Growing Up Gotti, Season 2, Episode 7: Good Girls

This week’s episode involves John and Carmine and their dating lives. Victoria tells us that things were very different in the house she grew up in. There wasn’t much dating. She wants her boys to maintain some of those old-fashioned family values. Ah, but what is this? A gaggle of young girls show up at the Gotti estate to see John. But he’s playing cards in the kitchen. He tells a friend of his to bring the ladies out to the guest house, where he and the rest of the lads meet up with them when the game is over. Classy. Anyway, Victoria is amazed that girls chase the boys nowadays and Robert says that they don’t respect themselves. I have a problem with this – the times, they are a-changin’, after all – but then we see one of the girls tell someone on John’s cell phone that she wants to see his rock, and I die a little inside. Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Oh, and John tells the girls that it’s a good idea to say that they’re virgins, even if they’re not. That’s what he does. Lovely.

So Victoria asks Uncle Pete to talk to the boys about respecting women. He and his friend Chubby take John and Carmine to play pool. Pete tells the boys they need to respect women. John says that the women need to respect themselves. Good point. But Pete answers that they need to find those women. He asks when they last took out girls who respected themselves. For John, it was two years ago; for Carmine, about five months ago. Pete has an idea. He’s going to set the boys up with a couple of girls “from the neighborhood” – good girls, with very compatible personalities to John and Carmine. Seriously? Anyway, Pete wants the boys to show how much class they have.

Victoria and Robert head to the florist to buy flowers for John and Carmine to give to their dates so the girls will be impressed. Shouldn’t the boys get the flowers? Apparently not. Victoria says that she wants her sons to go out with girls who are pretty, but not too pretty; and smart, but not too smart. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself. We also find out that Victoria was in the Miss USA pageant. Huh, I had no idea. Anyway, she displays her walk and her wave with one of the bouquets.

It’s date night, and of course, John is doing his hair while Carmine is ready. Carmine informs his mother that he is not taking flowers and says John won’t take them either. Victoria wants to know what is going on. He should want to impress these nice girls and flowers will help him do that. Victoria tells John to take the flowers, and he also refuses. She tries to tell him that they’re classy girls, but John thinks it’s old-fashioned. She says that, if the boys give them the flowers, the girls will probably put the petals under their pillows for the rest of their lives. John (and I) scoffs at this. Victoria is ticked, and she’s stuck with the flowers. But she’s confident that the boys will charm the girls. We’ll see…

When John and Carmine arrive to pick up the girls, they fight over who is getting out of the car, and Carmine honks the horn. Oh, I love it when guys do that. Are you KIDDING ME?!?! Someone’s mother waves from the window. When I was a teenager, if a guy ever showed up to get me and didn’t come to the door, my mother definitely wouldn’t be waving. Oh good. The boys get their heads out of their butts and are now going to the door. The girls come out, and John tells them they look good. Well, that was nice. The girls’ names are Cali and Daniela. Cali’s mom comes out to the car and tells the foursome her rules – no smoking, no drinking, and no sex. Nice! As they are driving to dinner, John seems to be thinking about what Cali’s mom had to say and mutters something about sex being a part of life. Carmine, though, says that he’s waiting for marriage. John doesn’t appear to be much of a driver. He’s swearing and apologizes to the girls, saying he doesn’t usually talk like this. It doesn’t look like they buy this for a second. Smart girls.

Victoria is home with Robert, dying to call the boys and see how it’s going, but she’s resisting the urge.

John, Carmine, Daniela, and Cali go out for sushi. They talk about Cali’s tongue ring and some other stuff that I won’t bore you with. But then they start talking about tattoos, and John seems to be talking about girls who get them in, um, private areas. The girls look really uncomfortable – almost grossed out – as does Carmine, actually. Ugh, so am I.

Back on the home front, Victoria is still not calling, and it’s still killing her. She says that Carmine is just looking for a good time, but maybe John wants to meet a nice old-fashioned girl. I wouldn’t bet on it.

In the restaurant, the sushi arrives. Carmine is having trouble with his chopsticks, so he goes with a fork instead. He seems pretty self-deprecating, which is cute. Cali isn’t a fan of the sushi. They have some more chitchat, and everyone seems to be loosening up. The girls seem pretty nice, and John tells Daniela that she looks cute.

Next, John and Carmine take the girls for a tour of the old neighborhood. The girls are in the backseat, not talking as John and Carmine reminisce. Okay, lesson here. If you go on a double-date, at least try to separate into two couples. Carmine should’ve gotten in the back with one of the girls. But I digress. They go to see their old house and tell the girls funny stories about when they were little. But as it turns out, the girls are late for curfew, so it’s time to take them home. The boys walk Cali and Daniela to the front door. They get kisses on the cheek, and it seems that they’re interested in going out again. No more sushi, though!

Victoria wants info on the date. She opens the door for the boys before they’re even up the stairs, which is cute. But, of course, they are not spouting details. They tell her it was good and that they liked the girls. “We went out, we went to dinner, we went home.” Victoria is frustrated but is hoping that this is the start of something good for the boys. But from now, on she’s just going to buy the flowers for herself.

Joan is an editor in Boston. Email her at Joanie1835@hotmail.com.

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