The first two episodes of this season have featured a lot of Sonya DeVille, and that trend continues this week. Weird, because she’s barely on WWE’s weekly wrestling shows. Personally, I’d rather the entire cast wrestle more and appear on this show less. By which I mean I hope this show gets cancelled. Meanwhile, check out the recap of the most recent episode.
Sonya, her girlfriend Arianna, and some of the girls are in Fort Lauderdale where Sonya has a float in the Pride Parade. As she was injured, the rest of the girls designed the float to have a wrestling ring theme. By which I mean, after the cameras turned off, the production team designed the float to have a wrestling ring theme. Actually, it’s like three cages on the float, so somebody stole the WCW World War III gimmick, which should get that somebody fired, because those matches were terrible. Anyway, this is a big deal for Sonya, as she only came out three years ago. They all get into Brie Mode so have a lot of fun.
Meanwhile, Charly Caruso – who’s become a bit of an instigator on the show, taking that mantle from Renee Young – tells Carmella that it’s good that her relationship with Corey Graves is now out in the open. Despite the world thinking Carmella is a home-wrecker.
Ronda Rousey has invited Nattie to come to the farm to do chores for her, ostensibly so Nattie can keep her mind occupied and distract her from thinking about the recent passing of her father, but more likely because Ronda and Travis are cheapskates and looking for free labour. TJ (Tyson Kidd), Nattie’s husband, is there as well. Of course, Nattie is way overdressed and unprepared for farming. Ronda shows her some stuffed deer heads on the wall, subtly implying that if Nattie tries to escape from the forced farm labour camp, she just might join them.
Sonya thinks that, now that she’s cleared physically to get back in the ring, she should be put into a program with Ronda, since she was the first female MMA fighter to cross over into WWE. She’s even started tweeting about being able to knock Ronda out.
Nattie is doing menial labour on the farm, and Ronda and Travis are enjoying putting her through the paces. Travis and Ronda say that they’re fine with killing animals to feed their family because apparently they’ve never heard of a grocery store. They then order Nattie to scoop out a barnful of poop, which presumably is their family’s after they’re done eating. Nattie and TJ are starting to get suspicious of Ronda’s motives, feeling a bit like Hansel and Gretel being prepped for the oven without the fun candy house part.
Carmella goes to visit Corey Graves in his hotel room and bemoan the situation with Corey’s wife. Maybe they should take her to Ronda’s slaughterhouse and solve things the old-fashioned way? Graves feels like Carmella has been pushing him away because of what’s happened, so he asks her out on a proper date, because we still have half an hour to kill in this episode.
Nattie shows Ronda Sonya’s tweet, and Ronda and Travis aren’t apparently clued in that this is all a work, because they think the trash-talk is real. They cut a promo dissing Sonya’s MMA background, calling her a “hobbyist”.
Backstage, Sonya sees Ronda’s post and takes offense at the the term. Sonya’s got her back up, suggesting that her small handful of amateur fights puts her in Ronda’s league. Note to Sonya: it doesn’t.
Elsewhere, Carmella invites Corey to her Miami Vice-themed housewarming party that will secretly be a surprise birthday party for him. They then discuss what kind of cake is better, so Carmella apparently doesn’t understand the meaning of “surprise”.
Carmella invites Sonya, and tells her that she has to wear a dress – something that Sonya doesn’t normally do.
Meanwhile, back on the farm, Nattie is struggling with taking the baby goats for a walk. She and Ronda wonder over the beauty of nature, and they bond over their dead fathers. Nattie realizes that she hasn’t properly dealt with her loss. Presumably while this is going on, the goats have either run away or been eaten by Travis.
The girls are all visiting Carmella the night before the party, and she takes them to a mermaid show at some restaurant. Liv Morgan signs her and Trinity up to be lessons to learn how to be mermaids. Trinity is worried about having to dress in a provocative outfit, because she thinks she’s getting too chunky. But they pressure her into doing it.
Backstage, Ronda talks about her promo response to Sonya, and says that she did it only as business. But now apparently Sonya is upset by it, so maybe she’s the one that hasn’t been smartened up. Charly again instigates, telling Ronda that if Sonya said it, she meant it for real. But that feud will have to wait, because Ronda gets put into a program with Becky Lynch instead.
The next day, Trinity and Carmella are off to their mermaid lessons. Trinity does pretty well, and my God, Liv looks amazing. It’s costume picking time, and Trinity is worried about showing too many curves, so she thinks about bailing from the actual restaurant performance.
Carmella’s sister arrives at Carmella’s place to help prep for the party. They call Corey to see what time he’ll get there, and he tells them that he’s likely going to fly home early and miss the party entirely. Carmella’s disappointed, and worries what people will think about her relationship if he’s not even there.
Sonya is uncomfortable in a dress, and Arianna has to teach her to sit down and cross her legs like a lady. She also has trouble walking in heels, and is worried about falling down and looking stupid. She apparently forgot what show she’s on, because that’s a pre-requisite for all cast members. Did she not see Nattie shovelling manure earlier?
The party is underway, and everyone is partying 80s-style. Except Nattie, who forgot about the theme. Everyone starts asking Carmella where Corey is, and this upsets Carmella.
Meanwhile, Sonya wants to get rid of her dress, because it reminds her of how she had to dress up to look feminine when she was in the closet. She has a mini-meltdown and runs into a bedroom to hide. Nattie checks in on her, and talk soon turns to how she feels bashed by Ronda. Nattie tells her that she’ll soon find her place in WWE and not to sweat what Ronda feels.
The girls give Carmella a stripper pole as a present, but that’s weird, because nobody wants to see Corey Graves on the pole. Carmella calls him and she lets him know that the party was supposed to be for him, but it’s all good, boo.
At the restaurant, a bunch of guys are doing the mermaid dance – maybe they have a stripper pole? Finally, Trinity and Liv make their appearance, and the training has paid off. Trinity feels fine about her body, and everyone’s impressed with the performance.
Bob Kapur has never dressed like a mermaid, danced on a stripper pole, or eaten a goat. He does enjoy cake, though. E-mail him some at bobkapur@hotmail.com.
