90 Day Fiance Season 8 continued with Episode 8.
In the aftermath of Natalie and Mike’s ugly fight, Mike’s mother comes from the other side of the country to visit.
Natalie wants to make a good impression … but she also want to enlist Trish’s help to get what she wants.
Stephanie travels to Belize with thousands of dollars of gifts to see Ryan.
But they are both a little uncertain … and Stephanie still has a big secret to share.
Yara takes a pregnancy test and prepares to tell Jovi the results.
Amira is finally safely back in France after her detention … but Andrew’s eyebrow raising activities are followed by an outrageous request.
Finally, Julia finally gives Brandon a much-needed ultimatum.
You just know that Betty is going to flip out.
Mike Youngquist and Natalie Mordovtseva
After their very upsetting fight — where Natalie body-shamed Mike, diet-shamed him, called him low-class and implied that he was uncultured and stupid, and Mike got in a couple of jabs of his own — they are both in the mood to reconcile, as Natalie offers Mike an apology and he accepts and reciprocates.
“I think I was overreacting”
At face value, it’s hard to even say what Natalie was “reacting” to in a way that doesn’t make her sound like a villain. She shot down several foods that Mike wanted to eat, insisted on shrimp and rice, and then lashed out when Mike suggested stir fry. Part of her anger seemed to be on her lack of control over him (she lamented that “he doesn’t care” when … if Mike at any point asked her to try to micromanage his habits, we must have missed it), the other part over not having the ring back.
Natalie has chosen a positive outlook
But, as you will see as this recap goes on, she has not let go of her desire for the ring.
Here’s how Natalie sees it
” realize I have two choices: either I’m married, either I’m right. I prefer to be married,” she says. That sounds … unhappy. It’s unclear what she thinks that she is “right” about, though given that Natalie has displayed obvious signs of disordered eating, she may genuinely believe that her dietary choices are the only right way to live.
Meet Mike’s mom!
Trish lives in Oklahoma. She and Mike speak very regularly, but they only see each other about once per year.
Things start off well
Natalie compliments Trish initially. We’re sure that some fans are going to question Trish’s hairstyle, but she is clearly an intelligent woman.
Oh, Natalie
When Trish — in that joking-yet-not-joking way that is Extremely Mom of her — asks when she’s getting grandchildren, Natalie looks at Mike, and then seizes this as her first, but not her last, chance to mention that she doesn’t have her ring.
Speaking of children …
Natalie, to her credit, emphasizes that she would make sure that her relationship is good and her home environment is good before she would ever bring a child into the world. That’s good! That said, we do worry that her disordered eating could be worrisome if passed on to a child, as happens in so many families.
Trish has some Opinions
Her first impression of Natalie is not “super” but that’s not meant as an insult, and she acknowledges that 90 is just not a lot of days to decide if you want to spend the rest of your lives together. Trish also acknowledges that the chitchat side of things is tricky for Natalie, due to a minor language barrier. Natalie might understand every word spoken, but miss some nuance or tone.
Natalie has high hopes
As they go out to dinner at a restaurant, Natalie tells the camera that she hopes that Trish will use her motherly influence to push Mike to give Natalie the ring.
Natalie is uncomfortable with the conversation
Americans, viewed from outsiders, are talkative and we smile a lot. (Seriously, part of what prevented Walmart from being successful in countries like Germany is the idea of smiling cashiers and greeters) Natalie says that in Ukraine, silence is considered comfortable.
Maybe she could have used that silence
Mike, like everyone else to ever eat at a restaurant, moves to put butter on his roll. Natalie once again tries to control him, telling him “try not to eat butter.” That is simply unacceptable. Trish counters that butter isn’t actually bad for you, as it is good for cognition and memory. That’s believed to be true — butter falls into some “healthy fat” categories. But that’s not the point — the point is that Mike is allowed to eat whatever he wants and Natalie shouldn’t try to control him.
Natalie tells Trish about Mike’s new “diet”
Mike reluctantly agreed to Natalie’s one week on, one week off quasi-vegetarian diet (seafood seems to be exempt, so pescatarian?). Trish’s only thought on that is that it’s her son’s choice. We’d love to see Natalie share that attitude.
Natalie still hasn’t unpacked
Once again mentioning that she doesn’t have her ring, Natalie admits that she’s taken a month without unpacking because she feels “unsure and insecure.”
Trish has some advice
She suggests that they set a wedding date, even if it’s tentative, and do all of the planning required and get the visa for Natalie’s mom, just in case.
They set a date! April 3
Natalie also reveals that she is okay with not doing a church wedding, as in her country, they would both have to be baptized, and she feels like a church wedding while marrying a non-Christian would feel dishonest.
Stephanie Davison and Ryan Carr
It’s October of 2020 and Stephanie is packing her things for Belize. She has decided that all of their issues are the result of being apart for so many months.
She’s bringing gifts
Stephanie is excited to be bringing Ryan a number of expensive watches, some of which are designed to coordinate with his clothing … which she has also bought for him. One of the watches is $3,000.
Also …
Stephanie is bringing her mother’s ring. Though she and Ryan are engaged, he has not formally proposed, and she wants him to do this with her mother’s ring.
And she’s off!
Stephanie seems to have jumped on the Rebecca Parrott bandwagon of cougars having their fiance’s face printed on their clothing, with a pandemic twist.
Reunited at last!
Flying during a pandemic is risky and it looks like they could have taken more precautions, but we can acknowledge that they were clearly happy to see each other. Ryan says that it’s a dream come true, basically.
Time for presents!
Stephanie hands him the $3k watch and says that she knows that he “loses things” sometimes but asks that he please not lose that. Translation? A lot of fans are straight up assuming that he’s selling the gifts that she gives him, which … it’s hard to blame him. Phones tell time. A $3k watch is, what, four months of rent? Two gaming PCs? One hundred full, satisfying restaurant meals?
Some of her gifts are cheaper
She brought glow-in-the-dark condoms (she also calls them rubbers … is that a Michigan thing or an age thing?), prompting some bragging about how Ryan lays pipe with her four times a night, six nights in a row.
Big oof
“She’s a bit over-age, but yeah, she keeps up,” is perhaps not the most flattering way to phrase things, Ryan.
They also discuss trust
Ryan has a history of, well, breaking trust, so this time he offers to take off the password on his phone so that Stephanie can look through it and all of his contacts and messages.
Whoops!
“I actually really want to get to America, you know?” is another bit of what we will generously call awkward phrasing. A lot of fans suspect that Ryan is using Stephanie for her money and her American citizenship, and some of Stephanie’s friends and loved ones do not disagree.
At dinner, Stephanie offers him the ring
Ryan tells her that he wants her to be totally comfortable when he proposes, so first he wants to show her that she can trust him again and love him like she used to.
Ryan talks a good game
Stephanie acknowledges that he’s saying all of the right things, but she’s not yet sure if she should buy it. Also … she still hasn’t told him that she boinked his cousin Harris (when they were broken up) and she knows that she needs to tell him.
Jovi Dufren and Yara Zaya
Yara, still spending weeks of her 90 days alone in New Orleans, has been feeling unwell and her friend has advised her to take a pregnancy test.
Remember, she and Jovi previously suffered a miscarriage
At that time, her doctor in Ukraine cautioned her that she might have trouble having children or even getting pregnant in the future. That news hit her hard.
And now??
Yara is weeks into her K-1 visa process. She and Jovi live in a small one-bedroom apartment in a noisy, alcohol-fueled city. This is not exactly good timing.
With her friend on Facetime, she takes the test
Yara reports that her pregnancy test is positive. That is … intense for her.
This is not what she planned
Now, she has to prepare for motherhood, likely with Jovi being gone for weeks at a time for his job. She’ll be like the fisherwives of yore, so to speak.
She has to tell Jovi
When Jovi arrives home, Yara goes to meet him at the airport, where she has to tell him this complicated news.
The news can wait
Jovi has been drinking whiskey and Yara, whose sense of smell would be dialed up considerably if she is pregnant, is offended by the odor and by his drinking at this time of day.
Andrew Kenton and Amira Lollysa
Amira has arrived safely in France after her ordeal — spending three days in detention in Mexico City and then being deported. She is shaken by her experience.
Meanwhile, in Puerto Vallarta …
Andrew is eating ice cream by himself, but with two spoons. Get it? One of the spoons is for Amira.
Amira explains it all to her father
She says that they took everything when she first arrived. The reason? On the form, they accused her of not having a passport. Amira points out the absurdity of this, noting that they gave the form to her in the same envelope in which they stored her passport.
Amira’s father is furious
He believes that because Andrew pressured Amira to take this trip during this pandemic, he is to blame for what went wrong.
Andrew touches base with his family
He tells them that after all of the stress of Amira’s situation, he feels that he needs some much-needed self-care … and so, even with Amira not joining him, he plans to continue on a solo vacation.
Oh no
In Andrew’s defense, 90 Day Fiance is extremely good at editing to make audiences feel a certain way about the stars.
On the other hand …
It’s hard to imagine filming yourself having a blast alone after your fiancee just went through a traumatic ordeal and NOT realize that you’re going to look like a selfish buffoon, right? What was he thinking during this moment?
Andrew and Amira do talk
However, he suggests that with just weeks left on the K-1 visa, they should try again, this time in another country … but this wouldn’t be a romantic getaway. It would be just Amira taking a risk.
Amira is SPEECHLESS
She has been through so much, and she is clearly hurt that Andrew is pushing her to do this.
Brandon Gibbs and Julia Trubkina
Julia has finished another round of miserable farm labor that she — a city girl — never asked for. She moved to America to marry Brandon, the man she loves, not to feed animals that terrify her or shovel up their excrement.
She HATES this
Some people would enjoy the farm life and hate Julia’s past work in nightclubs. Julia is not one of those people, and right now, every day is a nightmare — she even tries to explain that she feels like she’s living in Groundhog Day, where the same monotonous nightmare unfolds every day without change.
She calls her dad
Her father gives her some very sound advice, including the Russian version of “too many cooks spoil the broth.” In this case, it’s that Julia and Brandon can never be happy and independent while Brandon’s megalomaniacal mother is under the same roof.
Julia calls Brandon
As we showed you in the sneak peek video, Julia calls Brandon while he is at work because this message cannot wait — she does not want to live here with Brandon’s parents for one more day.
Brandon’s promises that things will get better have not come true
He has tried to delay her and urge her to be patient, but that has not worn off and the current situation is unbearable.
No more delays
Julia tells him under no uncertain terms that either Brandon fixes this, or she will go home to Russia where she can continue to live her life and be treated with dignity.
Brandon has the GALL to ask …
“What’s wrong with feeding cute animals?” One, the “cute” line is insulting and changes nothing. Two, just because Brandon is accustomed to doing his mother’s bidding on the farm doesn’t mean that other people would accept it. We will say this much — it’s not Brandon’s fault that he’s so spineless when it comes to his parents. His mother spent nearly three decades ensuring that he doesn’t have a spine with which to stand up to her. But he’s an adult, and he has to choose — obey his mom or take care of his future wife.
Julia has been so unhappy
Brandon arrives home. But, clearly afraid of his mother’s wrath and manipulation, he once again tries to pressure Julia to take the path of least resistance.
Absolutely not!!
Despite Brandon having the audacity to try to get Julia to take back her much-needed ultimatum, he accepts her terms.
The two embrace
They really love each other. Brandon needs to cut the apron strings that his mother uses to puppet him around.
Julia is so happy!
Brandon is going to inform his parents that they’re moving. Brandon worries that it’s a risk financially and that it could change his relationship with his parents. What he needs to understand is that that second part is a good thing.
This is a big step!
But while Julia is excited, we all know that Betty has spent so long with Brandon under her thumb — she’s going to freak out when he tries to live his own life.