It’s time for a staff retreat.
Ceaser gets an update from the others about Donna. She’s been hard to deal with lately. And she keeps insisting on not tattooing. She wants to sell her merchandise at the shop instead. So Puma thinks it would be a good idea to have a staff retreat. And he wants everyone to go to his friend Tyrese’s land. Puma is passionate about this also because there’s been some tension between the Atlanta and New York teams, too. Cease isn’t sure this will go the way Puma thinks it will. But he will give the whole idea a chance.
Donna clashes with producers.
When the two teams get together, Ink Daddy apologizes for hitting on Krystal. She’s not really impressed though because Rok told him to apologize to her.
Donna and Tatti try to hash out their issues. But after Donna says Cease is okay with her having a space in his shop to sell her products, Cease says this isn’t true. Not too long after, the producers call out Donna. They tell her that they don’t want her to end up putting her hands on Tatti because there’s no need for anyone to get violent. Everyone there should be intelligent enough to talk out their problems instead.
But Donna gets irritated and says that every season it’s the same thing. There are “team-building” trips but nothing is resolved. And she argues with the same people regardless.
Cease and Donna can’t get on the same page.
Cease tries to talk things out with Donna and Alex. Donna says she has CBD juices, a hair line, and a fashion line in the works. She wants to be able to use an empty room at the shop to do her photoshoot for the fashion line. But Cease doesn’t agree to this. So Donna gets mad and pushes Cease.
She goes on to say that she’s put in a lot of work for Black Ink. And she deserves respect from Cease and the others. Cease doesn’t see it this way and reminds Donna that it was Teddy and Puma who were there at the very beginning, not Donna. In a green screen interview, Donna says she’s a huge asset at the shop and on the show. So Cease should be willing to look out for her.
Cease feels Donna doesn’t deserve credit because she’s the worst tattoo artist in the history of Black Ink. Donna says Cease isn’t the best artist at Black Ink but Cease says it doesn’t matter since he owns the empire.
Since the conversation resolved nothing, Donna and Alex cut it short and walk away.
When Teddy gets Alex alone, he asks Alex if Donna is okay mentally. Alex says no. And in a green screen interview, Alex says that Donna has been under a lot of stress in her personal life. They have been looking for a home and it hasn’t been easy.
Young Bae receives some scary news.
Krystal is ready to let Rok out of the dog house. Rok thinks she’s the one and he wants them to get tattoos to show their loyalty to each other. So they decide to tattoo each other’s initials at the same time.
While Bae is eating with Niko, her friend calls her and tells her that several Asian women were killed at salons in Atlanta. This makes Bae afraid and she says that she’s been feeling like a target since coming to Atlanta with the rest of the New York Crew. She later calls her mom and tells her what happened.
As the house seems a lot quieter than usual, Tatti and the others discover that Donna and Alex have quietly left. They also see that Donna has blocked everyone on Instagram. So it seems as if she may be done with Black Ink.
What are your thoughts on the episode?
