Eva Marie’s wedding is the backdrop for the episode, but all of the drama is in the relationships of two of the other Divas. Nattie and TJ have been fighting all season, but tonight the tension has Nattie at wit’s end. Meanwhile, all of the wedding talk has Nikki re-evaluating what she wants in regards to her relationship with John Cena – and vice versa. Check out the full recap to find out what happened in the big season finale.
The show starts off backstage where all the talent is arriving for TV. Fandango comes up to Nattie and asks about what’s been going on between her and TJ. Apparently, TJ texted Fandango the night before and told him about their fight. Nattie’s upset that everyone is talking about her broken relationship. She tells Nikki that she’s stressed from having to have to put on a brave face at work.
Eva Marie and Jonathan are trying on their wedding outfits, and good God it’s like she’s half naked. Seriously, that dress will get them kicked out of church.
At home, Nikki tells John Cena about the Nattie-TJ drama. She says that seeing Nattie’s issues makes her not want to get married – that she would never want to fight with Cena that way. Cena, who has been anti-marriage all this time, seems to be upset by hearing this. He then beats at tic-tac-toe, and, Jesus, how stupid is this woman?
Eva’s at her photoshoot for Muscle & Fitness Hers, the first ever WWE Diva to be on the cover. Nattie is there, and asks Eva if her and TJ can sit separate from TJ at the wedding. Eva says she’ll see what she can do, but won’t make any promises.
Daniel Bryan is out for lunch with the Bellas, and the discussion turns to Nikki’s va-jay-jay. She tells them that she’s changed her mind about the importance of being married, but they’re not buying it. She says she’s changed and that as long as she’s happy and in love, the marriage certificate doesn’t matter. Brie’s disappointed in her, saying that she’s sacrificing her dreams for Cena.
Brie and Bryan go out with the Bella family, and Brie tells them about Nikki’s changed stance on marriage. The family is split over whether Nikki is really happy with her situation or just lying to herself. Brie says they have to do some kind of intervention on Nikki, and JJ their brother says he’ll participate.
It’s the night before Eva’s wedding, and Nattie is putting on a brave face – it helps that she and TJ have separate rooms. Nattie tells him that he should downplay their problems for the sake of the wedding.
The wedding is in Napa Valley, so Nikki and Brie take a wine-tasting trip, and boy can they crowbar in stuff to advance the plot. The wine-maker describes one wine as being for married couples, and Brie uses this to force the Cena issue with Nikki. Nikki hates having to defend her relationship to Brie – she says she’s happy, so that’s all that matters. Brie is clearly in Brie Mode and starts getting obnoxious about the Cena deal.
In a moment of non-Cena talk, Nikki tells Brie that Nattie is getting a divorce. Brie blabs it to the wine-maker guy, who gives her a bottle of the marriage wine to take to Nattie. Brie drunkenly calls Nattie on the way back, but the entire scene devolves into a Brie Mode slapfight with Nikki.
It’s the rehearsal dinner, and Eva and Jonathan’s friends and family are all there. Eva’s particularly glad that her dad will be there to walk her down the aisle.
The Bellas and Nattie go out, but drunken Brie invited TJ to come as well, so awkwardness ensures. Nattie pointedly does not wear her wedding ring. Naturally, Nattie and TJ snipe at each other over dinner. Ariane and Vinnie show up, and everyone is giving Nattie drunken advice. This doesn’t sit well with her and she starts yelling at TJ even more, at one point threatening to beat him up. I think I’d put money on her if they decided to throw down.
It’s the wedding day and also Eva’s mom’s birthday, so someone is going to get cheated out of a cake. Summer is there, even though everyone hates her. TJ comes down, and Brie tries to play peacemaker between him and Nattie, but all Nattie will do is commit to not fight with him so as to not ruin the wedding. They’re all on the way to the wedding, and of course, Summer backs TJ because the enemy of my enemy and all that.
It’s the wedding. Interestingly, Layla is there, but no Naomi and Jimmy Uso – wonder what that’s all about. Eva has let her hair go its natural black colour and then they show pictures of her as a child with her dad, so it’s like they’re trying to make her seem like an innocent kid again on her magical wedding day, but of course she’s wearing her semi-naked dress, so that kind of contradicts the hair. Either way, she looks amazing, and far too good for Jonathan who couldn’t even be bothered to shave for his wedding.
At the reception, Nattie sees on the seating list that she’s at the same table as TJ. She’s like a crazy person and tries to cross peoples’ names out and rewrite the list, but fortunately Ariane is there to take her pen away, and force her to grow up and drink her crazy away.
Meanwhile, Brie needles Nikki even more about how she could have this kind of day herself if she didn’t give up her dream for John Cena. Brie says that Nikki could have this kind of day if she wasn’t with Cena, but Nikki says she’s fine with her choices.
At the wedding dinner, Eva’s red hair is back, and her reception dress actually has more material than her wedding dress did. Hashtag classy. Over dinner, Nattie is bummed, first because she has to put up with Summer who she is sitting beside to avoid TJ, and second because a year ago, it was her getting married and look at her now. She bails from the wedding.
Brie, her mom, and her brother JJ meet Cena for breakfast. but really it’s just a pretense to tell him how sad Nikki really is about his no-marriage decree. Brie tells him that she thinks Nikki is losing part of herself. Cena reminds them that he had this view from day one, and that Nikki was aware of it and knew what she got into, and what he really should have done is give these interfering busybodies a series of AA’s through the breakfast table. He says he understands that Nikki may have wanted a dream wedding, and it makes him feel bad to some degree that he can’t give that to her, but he has to be honest with himself as well as with her. JJ says that Cena should let Nikki go, but Kathy (Mama Bella) is the voice of reason and says that JJ and Brie shouldn’t speak for Nikki, and they should shut the eff up before the Cena gravy train leaves the station. Okay, she didn’t say that last part, but you know she’s gotta be thinking it. Brie says that this is only their opinions and that they just wanted Cena to know how they felt.
The next day, Nikki and Cena are at home, and in no subtle way, Cena questions Nikki on whether or not she knows what she wants, and says maybe he doesn’t know her as much as she thinks he does. Naturally, this has her worried. He says he loves her, but he knows what he wants, and he doesn’t know if he’s giving her the chance to know what she wants out of life. He says she’s sacrificed a lot in order to be with him, and says he doesn’t want her to settle for anything less than true happiness. He asks her point blank if she wants to be married and have kids, and she can’t deny those feelings. He says if that’s true, then he’s not the right man for her, and so they shouldn’t be together.
Bob Kapur wants to thank all of the readers of these recaps for their feedback over the past season. See you in January for a new batch of episodes. Meanwhile, you can e-mail him at bobkapur@hotmail.com.
