Recap: Hurricane Mal

Between the return of Mal and the trip back to Athens, this week was a real blast from the past. But it wasn't exactly sunshine and Orange Julius' for everyone.

Kenya lunched with Miss Lawrence to fill him in on the Savannah (pronounced Sa-vah-nah) trip, but more importantly she wore these be-tasseled pumps.



Was anyone else worried that those shoes are a major tripping hazard?

Porsha dropped a bomb on her mom at the pet store when she revealed that she's moving out. Wise location choice, in that Porsha had cute puppies in strollers to distract her from the news.



And speaking of Porsha's house, all I can say is:



As she explains to her family, she went big so that big things would happen. And since it doesn't get much bigger than having a kitchen island that your mom can log roll across, Porsha must be planning for some major changes in her life.There was also the small matter of how Porsha actually spoke to Kordell. But even though he allegedly doesn't want to get divorced, Porsha isn't interested and they are moving forward with making it official. She's got her own enormous Atlanta mansion now!

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Kandi tracked down her mom at Derek J's salon (which is called The J Spot), and basically Joyce told Kandi she doesn't approve of Todd (again) and that she was done interfering (again). All this because she went to the doctor and doesn't want to waste what "little time she has left." After which Kandi asked the obvious question of "Wait, what's wrong?" but evidently Joyce is fine. Let's just hope that this is the actual last time it comes and we can all spend the time we have left this season being happy for Kandi.

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NeNe and Phaedra spent some quality time together on Chuck's trip to the Boys and Girls Club of Athens. They hung out at the DQ and then went to the HQ to shoot some hoops and provide some words of wisdom to the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed youths.

Side Note: Does anyone else think NeNe could have been huge in the WNBA? She seriously has some skills.

Then Chuck, who up until the return car ride was quite the charming philanthropist, went off on Phaedra for saying they dated. And OK, that's one thing, but he just kept belaboring the fact that he had a modern day harem with a lot of ladies on his "team," including Kandi. (The point of said team was seemingly to make sure he was getting some action at all times.)  I guess points for honesty, but I really think he could have made his point somewhat less, um, explicitly, no?
And finally we have to talk about Cynthia. This was perhaps the ultimate time warp of the episode, because with the reappearance of her sister and Peter and Cynthia's relationship drama, it felt like we were back to a few seasons ago.

I guess let's start at the bead store, where Mal makes her return and while fingering through some of the stores wares casually drops that she'll be staying with Cynthia for two months. Two. Months. That is a looong time, especially given her past issues with Peter. Even Cynthia couldn't hide her shock.



So later over at the new Bailey Agency studio, Cynthia surprised Peter with both the news that Mal is back and that she's going to be having an extended stay at their home.

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Is anyone really happy with this arrangement? Is there a reason that Mal has to stay only with them? All of this seems like a very effective recipe for misery...

...which turned out to be true when Peter and Cynthia went home and had a huge blow out about it. What started as the inevitable "not cool to spring your sister on me" conversation very quickly spiraled into a very serious convo about Peter potentially getting his own place, Cynthia being disappointed by Peter's empty promises, and just outright proclamations that this relationship may not be working. Yikes! I think this proves that Mal is their relationship Kryptonite.

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Find out what Kandi's new and non Joyce-related issue with Todd has her in tears.

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