'Real Housewives of Atlanta' recap ('Shade Grenade'): season 9, episode 5

It happened July 28. A rapper who appropriately goes by the name Drama (real name Terence Cook) showed up at what he thought was his friend and former attorney Phaedra Parks' office. Someone overheard him say something about a bomb. The cops were called. He was arrested. The news went kind of crazy. A few days later, Parks said it was a big misunderstanding. He went to the wrong office and was just dropping off a CD.

Parks was on her way to see Apollo to try to finalize the divorce when she heard the news.  She was naturally very upset, thinking that maybe someone was literally trying to bomb her. The producers decided to milk it for all the drama they could get by running it at the end of the episode so folks who are watching have no idea how serious the threat really was.

She was in the area because she had been attending the Democratic National Convention with Porsha Williams. She has been politically involved with the Flint water crisis, Ferguson and civil rights issues. She even held a roundtable on the issue while at the convention.

As for the divorce, she claimed Apollo was holding things up. "He hasn't been cooperating," he said. "I'm still trying to persuade him to sign and be done with it... I want to be done."

Oddly,  Apollo just filed papers on Thursday for divorce December 1, four months after her visit with him.

***

In other story lines:

Cynthia Bailey: She continues her moves to divorce Peter Thomas. That includes selling her Glenwood Park home. She put it on the market in the summer and it sold quickly. She is shown seeking a newer, bigger home up north near a lake that costs nearly $1 million.

Kandi Burruss: Peter shows up at Kandi's new restaurant Old Lady Gang in Castleberry Hill. By late July, it was three months behind schedule. It's now early December. The restaurant is still not open . I'm sure Kandi is even more irritated by the extensive delays that are costing her beaucoup bucks. Todd Tucker is also stressed since he's overseeing the renovation. Peter stops by to say hi. He says the restaurant business is (no surprise) difficult and he is surprised they are trying to get into the business. He also said marriages are not easy, explaining why he and Cynthia were apart. ("Our workload was too much for her. She is not build the way I am. I was in it til we die. After awhile, people drift apart. She's on her own track. I'm on my track.")

Just seeing him worries Todd and Kandi about the future of their marriage. Mama Joyce tries to help out, too, by taking care of Ace and giving them a chance at a "date night." She even set up the sex toys and lotions and such for them. Todd is a bit embarrassed that he hadn't done it himself.

Kenya Moore: She is having some issues with boyfriend Matt again. Apparently, he got upset when she did a Throwback Thursday pic of her shooting a video with Jay-Z. He became violent (though not directly toward her) and left town for his birthday without her. She had set up an ATV double date with Kandi and Todd but he didn't show up. She was unhappy. We see them arguing some more next week in the trailer. He is much younger than she is and clearly has maturity/insecurity issues. (That was Lena Chenier who came along for the ride.)

Sheree Whitfield: Her now 20-year-old model son Kairo gets arrested for a DUI. She is suitably perturbed. "I raised you better," she said. He had been hanging with his friends and smoking pot. He didn't think he was too much under the influence when it happened. She has Bob lecture him. Though he has done pot for "therapeutic reasons," he said Kairo needs to pick his friends better and just be careful as a black man out there. (Oddly, this was shot way out of sequence or possibly shot at a later date and made to look like it happened in July. He was arrested on April 28 in Carroll County, three months before Phaedra's DNC visit and before RHOA started shooting season nine. Clearly, the producers were trying to tie the two events together.)