Mob Wives Season 1 Reunion: The Island That Never Sleeps

If you thought the drama in Staten Island was swimming with the fishes, think again.  Karen, Renee, Drita, and Carla sat down with Wendy Williams to rehash all of the dirt from the first season of Mob Wives.  They watched clips of the best fights from the season and discussed some of the unresolved issues.  Renee stormed off set when Carla claimed that Renee made up the story that her ex-boyfriend grabbed her butt (and other areas).  Drita cried when the scene of her learning about her husband's other woman was shown, and then things got heated when the subject turned to Drita and Karen and their relationship.  Later, more footage of the season-ending fight between Karen and Drita was shown.  I have to be honest, for most of the season I was pretty sure that the show was as staged as an episode of WWE's Monday Night Raw, but now I'm not so sure.  Unlike some of the other reality show reunion specials I have seen, the emotions brought to the surface on the Mob Wives Reunion were undeniably real.  There were tears, there was storming away...  This is not The Hills, people.  You cannot stage this stuff.  You cannot script it.  Mob Wives is real.  Will the show come back for another season?  I am pretty sure that it will and you can bet your bottom dollar that my eyes will be glued to the TV watching these Hoes get down to business on Staten Island.

A calm moment during the Mob Wives Reunion Special

Mob Wives Season Finale Recap: These Hoes Just Can't Say "No"

The inevitable showdown between Karen and Drita occurred this week on Mob Wives.  As we all know (at least those of us that don't have lives and/or are unemployed and have nothing better to do than watch VH1 reality shows and Teen Wolf), Drita and Karen have beef because Drita ended up marrying Karen's boyfriend of seven years, Lee D'Avanzo.  Now that Lee is incarcerated for felony bank robbery, Drita and Karen have all of the time in the world to go back and forth about whether or not Drita was wrong to hook up with Lee.  As much as Karen acts like she is passed it, she still sees this union as a betrayal.  If that isn't enough drama for ya, Drita finds out this week that Lee cheated on her two years ago with a woman that works at the hair salon she goes to.  So, going into this final showdown, Drita is not only dealing with her lingering emotions with Karen, but now she has a whole tank of gasoline thrown unto the fire representing her new rift with Lee.  It's a rumble in Staten Island. Want to know what happens?  Head over to VH1.com (and no, they aren't paying me, I'm just too lazy to go into detail).

For once, Renee was not the center of drama

Mob Wives Episode 7 Recap: Same Old Story

The fight which began on last week's episode has spilled into this week's.  Renee still feels that she has the right to talk smack about Carla's boyfriend because he's not "good enough for her" and now Karen decides that since they are already fighting, why not bring up the fact that Drita stole her boyfriend Lee thirteen years ago?  Can I say that Drita has a good point when she asks:  "Is it, Karen, about friendship or is it that your man is not pounding you out so you have to remember how mine did?"  That pretty much sums up Mob Wives in one sentence.  I have no idea if the... ahem.... producers (writers).... on the show will bring it back to the issue of these women putting old mafia feuds behind them, or if the show will continue being a non-stop slug fest.  Clearly, the producers are playing the ratings game, but they lost me with this one.  This show is about as real as an impromptu meeting of all of the cast of The Hills at Heidi's House.  It's obvious now.

You cannot be a mob wife without insane cleavage.  Seriously, all of the women have it.

Mob Wives Episode 6 Recap: These Women Are Ready To Explode

All of these women need to be put on mood stabilizers, because this show is getting ridiculous.  Frankly, a bunch of mob women acting crazy makes for good television, but I wouldn't be a good reality show viewer if I didn't get excited by the stupidity of the players involved.  This episode was pretty predictable.  Basically, Carla is still angry at Renee running her mouth about how she doesn't like her boyfriend, among other things.  In fact, the real problem is the conflict between Karen and Drita about Lee, whom Karen dated for seven years and Drita eventually married, but this all gets pushed to the side with Renee and Carla's drama.  Of course, the perfect setting to deal with all of this drama brewing is to throw an evening cocktail party where there are surprise guest enemies and lots of drinks involved.  Naturally, Carla and Renee get into a drunken fist fight.  Hilarity ensues.  Well, not really, but this was almost along the lines of a Jerry Springer/Maury Povich redneck royal rumble.  Good viewing all around!  I have to admit that I freaking love this show!

Drita arranges a sexy photoshoot for her incarcerated husband Lee

Mob Wives Episode 5 Recap: Old Memories

This week's episode of Mob Wives was more of the same: the girls getting into fights and making up.  Karen finds herself getting closer and closer to Drita (who is married to Lee, a man that Karen dated for 7 years), but feels that Drita is downplaying the significance of Karen and Lee's relationship.  Karen decides to address the issue with Drita, who manages to keep her cool during the verbal attack with a Herculean effort.  It's easy to tell when Drita's mad because the vein in her neck pops out and her face turns red.  Meanwhile, Renee feels like Carla's boyfriend isn't right for her and when she tells Carla this during Drita's birthday party, Carla ignores her.  Carla thinks Renee should mind her own business, but c'mon, this is Renee.  This will be a source of tension between Renee and Carla in the future as it looks like next week's episode will feature a rumble between the two in Renee's kitchen.  That's all folks.  At least AJ managed to duck out of this episode unlike the last few weeks.

Drita is not sure whether she should stay with Lee or move on.

Mob Wives Episode 4 Recap: Renee's Still Mad

Alright, these women are starting to drive me crazy.  After deciding that she wanted to make up with Drita, Renee's backs out because Karen decides to remind her what Drita said at the party (during the first episode): "I'm gonna wring you're dumb twat neck!".  Which... is pretty funny.  Jokes aside, Renee can't seem to get over this comment and forgive Renee.  Finally, Renee throws a psychic party and the psychic says that Renee needs to resolve issues with the aquarius in her life, which turns out to be Drita.  Renee and Drita meet eventually and sort of agree that they both have tempers.  Afterwards, Renee goes for drinks with Karen and things go south... real quick and Renee has to call for back up.  Just another day on Staten Island.

Renee backs out of her dinner date with Drita (pictured)

Mob Wives Episode 3 Recap: The Bust

Being a member of the Mob is not all glitz and glamor, especially when the feds kick down your door at 5 in the morning to bust mobsters.  Well, that was what happened in January when Mob Wife Renee's ex-husband was one of the 127 gangsters snapped up in a mob bust.  What's fascinating is the divided opinions of the women when this happens.  On the one hand, they are upset that someone they love and depend on has been arrested, but they should also be thinking "What did this guy do to get picked up?"  Out of all of the "mob wives", Karen Gravano seems to be the only woman for whom this is a significant thought.  The flip side of the high life of the mobster is knowing that it comes at the cost: your own families wealth and affluence comes at the expense of another family's wellbeing.  The show is called Mob Wives, not Wives of Mob Victims, but this aspect was explored in this week's episode of the show and I tip my hat to the producers for delving into this issue.  Anyway, we get to see a lot of Karen crying in this episode since she is the mob wife directly impacted by the bust.  Is it too soon to say that there will be more tears (and fights) in the next episode?

Drita didn't quite make it to Renee's house to show her support, but her good intentions were there.

The Show You Need To Be Watching: Mob Wives on VH1

Do I need to say that this show takes place on Staten Island?  Because it does.  The show follows the lives of four women that all have connections to the mafia and the criminal underworld, including two women connected with the Gambino crime family.  The women are Renee, Karen, Carla, and Drita.  The first episode (which aired last week) set the stage for a confrontation between Renee and Karen who are enemies because Karen's father cooperated with the feds, which Renee's father saw as a betrayal.  Drama ensues when Carla throws a birthday party and invites Karen (who has just moved back to the island from Arizona to work on a book) without telling Renee.  This leads to a huge fight, but like women do, they start to make up the next day.  The most interesting of the women IMHO is Drita, an Albanian beauty who married a bank robber (although she says that she didn't really know that he was a bank robber).  Drita's Albanian family disowned her for not only not marrying an Albanian but marrying a criminal to boot.  Now she's left as a single Mom with two daughters.  So that's the show.  I'm waiting to see when one of these women brings a guy home and their husbands in the slammer send someone to kill the guy.  Hey, it can happen.

These women are looking for trouble