Mob Wives Chicago: Recap “Daddy Issues” Ep 108

Chris tells Renee Never mind the T-shirts for the breast cancer walk, you used my phone to text Nora!

Leah and Christina go shopping for supplies to make T-shirts. Leah’s mom has started chemo and the girls are doing a breast cancer walk in her name. Christina wants to get all the girls together at her house to make the shirts. Pia and Renee will be invited. Leah wants to invite Nora too. Part of Leah feels sorry for Nora. Christina is glad Leah is becoming more accepting of Nora. Leah says this is all about her mother.

Giana and Marco talk. Giana tells him she met with her mother and told her she doesn’t want her going with her to visit her father. Marco asks why? Giana doesn’t want to take the risk that there will be trouble, so Marco agrees to go with her. Giana wants to get at the truth to what happened between her parents. She doesn’t know who to believe and needs answers.

Nora meets with an attorney to see what is the next step in the legal process to exhume her dad. Nora tells him the status of her situation up until the present, so he is up to date. He is going to help her with the petition for disinterment. She says the funeral director was not helpful. Nora wants to see her dad’s body in the casket and also if he had an autopsy. The lawyer agrees with her. Nora is happy with him and she is relieved. She wants to cremate her father’s remains and spread the ashes in the ocean in Florida.

Renee, Giana and Marco are at Renee’s house. Giana thinks Renee is jealous of her close relationship with her father. Renee is annoyed that she has to take care of Giana’s dog while she makes the trip to see her dad. Renee is not happy about the visit to the prison either. And, on top of all that, Renee has another court appearance regarding the custody battle over her younger daughter, Isabella. Renee is torn because she wants Giana to have a father, but she doesn’t trust him because he is a con man. Giana gets emotional. Renee gives Marco a letter for Giana, to give to her when they are at the prison.

Leah and her Mom are meeting Pia, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor. Pia arrives. Pia offered to talk to Leah and her mom because she went through the same thing. Leah and her mother appreciate it. Leah explains how hard she took the news of her mother’s diagnosis. Pia really wants to help them and offers to let them talk to her mom about what she went through. It seems Leah’s mother and Pia’s mother have many old friends in common from Taylor Street. They have a nice chat. Leah is sick of all the fighting among the ladies because her mother’s illness has put a lot of things into perspective for her.

Leah invites Nora to the breast cancer walk. She thinks Nora needs friends. Leah tells her they are making shirts with the other girls. When Nora hears that Renee and Pia will be at Christina’s house, she declines to go. But, she says she will support Leah and go to the breast cancer walk.

Pia and Bella go for ice cream. Pia tells Bella she won’t be dancing any more. She is leaving the club. She has some money saved and she wants to explore other options. Bella wants to go to Europe for her 16th birthday, but Pia tells her that’s too expensive and they have to budget right now. Bella is 100% supportive of her mother.

Marco and Giana drive to the prison to visit her dad. She explains why her father is in prison. Her father planned to rob a rich woman with his friends and they ended up brutally murdering her. Giana has trouble processing that. Giana also feels her mother lied to her, her whole life, about her father.

Christina and Leah have ice cream. Christina tells Leah a somewhat confusing story of how Christina, Pia, Renee and her brother are all in one place. Somehow, Pia calls Christina to the back and Christina sees Renee with her phone texting Nora. Christina is upset that Renee would take her phone and text Nora. Leah calls it harassment. Christina seems to think that Pia and Renee are working together to get back at Nora. Leah is concerned about the T-shirt party because the women are still at each other’s throats.

Marco give Giana the letter that Renee handed to him before they left. Gina reads it. The letter is very supportive and loving. Giana gets very emotional. At the same time she is confused because it doesn’t sound anything like Renee.

At Christina’s house, it’s time to make the T-shirts. Leah is there first. Christina is determined to support Leah. Pia and Renee arrive together. It doesn’t sit well with Christina that Pia and Renee are thick as thieves. They all begin working on the T-shirts and ask Leah about her mom. Leah says her head is shaven because her hair was falling out. She is afraid to visit her mother because she starts crying. Renee tells them that Giana is visiting her father in prison. Pia understands Renee’s resentment. It’s hard when a daughter is visiting and supporting a man who mistreated her mother and left them to fend for themselves. Leah announces that Nora will be going to the breast cancer walk. Pia and Renee do not want to be around her. Christina feels they are harassing Nora.

Pia tries to explain her issues with Nora. Nora keeps saying Pia danced for 15 years and it’s not true. Pia adds, “No one calls me a whore!” Christina doesn’t trust Pia any more. She really thinks Pia and Renee are in cahoots over Nora. Renee admits she took Christina’s cell phone and texted Nora. Renee insists that her name was in Nora’s text message. Christina says Renee’s name was NOT in the text message. They start arguing and screaming at each other. Leah is upset. Renee says it was a funny joke and she would do it again. Christina isn’t buying it and she is pissed. Leah says that this is all petty BULL SH*T and this whole get together is about her mother, so STFU!

Nora and Desiree are back at the wine and bottling location. She tells Desiree about her meeting with the funeral director and that everything is moving fast. Nora feels that the exhumation and her father’s wine may be ready at the same time.

Renee has to go to court over her custody battle for Isabella. This is the day of the final decision. Renee is mentally exhausted. Renee found a great lawyer and she hopes this will be the last court date. She says this has been more like a war and her daughter belongs with her.

Nora meets with the funeral director who is going to help her with her dad’s exhumation. He asks her why she is doing this, and Nora explains the entire situation to him and that she needs closure. She wants to give her father a proper burial. The director says she may not be able to view the body after so much time has passed. Nora insists that she needs to see it. He says he needs the permission of all the siblings and that he will call them. Nora is concerned that they may not cooperate.

Congratulations to Renee! She gets full custody of Isabella!

Renee is relieved! The Judge ruled in her favor and granted her full custody of Isabella. It’s over! She can’t wait to tell Isabella. The next thing on Renee’s mind is Giana and her dad.

Giana and Marco talk before she visits her father. She is nervous. Marco is supportive. Giana is strong, but emotional, The setting of the prison is upsetting for her. She says she loves seeing her dad, but she chokes up when it comes to saying good-bye to him. She feels bad for him. They put him in cuffs and frisk him before taking him back to his cell. She is always relieved to see him, but sad to leave. She talked to her dad and says that her mom and dad have two different stories and she is leaning towards believing her father’s version.

MY TWO CENTS

Instead of “my two cents,” this was more like a “penny for your thoughts” episode. Nothing unusual happens, nothing new happens, just a continuation of past issues in a relatively calm manner with little drama.

Leah is always the voice of reason and consistent, that’s why viewers relate to her. I love Leah’s mother. I hope she is doing well and we get to see more of her on future episodes. I’m surprised Leah didn’t smack Renee and Christina for arguing over the damn text message. That wasn’t the time or the place to hash it out. Leah needed support over her mother’s health issues and they are arguing over nonsense. I’m torn over Leah’s compassion for Nora. On the one hand, she has been the one most distrustful of Nora and Nora proved time and time again that Leah had good reason not to trust her. On the other hand, this feeling that she wants to include Nora in the breast cancer walk is confusing to me. I would think she would want less stress around her right now, and having Nora there could stir up a lot of trouble.

Pia and her daughter, Bella, are wonderful together. I don’t know why all the focus has been on Pia’s dancing and not her parenting. Obviously, as a single parent, she has done something very right with this beautiful, young lady. You can see how close they are and how hard Pia has worked to give her daughter a good life. Pia strikes me as a good and loyal friend. She wants to be there for Leah and her mom to help in any way she can. What’s not to like about Pia?

Am I the only one confused by Christina’s about face with Nora? She did a 180 from the first episode to the recent episodes. I still haven’t figured out why. In the first episode she was very pissed because Nora called Pia a “whore” a couple of times. Since then, Nora has said many more hurtful things to Pia and Renee that were much worse than that. Christina is wanting everyone to give her a “free pass,” a “get out of jail card,” and forgive and forget. Why? If Nora had said the same things about Leah’s dad that she had said about Renee’s, would Leah have let her walk out of that restaurant? If Nora said to Christina, “you’re a whore and I hope you lose your daughter!” would Christina still be defending her? If she said it to them, she can turn on Christina in a heartbeat. Pia and Renee were Nora’s lifelong friends, who helped her many times, yet she turned on them in a very vile way. I’m not sure Christina can explain why she is taking this position in a way any of us can understand. P.S. I still love Christina! Her comments and attitude are hilarious.

I know I have been hard on Renee so far. This week I am going to cut her some slack. Was she wrong for using Christina’s phone to text Nora? Yes, that was wrong. She should not have picked up Christina’s phone and used it. However, I didn’t see what she texted her, and nothing she could have texted could have been as offensive as the things Nora said to her. I think it was done on impulse. Renee wasn’t thinking at the time and just did it. A knee jerk reaction. So what? Who cares? It was certainly not a huge enough deal to create a scene at the making of the T-shirts party. If Christina was so upset and “violated,” she should have called Renee before the T-shirt party and addressed it with her. Another thing, I think Renee has every right to be concerned and upset over Giana bonding with her father. Here you have one parent who has done everything in their power to raise a daughter and provide her with life’s necessities and values; and another parent, a criminal, who is incarcerated for a brutal murder, who is being somewhat “idolized” and felt sorry for because he is “locked up,” “in cuffs,” “frisked” and not free to enjoy the sunshine. Maybe Renee just would like some of the compassion and appreciation that Giana so freely gives her father? We know Giana loves her mother, but we don’t hear her expressed it, like she does for her dad. Her mother worked hard and suffered to be both mother and father to her all these years. I think that’s what Giana isn’t getting about Renee’s reaction.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Nora. Nora is back on track with her father’s disinterment and her wine. Things are moving along on both those fronts and there are just a few episodes left. We should all get tingly and some closure soon. Make sure you all have your own bottle of wine at home, so you can have a glass during the finale!

Follow me on Twitter for all the latest blogs and Mob Wives news @Chiarasoprano1