Mob Wives: Recap After The Storm, Ep 306

"The ocean just took the houses out," says Drita.

The episode opens with a lot of storm Sandy footage and the Mob Wives all taking turns reacting to the devastation and loss in their community. They refer to Staten Island as the forgotten borough and it’s clear that they were all affected by this disaster. They take turns talking about what they witnessed or heard about, including loss of lives, homes, businesses. They describe what they see, it’s like a bomb was dropped on Staten Island and it looks like the end of the world.

Drita speaks to Aleeya about the aftermath of the storm. Drita explains that she and her daughters stayed at her mother’s house the whole time. They live near an evacuation zone. When Drita went back home she saw massive destruction everywhere, but her house was fine. Drita and Aleeya go through their home collecting whatever they can find to donate to Sandy victims. It is really heartbreaking. Many families have nothing and have to start from scratch. People were cold, hungry and homeless. It’s a nightmare. Karen mentions that she was happy her daughter, Karina, was not there to see it or experience it.

"I was thinking I was living in the twilight zone," says Karen

Carla visits Big Ang and says it’s disastrous, not normal. Big Ang tells her she will be cooking and bringing people food, she doesn’t know what else to do. Big Ang tells Carla she lost the salon she opened just two months ago, but she doesn’t care about that after seeing how much others all around her lost. Carla says she collected things for the victims.

"New Yorkers always survive," says Love 

Love says she had to throw everything in her house out, her car was damaged and floating around. Drita says she doesn’t recognize the area as she drives down the street, and is upset that so many innocent lives were destroyed.

Ramona calls Renee, who is in rehab, to tell her about all the destruction. She describes it as a bad war movie. Karen and Ramona are buying things to donate to victims. They say people were on their roofs for a day and a half waiting for help. Families lost their homes and everything they owned. Karen and Ramona were going door to door to help people with whatever they needed…clothing, food, money. Karen offers her extra bedroom to someone.

Bg Ang and Neil go down to one of the shelters to help out. People are taking whatever they need. She says she is helping people feel better by talking to them and trying to make them laugh. Ang brings hot food and talks to the victims and gives them hope and encouragement.

Drita returns home after the storm and the kids go back to school. Lee is going to the halfway house, but she tells Aleeya they need to clean the whole house. It has to be in perfect condition for when Lee comes home. According to Drita, Lee is OCD psycho. He likes everything neat, clean and in it’s place. He is unpredictable and she doesn’t know how he is going to behave. Lee’s father was killed by the FBI when he was seven. Drita thinks he took a left turn when his father was killed and that’s where his dark side comes from.

Love says, "No matter how many times I terrorize by boyfriends they come back for more."

Love is on the phone talking to her ex, Joey. They have been seeing each other off and on for years. They have been back together for two years, but have broken up again. She jokes that she has not been with the butcher, baker and candlestick maker, like some women. She has been with a car thief, a home invader, a robber and attempted murderer. She says she stabbed Joey so many times that she lost count. Love doesn’t know what is going to happen, as much as they break up, they always seem to get back together.

"God really does remove one from a certain situation cause I would have lost it," says Renee

Renee feels bad that she isn’t in Staten Island to help Sandy victims. Maybe it’s for the best because of how emotional she gets. But she explains that it is making being in rehab that much harder for her and she feels these are the kinds of things that make her need pills.

Karen and Ramona have been helping people everyday, but now Ramona needs to focus on her and her children. Ramona finds herself an apartment, a smaller place that is easer to maintain. Karen is walking around looking at all the rooms and Ramona gets annoyed because Karen won’t take her shoes off. Karen tells her she is acting like Karen stepped in a pile of sh*t before entering the apartment. Karen looks at Ramona and tells her she looks depressed. Ramona says she is happy to get a new home and if her boyfriend Joe gets out of prison, he will like it. Ramona feels bad she hasn’t told Karen about the engagement yet.

"I took off my bra there were my brass knuckles-they fell out, chipped my toe and now I need a new pedicure." says Love 

Drita meets Love at a restaurant. The conversation begins with Love’s boobs, Drita can’t get over them. Love jokes and tells her she jiggled them one day and brass knuckles fell out and broke her toe. Love tells Drita about her boyfriend, Joey, who she stabbed in the chest, but she didn’t know his mother was standing behind him at the time. Drita says if she ever stabbed Lee she would have to make sure she killed him because if he ever got up, she would be dead. Love tells Drita that Lee and Joey know each other and were in a terrible fight years ago. Drita says Lee is getting out of prison in three months.

"You have to love yourself before you can love someone else," says AJ

AJ flies down to Florida to meet Renee and have some family counseling. Renee tells the therapist that AJ doesn’t understand about addiction. AJ says he feels bad for his mother because of what his father did and because of what happened to her father, but insists there is no good reason to take drugs. He says Renee sleeps a lot and slurs her words. She is another person when she is high. He wants her to get clean for her own sake, not his. He wants her to love herself and put herself first. Renee admits she has not been there for AJ because she has been self-medicating and she feels like a complete loser. AJ wants a normal life, like his friends have. Renee apologizes to AJ and AJ hugs her and tells her he forgives her. Renee doesn’t want to hurt AJ any more and knows she has to do better.

Big Ang is collecting things at the Drunken Monkey to help Sandy victims. The place is full of boxes that were donated by fans and people in the area. Trucks were needed to help distributed all the things collected. Big Chip, from Mama’s Boys of the Bronx, was there with his truck, to help out.

Renee says she has to learn forgiveness. She graduates from rehab and has a touching send off from the people still there. Everyone wishes her well and it give Renee strength. They really all seem to genuinely care about Renee, many of them are young and see her as a mother figure. It gets emotional when they have to say good bye.

At Drita’s house, both Big Ang and Carla arrive. Drita is excited and looks like she s going to burst. She can’t wait to tell them her big news. She tells them yesterday, while she was at the store she gets a call from Aleeya, but the call drops. So she gets in her car and drives home. She says you will not believe who was on the other side of the door when I opened it! It was Lee in my house!

MY TWO CENTS

Well this was one hell of an emotional episode. I am not even sure how to tackle my two cents this week. The devastation of Storm Sandy affected all New Yorkers. I am blown away by the immediate response of most of the Mob Wives to go out and help victims. It was touching to see them reach out to their community and do whatever was in their power to do. I saw Jennifer Graziano tweet about what each of the ladies did: Love rebuilt an entire home, Big Ang made tons of food, Renee raised money with her Mob Wives Saving Lives Foundation, Karen and Ramona came out strong for hurricane relief…no mention of Carla that I saw. In fact, not for nothing, but Carla was conspicuously absent for most of the show, just sayin’. But, to be fair, I checked her Twitter timeline, and Carla’s PR agent tweets, for what it’s worth, that Carla went around town picking up bags of supplies from family and friends and took them to donation areas. That’s good to know, but why wasn’t it filmed and included?  And ask me if I am surprised? Oh, and saw a snarky comment from Carla to Drita, “@DritaDavanzo love ur facial expressions .Is it because of all the bullshit ur listening too. Lmaooo” Could there be trouble in paradise here?

The other emotional scenes were about Renee in rehab. This was difficult for family, friends and fans to watch. I’m sure that the whole rehab process wasn’t easy for her, but Renee really looked wonderful when she was ready to leave. The scene with AJ was very touching. He is such a strong and mature young man, who has had a difficult life in many ways. He loves his mother and I think he is taking a tough stand with her because he wants her to get well for herself and to find happiness. He may have felt that he needed to parent her when she wasn’t herself and couldn’t be there for him. I hope Renee and AJ have many more heart to heart talks in the future. Anyone can see how much they love each other and what a fine young man she raised despite all the problems she has had to deal with in her life.

I have to be honest when it comes to Ramona’s engagement, I do not understand why she hasn’t at least told Karen. Maybe that’s why she looked depressed? It’s hard to keep something like that from a “best” friend, even if you can keep it from everyone else. I wonder if Ramona was afraid to hear what Karen might have to say under the circumstances. It is Ramona’s decision, but many would say this s not the ideal time or her to consider marriage. Her boyfriend may not even go to trial for a very long time and if and when he does, he may be sentenced to years in prison. I find myself wondering how Karen will react to this news when she hears it, because we know Karen loves Ramona and wants to see her happy. Will Karen think this is a good move?

As for Love, I have to laugh. She jokes about things that would horrify most people. Stabbing her boyfriend, Joey, is almost like a sign of affection, and she says she has done it many times. It never stops them from getting back together. But Love makes it clear, she hasn’t exactly been dating businessmen all her life, so maybe a little stabbing, poison and a few gun shots are in order from time to time. She certainly has her own style and is very different from the other mob wives. If Love says she is coming for you, I would do exactly what Karen advises and RUN. Love isn’t one to fool around by pulling out hair extensions. From what I have seen, Love means business. Could it be that her hand being in a cast right now has something to do with the show? I am keeping an eye on this situation! Meanwhile, please follow Love on Twitter @Lovemajewski so you don’t miss her tweets, which are very entertaining!

Welcome home Lee! This happened sooner than anyone expected, and the show seems to have kept in under wraps pretty well. Drita seemed very happy telling the girls and hopefully, we will see what develops through season three. I think Drita will most definitely give Lee another chance, unless he says or does something to burst her bubble. I hope he realizes that as much as she s happy to see him, she has been burned by him and hurt deeply, so her guard will be up. In any case, I wish the D”Avanzo family all the best. I hope they can put the past behind them and create a new future together.

Now, the scenes from next week’s episode are OFF THE CHAIN! Looks like Carla is having a sit down with Joe and Raquel while Love is getting extremely irritated with a certain someone (Carla) for saying things about her behind her back. Some people just don’t take a word to the wise! Those are the two scenes I am dying to see next week. Until then, everyone have a good week!

A special thank you to @carmelacorleone for gathering some quotes for my recap!