5
After the train wreck of a trip to Santa Barbara, the crew heads home. On this episode of The Valley, Nia is reeling from accusations regarding Danny‘s drinking. Brittany decides to host a girls’ dinner to try and smooth things over, but Janet implying that Danny may have a drinking problem does not sit well..
The episode picks up where it left off with Nia finding her “friends” sh*t talking her husband behind her back. She is confused why Jasmine and Brittany are coming in so hot. Jasmine wants Nia to be more honest about Danny’s actions and blames her encounter with Dark-Side Danny for her emotional response to the situation. She wants Nia to acknowledge what is going on and claims to be having Brittany’s back in this moment since Brittany serves up her life on a platter for all to see. According to Jasmine and Brittany, it’s not far for Nia to keep things under wraps.
A well-rested (and dare I say it, maybe hungover) Danny literally walks into the drama. He is confused by the onslaught and tries to wrap his mind around why HE is being called out for drinking when everyone else was also drinking.
Nia excuses herself from the pile on and tells Danny she does not want to be “super consoled.” Nia realizes that two things can be true: Danny can be tired AND Danny can drink too much. However, Danny refuses to own up that he was any more drunk than other people in the group.
Still sh*t talking Nia and Danny when they are not there to defend themselves, Janet tells Brittany, Jasmine, and Michelle about Danny in the pantry. Now the story is that Danny secretly “chugged” tequila behind the closed pantry doors, but if Janet was in there, was it that big of a secret??? Janet claims that she would be there for Nia if Danny’s drinking becomes too much, again insinuating that Danny’s issues are very serious.
Janet explains that she can relate to Nia in a sense because she dated someone who denied and hid drinking, true signs of an addiction. Janet wants Danny to just say what is going on because when he tries to hide it, it brings more questions.
Nia admits that her relationship with Danny is a bit more reserved. For instance, they do not air their dirty laundry like OTHER people in the group, but that doesn’t mean their marriage is perfect. In fact, they have been to therapy to try and work out issues. Luckily, this is the last night of the trip and they head home with some serious unresolved issues.
Scheana makes her official debut on the show (other than the phone call convo) during a hike with Michelle. We learn that Michelle sold Scheana her house in the Valley and since then, they have remained close. Michelle fills Scheana in on the latest with Jesse in Santa Barbara and what that means for her relationship with her boyfriend, Aaron. Aaron told Michelle that he cannot deal with Jesse as her crazy ex and if things don’t change, perhaps they break things off. This devastates Michelle because she cannot control Jesse’s behavior.
Speaking of Jesse, his life coach pays him a house call…technically, this guy was once their marriage coach, but since the fall out of their marriage, Jesse has solely taken him on. Jesse explains that Michelle admitted that she cheated on him and that perhaps she was projecting her cheating ways on him. The life coach explains that Jesse needs to start holding himself accountable and suggests that Jesse scream into a pillow to get out his emotions. Not much comes from that other than some pain in Jesse’s abs afterwards. Typical.
Luke and Kristen roll up to their new house rental and they are thrilled to start this chapter. Luke calls this his first step in his future plan: aka a proposal. Jasmine comes over for a tour AND to discuss what went down with Danny and Nia. Luke wonders if it’s ok to ask Nia if Danny is drunk. Jasmine explains that she is still not over Danny drunkenly grabbing her girlfriend’s butt and referring to himself as “Daddy,” despite him apologizing. You might think Jasmine would be happy that Dark-Side Danny put himself to bed before getting into trouble…
Luke and Danny head to the jeweler Kyle Chan. They peruse some rings and Luke explains that he is ready to propose this year. He has been through up and downs with Kristen over the past two years and so he is now ready to put a ring on it.
Jesse realizes that holding onto this anger towards Michelle is getting exhausting. He has to balance many things, including being a dad to Isabella. He wants things to work out with Michelle, but right now she hates him so much that he is unsure where they can go from here. So, there is nothing new here…
Brittany is excited to move past the issues at Santa Barbara and so she has hired a chef to cook dinner for the girls. Janet and Brittany feel a little bit nervous and maybe it’s because they made Nia so uncomfortable the last time they were all together? Brittany addresses what happened with Nia and she apologizes for the way things came out.
She blames the day drinking on her behavior. Jasmine also apologizes and explains that she should not have raised her voice at Nia. This is pretty rich that they are apologizing for calling Danny out on his drinking when…they were ALSO drinking. It’s odd that Janet, the one who started all of this by pointing out Danny chugging tequila, has yet to apologize…
Nia becomes emotional that everyone had no problem talking about her behind her back. Jasmine continues to bring up what triggers her (Halloween) and Nia admits that Danny DOES make mistakes. They have worked through it with therapy, but Michelle wonders why Nia pretends everything is perfect. Nia goes on to explain where her positive spin on life comes from.
Growing up, she was homeless and went through hard times, but from those moments, she has become stronger. That’s where her positivity comes from and that might explain her perspective to help her survive. Jasmine is happy that Nia is finally opening up and being vulnerable. Her honesty is raw, BUT Janet is still not over Danny hiding in the cupboard chugging the tequila.
Janet [gleefully] explains that she witnessed Danny with the tequila and felt uncomfortable to be roped into his drinking. But like if Danny wanted to HIDE it, why would he do it in front of you, Janet? Janet goes on to compare Danny to someone who has drug and alcohol problems and Nia will not stand for this implication.
A sour Janet finds it annoying that she cannot compare her painful situation to “Nia’s perfect husband.” After much ado, the group pinky promises that behind-the-back talking stops, but Nia believes that Janet is not being the good friend she is pretending to be.
Right after Nia leaves the dinner, Jasmine and Janet continue to carry on about Danny’s drinking. Jasmine admits that she can’t seem to move on from Dark-Side Danny’s past antics and it seems like the pinky promise just went right out the window.
Once Nia gets home, she tells Danny about Janet’s statements about drug and alcohol problems. Danny finds this funny because, according to him, he was not sneaking tequila in the pantry. That was simply where the liquor bottles were found.
Janet continues to potentially slander Danny’s name as she discusses the issues with Jason. Jason thinks he should talk to Danny to find out if this is a more serious problem since Danny is no longer just hurting himself, he is hurting other people… And this is proof that an episode without Jax can STILL bring the drama.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE VALLEY?
