Catching up with 'Love & Hip Hop Atlanta'

Karlie Redd gives crazy Joseline Hernandez the stink eye. CREDIT: VH1

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

Karlie Redd gives crazy Joseline Hernandez the stink eye. CREDIT: VH1

By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, May 3, 2016

I was on vacation last month and missed episodes three and four of "Love and Hip Hop Atlanta." Episode five aired last night. We just picked up a cute puppy last night, which means I have no energy to binge-watch all three. So I skipped right over to episode five.

Here are my impressions:

Joseline is back and badder than ever: She and Stevie J return from Hollywood to ensure "Love and Hip Hop Atlanta" remains a ratings bonanza. She's still her usual short-tempered, gossipy, nasty, paranoid self. She goes after Karlie Redd for supposedly speaking bad about her to Tommie and claims she has an envelope of "secrets" about Karlie she could unleash "on the blogs." Creative points there for drama, Joseline!  ("I would never blackmail my friends!" Karlie later said.)

She accuses Karen "KK" King, an old friend of Stevie J's, of having slept with him years earlier. They both deny it, saying they're like brother and sister. "Joseline is trippin' " he said. "I'm into a lot of things but I'm not into incest." KK said Joseline's "the most insecure woman I've ever met." That's an understatement.

Joseline isn't a fan of KK and provides Mimi with dirt about her as a warning. (Yes, those two are on good terms now.)

The producers show the very start of her video release party at Scales 925 downtown, ready for a cliffhanger set up. Mimi's girlfriend Chris worries that Joseline might cause drama. Of course she does. You wouldn't expect anything less from Joseline. She said she expected Chris to be better looking, then asks her some crass question about whether she can match up to Joseline in bed with Mimi. (Yes, Joseline and Mimi have engaged in some coitus in the past.)

Reaching out to no avail: Scrapp wants his mom to embrace Tiarra. But that clearly isn't going to happen. KK thinks Tiarra ratted her out. Hard for her to forgive much less forget. Lots of noise, no resolution.

A new character arrives: Kirk has a daughter I didn't even know about: Kelsie Frost performs at Blue Ivory Lounge and she isn't half bad, even with a distracting baby girl voice. Rasheeda thinks she needs to project more and offer more stage presence . Kelsie of course thinks she's better than they think she is.

Successful mediation: Yung Joc brings Kirk over to apologize for blowing off Scrappy at a custody hearing. Surprise! Kirk understands where Scrappy is coming from and provides a sincere amends. They "bro hug." Guys get over things much faster than women on this show, eh? They later solidify their friendship with paintball with da boyz.

Paranoia run amok: Tommie, Scrapp's girlfriend, goes crazy when she hears from Joseline that Scrapp may have a third chick on top of baby mama Tiarra. She arrives at his apartment unannounced and searches for the third woman, who doesn't appear to exist.  Oops. For some reason, she's wearing lingerie, which is hardly normal attire given the circumstances. Then she runs out on the street because she can't find her car keys and tries to flag down a rental truck. Crew stops her. Could this get any weirder?