Life has changed.
The gang is back after having to shut things down due to the pandemic. They get back together for Ryan’s birthday celebration. Don is now on good terms with Ashley and owns a gym. Charmaine is dealing with the news of her father having stage 4 cancer. Phor has a baby on the way with his girlfriend Nina. They met on Instagram and she’s a rapper as well.
Miss Kitty has been focused on her beauty business, she sells a line of makeup brushes. Charmaine has officially made her the brand manager for 2nd City Ink. Charmaine put the shop on the back burner to focus on her family but now she’s ready to grow the business.
Don and Ryan discuss the latest accusations. Ryan’s former friend Anthony accused him of sleeping with his baby momma on social media. They used to be so close that Ryan was Anthony’s a godfather to Anthony’s son. Now the friendship is done. The whole situation just made Ryan realize he needs help when it comes to his mental health.
Fly Tatted passed away.
When it comes to business matters, Ryan wants to hire more female tattoo artists. And Miss Kitty is thinking that 2nd City Ink needs to do the same. This is even more so the case since the shop is owned by a black woman.
Fly Tatted’s recent passing has really been on Prince’s mind lately since they were so close. He painted a mural in his honor on the wall at 2nd City Ink.
With her dad battling cancer, Charmaine felt the need to move him to Chicago.
Charmaine was promoted at the radio station. She’s now a midday host and she’s thankful she’s been able to work from home during the pandemic. Her father calls and says that he’s about to get two rounds of chemo. Charmaine brought him back from Louisiana for treatment so she could support him.
Don’s health is in question.
It’s the day of Phor and Nina’s baby shower. Both have family and friends there to celebrate their baby on the way. Don tells Ryan that he thinks that Phor and Nina are currently in a relationship. Their relationship status can be hard to keep up with at times.
Sometime later, Don is rushed to the hospital for a medical emergency.
He thought he was having a heart attack. Don couldn’t breathe and had muscle spasms all over his body.
There’s an update about Don.
Ryan and Charmaine catch up and walk around at the beach. They discuss Ryan’s fallout with Anthony. Apparently, Anthony’s son discovered revealing text messages on his mother’s phone. And he told Anthony.
They then discuss Charmaine’s father. He hid his health issues from her. So she’s not even sure how long he’s been sick. Ryan tells her that he’s there to support her and they hug.
Phor and Ryan head to the hospital to see Don. He hasn’t been saying much about his health condition. But he was working out until he started to feel funny. And he thinks something is up with his heart. After they see him, Ryan and Phor say they think Don looked better than they thought he would. The MRI didn’t reveal anything major. So doctors are still trying to figure out what’s going on.
Eventually, Don says that he found out he had a virus that caused his body to attack itself. Ashley tells him that she wishes he would take better care of himself. He admits that he tries to stay away from the hospital and doctors because of a lack of trust.
It’s time to face Anthony.
Ryan has a virtual appointment with his therapist. The situation with his friend Anthony has really been stressing him out. He’s going to meet up with Anthony soon. But he has no interest in working on their friendship because it seems like Anthony ran to Rachel to try to hurt Ryan as a form of revenge. Rachel took Anthony’s side and didn’t want Ryan to see their kids after everything happened.
Regardless, Ryan realizes it doesn’t benefit him to stay mad at Anthony.
Phor has a lot to think about.
After Don gets out of the hospital, he catches up with Phor. Phor says that things with Nina aren’t easy. It seems like they want different things. And he wants to make sure their relationship isn’t toxic for their child. They need more reasons to be together than just having a child together. Don just wants Phor to be the best father he can be no matter what the outcome of the relationship with Nina is.
Before Ryan meets with Anthony, he gets a tattoo of his mother. She loves it and is touched by Ryan’s love for her. With everything going on with Anthony, Ryan realizes the most important thing in his life is family.
Anthony and Ryan talk after several months of silence.
The former friends meet at a restaurant. Anthony says he’s hurt by Ryan’s actions. He was a loyal friend to Ryan and would have even given up his life to save him.
But Ryan takes issue with the fact that Anthony told Rachel what happened. That turned their co-parenting relationship back sour. During a conversation, Rachel told Ryan he has to be some type of psychopath to do what he did to Anthony. Although Anthony says he only talked to Rachel about it because he needed someone to confide in, Ryan believes Anthony contacted her to get revenge.
For Ryan, sleeping with Anthony’s baby momma wasn’t about him or meant to hurt him. His issues have nothing to do with Anthony. And Anthony is still struggling to understand how it even came down to this.
The episode ends on a cliffhanger as both men struggle to properly get all their feelings out.
What are your thoughts on the season premiere?
