Mob Wives Chicago: Recap “Shift Happens” Ep 109

Renee has lots of issues

Renee and Giana meet at Renee’s apartment and talk about Giana’s visit with her father. Giana says the visit was good. Renee brings up her letter to Giana and Giana doesn’t know what to make of it. She tells Renee that she and her dad have different stories. He says when he came to see her as a child, Renee would call the cops on him. Renee says he was in jail and many times would say he was coming and then never show up. Renee is upset that Giana seems to be siding with her father. Renee tells Giana that her father made up having leukemia just so people would feel sorry for him. Giana gets angry, she doesn’t believe this story. Giana feels sorry for her dad because he is in prison and she is concerned about his feelings.

At Christina’s house her ex-husband is there. She says he is a good guy, but a little irritating. She asks him if he talked to their daughter, Daniella, about their divorce. He says she knows about the divorce. He asks Christina if she is looking for work. She tells him she is going back in to designing clothes.

Pia, Leah and Renee go to yoga class to release negativity. Leah took a shower and she “don’t wanna sweat.” Renee wants to talk about the walk for Leah’s mom. She says Nora makes her sick. Leah respects that. She tells them she talked to Nora and Nora told her the horrible things she said to Renee and Pia were true. Leah says she wanted to hear what Nora had to say. This upsets Pia and Renee. Renee thinks Leah is playing both sides. Leah says she isn’t saying Nora is right, but how long can this go on?

Renee and her brother, Frankie meet for lunch so she can vent. He says she looks pissed. She feels she is getting taken advantage of at the business, by Dave. She feels he is pushing her out of Eye Candy. Frankie wants to talk to him, but Renee wants to handle things by herself.

Nora meets Leah, one on one. Everyone is against Nora and Leah wants to give her a chance. Nora asks about Leah’s mom. Leah’s says her immune system is down. Nora can relate to Leah because her father died of cancer. They also share that they have close relationships with their fathers in common. Daddy’s little girls. Their fathers are also their best friends. Nora says she needs closure and needs the body exhumed so she can see if it’s him. Leah thinks it drastic, but she understands and respects how Nora feels. Leah tells Nora to call any time, she is supporting her.

Pia appears to be well rounded!

Renee and Pia meet up to spend time together and they go shopping. They are annoyed with Leah for siding with Nora. Pia is also annoyed that Christina insists Pia was involved in Renee taking her phone and texting Nora. The tables are turning. Pia and Renee get along now and actually like each other. They are trying on clothes and bathing suits and they both look great. When they go to pay, three of Renee’s credit cards won’t go through. She blames Dave, he is the only other one with access. Pia asks if he cancelled the cards? Renee is pissed and says, “It’s on!”

Leah plans a golf outing for all the girls. Maybe they can all work out their differences before the breast cancer walk for her mom. Renee wants to have a good time. Leah can see Christina is getting irritated. Pia and Renee act like nothing is wrong and that bothers Christina. Christina feels they are ignoring her. They all decide to go for drinks.

Nora calls her friend Julie. She says her sister agreed to the exhumation so everything is moving along and coming to an end. Nora asks Julie if she can come to Chicago and be there for her. Julie agrees to come and hold her hand through the disinterment.

Leah has enough on her mind without all the petty BS!

Pia, Renee, Christina and Leah go out for drinks. Christina seems to have a chip on her shoulder from the golf course. Leah tells them that her mom doesn’t want them to wear the T-shirts they made because it makes her feel dead and gone. Renee says she doesn’t want to be around Nora. Christina and Leah come to Nora’s defense. Pia and Renee cannot believe that they are being sucked into Nora’s web of lies. Christina suddenly says that she doesn’t know Pia after all these years. Christina says when Pia hit Nora it changed everything. Pia thought she worked everything out with Christina and they both apologized, but Christina’s apology meant nothing. Christina says Nora never talks about Pia and Renee. They get back to talking about Renee taking Christina’s phone and Renee says she would do it again. They start yelling at each other to the point that Pia is embarrassed and Leah is trying to stop them. Leah says she is tired of being a referee and they should “kill each other and get it over with.”

Christina and Nora talk about her outing with the girls. Christina tells Nora that Pia and Renee are close friends now. She tells her about how she exploded over the phone texting incident and Renee was in her face about it. Nora says she should have broken Renee’s finger when she had the chance. Christina feels closer to Nora since she was beaten up by Pia and Renee. They end by talking about Nora’s wine, which is due to be out soon.

Pia meets with Deanna, a life coach, because now that she is leaving the club she needs to revaluate her life, move forward and start over. Deanna does image consulting and feels Pia would do well in modeling. “Sexy sells.” Pia doesn’t want to be looked at like a “dancer.” She wants a different image. Deanna says she will still be sexy, but in a classy way. There will be a photo shoot and it will open new financial avenues for Pia. Pia knows it’s all a risk, but she is willing to take it.

Renee makes plans to meet Dave for dinner at a steak house. They need to have a heart to heart conversation about their personal and business relationships. Dave is late and Renee calls him on her cell…it goes to his voice mail. As she sits there waiting, Renee is getting embarrassed and the waiter keeps coming back to check on her. Finally, her blood starts to boil, as she realizes she has been stood up.

At Eye Candy, Frankie is inside the store and Dave is outside waiting for the police, who he called. By the time Renee gets there, the police are there telling her brother Frankie to leave. She says she is the one who asked him to meet her there. The police ask Frankie to leave and not come back unless Dave is gone. Renee asks Frankie to leave. She is embarrassed, disgusted and humiliated. Renee tells her brother she can’t have any confrontation at the store. She says she thinks Dave is trying to control her with the business and he is trying to take it away from her. Eye Candy is her dream and she isn’t giving it up.

Renee is waiting for Giana’s father to call so she can talk to him about filling her daughter’s head with lies. Renee wants to know why he is polluting her mind with lies. He is making her suffer more than she already has. She tells him he left his daughter to go to Florida and play his con game. He has done the damage. He was never their for his daughter. He wants Renee to work with him. Renee isn’t buying it. She feels he is telling Giana lies to turn her against her mother. They will never see eye to eye. Renee wants him to tell Giana the truth, that he is lying and that he is a deadbeat dad. The phone goes dead as Renee talks a little too long.

MY TWO CENTS

Well, seems like not much has changed as the storylines continue into this week. I need a score card to keep track of who is friends with who, and who is unfollowing me on Twitter, from minute to minute. Let’s see what trouble I can stir up today?

Pia is sticking up for herself and I’m glad she isn’t backing down where Nora is concerned. She is doing positive things to change her career and image. I just wonder why the show, Mob Wives Chicago, wasn’t mentioned as one of those things. Certainly the exposure of being on a national reality series has to be opening up doors for her and we know she was filming at the time. Maybe the producers decided that the show was a given or too obvious? In any case, I wish her lots of luck, but she may not need much. I have been viewing some of the pictures from her photo shoot on Twitter and Drita better move over in the modeling department. Let’s just say that Pia is well rounded and knows how to fill out a swimsuit. 

Nora is still in tight with Christina. She has an ally in Leah too, for now. They seem to have bonded over their relationships with their dads. Personally, I wouldn’t trust Nora too much, she seems to blow hot and cold in her friendships. She started off with long time friends Pia and Renee and that’s over. Now she is in with Christina and Leah, the Taylor Street girls, who had no use for her and didn’t trust her a few episodes ago. I think I might need some of that new German wine to help me figure out just how that happened?

Christina still makes no sense to me. She was up in arms in episode one because Nora called Pia a “whore,” but now she doesn’t mind the hurtful things Nora said to Pia and Renee. She is upset because they attacked Nora and hit her. Didn’t she attack Pia and pull her hair out over a lot less? Christina whined to Leah that Pia and Nora “unfriended” her on facebook over the incident. Then what does she do? She “unfollows” me on Twitter because I tell the truth about what I see on the show. It strikes me as being somewhat hypocritical. Maybe what I write is negative, but it’s what I see, I’m not making it up. In fact, if anything, I have restrained myself from being overly critical because it’s a new show and I wanted to give it a chance. 

Renee has a lot of issues. Thank God she has gotten full custody of Isabella already. Now she has to deal with Dave. Frankly, her reaction to the credit cards was way too subdued. How many times has she overreacted to situations in previous episodes? Now, when she has good reason to flip out, she remains calm. Maybe it’s the editing? If anyone cancelled three of my credit cards I would have a stroke, that’s all I know. I do hope she doesn’t lose her store and works things out with Dave as far as the business goes. I think their personal relationship has hit rock bottom. The trust seems to be dwindling to gone. 

Renee’s issue with Giana and her father, Ottavio, are heating up. I really understand Renee’s concerns about her daughter’s relationship with her father, who is serving a life sentence for murder. Unfortunately, Renee picked him and had a child with him. Giana feels she wants/needs a relationship with him. The more Renee fights it, the more she is seems to be pushing Giana into her father’s corner. Giana becomes defensive and protective of her dad, which in turn irritates the hell out of Renee. Renee has given her daughter everything and probably feels this is a slap in the face. I would feel the same way. I don’t know who is telling the truth, Renee or her ex, but in this storyline I’m backing Renee 100%. Actions speak louder than words, and Renee has proven herself as a good mother. 

Update: In yesterday’s blog I said Giana “unfollowed” me on Twitter. We discussed her issues on twitter last night. She said I was being negative. She thought I had referred to her as a “minion” and said that she attacks everyone. I assured her that it wasn’t me and found the source that she may have confused with me and our blog. If anything, I have had only nice things to say about her. We settled the misunderstanding amicably. I almost feel like I am on the show, friends one minute and not the next.

Let’s get to Leah. Maybe I’m not the only one who is having trouble with her alliance with Nora? I had to think long and hard about this one. I think I understand what is going on here, having been through a similar situation myself. It seems to me that Leah is emotionally and mentally exhausted from worrying about her mother’s health. She has no energy left for these petty fights. All her efforts are going into helping her mother fight cancer. The last thing she needs or wants is to be in the middle of ridiculous arguments about text messages. She needs the support and understanding of her friends, but they seem oblivious to that and keep creating drama. Leah is well aware that Nora said hurtful things that should NOT have been said. But, I also think that Leah doesn’t want to fight with Nora or anyone at this point. She needs calm and stability in her personal life so she can focus on what is important, her mother Nora showed her some understanding and compassion and Leah responded in kind. Sometimes, when someone is in crisis, they have to put everything else on the back burner to deal with that crisis. That’s what I see Leah doing. For how long she can remain calm or walk away from the petty drama, I don’t know. I just know I am keeping her and her sweet mother in my prayers.

What do you think about this episode? I’d love to know, we read all comments!