Okie dokie, after a two-week hiatus, my favorite new TV show is back! While it’s true that I thought the show stalled out a bit in the last episode, particularly in the way it’s been dragging out the question of paternity regarding Savi’s pregnancy, I am still happy to see it return. I’ve missed watching it, reviewing it, and seeing the reactions of fellow fans on Twitter and Facebook. I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder…

So as we left off with our main girl Savi, Harry walked out on her. She’s living alone in the house, and things are falling apart, literally. We learn that during their marriage Harry took care of most of the duties around the house, including cleaning, shopping for food, paying the bills, and fixing things, like her leaky shower. Savi keeps trying to fix the shower herself, but can’t do it (surely a house that big has more than one bathroom with a shower, why not just use the other one?). At one point she calls Harry to ask if he’ll come by to fix it, but he declines and tells her that she’ll need to learn to handle things herself now. We also get a little subplot, as we see Harry dealing with his own problems. J.R. Cacia returns as Harry’s business partner, Jeff, last seen in episode 7, to tell him that their restaurant is in danger of going out of business, but Harry can’t concentrate because he’s thinking about Savi. Later, Dom catches Savi sleeping in her office and convinces her to go home and get some rest. He later shows up at her home with her briefcase that she accidentally left behind, and some special tea which he says should help her relax. Savi invites him in, and they talk about what’s going on, it’s mostly Savi talking while Dom listens. There’s a brief moment where Joss passes through on her way out (more on that in a bit), and she kinda tries to tell Dom to back off, because she thinks Savi should work on her marriage, but Dom pretty much flat-out states that he wants Savi, and isn’t going to give up. Because there’s no food in the house (again, that was something Harry always took care of), Dom and Savi go out to get something to eat, and Savi confesses all her insecurities about becoming a mother, while Dom acts like her cheerleader, telling her how awesome she is going to be. And then they go to buy a crib after Dom finds out Savi (who is now 9 weeks pregnant) doesn’t have one yet. But when they get home, Harry is there (OF COURSE HE IS), having fixed the shower. Things get awkward, Harry leaves, and then so does Dom, and Savi spends the rest of the night putting the crib together by herself.

April catches Paul hanging around Lucy’s school, she’s enraged and tries to tell him off, to leave her and Lucy alone and to just go back to Florida. Paul breaks down crying, saying he regrets everything he’s done and just really wants to see his daughter again. Credit goes to Dondre Whitfield who manages to make this slimy character seem sincere. At least for a minute. That sincerity fades after Richard goes to Paul’s motel room to confront him, and Paul begins some trash-talking, which leads to a fistfight. When Richard goes to see April and tells her what happened, she gets angry at him for going to see Paul, but Richard is angry at her for constantly shutting him out of these extremely important things in her life. So April goes to see Paul, bringing a photo album full of pictures of Lucy from the past 3 years since Paul first disappeared. She tries to make a deal that, after this, he’ll leave. And so they sit down and go through the pictures together and reminisce. It’s a touching scene and, once again, Paul seems genuinely sincere when he sees the pics of Lucy, but is this really going to be enough for him?

And, oh yeah, I forgot to mention that, after the fight, Paul went out and bought a gun.

Olivier comes to Joss asking for her help impressing some potential new clients, a married couple whom he describes as “cosmopolitan” (ie kinky), and he wants her to come along as he shows them the L.A. nightlife, which she is an expert on. Joss initially turns him down because she has plans with Alex, whom she describes as her “girlfriend” now, but then Alex gets sick that night, so Joss joins Olivier and the couple (whose names I don’t recall ever hearing, but they’re played by Alex Fernandez & Ursula Brooks) to go out to club which features female dancers in dominatrix gear. Although this is usually the type of place that Joss would thrive in, she’s more concerned about how Alex is doing at home. Nevertheless, things go well for the couple, who end up leaving together with a hot female bartender (Jessica Cook), and Olivier tells Joss that she can represent them, and then takes her for a ride in his Deloreon (he’s a big fan of Back To The Future…seriously). Afterward, he asks her in for a nightcap, but she turns him down and goes home to Alex.

BTW all night Joss is wearing this bustier that…well, let’s just say she was looking very bodacious in this episode. Yowza!

Karen is freaking out about Elizabeth’s lawsuit against her, implicating her in Tom’s death (a brilliant set-up, I must admit). For some reason, Karen gets really angry at Savi for not telling her more about Elizabeth’s plans, but Savi can’t do that since her firm represents Elizabeth. Karen even turns down Savi’s offer to find her a good lawyer, but then can’t seem to find one herself. Then, suddenly, a lawyer named Natalie Wade (Tehmina Sunny) shows up, claiming that someone hired her to represent Karen. And Karen just accepts this and they begin to discuss the case. Natalie says that it looks like Elizabeth is going to try to claim that Karen helped Tom commit suicide, and when Karen says she doesn’t have an alibi for the night it happened, Natalie strongly implies that she find someone, like one of her friends, to lie for her. Later, Sam shows up at Karen’s house, revealing that he hired Natalie for her, so she invites him in, where he also offers to be her fake alibi, and then they have sex! THE END

Okay, final thoughts: I pretty much liked everything about how Savi’s story was handled in this episode. Harry catching her and Dom together may be a little too coincidental, but that’s okay. At least they didn’t have Harry and Dom start fighting. I am curious about the little subplot with Harry’s business. We learned last time that it was Savi’s money that helped launch the restaurant in the first place, and Jeff had suggested going to her for more, but Harry didn’t seem to like that idea. But then he only shows up at the house after this episode’s meeting with Jeff, so does he have other ulterior motives? Jason Winston George shined this episode, as we got to see some real feelings from Dom. I know most of the fans on Twitter are rooting for Savi and Harry but, dang, she and Dom REALLY had great chemistry in this episode. When they were out together it seemed like they were on a normal date. Those two really could work as a couple.

Of course, Savi and Harry have had great chemistry in previous episodes too…so I could also see them working things out. I mean, I guess it could go either way. I’m not sure which man to root for, I guess now I know how Savi must be feeling!

I also thought Joss’ story was handled well. Olivier mentioned how she seems to have changed since he first met her, and I think we, the viewers, have seen that unfold. She can still be flirty and vivacious when she needs to be, but she’s in a serious relationship now, something she made clear in the first episode that she didn’t want, and doesn’t appear to regret it (yet).

I’m a little blasé on the April storyline. Richard going over to confront Paul the way he did seems a little out of character, but I did like it when he told off April. She has, so far, been trying to keep him out of this situation with Paul, for the most part, but if they’re going to be a couple then she needs to start including him. So, in that context, his reaction made sense. Now what’s up with this gun nonsense?

The only character not really working in this episode is Karen. It’s strange that, as a therapist, she’s supposed to be the smartest and most stable one of the group but, if you look back this season, you can see that she’s been making one really stupid mistake after another. I thought it was extremely weird the way she so readily accepted Natalie as her lawyer. But then her jumping into the sack with Sam at the end? Where did that come from?!? This is the kid who was stalking her a few episodes ago, she was afraid of him, and bought a new security camera because of him, so how did that change so fast? Her actions just make no sense. But, in a way, watching her dig herself deeper and deeper into a whole is the fun part. And something tells me that things are just going to get worse for her before they get better (if they ever do get better).

So, all in all, I’d say the show is back on track.

MISTRESSES airs Monday Nights @ 10pm on ABC

You can also watch episodes online via http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/mistresses