Mob Wives: Recap “Of Vice & Men” Ep. 304

First, what we didn't see!

Carla says, “She needs to button up the lip a little. Maybe she’ll f*cking stop barking so much.”

Big Ang and Carla meet at the nail salon. Big Ang has new hair, but it’s not really hers, it’s a permed “Cher” wig. Drita joins them. Drita tells them that Renee has moved to a new house around the corner from Carla. That doesn’t make Carla too happy because she will be running into her all the time. Big Ang says that Renee is going to Florida for a month of rehab. Carla says she needs a lot of help. Big Ang feels that rehab is helping her son and it will help Renee. Carla says she can’t take being attacked any more. Drita says she is proud of Renee. Carla hopes that when Renee comes home she won’t bash her any more. And while Drita and Big Ang are proud and supportive of Renee, Carla reacts with her typical, “bashing attitude” and says, “She needs to button up the lip a little. Maybe she’ll f*cking stop barking so much.” Hmmmm.

Joe says, “I want a divorce, I want a divorce, I want a divorce!” 

Joe has been out of prison for a year and he has some unfinished business...Carla. He meets with his lawyer, Ralph, and they discuss his past criminal history. Joe explains that he was pinched for money laundering and stock fraud. He is trying to redeem himself now. He tells the lawyer he has a girlfriend and they are living together. The lawyer advises him that if he is getting along with Carla things will go a lot easier with the divorce. Joes says, “I want a divorce, I want a divorce, I want a divorce!” Joe wants to move on with his life. He knows he has to take baby steps with Carla because their relationship swings back and forth from good to bad. The lawyer stresses that it’s important they get along.

“This is probably going to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life,” Renee says.

Back at Renee’s house, AJ, Ramona and Karen are going to take Renee to the airport for her trip to Florida. Renee gets nervous about missing her plane because Karen and Ramona haven’t arrived yet. She says prescription pills have taken control of too much of her life. She has a lot of anxiety and she and AJ are getting on each other’s nerves. Karen and Ramona arrive and they all head out to the car. Renee says she is looking forward to rehab. Karen says she is being very brave and she is proud of Renee. Ramona is very supportive. They all say good bye at the airport and Renee and AJ walks off to the gate of the flight to Florida. AJ accompanies Renee to the rehab center to drop her off. He wants her to find a way to deal with her problems and be happy. AJ says things are hard as hell, but he wants Renee to be strong and get clean and sober. Renee is nervous about entering the rehab and says it will be the hardest 28 days of her life.

Love says,  “I didn’t actually hit him, I went all around him,” she clarifies. “So he knew that I loved him.” 

Love is applying Karen’s makeup while Karen fills her in on what is going on with Dave. She tells her about the girlfriend and Love thinks she it is amazing that Karen hasn’t killed anyone. But, Karen’s story triggers some emotion in Love, who has her own story. Love dated a guy named Ray Merole, who was head of one of the largest car theft rings in the world. She says they were inseparable and she thought he was her one true love. Then he cheated on her and the police said she allegedly tried to shoot him. But she says she shot all around him because she loved him, if she didn’t she wouldn’t have missed. Love just found out that Ray had twins who are three years old. It seems that Ray had his sperm frozen before going to prison and two different women were artificially inseminated and had his children. Love gets very emotional. She always felt, in the back of her mind, that she and Ray would be together. Karen is very angry about Dave. Where is the loyalty and respect for their relationship and all she has done for him to help him get back on his feet after he got out of prison?

Drita and the girls go to visit Lee. It’s been two years since they last saw him. Drita has a lot on her mind and is full of emotion. Drita says she needs to see how she and the girls feel being around him. Her girls don’t know what it feels like to have a father. She tells them that Lee has his girls and that is the best reason for him to change. They all get on a plane and land in Buffalo.

Meanwhile, at the Florida rehab, Transitions, Renee says good bye to AJ. Renee has to confront some serious issues. They ask her a lot of questions about her life events and drug use. She says on her worst day she took about 20 pills. She goes 3 to 4 days without sleep. She suffers from depression. She mentions several different types of prescription drugs that she has taken.

Once Drita and the girls get off the plane, there is a long drive to Bradford, Pennsylvania. They check into a hotel to spend the night. They have to get up very early the next day to go visit Lee. Drita is concerned about whether or not there will be a future with Lee and if so, what if he hurts them all again?

“From what Joe tells me,” Raquel explains, “Carla is just very…nasty.”

Carla is walking her dog, Elvis. “Elvis is a real man,” she says. Carla hasn’t spoken to Joe since they had that little conversation about Raquel moving in with him, which didn’t end well. Joe says Elvis was his dog, until he made one too many visits to Carla’s with the kids and she just kept him. Joe talks to Raquel about what the lawyer had to say. He tells her if Carla contests the divorce it could take two years for him to get one. Joe believes that Carla is afraid he will marry Raquel and have more kids. He adds, she should be scared because that is exactly what he wants to do.

Drita and the girls get up early and get ready for their visit with Lee. They dress and do their hair. Aleeya is excited. They get in the car. Drita is nervous, she feels like she is going on her first date. Aleeya says the first thing she will say is “I love you, daddy.” Drita’s anxiety is running very high because she has no idea what to expect from her visit with Lee.

Ramona says, , “I would choke him until he had no breath left in him.”

Ramona and Karen meet. Karen tells her she hasn’t talked to Dave yet. She says that Karina doesn’t want her to tell Dave that she told him anything about the girlfriend. And, Karina told her that she doesn’t want to move back to New York because she finally has a good relationship with her father. She tells Karen that Dave’s girlfriend, Rebecca, is helping her with stuff and she doesn’t want Karen causing problems. Ramona advises Karen to go out to Arizona, it’s her house. Karen feels she is between a rock and a hard place. She wants to kill Dave, but she doesn’t want to alienate her daughter.

Drita and the girls leave the prison. She is on cloud nine. She says there was a lot of hugging and kissing. It’s like they were all never separated. It just goes to show you blood is thicker than water. Drita says she felt happy, peaceful and comfortable with Lee in spite of all he did to her. She tells Big Ang it was amazing. Giselle went over to Lee screaming like they were never apart. She says she and Lee didn’t even need to talk. She misses him a lot and she now realizes how much. She says she felt so good being with him. It was a 5 hour visit. The girls were very happy and Drita was very emotional.

“How the f*ck do you do that to me?” Love asks.

Love visits Big Ang. Ang tells Love she threw Neal out because he isn’t a good husband. He took her for surgery and left her there. Drita is the only one doing good in the men’s department right now. She tells Love that Drita had a good visit with Lee. Love tells her she always thought she would end up with Ray. Then she tells Ang about how he had his sperm frozen and two girls used it to have his babies. Love wants to write him a letter and demand an explanation of how he could do this to her.

“What do you mean, insecure? I’m MAD!” Karen tells Dave. “I have been the most loyalist person to this man in his entire life, and the fact that I want that back in return, he’s gonna say insecure? Nah, motherf*cker, I’m not having it.” 

A very angry Karen is in her apartment and decides to call Dave. She is angry because he hasn’t been taking her calls or calling her back. He says he has been busy working. Karen wants to know what he is so busy working at? She asks if he has a girlfriend. He says he was going to tell her eventually, he isn’t hiding anything. Karen feels that they should have always kept an open line of communication. He tells her now that he has a girlfriend she is being insecure. He says he doesn’t have to answer any questions. She wants to know why Karina doesn’t want to move to New York? She is the only who raised her for twelve years by herself.

Drita meets her close friend, Jessica, who she went to high school with. She tells her about her visit with Lee. She is thinking about giving Lee another chance and wants to hear what Jessica thinks. Jessica tells her that the worst time is Drita’s life was when Lee went to jail. But, Jessica adds, she remembers how happy Drita always was with Lee. She encourages Drita to give him another chance.

Renee survived the rehab interview, now she wants to know why she is addicted to pain medication. She asks, why her son, who has two addicts for parents, isn’t addicted. They tell her it’s a matter of choice and self control. Renee tells them there is a girl in her group that makes her angry [Carla]. She is a whore, a douche bag, something you use and throw away. They tell her to take the energy she is putting into this b*tch and put it into something positive. Anger comes from fear. By focusing on Carla, Renee is giving her power. Renee says she has to let it go.

MY TWO CENTS

Oh boy, we have an episodes built around so many different situations, all very emotional! I guess I’ll break them down one by one.

Renee is dealing with her addiction to pain medication. How will she be able to cope without the pills? It’s not going to be easy getting clean. It takes a lot of work. Everyone is supporting her decision to go get help…everyone but Carla. Despite the fact that Carla is well aware of everything Renee has been through in her life, she can’t even find an ounce of compassion for her, as a human being, to even “fake” being concerned. After all, being fake is something Carla is very good at, but she won’t even make an effort. What does that say about her? Even Big Ang and Drita find fault with Carla’s attitude. Thank God Renee has the love and support of her son, AJ, her family, friends, and fans.

Drita not only had to face the prison visit, she has to consider the future of her family. She is full of emotion from fear and anxiety to being happy and excited. It’s hard to make decisions when you are experiencing so much internal conflict. Drita is a very good mother. She raised two beautiful girls. Aleeya, who is intelligent and mature, and Giselle, who is independent and adorable. She always puts her children’s well being before her own. Drita was always close to her own father growing up. I’m sure she wants the same for her girls. Everything that’s been said on the show leads me to believe she is going to give Lee and their family another chance. Let’s hope Lee doesn’t screw it up this time. He is very blessed and I hope he appreciates what he has now.

Love’s story just gets more and more bizarre. There is nothing ordinary about Love’s life. Now she has to deal with the fact that the man she thought was her “one true love” betrayed her in a way. He froze his sperm before going to prison, in case he wanted to have a baby. Then he finds two women to get inseminated with his sperm at the same time and have his children? Who the hell does that? It seems to me Love never got any closure from that relationship. I think she should write that letter and see what he has to say. She never really let go of Ray. This might be just what she needs to move on. And maybe Love should ask herself if Ray had asked her to have his baby, would she have said yes with him being in prison? Somehow I doubt it. I think this is a lose end she just has to wrap up, just like Joe’s unfinished business.

Speaking of Joe’s unfinished business (you knew I was saving the best for last right?), and by unfinished business I mean Carla. Joe is adamant about getting a divorce. I can’t say I was crazy about Joe’s criminal past, because I wasn’t, but I am very happy with his present and future. This is what we know. Carla has been seeing Handy Man before Mob Wives started two years ago. By other accounts I have heard she has been with him as long as four years. So, if she is so “in love” with Handy aka “Baby,” why wouldn’t give Joe a divorce? Why would she contest it? It makes no sense unless she wants Joe back in her life, which she claims she does not. She said she was done with him when he got out of prison…the feelings, the closeness were gone…maybe that’s because she had moved on with her life and Handy?

Joe has a chance to start over with Raquel. Raquel is wonderful with his children, she loves them. She wants to have children of her own. It’s all natural and wonderful. But they have to deal with Carla and, as we know, Carla is not about other people, Carla is about Carla. She is selfish and egotistical. Carla grills her children about their weekend with Joe, and when they come back with happy glowing reports, she is determined to find something bad. How dare another woman mother her children? You would think she would be happy to have them spend time with someone so nurturing while she is off at appearances, or selling Wives for Wine, or filming, or on her many dates with Handy. Joe’s home appears to be happy and stable. A good home for his children to grow up in.

I have been accused of being harsh on Carla. That isn’t going to change any time soon, especially if she gives Joe a hard time about the divorce. Joe has said, in so many words, how difficult Carla can be. She is argumentative, she can be nasty. We have seen those sides of her. By the way, are there other sides? He is afraid to talk to her about certain subjects. She doesn’t want anyone telling her what to do and yet she thinks it is okay for her to tell Joe what he should and shouldn’t do. I sense Joe is very frustrated because he anticipates that Carla is going to be a road block to his future happiness. From what I have seen of Carla, I think she will do whatever she can to give Joe a hard time. I hope Joe’s lawyer has a few tricks up his sleeve. I don’t see how she can contest the divorce. What grounds does she have? Doesn’t the fact that Carla has been with Handy all this time and doesn’t want to be with Joe, something the courts should consider? They have it all on video tape! Roll it!

I rest my case!

What did you think of all the turmoil in this episode? I’d love to know.

Video Credit: VH1