This week’s episode starts at a countdown of 28 days until the wedding. Kandi and Todd’s wedding planner, Johnnie, has arrived at their house with lots of wedding swag for them to look at and decide on for décor and theme. Immediately Kandi notices that her assistant Carmon isn’t on the scene and they all decide that she can still come to the wedding, but she can no longer work for Kandi. That decision is made easier given the fact that Johnnie has stepped up and begun to organize everything from handing out schedules to scheduling venue visits to securing the animals that Kandi wants at the reception. They are finally on their way to putting the whole thing together.
The one thing Kandi definitely knows she wants is a troupe of African dancers for her big entrance into the wedding. She’s obsessed with the movie to America> and wants her wedding to be a take-off of that so she spends the next night auditioning dancers for the big dance. After several run-thrus of the choreography, she finally has the 30 dancers she will need to see her vision come to life. Check that off of the list.
In a soothing moment away from wedding planning, Kandi meets up with her dad for lunch. In a talking head interview, we hear that her dad hasn’t always been in her life. After her parents got divorced, their relationship wasn’t consistent and she could go a year without seeing him. She admits that her dad is trying more now but she doesn’t always try as hard back. During the course of the conversation, her father reveals that her mother and aunts got together to kick him out of the house even going so far as to get a restraining order to keep him from coming around. Kandi gets visually emotional during this conversation because she’s always just wanted her daddy around and she’s never heard his side of the story. She doesn’t want to discuss the past anymore, but in an effort to mend those old fences, Kandi requests that her dad be the efficient at her wedding. He gratefully accepts and it’s a nice bonding scene between father and daughter.
A few days later, Kandi takes a tour of the venue. She arrives at Le Fais Do Do and immediately her producer, Don Juan, is doubtful. The location is a bit dubious and not as luxurious as he imagined for a Kandi wedding. They step inside and see rust on the floors, cement walls, and construction materials. Don has the best line to sum it up, “This is nice if this is your cousin’s parole party after he just got out of jail for ten years”. Even Todd agrees that if you have to cover all of the floors and the walls in a space, it may not be the right space. However, Kandi is convinced. She continues to walk around the space and create a vision in her mind. In the end, Todd agrees to go with whatever will make Kandi happy. Le Fais Do Do is the place.
Later on, Kandi and the wedding planner are working on food details of the wedding when Todd arrives home. Kandi takes this opportunity to talk to Todd about the things that her mom has been saying about him. She tells him that her mom thinks that his father was a pimp, but she leaves out the part about his mother because she can’t bring herself to say the horrible things. Todd wonders how Kandi’s mom could know anything about his dad since he passed away when Todd was 3 and HE doesn’t even know anything about him. Todd becomes very serious when he states that they need to figure things out with Kandi’s mom before the wedding. He said he won’t sit down and discuss trivial things and do the name calling anymore, but if she’s really willing to figure out a solution then he’s ready. Kandi begins to get upset that Todd is taking a stand against her mother. He goes on to explain that he’s put up with her saying slanderous things about him for over a year and now it’s time to stop it. Kandi really doesn’t say much in terms of resolution but she stands and heads out of the room.
I’m getting the feeling that when Kandi is confronted by emotional conundrums she shuts down. First when her father brought up the past and second when Todd begins to fight back about her mother. She doesn’t know how to process disagreement or hurt, so she just turns it off.
It’s wedding attire shopping time and we get to see Momma Joyce and Kandi meet up to find mother of the bride outfits and also see Todd being measured for his suit alongside Kandi’s father. First up Momma Joyce meets up with Kandi’s friend at the dress shop. She’s given a pep talk to be supportive of Kandi and smile when talking about the wedding. Momma Joyce promises she’ll try, but it is definitely forced and insincere. When Kandi arrives at the dress shop, Momma Joyce has put on a beaded grey gown and is twirling in front of a mirror. It’s the first time I’ve seen her genuinely smile at anything wedding related.
Later on, Kandi brings up her conversation with her father. She asks Momma Joyce if it’s true that she kept her dad away from her when she was little. Momma Joyce swears on her dead son that it isn’t true. Kandi isn’t sure what to believe and decides to just end the conversation. Again, she walks away from the confrontation when it starts to get serious.
Meanwhile Todd seems to have a great relationship with Kandi’s dad. They tease each other about looking good and old age before they get into a serious conversation about how Todd should deal with Momma Joyce. Kandi’s dad believes that if Momma Joyce doesn’t come around and start mending a relationship with Todd, then she’s going to lose Kandi. He tells Todd that he just has to have trust in God to figure things out. Todd tells him that the first time he knew Kandi was the one for him was when she asked him to pray. He then goes on to ask for her dad’s blessing in the marriage. He gives Todd the blessing and calls him his “son” for the first time. Todd explains that it feels good to be accepted by at least some of Kandi’s family.
The next issue to be taken care of for this episode is the pre nup agreement. Todd heads to the gym for a training session with Apollo (Phaedra’s husband from RHOA). During the course of their session, Todd asks Apollo to be a groomsman in the wedding. Apollo accepts and then questions Todd on whether he’s signed the pre nup yet. Todd replies that he’s waiting for Kandi to give it to him. He’s not going to sign something without reading it. He wants to make sure they are both protected. Apollo agrees that it’s a good decision. Apollo had nothing to lose, so he signed whatever was put in front of him, but Todd needs to protect himself.
In the last scene of the episode, Momma Joyce visits Kandi and Todd at their home. The name calling of Todd’s father comes up and Todd confronts Momma Joyce. He remains extremely calm as he tries to convey how hurtful her words are. However things quickly heat up as Momma Joyce begins yelling and screaming about not being controlled and being a free person while Kandi is stuck in the middle just trying to make everyone stop. Finally it’s Todd that stands and leaves the room. In his talking head interview he questions whether he even wants to get married anymore.
It looks like Kandi needs to find a way to get her mom in line or decide who she wants to be with more. There’s less than a month until the wedding and things aren’t getting better.