A few of the Divas feel betrayed this week. After taking Mandy under her wing, Eva Marie is surprised to learn that Mandy has had thoughts of potentially distancing herself from the hated Eva. Nikki feels bad that her sister Brie isn’t supportive of Nikki trying to become a motivational speaker. And Alicia finds out that her new boyfriend has been lying to her – though, it’s possible he simply had a senior’s moment and just forgot what year he was born in. Check out all the details in the full recap.
Backstage, Renee Young, Nattie, and Charlotte are chit-chatting about how much of a drunk Nattie is and something about cats, when Summer Rae comes in to spoil the party. This scene was the equivalent of a Zack Ryder match – meaningless and un-entertaining.
The Bellas are in California for an appearance with the Best Buddies organization, which helps developmentally-challenged people. Nikki’s nervous about the 15-mile bike ride the next day. They meet up with Maria Shriver and Patrick Schwarzenegger, who are also involved in the charity. Nikki gets inspired enough by Maria’s speech to make Maria her new hero.
Eva and Mandy are sharing an apartment near the Performance Centre. Mandy thinks that by spending time with Eva, she’ll get to know why all the other Divas hate Eva, so Mandy can learn to do the opposite and not be as hated.
At the bike race, Maria invites the Bellas to say a few words, but Nikki gets all flustered. In a talking head segment, she admits that she’s too stupid to use big words, beating me to the punch.
Backstage, Alicia tells Paige and Rosa about her recent date with her new man Darryl, some homeless looking scrub. She tells them how Darryl is living with his ex, and they scoff at this arrangement, but she’s cool with it.
Nattie and Mandy meet up backstage, and Nattie tells her about Eva’s last attempt to team up with a Diva – Summer Rae – and how disastrously that wound up. Mandy seems troubled by this news.
Later, Nikki tells Nattie about how much she wants to start being an empowered woman and become a role model for strong ladies and young women. Which is ironic when she’s painting lipstick all over her face to do some kind of lipstick imprint cards to celebrate her “athletic” prowess.
On the road, Rosa and Paige suggest that Alicia do an internet background check on Darryl, as they don’t think he’s trustworthy because of his living arrangement. Apparently, Rosa got burned before, finding out that a guy she was seeing was married to someone else. Alicia finds out that Darryl is 50 years old – despite him telling her that he’s only 45! Alicia calls him to ferret out the truth, but he continues with his lies about his age.
Backstage, Nikki continues to drone on about Maria Shriver, and tells Brie that she’s booked a speaking engagement. Apparently, she’s been receiving offers from a number of organizations to speak, and wow must those organizations be desperate. She agrees to speak at a womens’ event at the University of Tampa. Brie suggests that Nikki may be more inspring if she covers up the puppies, but this angers Nikki.
At the Performance Centre, Mandy studies Eva Marie’s technique, and Eva’s actually not horrible. She introduces Eva to Michael, her giant lunk of a boyfriend.
Alicia goes to Darryl’s house to try to find out the truth about his age. She tells him about the internet search results, and he comes clean about his lies. She gets angry, and says she can’t trust him anymore. He tries to make amends, but she’s having none of it, leaving her mic pack with the cameraman and driving away in a huff.
Mandy, Michael, and Eva are hanging out in the apartment, and Eva tells them about her experiences since returning to TV. She says that she’s learned to embrace the hatred that the crowd throws her way. Mandy tries to practice a move on Michael, but his giant pumpkin head proves to be problematic.
That night, Paige and Rosa take Alicia to a bar to help her get over the lying liar Darryl.
The next day, Michael is with Mandy backstage at NXT and they’re watching Eva Marie’s match, noting how much she’s improved in the ring. Based on her match, Mandy decides to go with Eva’s plan to form a tag team with her.
At Alicia’s house the next morning, Alicia asks Paige and Rosa to help her chase off some armadillos that are infesting her back yard. And also do some gardening. They see a giant snake in the yard too, and apparently Alicia lives in a jungle or something.
In New York, Nikki joins Brie and some friends for drinks, shocking them with a new wardrobe that fully covers up her chesticles. Brie’s very pleased to see her sister looking like she’s joined the Right to Censor. But isn’t as confident that Nikki can actually handle making a speech. She asks Nikki to practice right there, but this intimidates Nikki because she’s still not fully confident about her speaking abilities. She knows enough to call Brie out for being a bully, and leaves.
Back at Alicia’s house, a delivery man brings in a huge bouquet of flowers, sent by Darryl. Alicia’s all impressed by the flowers, but Rosa and Paige are unimpressed and tell her that she shouldn’t buckle.
At lunch, Mandy tells Eva that the rest of the Divas have told her to stay away from Eva. Eva’s ticked that Mandy would go and seek out dirt on her, and lets Mandy know that her feelings are hurt as a result. That leads to an awkward car drive together back to the apartment. Mandy and Michael try to figure out why Eva’s freezing them out, and Michael says that Mandy shouldn’t have gone to others, but rather given Eva the benefit of the doubt. Mandy apologizes to Eva, and Eva forgives her. Eva says that she probably would have done the same thing if she were new to the company.
Brie and her mom go to a hippie flea market, and Brie tells Mamma Bella about the comments she made to Nikki about not flaunting her boobs while trying to be a motivational woman. Mamma Bella says Brie was inappropriate to say that, since boobs are empowering. Or something like that.
Alicia, Rosa, and Paige go for lunch, and once again the topic of conversation turns to Darryl. Alicia wants to give him another chance, despite his pants being on fire, because she’s really into him. Rosa says that she was just being protective of Alicia because they’re BFFs, but if Alicia wants this sketch, she’ll be supportive. Paige says so too. Then reveals that she’s thinking of breaking up with her d-bag boyfriend Kevin.
In Tampa, John Cena accompanies Nikki for her motivational speech. She’s really nervous before the speech, but then Brie calls her to wish her luck, and this boosts her confidence. Her speech isn’t horrible, but in my view, it would have been better if she would have shown her boobs after all.
Bob Kapur isn’t motivated enough to write anything here. E-mail him your inspirational quotes at bobkapur@hotmail.com.