On tonight’s episode, Trinity struggles with the new direction for her character, while Nattie’s character comes into question because of her constant lies. Speaking of which – are Brie and Daniel Bryan lying to themselves about the seriousness of his injuries? Check out the full recap for all the details!
Backstage, WWE suit Mark Carrano lets Trinity know that the decision was made to turn her heel. She’s nervous about a change, but realizes she needs something to get her out of a career funk. Carrano gives her a confidence boost, telling her she’ll be great at it, and to take advantage of the opportunity.
Nattie and TJ bought a new house to be closer to her parents, and she’s arranging for her sister Jenny to help her move. TJ isn’t Jenny’s biggest fan, so would prefer if they just rely on the moving company. But Nattie insists, so that’s what’s going to happen.
Daniel Bryan and Brie have reunited after being on separate tours. Bryan drops the news to her that he wasn’t cleared to wrestle on a couple of nights of the tour, and they show a clip montage of him talking about his injuries over the past year.
It’s a Divas Battle Royal, and Trinity makes her turn, attacking Paige who eliminated her to win the match. The negative reactions – helped by this being Paige’s home country – made the turn a success. Now, Trinity is feeling the pressure of trying to change her character entirely to become a true villain. She thinks it’s going to be a difficult transition for her, since in real life, she’s a good person. Jimmy Uso comes by and gives her some tips.
On a road trip, the Bellas give her some further encouragement, saying that playing a villain will become easier, and that once she’s embraced it fully, she’ll enjoy it more than playing babyface.
At lunch, Brie learns via text that Bryan may be sent home from the tour because of his injuries. A week later, back in the States, Brie lets Nikki know that Bryan’s doctor said that it’s 50/50 as to whether Bryan will ever wrestle again. Nikki’s surprised that Brie is seemingly not distressed about the news.
At home, TJ and Nattie are packing things up, ostensibly with help from Nattie’s parents.
While driving around, Brie updates Nikki on Bryan’s medical condition. Nikki mentions that this could be the end of his career, but Brie originally seems to be in denial about it, changing the topic. Nikki presses her on it, and Brie says that even if that happens, she and Bryan can get through anything together.
Jenny shows up to the new house and plays nice with TJ who notices that she’s brought a lot of bags – too many if she’s just there to help them unpack and set up the new place. That’s because, as Nattie explains in a talking head segment, that Jenny’s there to live with them. He’s suspicious, but Nattie tells him he’s only going to be there for the next four or five days.
At home, Trinity shows off her neon-soled boots to Jimmy, but she doesn’t think she can use them as a heel. Jimmy then says he’s going to teach her to trash-talk. She’s horrible at it, and gets discouraged.
Driving around, Nattie tells Jenny that she hasn’t told TJ about Jenny’s permanent resident status. Nattie says she’ll let him know in good time, and Jenny lets the matter drop.
Backstage a few days later, Nikki continues to press Brie about Bryan’s status. Brie tells her that she’s not going to freak out unless and until the doctor confirms it’s career-ending.
TJ and Nattie have had to hire a contractor to fix up their old house so that they can sell it at a higher price. Nattie says the estimate is only $4,000 and TJ is fine with that. Can you guess what’s going to happen next?
At dinner with a bunch of the Divas and Jimmy Uso, the girls are celebrating Trinity’s heel push. Paige asks her if she’s embraced the dark side yet, but Trinity says she’s not feeling it. They try to get her to practice being bad, but she’s too nice to be mean to the waitress or any of her friends. Their next idea is to make her mad enough that she explodes, which she can then draw on when she’s in the ring. Alicia Fox takes the initiative, and throws a drink in Trinity’s face. That did it. Trinity blows up and is about to attack Fox, but the restaurant security guard stops her and throws her out before the fists can fly. She’s still steaming and only when the cops show up does she calm down. Jimmy explains to her that, despite her good nature, she has to realize she’s an entertainer playing a character, and to keep the villainy in the ring, lest she get herself arrested like she almost did tonight.
Daniel comes by to pick Brie up from a Bella photo shoot. Nikki asks him about his doctor’s visit, and he says that more testing is required. She becomes a complete Debbie Downer, taking the pessimistic view that his career might be over – repeating this again and again, the insensitive clod that she is. Brie and Bryan explain to her that they can worry about it, but not be all obsessive about it. They tell her to not stress them out by bringing it up all the time. Then the Bellas have another contest about which one is stupider, this time in the grammar category. It’s a tie.
Backstage, TJ tells Nattie that the contractor let him know that the actual estimate to fix up their old house isn’t $4,000 like Nattie said, but actually closer to $15,000. A flashback shows that the contractor actually told Nattie this, so she’s caught in a lie. A second one, he says, since he also knows she wasn’t truthful about Jenny. They argue, and TJ walks off. Nattie tries to explain that her lying is coming from a good place – that if he doesn’t know the truth, he won’t stress about it. And it looks like she’s vying for the Bellas’ stupid crown. She tells the Bellas what’s going on, and they side with TJ, telling her that they would never do anything like that without talking to their men. The Bellas actually say smart things in this segment, which is something I never thought I’d write in my life.
Trinity is still flipping out about her match, her first as a heel. There’s added pressure because it’s for the Divas championship and on pay-per-view to boot. She does a great job, as she realizes that she does have the drive inside to make the character successful. She even had a decent match with Nikki Bella, so even more props to her.
At home, Nattie realizes that lying is bad. Wait, wasn’t this a very special episode of Blossom? She comes clean to TJ and her parents about the cost of the contractor, because she didn’t want TJ to worry about it. She then admits that Jenny will be living with them, as she wants someone there who can take care of their cats and their parents. TJ says that he forgives her for lying, but that she should have been truthful up-front. Then, with the gate open, Nattie drops some more truth bombs, hurting everyone’s feelings in the process. I’m sure that happened on Blossom too. Or was it Punky Brewster? And wouldn’t a reality show starring those two be more interesting than this one? Everyone forgives her.
Bob Kapur has been thrown out of a restaurant or two in his life. E-mail him some dining etiquette lessons at bobkapur@hotmail.com.