Every week, I write these recaps and tell you how much I love Yara. I truly thought Yara could do no wrong, until she invited Jovi’s family over for Ukranian Christmas and then made them leave as soon as they annoyed her. Now, look, in general, I absolutely respect this move. If Yara doesn’t want them in her house and they’re insulting her food, they can go. But as an adult who understands the complicated politics of family, I can admit that Yara did the wrong thing here. Yara might be a perfect mother who can’t even fathom being away from her daughter, but she still has to learn how to be a wife and daughter-in-law.
Jovi is rarely the one who’s right in their relationship, but I’m glad he could call out Yara’s rudeness. At the same time, he can’t seem to comprehend that being a mother has changed Yara. Since he’s rarely home, he hasn’t really experienced being a father yet. Jovi has had enough time to say goodbye to his old life. Maybe if he was more willing to grow up and be a father, Yara would be more willing to put up with his mom dissing her fish dishes.
This season is doing everything in its power to convince us that Andrei is still the immature guy he was during their wedding. I can hardly believe it, but Andrei really has gotten better in recent episodes! The old Andrei would’ve blown up in the middle of the family reunion upon finding out Libby secretly hired a babysitter behind his back. Andrei has a right to be upset; you can’t just hire someone to watch your kids and not tell their other parent. What if something happened while the kid was with the babysitter? What if there was an emergency? It was irresponsible and immature of Libby to keep it from him. With the Airbnb-RV-parking mishap, that’s two strikes against Libby.
On top of that, when Libby’s sister leaks the secret (clearly on purpose), they hound him about it. New Andrei walks away from the situation so he can compose himself. Libby and her family run after him and badger him about how he’s feeling about his kid and wife. The entire fight is so manufactured, but Libby’s sisters pressing their involvement was unnecessary. When Charlie complained about half the family being outside, it was such an exaggeration. At this point, I am on Andrei’s team, in that I want him to drain this family of its wealth via a Knives Out–like scenario.
I still mostly think Michael is trying to scam his way into America with his marriage to Angela, but I can’t say he doesn’t deserve it. This week, the man puts up with a tarot card session designed to tell him everything he’s done wrong. Of course Angela’s psychic is going to say what Angela wants to hear! She’s paying her! Michael tries to explain that he’s uncomfortable with things like Angela secretly trying to track his phone … but they gang up on him.
Even though their tarot reading doesn’t go great, Angela and Michael still decide to make up with each other. This means we have to see them in an intimate bubble bath Zoom session. It’s truly inspiring that two people can be so … open with their love on national TV, but we mostly see that Michael is having a hard time accepting Angela’s new body. Angela appreciates his honest reception, but his long pause when she asks what he thinks is almost as hard to watch as their dirty talk.
Michael and Natalie are still stuck in the same pattern. They argue, they’re passive-aggressive, Natalie plays nice, etc. There’s no way two people who treat each other this way can actually be in love. I am more curious about Natalie’s rat than I am about their relationship. Where did it go? Who watched it while she got surgery? Why haven’t we seen that pet rat in a few weeks? I desperately need closure around that pet rat.
I’m trying to remember what love there was between Tiffany and Ronald. Obviously, he has a lot of love for their children, but these two people don’t even act like they speak the same language. Ronald refuses to communicate and views Tiffany’s expression as an act of aggression. Tiffany treats Ronald like a child instead of a husband. At the same time, when Tiffany tells Ronald to take care of things and he … tries to buy a truck he can’t afford so he can be a repairman, you have to wonder what’s going through his head. I think Tiffany would be happy if he got a job at a restaurant, but Ronald turns it into a whole sexist, gendered thing about men being leaders in the household. The man can’t even help with diapers.
Kalani and Asuelu had a brief appearance, but now that we know Asuelu’s family is coming to town, it’s mostly a countdown to whatever inevitable fight they have. Everyone knows it’s going to be a mess, but Kalani wants to give them one last chance. I really think this could be the visit that makes or breaks Kalani and Asuelu’s marriage. I mostly love that Low, Kalani’s dad, was straight up like, “Hey, if you girls need to fight, you need to fight. Do what you gotta do.” I think he’s going to play a key part in keeping the peace. Asuelu’s family seems to actually respect him. There are so many ways this could go. I never thought Kalani and Asuelu could be this interesting!
90 Day Notes
• Jovi is not home enough to complain about where Mylah is sleeping! Yara is by herself most of the time! Let Yara mother how she wants! At the same time, how dare she make Ms. Gwen drive two hours!!! “It’s not a Cajun party, it’s Ukranian Christmas!”
• Libby is unbelievable!
• Brandon and Julia move to the farm next week and will hopefully do something interesting.
