Strange Love, Episodes 8 & 9: Two for the Price of One!

Episode 8 – Meet the Flavors

Last time on Strange Love our happy couple paid a visit to Flav’s ex-girlfriend, Beverly. It was mass confusion and poor Bev was overwhelmed by it all and had to escape the mayhem. Brigitte and Bev had some “girl” time in the limousine, and all was well.

As this episode opens, the alarm goes off and Flav shakes Brigitte awake. This is the day he will introduce her to his mother, and the plan is for them to go to church. Naturally, Brigitte is nervous about all of this. She says she wants a Jack Daniels.

Flav calls Mom, who calls him by his childhood name, Rico. He warns Mom that he is not bringing Brigitte to be tormented. They decide to wear their Italian gala outfits, but while they are getting ready, Brigitte decides that she needs some wine to fortify herself for the day to come. Flav doesn’t like this at all. Seems his father died of cirrhosis of the liver. He tells us that her excessive drinking bothers him a lot. Plus, he doesn’t think she will make such a great impression on his family showing up at church with alcohol on her breath. Sometimes Flav is so sensible, it’s astounding.

He confronts her on this and her response is, “Okay, I won’t go to church.” Good answer. As usual, she doesn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to what he says, and uncorks a bottle of white wine and starts drinking. But she gets ready, and they take off in the limo to pick Flav’s mother up for church, wine bottle and all. This is not going to go over well at all. Mom calls wondering where they are and tells Flav sternly that she is leaving. She is not happy. What a great start.

Flav and Brigitte finally arrive at the church. Brigitte is even more nervous and is continuing to chug away at the wine bottle. By this time, she is pretty much gone. They walk into church and are seated in the front row. The service, of course, is well underway, but once seated, Brigitte starts to get into it. Mom is up in the choir trying to act as though this is all perfectly normal, but the spectacle of these two dressed in their evening clothes is more than a little bit distracting.

Brigitte tells us that at her church, people don’t clap and women don’t wear hats. The service is lively and there are even mimes acting out the scripture! Brigitte tells us that she is happy to be part of Flav’s life. Flav is impressed that she is getting into it, and everything seems to be going very well.

Then, the other shoe drops. Flav’s two oldest daughters show up and walk right up to Brigitte, telling her how happy they are to meet her. One of them is wearing a tee shirt that says “Winning Against Deadbeat Dads.” They refuse to hug their father, and Flav tells us that they are not close to him. He says that their mother is only looking for the cash. Flav is really hurt and this seems to have taken all the joy from him.

Flav hustles Brigitte out of church as soon as the service is over. They head back to his mother’s, where the entire family has turned out to meet Brigitte. Finally, she meets Anna, Flav’s mother, and the two of them seem to get along famously. Brigitte comments on how much Flav looks like his mother, and it’s true. He has her eyes.

Meanwhile, the daughters are across the street grimacing. Flav sends Brigitte over to talk to them and what I presume to be Flav’s grandchild. She gives one of the daughters, I believe her name is Karen, her phone number at the hotel. The daughter tells her she feels much better and is ready to go home.

Brigitte says that she feels like an outsider and that she was just trying to be nice. She attempts to escape to the limo for a cigarette and some space. She can’t deal with all these people. Flav joins her to try to calm her down. When she tells him that she gave the daughter the hotel phone number, he flips out, taking his suitcase into the house.

Good old Mom comes in to try and mediate, and ultimately they make up. Mom is getting highly agitated and seems to want them to leave. The couple, now dressed in baseball shirts, gets ready to leave and this entire mob is outside the little house waving goodbye.

Flav tells us that he “has a lot to chew on here in America,” and comes up with the idea to go to Vegas. Which it seems they do.

Episode 9 – Some Things Really Should Stay in Vegas

Flav and Brigitte check out of their hotel and are on their way to Vegas. In the cab, he asks her if she could handle being married to him. She doesn’t know, but thinks they’ll find out in Vegas. They jet out of the Big Apple and arrive in Sin City where they are staying at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Brigitte is amazed at their suite, which she says is larger and more beautiful than life. Plus, there are gifts galore and a note tells them that all of their expenses will be taken care of and they even have $5000 in cash and chips. Flav says that his main thing is to focus on getting away from all their problems and focus on each other.