The Real Housewives of Atlanta: Not Much to Celebrate

What a sad, sad episode of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" this week. From Kandi and A.J.'s ominous engagement party to Nene's emotional meeting with her likely biological father, the bright spots were few and far between tonight. Fortunately, some of our other Housewives (official and not) did provide scant slivers of sunshine.

Now-they're-friends-now-they're-not, Sheree and Kim meet for a drink at the site of the infamous "Kim-frontation" (or the wig shift heard 'round the world, if you prefer) to plan Kandi's surprise engagement party. Kim and Sheree seem to put their differences aside in the spirit of helping Kandi and ruminate about how life is too short.

Nene was separate from the Housewives drama this week, as she journeyed to Athens, Georgia with her uncle and the co-author of her book to visit with family and see her mother's old house. Bravo tried to stretch out the dramatic tension of Nene's storyline with some wonky editing. We'd see a scene with the other Housewives, cut to Nene (all of her scenes took place in one day) cut to another Housewives scene, obviously on another day, then back to Nene, which was taking place on the same day. Lunacy. At any rate, Nene took a stroll down memory lane with her aunt who raised her and later, met the man who claimed to be her biological father (who she said looks like her son, Bryce). Apparently, the guy heard she was in town, said he could only meet for a few minutes and for Nene to be on her way, but to call him sometime. As wacky as the whole thing was, it was still affecting to see Nene confront this part of her life.

The dreaded Tania and her tacky electric blue eye shadow were back this week as Sheree received the first of her She by Sheree samples ahead of her upcoming fashion show. Sheree pranced around while Tania oohed and ahhed about how hot the clothes were. While the sheer purple top Sheree had on was cute, it felt like a bit of a retread from 1991. Sheree told Tania that Dwight was helping to produce the fashion show and Tania claimed not to know who Dwight was. Doesn't everyone in Atlanta know who Dwight is? Tania also questioned why Dwight was helping Sheree and Sheree did say Dwight does have a good rep around town for event production. An excited Sheree calls Dwight to let him know her samples had arrived. Later, Dr. Dwight comes in to diagnose the state of Sheree's samples and is not pleased with their prognosis.

Watching the counseling session and ensuing engagement party would be distressing under any circumstances, but given A.J.'s death, those scenes were particularly depressing. During the counseling session, Kandi's mom reiterates that she doesn't see A.J. as a good match for her daughter, going so far as to compare their relationship to a truck about to run Kandi over. As mom and A.J. battle it out in front of the counselor, all Kandi can do is sit there helplessly. Later, at the engagement party, mom is asked to make a toast and just can't muster up anything nice to say. Before A.J.'s death, Kandi had revealed on the "Wendy Williams Show," that the stress of dealing with her mother's objections had spurred the couple to take a break from their relationship. All the way around, it's a sad situation.

Thankfully, Kimberlocks provided some comic relief. Her high-heel wearing hairdresser, Derek J. toddles over to her house to fix her hair - wig - before Kandi's party. Derek whips out the prototype for Kim's wig line and Kim reveals she spends over $12,000 a month on wigs. $12,000 a month. On wigs. Apparently when she and Big Papa are getting' all freaky with it, she keeps her wigs on, hence the need to change them out on a daily basis. And for the third time in as many weeks, Kim shouts from the rooftops about how good-looking she is. Enough, Kim. Enough.

Next week is the season finale of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," and it looks to be a doozy; the She by Sheree fashion show, Kim confronts Nene about choking her and speaking of throats, Kandi and Nene are at each other's again.