It couldn't possibly be a coincidence that Kandi Burruss got married this past Friday, just two days before tonight's episode which focused on her issues with Mama Joyce hating on her fiance Todd Tucker.
Mama Joyce has getting on Todd's case all season, coming up with all sorts of reasons why she finds him suspect.
She thinks he's taking advantage of her daughter, living off Kandi's riches, not marrying her with the best of intentions. She even had a detective follow him around to try to find dirt on him and considered planting a hot woman around him to see if he'd take the bait.
Todd told Kandi in an earlier episode that Kandi was avoiding her mom and that they needed counseling. So Kandi brings a family counselor Dr. Sutherland to her home.
Mama Joyce surprisingly shows up.
"We've tried counseling in the past and it didn't work out so well," Kandi says, referencing a counseling session she did it with Mama Joyce and her ex Ashley Jewell in an episode from season two. (AJ died in a fight outside a strip club in 2009.)
Kandi and Mama Joyce hadn't spoken for awhile. "It hurts me when we don't talk," Kandi says.
The counselor gets on her case for not getting to know Todd. She takes this without getting defensive. Instead, she cries. "I worry about her," she says.
The trio eventually plan more counseling sessions.
At a rehearsal for Kandi's play based on her life, Mama Joyce and Todd have awkward small talk in the foyer of the Rialto Theater. He soon brings up the elephant in the room.
"We've had our ups and downs," Todd says. "Somewhere, we went wrong. You looked at me as an opportunist, not here for the right reasons, dating her friend... If it's an understanding that you'll never like me, as long as I hear it from you and not from someone else... At what time did you stop liking me?"
"I didn't stop liking you. I stopped respecting you," Mama Joyce says, citing the point when he stopped working.
He explains that he chose to stop working because most of his opportunities were out of town and he and Kandi agreed it was better for him to just be around instead. He says he has savings. "I'm not here to get anything from Kandi or her money," he says. "I just really want us to be a family. I want to move to the next level with Kandi and want everyone to be happy." He wants her to love him one day, or at least start liking him. He says all this is hurting Kandi and neither of them want to do that.
So Mama Joyce agrees to at least give it a try. She even shows some vulnerability by admitting she is very clingy to her daughter after her son died. "Maybe I've been a little too protective," she says.
She just hopes he has the right intentions.
He thinks communication will help. They then hug.
Progress! Amazing what a rational human being like Todd Tucker can do by being open and honest.
In other story lines:
Rehearsal? What rehearsal? Kandi feels Porsha is being lackadaisical about the play schedule, missing rehearsals. Porsha comes up with some lame excuse about not getting the full schedules. She might just have issues with understanding the concept of time. The stage manager gets on her case later. "I am dedicated to this play," Porsha claims. "I don't want to be your headache." Kandi has an understudy for Porsha's role - as insurance. We then see scenes of the musical which echo Kandi's life with her mom and Todd.
Haughty over humble: NeNe meets with her agent and is sifting through potential acting opportunities. She seems oddly dismissive of various scripts he had given to her including guest roles on Bill Bellamy's "Mr. Box Office" and "Necessary Roughness" on USA shot in Atlanta. She also didn't take too kindly to the idea of an acting coach. And when he brings up "Scandal," she says she had not seen it. Oddly, she acts like she is above following a hot show such as "Scandal." She's too busy! At least she has her clothing line with HSN. "This is proof when one door closes, another one opens. (And soon, she'll be doing "Dancing With the Stars.")
See no evil, hear no evil: Does Peter Thomas ever tell Cynthia Bailey anything? He appears to tell her news only when he feels like it, often after the fact, not when she could provide some thoughts on their money. While she says they're a partnership, she lets him handle a lot of the financial decisions.He tells her the owners of his Bar One property are in foreclosure and hadn't been passing their mortgage payments to the bank. He could lose Bar One, as a result. "I didn't see this coming," Peter says, getting defensive. "I get frustrated when you don't tell me what's going on," she responds. They agree to try to open communications. He says he wants to buy the property and she won't stop him. She just wants to know what's going on. (As of last month, he was in negotiations.)
Poor Kenya. I don't have a lot of sympathy for Kenya most of the time but in this case, I feel for her. Her dog Velvet, seven years old, ran outside the gate and was chomped by a neighbor's dog. Velvet died in Kenya's arms. "She always protected, Kenya tells her aunt Lori, sobbing. "Even though she was little, she did everything for me." "My whole world revolved around Velvet," she adds. While a lot of what she does on this show feel fake, her feelings for her dog are 100% sincere. She plans a memorial service for her.
"Ghost" redux? Phaedra has nothing going on this week so she gets that little 60-second bit they show at 40 minutes between commercials. She and Apollo try to create clay pots. She is also almost done with mortuary school.
TRAILER
For the season finale before the reunion shows, Apollo is excited that Phaedra is almost done with mortuary school. Porsha gets teary eyed about her divorce. Kenya has her memorial for her dog. NeNe is having some pain and ends up at a hospital. And "A Mother's Tale" is about to open.
RATINGS
Episode 20 drew 3.94 million viewers last week, just above the season average of about 3.8 million.
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