After a truly over-the-top episode that featured a brawl, black eyes, thrown plates, and the possibility of somebody being offed in a busted up van, Mob Wives had nowhere else to go but down, at least in terms of absolute craziness. Though it has its moments of showcasing arguably the baddest bunch of reality broads this side of the Real Housewives, the show can't keep throwing out WWE Smackdown, nor would I want it to. Last week may have left me mouth agape with how relentless it was, but that came after episode upon episode of tension simmered the raw feelings between Drita D'avanzo and Karen Gravano. To paraphrase the great New York circa 2006, Drita and Karen had their asses on pause and the previous episode had them pressing play in a millisecond.
But the tape had finally wound down by Sunday's episode, which found the focus of Mob Wives less on bodily harm and more on repairing relationships that had long been dented. Renee was on the end of two recuperating bonds, with the beef between her and Carla finally getting squashed and the new phase of her and Junior's relationship just beginning. You could make a case that Renee's been the "main character" through the first three episodes of this season of Mob Wives, thanks to her botched surgery, everything with Junior, the carryover of Carla drama from last season, and the continuation of her therapy. Renee's kind of the antithesis of someone like Karen; whereas the latter revels in her mob status and living "the life", the former has been scratching at the walls of mob life, begging to be let out of decade upon decade of drama, death, and destruction. The fact that her depression has flared up this season is a testament to the horrors "the life" can bring someone and should serve as a warning sign to someone like Karen to not get too deep down the rabbit hole to where you can't see the ground. No matter how many crying fits she has or how many times she takes back Junior when she deserves better, I'll always have love for Renee for being over all the BS and trying to just enjoy the rest of her life in peace.
Also dealing with personal problems was Drita, internally struggling with telling her daughter about possibly divorcing her father and selling their home. As much as I love the fighting and the flexing and all, it's stuff like this that's kept me plugged into Mob Wives and given me a reason to care who comes out on top in the constant power struggles. If I don't know anything about your situation or the hell you're going through, how am I expected to care what happens either way? Mob Wives does a nice job exploring the extraordinary situation these women find themselves in and how they reconcile that with their everyday lives. We've known that Drita has been thinking about divorce since she found out Lee cheated on her, so to actually see her thinking about downsizing both her jewelry and home had a little bit of poignancy to it. (The proposed 106-120K payout for her engagement ring must have softened the sting of a life changing event, though.) Even though she's known as a hothead, Drita's a prototypical example of violence coming from pain, so maybe working through everything with leaving Lee and "defying" her traditional Albanian family can alleviate some of the weight on her shoulders.
Speaking of tension breaking and emotional breakthroughs, how fun was the "sitdown" organized by Big Ang? Going into the episode, I thought it would end up blowing up in her face because, well, calm get togethers aren't the M.O. of the Mob Wives, but I'll be damned if that wasn't a good time. With all the drama in their lives (both personal and interpersonal), they'd have to laugh in order to keep from going insane and without Karen and Ramona there to hype things up, Renee and Carla came to an understanding and everything was good. Of course, there were no tears or lengthy apologies to be found, but Renee and Carla have the longest past of any two wives and sometimes things don't need to be said. The two had been friends for 27 (!) years and with a few drinks, a letter, and knowledge of that history, the dynamics of Mob Wives just got a little more muddled.
Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-"I think everybody's acting a little stupid."
-"Why does every girl I know gotta be a tough guy?"
-"People aren't like this in other states. They're not!"
-"Oh my god, Angela, I need a friggin' blood mary."
-"What are we gonna do, eat rocks?"
-"Let's end this conversation with a period. Done."
-"Try not to burn my bra."
-"Next time someone's bothering me, I'm gonna take one of your tits and use it as a boomerang."
-Renee's comment about making a hit list in the hospital of people who didn't visit or send a gift was beyond awesome. She has, bar none, the best talking heads on Mob Wives.
-The VH1 Blog has several juicy Mob Wives goodies, including the Power 105 interviews from Renee and Karen/Ramona. Also, they have Big Ang fan art. You heard me. Big. Ang. Fan. Art.
-The story about Renee's dad pouring out a bag of engagement rings was bad ass, right?
-Do you believe Ramona's story about her night in jail?
-Tonight was very light on Karen for some reason.
-10 Things to Know About Big Ang.
-Another interview with Ramona talking bad about Drita. Get some new material, honey, because Drita's the only reason you're relevant.
-Next week on Mob Wives: Renee moves Junior back into the house, Ramona recounts her jail ordeal, and Karen and Carla go at it.
I think Karen and Romona are two punks that can’t fight their own battles, so they have to double team so they won’t get their ass kicked. Karen needs to stop talking smack and if she’s such a bad ass mob girl like she say then, confront Drita by her self and see who’s who!!!! Two against one is some punk ass shit.