This week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta continued to bring up the ghosts of the ladies pasts and also introduced new potential housewife characters.
The episode starts off with Cynthia and Peter heading to Peter’s club, Bar One, to celebrate their 3-year anniversary. Soon after the pair is seated, their new friends Christopher and Natalie Williams join them. It’s our first introduction to some potential new housewife characters. The conversation turns to marriage and sex, which quickly leads into knowledge that the Williams each have ties to housewives. Christopher, who is a musician, worked with both Kenya and NeNe on different projects. Natalie’s connection is a little juicier as she explains that her best friend used to date Kandi’s fiancé Todd. Natalie goes on to share the news that Todd cheated on her friend and was always trying to date above his status in life. Thus starts the drama that will continue throughout the entire episode.
With the drama started, Peter whisks Cynthia across the street to their new building where he has set up candles and a private table for their anniversary celebration. He has Christopher sing a special song to Cynthia and all in all it seems to be a romantic anniversary.
Moving on to Kandi’s life, we enter the scene with her and her producers chatting at her studio about the musical. Her producer, Don Juan, tells her that he believes the musical should stay small since it’s their first attempt and they really aren’t sure what they are doing. Kandi disagrees. “I’m a gambler, always have been. It’s the only way you can win,” she states. Don Juan is still worried, which is only exasperated when Kandi tells him that Todd has quit the project. Don’s argument is that Todd is the only one who knew what he was doing and now that he’s gone, they are doomed. Kandi again brushes off his concerns and tells him they are going ahead with the project.
The action moves to NeNe visiting Portia’s house for the first time. Last week’s argument about Portia being a bad friend for not telling NeNe where she’d moved seems forgotten now. The girlfriends really bond over the similar feelings of anger and resentment after their respective divorces. They giggle about the type of guys Portia should go after now that she’s single and whether Kenya’s boyfriend is real.
Speaking of Kenya, she is having a dinner party for her family in order to make the announcement that she is ready to have a baby. When her aunt asks her if her new boyfriend, whom no one has ever met, will be her baby daddy, Kenya responds that he lives too far away so she’s going to use a sperm donor. The entire family seems apprehensive of this move; but in the end, they decide that they should all work at being closer and more supportive of each other.
Moving back to Kandi and the musical, we are shown Kandi and Todd visiting the Rialto Theatre in Atlanta. They are checking out it’s potential as being the place her musical is staged. Throughout the tour of the theatre, Todd is taking business calls and Kandi is becoming more and more annoyed. She tells him so when they are standing on the stage listening to the acoustics of the building. Todd remains quiet; but as they leave the building, he tells her that he’s not really feeling the new job and he may want to come back and work on her musical. Kandi is interested but afraid he’ll get another job offer and quit again. Todd is worried that Kandi won’t take his expertise into consideration and not listen to him. In the end, they decide to partner up and do the musical together.
Gearing up for the last story of the episode, the girls are all arriving at Cynthia’s house for a day at the Wolf Mountain Vineyards. As soon as Kenya arrives, last week’s beef between her and Cynthia’s sister, Malorie resurfaces. Luckily it’s kept at a low boil while the other girls aka potential new housewives enter the kitchen. Marlo, NeNe’s friend from last season and another woman, Alexis, are also along for the ride. It’s loud and boisterous in the kitchen when NeNe announces in a talking heads segment, “If I’m gonna hang out with all these girls, I need to at least be a little bit drunk.” With that, off they go to the vineyard.
NeNe’s crew rides in a separate van than Phaedra, Portia, and Kandi. Those three are alone giggling about breast-feeding, chocolate milk, and twerking while you pump. It’s a happy scene, showing that the ladies genuinely get alone. Cut to the exact opposite on NeNe’s van where we see the girls discussing people they know in common. Kenya speaks up that she knows Cynthia’s new friends Christopher Williams and his wife Natalie. She states that when she was working with Christopher he never mentioned a wife. He described Natalie as more of a groupie for life. Cynthia spreads Natalie’s gossip about Kandi’s fiancé Todd being a gold digger. NeNe weighs in that you better not start talking bad about Kandi’s man or she will blow up on you.
Finally the ladies all arrive at Wolf Mountain. Before they’ve started the tour, Natalie pops in to surprise them for the day. Immediately we can feel the tension starting when the subject of the ladies weddings come up. They go around the circle telling their stories without a hitch until they get to Natalie’s story. She states that her and Christopher eloped 18 years ago. Kenya jumps in to contradict that story saying that when she knew Christopher he said he wasn’t married. Natalie is thrown off and tries to clarify with Kenya about what she was told. After dropping that bomb, Kenya plays it off and says she doesn’t want to get involved.
After a short tour of the vineyard and the chapel, the ladies are seated at lunch. When questioned about her wedding, Kandi reveals that her and Todd will probably hit the justice of the peace instead of having a wedding. The girls are all disappointed with that news, except for Natalie. She chooses this moment to reveal that she used to know Todd. Surprisingly, Kandi is already aware of Todd’s ex being a friend of Natalie’s. That doesn’t stop Natalie. She feels the need mention the fact that Todd cheated on her friend and that he is an opportunist. Trying to stay in the drama, Kenya speaks up and asks why Natalie is starting this now. Natalie turns on Kenya and questions why she started it by bringing up her husband and what he said about their relationship. From here the conversation explodes with Portia, NeNe, and Cynthia all throwing out their two cents on the matters. Interestingly, Kandi remains silent for the entire heated exchange. The shouting and insult throwing continues until finally Kandi has had enough. She speaks up by telling Natalie that by saying Todd dates up only means that Kandi is hot. It proves she’s successful and beautiful and a good catch. That declaration quickly shuts Natalie up. We are shown a pouty look on her face while the other ladies erupt in laughter to close out the episode.