By Guest Recapper, Nanette
Before I launch into this Married to Medicine recap, we need a little “precap” of Episode 1 and where we left Season 7. It’s no surprise that as a group of (mostly) Black members of the Atlanta medical community, both the pandemic and Black Lives Matter have had a profound impact on our cast. We’ve seen previews of the cast continuing their traditional group efforts to medically improve the lives of impoverished people; this season in the poorer, Black Atlanta communities that have been hit disproportionally hard by CoViD-19. Some cast members and their children join the BLM protests, precipitated by the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Reunion Promises Unkept
This season is without Buffie Purselle (yay!) and Mariah Huq (double yay!). Alina Sajja, married to Dr. Kiran Sajja, joins the cast full-time as Toya’s new homegirl. Back as “friends of,” we have Cary Wells (yay); Lisa Nicole Cloud (boo); and Quad Webb, no longer Lunceford (double yay). On a personal level, the foundation of this group has been shattered. Dr. Heavenly has been embroiled in relationship messes since her debut, but the chasm in the 20-year friendship of Dr. Simone and Dr. Jackie cuts deep. The promises made at the at the last reunion have not been kept. (To learn the history of these breakups, read Pop Culture Kelly’s excellent recaps, here.)
Not-So-Fabulous Fifty Party Continues
Tonight, we begin back at Dr. Damon’s drama-packed 50th birthday party that wife Heavenly has put together with all the Covid precautions — temperature checks, face shields, masked mermaids. A drunken Toya (aka Patrona), calls out Heavenly, Simone, and Jackie as fake bitches for their inability to follow through with vows to fix their friendships, and leaves the ladies to go stir up shit with the men.
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Simone whines that Jackie put their 20-year-friendship on level with the Heavenly friendship. Jackie feels Simone didn’t support her apology to Buffie. Simone harbors resentment over Heavenly’s insulting Tweets about her husband, Cecil. (Shades of Lisa Rinna’s iconic, “Don’t you ever come for my husband!”) As Jackie laments that they’ve made it through a lot of “shitity,” but haven’t overcome this crap, Heavenly goes to a familiar place of insults — the gutter. Contessa wants to start getting paid for continually providing security.
Thank Heaven For The Husbands
The best bunch of husbands in any Bravo show is practically perfect after the departures of Dr. Greg Lunceford and Dr. Aydin Huq. Toya’s attack on the husbands of the “fake wives” is met with sympathy and understanding — how unBravo! Dr. Eugene takes Toya away for comfort. Dr. Damon tells his wife that “Black people are under attack. We don’t need to fight each other.” Curtis wants to quash this immediately and support each other to prevent Covid meltdowns.
Toya discusses racism with her young boys. Both are anxious to begin attending the new school ($25k a term) that Toya put them in after the old one was too white and not supportive of BLM. Contessa and Scott visit their “90% finished” office, where they will work together on patients and their relationship. She has completed her studies in “addiction medicine.Heavenly’s office is open again after a 2-month Covid closure. Safety protocols are in extreme effect — including an N95, a regular mask and a face shield for the dentist.
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We find Anila helping her nanny cook dinner for her two kids as Daddy arrives after work. Filmed early in the pandemic, he disinfectant sprays himself and strips down to skivvies in the garage, then gives his family virtual hugs, as he goes off to shower. Anila tells us before marriage she was a “global forecasting analyst,” like in ‘Devil Wears Prada’ ” Huh? Here comes the talk about money … her over-spending, him trying to keep up now that the pandemic has halted the construction of their dream home in Toya’s neighborhood. The ladies met through their builder and had an “instant connection.” The budding friendship feels real, not production.
The Snub Heard ’Round The Hood
Simone and Cecil banter about her barmaid past with their youngest son as they set up “Michael’s Graduation BBQ Bash.” The event is a covid-safe tailgate affair outside Simon’s office. Michael is going off to Lee College in Tennessee on a basketball scholarship. Later, as Toya and newcomer Anila’s families arrive, I figure the “Graduation Snub” episode title means Heavenly is not invited. That is, until Toya starts joking about seeing Jackie strolling by (she wasn’t). WTF? Minutes later, we learn from Jackie that she was the OB who delivered Michael. How do we come back from this? But, sober Toya gives good advice — these two need to overcome their AF stubbornness.
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Meanwhile, at Jackie’s house, Curtis does his best to assuage her pain by cooking her air-fried chicken. Jackie, who cannot cook at all, confesses she is turned on by watching him cook. Her pain is deep. She thought Simone was mature enough to put aside their BS for the children. Wrong.
Sipping “Shitity,” With A Dead Squirrel Chaser
Simone is greeted at Heavenly’s door by her Yorkie terrier. So, as Heavenly confirms Simone’s negative Covid test, Simone presents her dual-purpose bottle of wine to “hit you over the head” or as a peace offering. Then they sip wine together in the backyard attempting to fix messes created by Heavenly’s “Toxic Tweet Syndrome.”Heavenly confirms Simone’s feeling that the Twitter dig at Cecil was motivated by something deeper. When Mariah claimed to “have the receipts,” (never confirmed) of Damon’s cheating, Heavenly felt Simone sided with Mariah. (You don’t ever come for the husband!) Simone acknowledges Heavenly’s hurt, apologies are made and the two sip and make nice.
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Later, Heavenly urges Simone to call Jackie because “We got to get the Golden Girls back!” Simone tells Heavenly she’s not ready to approach Jackie. This was filmed sometime between the March 11, 2020 shutdown and George Floyd’s death in May. (On the March 14 WWHL, Simone confirmed that relationship has not improved.) These are two doctors who are on the fore of the pandemic and they cannot get beyond the “shitity.” C’mon. Grow up! The ladies sip and, as the little Yorkie sits nearby, Heavenly’s Siberian husky noshes on the remains of a dead squirrel (blurred). The two ladies run screaming into the house, an apropos ending to the episode.
Next week: Heavenly’s Black female patient recounts being punched by a cop at a BLM protest; Toya worries her boys are falling behind, due to home schooling (for good reason); Contessa shares her sad feelings with Jackie; Quad and Heavenly share charcuterie and tour the dentist’s three-story closet; Anila facilitates an attempt reconciliation between Contessa and Toya.
Thanks for recapping. This show is much better than a lot of shows on Bravo and should get more attention than it does. Jackie is petty for being upset at Simone for not defending her with Buffy when clearly Jackie was in the wrong and Simone is just as petty for not inviting her to Michael’s graduation party. They need to hug it out and move on. Toya needs a job. And the husbands are the best husbands on Bravo. They should get a show of their own. I love that the doctors on this show are always giving back to the community.
DITTO to everything you said!!
DITTO… it breaks my heart to not see Jackie and Simone together. If this pandemic hasn’t taught you anything- tomorrow isn’t promised put aside the God awful pettiness and love on one another cherish the loved ones in your life.
Contessa’s line about being security was the best of the night. It really upset me that Simone didn’t invite Jackie to the graduation party. That was wrong on so many levels. Heavenly saying that she was going to try to stop saying hurtful, nasty things when she’s arguing with someone was completely unbelievable. I do enjoy the current cast. It seems like it’s going to be an interesting season.
Thanks so much for recapping Nanette!! Much appreciated!
Disclaimer – I am in my 60’s. That said I’d like to take Jackie & Simone and bash their heads together. Grow your asses up and put this to bed. You are missing important moments in each others lives. Ya both got way too much pride blocking your paths.
M2M is the most real reality show out there because the relationships are real. Love love love the way the hubs all gel together and the group community trips providing free care etc when they travel. Those two women need to see it’s not about them alone but everyone together.
I agree that the husbands and the lack of production interference makes this one of the best reality shows on any channel.
Last season, I almost took this off my recording queue. But this year’s season preview looks really good.
If Jackie or Simone should die before they make up, the one left will regret it forever.
Oh Nanette you did an AMAZING job! I love these women so much. Thank you for doing them (and their husbands!) justice <3
Thank you PCK. I appreciate that.
Tamara was so happy that you are doing Summer House (that I only started watching because of your recaps) and didn’t want to burden you with this one. You still are in the honeymoon stage, right? Or is it the Brady Bunch now?
This was my favorite reality show based on “the lives of real people” until last season. After you slogged your way through the disappointing seventh season, I get to do the juicy one! So unfair (to you).
I cannot believe that these women are being so stubborn! For all of their money, I do not think they’ve found a decent therapist. I have not heard ONE “no-fault ‘I’ statement.” Nor many apologies that are not “yeah, buts…” As a shrink, Dr. Gregory was useless. As a lover, too, apparently. Bwahahaha.
I 💙💙💙 the men so much. I hope the new doctor isn’t a dick. He seems fine so far.
Thanks Kelly. I hope all is well in your busy life.
I am happy that this season looks good after a disappointing season 7.
It is ridiculous that the fight between Jackie and Simone still is going on. I had hoped that by the reunion they would be back in their groove again.
I have to say, I disagree with the yay about Quad returning and Mariah/Aydin being gone. I might be alone on an island, but I really like Mariah/Aydin and love the cultural aspects of their “Blackadeshi” union that they featured on some of the earlier seasons. Quad just seems so thirsty and so shrill and annoying that she is hard to watch for me. I think having Kary and Lisa Nicole back will make for interesting TV!
You are not alone, Mariah has a huge fan base, and the ratings reflect her absence.
That just means more diverse conversations! I do not think you are alone. Both Mariah and Quad are polarizing. I agree Quad is a lot. She is best as a “friend of” and I like to see Heavenly acting less than angry with at least one person and she has been kind to Quad.
I hope the Sajjas will bring the Indian spice this season. That little boy of theirs is very smart, making Covid coughing jokes at 2 years old.
Speaking of the kids … more than any other franchise, we get to see these kids and I am fond of all of them. We have seen them grow up on our screens. The mere thought of one of these young Black men being harmed for “driving while Black” is unfathomably awful.
I agree. i would like to see Quad gone.
I get Toya moving her sons to a different school. My daughter had the same problem. She grew up in a military town with a solid, middle-class made up of all colors and ethnicities. She also comes from a family of multi-generational, multi-race, multi-ethnic folks and is married to a Bosnian refugee who has done extremely well for himself in this country. She lived in a city in the western part of VA, while very nice, was so damn white and she didn’t want her kids to be so insulated. She is thrilled to be moving to the Triangle in NC due to a promotion for my SIL. She wants her kids to grow up in an environment like she did and more closely represents her extended family. When my Dad was in assisted living and then skilled nursing, a lot of family visited him. One of the CNAs, who was Trinidadian, remarked to me that no matter where we came from or what ethnicity we were, we all looked like each other. She could always tell when we came down the hall who we were going to visit.
Dr. Damon really got to me. The pain in his voice, when speaking on BLM, brought tears to my eyes. We have got to do better people. Lives depend on it.
Thank you Nanette for the recap. You rock as always.
Thank you. I have missed seeing you comment. Or maybe it’s because I’ve been busy doing everything with the animals after The Fiancée fractured her wrist. (Yesterday it was a cactus needle in her right butt cheek. It’s always something around here.)
I adore these men, especially Dr. Eugene. But they all are wonderful. I hope that the return of Lisa Nicole does not mean we get her s easy husband back. (My opinion is not based on rumors, just observation.)
Hearing Curtis talk about his police harassment was tough. BLM will come into play even more as the season goes on.
Yes ,that was cold of her after 20 yrs of friendship and she has been in her son life Simone did not invite Jackie to the graduation. Simone was low down and nasty for that.She could have put that patty stuff aside.
My DVD totally did not tape this show….grrrrrrrr
Thanks for a great recap. Nanette, I wish I could be as articulate as you and Tamara. I always look forward to what you have to say and, although I rarely comment, I truly love this site and the people who make it so wonderful. This is my favorite Bravo show and I wish Bravo would show it more love. I really admire the way this group gives back to those who are often forgotten. They seem to be such good people who really want to serve others (at least the men do). If the entire world had that mindset we’d find planet earth to be an even more wonderful place!
Thanks for the compliment.
I think this is one of the best reality shows on any channel. I was less than enthused with last season. PC Kelly’s recaps were way better than the show!
Comparing the first episode of last season and this season … MILES apart.
Last season led with the production set up at Buffie’s party of some loser attacking Toya, and then had Contessa coming after Dr. Eugene, calling him a bitch! I did a 180 on Contessa after that. I don’t think I ever will like her again.
This year was sad and infuriating with Simone and Jackie STILL feuding. But it’s not fake. I wish it were.
Whoa! I did a search yesterday for recaps of this episode and found ONLY ONE other.
Today, I saw only that same one AND a several on YouTube. None of the regular recapping sites have a M2M recap, but they have a bunch of sucky show recaps.
Does every asshole and their asshole have a YouTube channel these days?
So many really good things on YouTube and so many REALLY BAD SUCKY things.