Regrets, Treach's Dad's Had A Few

Picking Up Where We Left Off

The last episode having ended with Treach storming out of his summit with Kent, his estranged father, that's where we pick up -- with Dr. Jenn trying to get Kent to take responsibility for his part in causing Treach's anger and hurt, and Treach recapping the encounter for Cicely. My feeling about all of this is: Treach is forty-three years old and he should accept the fact that his dad sucks and will always suck and that maybe he's come far enough along in life that having a sucky dad is not something he needs to think about every day? Or really ever? After dismissing Kent, Dr. Jenn comes into Treach's room and says, basically, neither of them can help the fact that Kent lacks empathy, and that maybe understanding that Kent is probably always going to be a shitty person will help Treach to heal from Kent's having abandoned him a few DECADES ago. Treach agrees, adding that Cicely is his family now and that he didn't come to couples' therapy to worry about his dad's whole deal. GOOD, except I already know from the scenes from this episode that they showed up top that Treach vs. Kent isn't over.

Kent Cries And Cries

While Treach is upstairs telling Cicely how done he is with Kent, Kent is downstairs in the green room, crying to Drs. Mike and Jenn about how much he wishes he could have made a meaningful connection with Treach just then, and Dr. Jenn's like, you can? He's thirty feet away? As Kent quietly weeps, Dr. Jenn goes to retrieve Treach from his room to tell him what's happening. Teach says he needs a minute before he can go back in and talk to Kent more, but Cicely knows how TV works, and urges him to go immediately.

So Treach and Cicely join Dr. Jenn on her trek back to the green room. When Kent sees that Treach has returned, he starts full-on blubbering and is barely audible as apologies spill out of him. Treach's face remains impassive as he listens, and then he motions for Kent to get up, and they hug.

While I doubt that all is forgiven forever, at least Treach acknowledges that Kent is taking responsibility now for everything he did (and didn't do) during Treach's childhood. No doubt enraging my esteemed colleague Stephanie Green, Dr. Jenn cries like a real goddamn professional.

I mean, I get that this is supposed to be a huge breakthrough or whatever, but (a) I really doubt Kent's sincerity, and (b) FUCKING GET OVER IT, TREACH, YOU ARE OLD. It just bugs me in these situations when no one says, like, some people are shitheads, and don't deserve your wasting a second thinking about how terrible they are.

Aaaaaaanyway, after all this, Cicely and Treach go back to their room, and Cicely says she's been praying for Treach to make peace with Kent, and "God is so good." They hug, and Treach THes that the experience of reuniting with Kent has made him realize how much Cicely is rooting for his happiness, and that she's really in his corner. Aw. Countdown to Cicely hassling him about cheating on her in 3...2......

Meatball Massagegate

I guess one of the editors noticed that Deena and Chris hadn't done anything all goddamn season because suddenly there's an extremely pointless scene in which a slurry Deena and her huge glass of red wine are accusing Chris of failing to deliver massage parity. Seriously, outside in front of everyone whose REAL issues they've spent at least a week listening to, Deena is bitching at Chris that she routinely spends more than half an hour at a time massaging him (and apparently this is not a euphemism), and then when it's her turn, he's too tired. In a TH, Deena says she knows the other couples must be like, "Is this really what you're fighting about?" -- yes, they are, and not just the other couples -- but...it is. And it goes on. This is dumb.

"What, Specifically, Do You Need From Your Partner?"

We're back in group to talk about communicating needs to one another's partners. Dr. Jenn presents this topic like it's brand-new and not basically what's been happening all along, but anyway, she decides to start with Jenna and John, maybe so that she gets the experience of looking directly at a particularly terrifying-looking Jenna out of the way.

Jenna & John: In her experience, men she's with are very into "Jenna Jameson," but when stuff from her past comes up, they don't want to know about it, and want to change her. John takes responsibility for sometimes saying things in a way he doesn't mean, that Jenna takes amiss, but they agree that in the past couple of days, she's getting better at "not debating him." HUGE PROGRESS if true.

Stephanie & Dick: Just a reminder that Stephanie is already on the record saying that Dick's decision to disclose his HIV status publicly has resulted in her never wanting to get back together with him. And that's basically what Dick notes: unlike all the other couples in the room, he and Stephanie aren't a couple now, aren't going to be a couple again, and are there right now to try to figure out what they need to do to maintain any kind of friendship. Dick says Stephanie is one of three people with whom he can speak openly about the worst time of his life, and he doesn't want to give that up just because they no longer have a romantic relationship. Dr. Jenn says he can still have that. Stephanie says nothing at all (or nothing that makes it into the edit, at least), so I'm not so sure he can?

Deena & Chris: By way of saying what she needs, Deena says she knows that Chris already makes a lot of his decision in life based on her needs, and that she feels "blamed." The discussion gets kind of elliptical, but basically it comes back to Chris feeling like he's nothing more than "Deena's boyfriend," and that he'd like people to know that, no, he's Chris -- and though he says it's not that he needs to make more money than Deena, the fact that he brings it up suggests that he would probably actually like to. John speaks up to note that what he and Chris have in common is that they're both with women who are more famous than they, but John's not bothered by that because he's got his own thing. Dr. Jenn agrees that John could be a great role model for Chris in that respect, since John's defined himself separately from Jenna. She asks, "Who's Chris today?...What's special about him?" Chris gets choked up and can't answer, and Dr. Jenn's like, yeah, you need to work on that.

And I guess the other two couples are super-great at communicating their needs to each other because we don't talk to them at all.

The Emasculation Of Chris

After group, Chris is clearly pissed off but refuses to admit it, stalking away from Deena when she tries to talk about it -- though, according to her, this is nothing new, and according to the VH1 captioner, it's a phenomenon that requires the coining of a new word.

In a TH, Chris explains that they were supposed to be talking about issues that he and Deena are having or have had, and instead it became all about how Chris is aimless and useless and uses Deena as an excuse for his own lack of ambition and drive. I'm paraphrasing.

In their room, Chris complains that he's heard all this before. Deena gently says that maybe the fact that the people in the house are telling him the same things she does when they've only known him a couple of weeks suggests that maybe that means there's something to it? Chris crabs that he knows he's not where he wants to be in his career, and that if it were as easy as his just getting another job, he'd do that, and Deena even more gently says, "But you're not even looking." In her own TH, Deena says she's sick of Chris blaming her for his dissatisfaction with his work life, since he was stuck in the same ways before he even knew her. Yeah, Chris, quit being so trifling. Plus you'd think one of the two of you would realize that Deena's "career" has an expiration date and lord knows she doesn't have any other skills to fall back on.

What does everyone else think? Well, Jenna thinks Chris is being a baby and that she is "probably more of a man than he is." Deena and Cicely agree it was good for Chris to have been pushed out of his comfort zone, finally. (See: someone noticing Chris and Deena were still on the show and coming up with something for them to do/fight about.)

Outside, Chris tries to get Dick to back him up on his life choices (or lack thereof), but Dick's not inclined to do that given that he thinks Chris is codependent with Deena. Then Juan Pablo comes out, and as is usual anytime Juan Pablo goes anywhere, things only get worse: Juan Pablo tries to help Chris figure out his life by asking what it is that Chris even wants to do for a career that he's failing to do now: "What's your dream job?" Chris says, "It changes every two weeks." Okay. Chris? You're not a child. You can't just go through life vacillating between fireman and astronaut. Juan Pablo presses him -- "Just give me one" -- and Chris can't even do that, so when Juan Pablo says in a TH that it's kind of hard to feel sorry for Chris under the circumstances...I'm pretty much right there with him! Dick and Juan Pablo say they're just trying to help Chris figure out how to establish part of his own life that can be separate from Deena, and in his own TH, Chris whines that everywhere he went, he was being attacked. NO, CHRIS, EVERYONE'S JUST RESPONDING TO YOUR BULLSHIT THE ONLY WAY POSSIBLE.

Chris Starts Getting Over Himself

The next morning, Chris says he's realized that if he and Deena are ever going to have a successful relationship, he's going to have to be financially stable, which means he needs to find something to do other than sell furniture, so everyone's hectoring the day before actually helped, and he tells Deena so. Great, so what career is he going to pursue? TBD! "I still didn't figure out what I want to do, but I know what I have to do." Thanks for feeding him that line, whichever producer wrote it.

Dick Pines For Stephanie

Dick talks to Chris about still caring for Stephanie, even though "the baby thing" has made it so they can't get back together (which makes me wonder, since the whole time they were dating she'd said she didn't want kids, she's only claiming to now because she knows it'll get her off the hook with Dick?). Dick's never been with someone he didn't want to break up with and broken up with her anyway, so between that and his status, he's pretty discouraged about the idea of trying to date anyone new. I mean, I get it -- if I ever find myself down one husband for whatever reason, I'm probably too lazy to find a new one either -- but I feel like the bigger impediment to Dick's hypothetical future dating life is that Dick is Dick.

Dick Gets A Pep Talk About Dating With HIV

Dr. Mike has tracked down the most tattooed AIDS activist he can find to sit down with Dick and buck him up about dating while HIV-positive.

Sure enough, Dick decides that sitting opposite Robert Bowers is like looking in an inky mirror, and that if this guy can find partners willing to sleep with him, maybe someday Dick will too. Again: the main reason Dick should stay out of the dating pool is that his personality is poisonous.

Mother And Child Reunion

Dr. Jenn brings Jenna in for a one-on-one to mention all the shitty things from her childhood that Jenna's talked about, and Dr. Jenn's assessment that the "most painful and profound" is the death of her mother (which it may be, or it's just the easiest to cover on camera as opposed to, say, Jenna confronting her rapists?). Anyway: Jenna's father never told her where her mother was buried, never mind letting her visit her grave. But Dr. Jenn's crack team of researchers found it, and Dr. Jenn wants to take Jenna there. She adds, kind of as an afterthought, that Jenna can also bring John, if she wants. How generous! Jenna cries that she doesn't know if she can do this. I bet she's going to try, though!

Verdict

Other than the parts where Chris is a worthless idiot crybaby, this is all very missable.