This week’s episode of Total Divas was a surprisingly strong episode, in that there was no plotlines that were completely insipid, nobody was super over-the-top annoying, and Vincent was nowhere to be seen. Or maybe I enjoyed it because I’m in full Brie Mode and my mind is numb. Either way, check out the full recap below.
In the cold opening, a few of the girls are at catering backstage with Renee Young, and they get the idea to prank people, by having Alicia Fox jump out from under a table and grab peoples’ legs when they come in. Titus O’Neil is once again the early MVP of the show with his angry reaction, while WWE suit Mark Carrano no-sells it. Nattie is typically Canadian, apologizing for being scared.
Nattie is being visited by her father, the legendary Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart and her mom. Nattie’s concerned that he hasn’t been acting normally lately, a red flag when dealing with a recovering addict. But he seems pretty normal while watching one of her matches.
Backstage, Carrano gets the Divas prepped up for an upcoming European tour, during which the Bellas will be presenting at a European Music Awards show. Paige tries to egg on Brie, suggesting that the tour will be a good opportunity to see her in full-blown “Brie Mode”, but Nikki is hoping her sister will focus on work instead.
At RAW, the girls are backstage, and are excited to see the return of Wade Barrett… well, all of them except Alicia Fox who was dating Barrett until he had some bad news for her, and dumped her. She’s so embarrassed by the break-up that she can’t even stand to look at him. The other girls tell her to shake it off.
A week later, and the UK tour is on. Nattie is on the phone with a lawyer, as she’s trying to get her father some court-mandated help for his addiction. She decides that she will have to confront her father when she gets back home.
At the European Music Awards, the Bellas have to slum it and hang out with David Hasselhoff.
Meanwhile, Rosa and Alicia are in Vegas, since they didn’t go on the tour. Rosa wants Alicia to find a new man to help her get over Barrett. Alicia gets angry with Rosa for not shutting up about it.
Paige and the Bellas hit the bar, but Nikki decides to leave early to get some sleep. That leaves the door open for Paige, who keeps ordering shots and pressuring Brie to drink, in order to bear witness to the glorious spectacle that is Brie Mode. After a stop at a second place, mission accomplished. They drunk-call Nikki, who tells Paige to get Brie to bed immediately.
At Rosa’s house, Alicia apologizes to Rosa for getting angry earlier, and breaks down into tears about her heartache over Barrett.
The next morning, Nikki goes to Brie’s room to wake her up, but Brie won’t answer teh door. Nikki goes to the lobby to get them to open Brie’s door, and she finds Brie passed out in her bed. She gets Brie up and out of bed, but then Brie suddenly hurls, with Nikki directly in the splash zone. As Brie prays to the porcelain god, Nikki leaves angrily.
Alicia Fox joins the UK tour halfway through, and while out one day with Nattie and Ariane, they echo Rosa in saying that Alicia has to confront Barrett.
Backstage, Nikki is still upset with Brie and is worried that her drunken escapades from the night before will affect her in-ring performance and damage the Bella brand. But watching the match, Nikki realizes that Brie can actually work while hung over.
At lunch, the Divas are out for lunch, and Nattie breaks down crying, because she found out that her dad had to be hospitalized back home. She puts on a brave face at an autograph session, but she’s all torn up inside. She approaches TJ and asks for his help in saving Neidhart’s life. She asks TJ to help her by talking to her dad. She’s grateful that he will help out, despite their ongoing marital issues.
Alicia finally decides to confront Wade Barrett and does so backstage before a show. He’s actually really good about the whole thing and says he broke up with her simply because he didn’t see them going into anything long-term together. Alicia is still hurt, but it seems that her healing process has begun.
Back home, Nattie and TJ are getting ready to deliver some tough love to Jim Neidhart. He comes over for a visit, and Nattie tells him she wants to help him get over his problems. She tries to talk sensibly to him, but he rambles on about a bunch of unrelated things. Former WWE star Dan Spivey gets name-checked, as he’s on the phone helping Nattie through this intervention – apparently he has become a drug counselor now. He goes into the house and he and Nattie convince Neidhart to go to the rehab centre to straighten out. After Neidhart drives away with Spivey, Nattie and TJ seem to bond, their past friction forgotten about for the time being.
Bob Kapur has many stories of being in Brie Mode… but can’t remember any of them. E-mail him a reminder at bobkapur@hotmail.com.
