to get to the bottom of the truth about his ex-wife and Benji. He also showed up at a small dinner hosted by Rona and Jim for Ava and Benji, fully aware of the fact that Ava had filed a restraining order against him. Dallas was jealous because he was used to getting things done his way, and he’d expected the divorce to go the same way. Watching his wife slowly move on was a sight he could not bear.

Why Did Dallas Hurt Ava’s Father?

Ava and Benji were getting closer, and they spent the night together. Ava was happy, but that did not last long because a drunk and high Dallas showed up at her house and demanded to live with her like a marital couple. Dallas was the one who had asked for the divorce and demanded that Ava move on. Somehow, he had convinced himself that Ava was cheating during their marriage as well, because that was his ego talking and he was unwilling to believe anyone, including Jim. To Ava’s shock, he attacked Benji after finding him in her bed. Benji, however, beat him black and blue and refused to back down. Dallas was under the impression he could intimidate anyone at this point, which he demonstrated by manhandling Ava’s mother in the supermarket. 

Ava’s father was horrified to learn of the turn of events. Even though he was a man of peace, he insisted she keep a firearm in the house to protect herself. American families have the habit of possessing a weapon in times of adversity. Benji was a farmer, and he reached home to find some of his animals had been killed. He believed Dallas was the culprit, but nobody had proof. Dallas was slowly becoming a nuisance, and Ava was losing her patience too. She was not afraid of him, as she was used to his antics, but his repetitive pattern had begun to bother her, and she wanted him out of her life for good. 

Why Did Ava kill Dallas?

The last straw for Ava was when Dallas and his brothers attacked her father when he visited him, asking his ex son in law to back off from his daughter’s life. Pastor Clarence ended in the hospital recovering from injuries caused by Dallas and his family, who were very angry at that point. It seemed Dallas and his family were victims of years of trauma put on them by their abusive mother and father. Dallas, at one point, also revealed that he had killed his father for harming their mother. The mother took advantage of the power she had over the children and encouraged Dallas and the other sons to live life the way they wanted, sending them down the criminal path. Dallas and his brothers were not afraid, as no one would dare touch them, not even the police. The police could not file a case against Dallas as there was no proof that he and his brother had caused injuries to Ava’s father. 

Ava took off from the hospital and immediately rang up Dallas and began to say things that she knew would enrage him and hurt his ego. Ava said she and Benji had something that she and Dallas had never had all these years. It also included Ava taunting Dallas about Benji being incredible in bed as well. She knew this would force him to confront and threaten her. Since she had lived with Dallas for many years, his behavior had become predictable, and she used it to her advantage. As predicted, Dallas showed up at Ava’s home. She began to further taunt him, which led to him physically harming her. Ava revealed she wanted evidence to prove he was an abusive man, and in no time, she informed the police about Dallas being at her home despite the restraining order. The bruises on her face and his presence would incriminate him and make sure he was sent to jail for years. This was her way of exacting revenge for him hurting her father. However, it did not make sense for her to put herself through pain to get back at him. This was just her way to let him know she was done with him. 

Dallas was still acting arrogantly while Ava was holding him at gunpoint. He felt she would never have the courage to shoot him, but she proved him wrong the next second. Ava shot him, and he died instantly. Since the gun was used out of self-defense, it was not made clear if Ava would be incarcerated or not. The movie, however, ended with Ava’s father, Pastor Clarence, getting discharged from the hospital. All was well for Ava at this point, and we assume she was not given any jail sentence for killing her ex-husband, Dallas. The last threat she received was from Dallas’ mother, who wanted revenge. Ava asked her rather sternly to put an end to the cycle of abuse. Ava wanted nothing to do with Dallas and his family anymore, and she had hoped she’d made it clear that his family was to remain at bay.