We finally get the see the mayhem in full with Joseline unleashed like the Incredible Hulk-ette.
After Benzino's crack about cocaine, she and Stevie J attack Althea (on stage), then Tammy Rivera (tries to punch her, pulls off her ponytail) then Mimi Faust (serious hair pulling on the stairs). Even Waka's mom Deb Antney gets caught in the middle of the Tammy fight. "She came up like Herucules," Deb says. "We were not dealing with a human at the time."
While Joseline creates most of the damage, Stevie, Benzino and Althea yell a lot and get held back by security. And Tammy at one point grabs some bottles to go after Joseline but the security folks hold her back as well.
I can see why the others thought Joseline was given too much rope. With all that security, how did she have as much leeway as she did. She should have been placed in handcuffs! Oddly, even though the police reportedly came to the building, Joseline was not arrested for assault.
Stevie J and Joseline are ultimately escorted out of the building. Althea and Benzino just leave voluntarily. They later talk to the show separately about the aftermath and we'll see most of those highlights next week. Joseline? Not repentant in the in the least. An executive producer asks her if she came to the reunion "ready to fight"?
"I come everywhere ready to fight," she proclaims.
Before the reunion, taped last month in New York City, Benzino and Stevie J were trading nasties on social media. Stevie J unleashed a nude photo of Althea while Benzino says he has proof Stevie and Joseline are not actually married. So tension was baked in from the get go.
Most of the second hour features the rest of the cast talking about what had happened and speculating why.
Among the assessments: Joseline is damaged. She is insecure. She's on drugs. She's dragging Stevie J. down. She hates other women and seems to go after everyone on the show. She never takes responsibility for her own actions. She prides herself on being violent. She's drunk on fame.
"A lot of people can't handle fame," Momma Dee says. "A monster has been created. The only way to put this fire out is to extinguish it."
Sommore, the host, doesn't pose the question: should Joseline be kicked off the show? It seems "Love and Hip Hop Atlanta" is rewarding her for acting the way she does. "She gets away with it," Mimi notes.
Everyone on the cast agrees Stevie J and Joseline are not really married. The theory: Stevie J concocted the marriage and Joseline was okay with it for some reason. Some see her prostitution background means Stevie J is more her pimp than her boyfriend. "It's fire on fire," Mimi says. Yung Joc dubs it a "tragic romance," as if it's Shakespeare.
They also discussed the long-standing "bromance" between Stevie J and Benzino. Karlie Redd, Benzino's ex, calls their connection "weird." Joseline has created a lot of stress in that relationship. Kirk Frost says he had never seen Benzino so on edge and angry. "This is a different Benzino,' he says.
RATINGS
Last Monday's reunion show drew 3.98 million viewers overnight. That is actually a bit less than I expected. Last year, reunion shows broke 4 million viewers live. Counting the repeat, 6 million people caught the reunion that night.
The fact tonight's episode is on Labor Day might hurt numbers a bit as well. Still, the show is way up over last year season to date in average viewers (3.6 million up from 3.1 million.)
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