'Real Housewives of Atlanta' recap, episode 10: does the world revolve around NeNe?

You're so vain

I'll bet you think this song is about you

Don't you? Don't you?" - "You're So Vain" - Carly Simon

NeNe Leakes is in a seriously bummed out mood, sequestering herself in her house. She and Gregg are on the outs, as we saw in last week's episode over trust and financial issues. "He goes to the basement. I just came to my room," she told her friend Diane. "That's how it is for now."

[poll ID="314"]

Diane forces NeNe out of the house to go to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for a Kandi Burruss-created "flashlight" drag race in which people take their own cars and race them an eighth of a mile on a real racetrack. NeNe does not race but she immediately notices Cynthia Bailey's husband Peter Thomas acting "standoffish" toward her. She thinks he's dissing her and doesn't know why.

NeNe lately has been kvetching a lot to Cynthia on the phone about her problems, and Peter is getting upset about the time suck. He wants Cynthia's undivided attention when they're together. NeNe senses Cynthia acting weird, cutting off phone calls whenever Peter walks into the room. "I can't stand women who listen to their man like that," NeNe complains to the Bravo cameras. "Are you a puppet? Do you have your own brain?"

Peter is having financial problems with his downtown spot Uptown Lounge & Restaurant, which shut down soon after "Real Housewives" ended shooting this past summer. He's under stress as well. He's preoccupied. He was not in a good mood at that race and it appeared to have zero to do with NeNe.

But not in NeNe's world. She suspects he's upset with her, though he might merely be annoyed with her taking up Cynthia's time. "You're treating me all cold. What's the deal?" NeNe asks after the race over the phone. He refuses to admit he's even mildly annoyed with her. He says he's got "a lot of stuff going on... I don't have a problem with you."

Alas, this makes us think: is NeNe's underlying desire for Peter seeping through? Clearly, she is sensing something that has relatively little to do with her yet she is assuming the planets revolve around her.

"I'm sick of everybody," NeNe says at one point. "I just want to be happy by my damn self!"

In other housewife mayhem:

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

-

Kim Zolciak's

lesbian BFF DJ

Tracy Young

shows up for the first time! Kim is stressed out over her working with vocal coach

Jan Smith

so Tracy flies down from  New York to provide her moral support. In the studio, we hear Kim sing for a long time, sometimes tolerably, mostly poorly. [Think a female version of

Biz Markie

.] Smith tries to be as patient as possible. When Kim goes back and sings in front of Kandi, Kandi is not impressed. "Looks like we're in for a

long

night!" Kandi says, with a sigh. Kandi's also curious about Tracy. Kim tells Kandi not to talk about Tracy yet here she is. Tracy also shows up to the race. When Cynthia and Sheree start talking to her, Kim gets really upset. Tracy seems quite smitten with Kim. Poor gal. Some NFL dude is about to steal your thunder, Tracy!

- Sheree Whitfield is getting serious about her acting. Her acting coach suggests she try out for a play. The catch: no pay. Sheree is a bit skeptical about that prospect but she decides to try out in front of a group of agents. She's understandably nervous. Some of the agents feel she pauses too much and comes off as artificial. Sheree is surprisingly not defensive by the critique and doesn't go all "Who gonna check me, boo!" on them.

- Kandi Burruss gets big-time peeved when she loses her race to Sheree. She blames the fact she stopped her car short, thinking the cones were the finish line, not the lights. Much to her chagrin, Sheree refuses to race again. Sheree, by the way, drives the 2008 $125,000 Aston Martin she lost last month to a law firm that repossessed the vehicle as compensation for bills she has refused to pay. (I need to check in with the attorney to see whether she gave him the papers as well. If she does, the law firm's attorney Steve Montalto told me late last month that she'd be off the hook for more than $130,000 owed.)

- Phaedra Parks gets Spark St. Jude (yes, the local photographer who had her and Apollo eat pickles while she was pregnant) to take her baby pictures while Ayden is an infant. Ayden goes  nude and at one point, he poops all over Phaedra. Much hilarity ensues. Spark gets Apollo to take off his shirt for "artistic" purposes. Apollo does not object. And neither does Spark. I presume nobody watching complained either.

- This  is a rare episode which don't really feature any of the kids. (Kim's daughters showed up for the race but we didn't really hear them say or do anything.)

- Ryan Cameron and Rashan Ali of V-103 show up in the episode when Kandi promotes her race on the station.

NOTABLE QUOTES

"It was fun. And we had sex. Okay, great. Quiver!" - Kim, about DJ Tracy Young.

"I know a lot of actors and actresses probably start out working for free. But I'm a grown-*** woman with grown *** bills!" - Sheree.

"I'm not trying to be a model. I'm an actress." - Sheree, as she watches Cynthia Bailey, a professional model, show off her walk.

"I've never been this up close and personal with poop." - Phaedra, after Ayden poops on her during the photo shoot.

RATINGS

The show hit a season high of 3.2 million viewers for episode 9 on Nov. 28. That compares to 2.7 million for episode 9 a year ago. This is the second time the show has exceeded its season two numbers for the comparable episode. So far, the move to Sundays from Monday has been a rousing success for Bravo.