’90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days’: Oh, Rats (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 4, Episode 8 of 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days.]

From road trips with goats to watching pigs squabble (and yes, that includes Tom) this week brings the whole zoo to the 90 Day circus.

Let’s break down this animal behavior.

You’ve Goat to Be Kidding

Lisa and Usman head to the market to pick out a goat to gift his mother. The presentation of a goat is apparently a traditional sign of respect, and Usman’s mother will eventually kill and eat it once it’s older.

“I am very nervous about it because Usman’s mom is a very conservative Muslim, and I am a white American Christian, so she is not onboard with me,” Lisa explains. She purchases a prime goat for $115 but is skeptical of being “ripped off” due to her race.

They head back to the hotel with the goat in the trunk of the car, and Lisa names it Barney. “Now my fate lays with a goat,” she says to the camera.

True Colors

Varya is excited to show Geoffrey around her home country of Siberia. He similarly plans to open up to her about his past while there. “Although I’m a different person now, when I was younger I did go to prison for dealing drugs. I’m not proud of the person I was,” he says in a confessional. “But I’m afraid when I tell Varya the truth, she’ll never speak to me again.”

While at Varya’s high school, Geoffrey finally tells her part of his background. She is understandably frustrated and blindsided, and it cuts to commercial before we can learn more.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Ed and Rosemarie prepare the house to make space for him to stay, and her father informs them that he will also be sleeping in the same room. “I want to make sure that he shows respect to Rose,” her dad tells the camera.

“I’ve never ever shared a room with my girlfriend and her father in my life,” Ed complains. “But there’s a tropical storm outside and I’m stuck.” With all the rain, he is also worried about their roof collapsing, and his skin-sensitive sheets haven’t arrived yet either. It seems like a storm definitely is brewing.

Rosemarie’s father announces that he’ll instead be sleeping next door, but then Ed spots the exposed electrical wire and worries about the rain affecting their power. He also shudders at the loud thunder. “What? You’re scared like a big baby,” Rosemarie laughs.

“What the f**k am I doing, this is insane,” Ed tells himself through his anxiety. The power shuts off, and Ed can only wonder if Rosemarie is trying to come to America to escape her life in the Philippines.

All About Control

The day after their explosive date, Stephanie still plans on traveling to Port Augusta to meet girlfriend Erika’s friends. Meanwhile, Erika calls one of her pals for support. “I don’t know how to deal with her being jealous,” Erika vents. “But I’m excited for you all to meet her.”

Stephanie is even jealous about the fact that Erika told her friends about their argument. “I would have preferred if you didn’t tell your friends about our problems,” she scolds Erika.

Erika rightfully begins to reevaluate their dynamic, explaining that without mutual trust, their relationship won’t work. Halfway through their drive to Port Augusta, Erika tries to start a conversation with Stephanie about the previous night.

“There’s still stuff I’m upset about from last night. I just don’t think the best place to discuss it is in a moving vehicle on an almost four-hour drive,” Stephanie shuts down.

“I guess there kind of seems like there’s some control issues, and that really scares me because I’m a free-spirited person,” Erika counters, without having to point out that Stephanie is even trying to control when and where their conversation can take place. “Everything that went down last night was really unnecessary.”

Stephanie explains that she might seem controlling since her life has been “unstable” recently, especially with her health over the past two years.

Deflated David

After Lana didn’t show up at the train station, David decides to travel to her hometown to find her. He embarks on the 400-mile journey to finally meet Lana after seven years of talking to her. “If I was younger, I probably wouldn’t be doing this. But I’m right at a crossroads in my life. I’m way beyond when I wanted to be married and I’m not going to sit here waiting for Lana to finish her games,” he tells a producer while driving.

According to David, this is the final straw in his relationship. He later gets a flat tire after nine hours of driving due to the uneven roads. “This trip has been such a struggle, but I’m not giving up on Lana,” he affirms. “If I do meet her, I plan to propose to her.”

A Load of Croc

Ash takes Avery on a crocodile cruise to try to “rekindle their playfulness,” or in other words, deflect her questions. “I’m loving all these experiences but this is not a vacation. I’m here trying to figure out if this is going to be my lifelong partner. It’s really important to leave Australia with all the questions I had coming here answered,” Avery tells the camera.

She asks again when she can meet Ash’s ex-wife and son Taj. He just says that he’s still “working on it,” but then privately admits that he doesn’t want them to meet.

Post-Tom Stress Disorder

Tom reflects on his meeting with Darcey and says he’s frustrated with himself for how he handled “the Darcey train” that just ran him over, like he wasn’t the one conducting everything. Tom FaceTimes with his sister Emma to discuss seeing Darcey. Emma asks if he ran after Darcey after she left, and he admits to speaking to Darcey inappropriately. “I do feel sad. I did have feelings for her,” Tom tells Emma, who says that she knows Darcey isn’t right for him.

Tom is adamant about seeing Darcey again though while he’s still in New York. “It seems like a real shame to go home with an ending like this,” he tells the camera.

Meanwhile in a hotel room, Darcey is still in tears. “I truly loved him and I gave him my heart, and all I really wanted was to be loved,” she admits. “My biggest fears came true. Tom is a Jesse in disguise. … He played me for a fool.”

Darcey bemoans her tumultuous love life, and says she just hopes to be loved someday.

Don’t Drop the Soap

“I feel broken,” Ed dramatically states to the camera after spending a night without air conditioning, a wet mattress pad, and mosquitoes.

He tells Rosemarie that he can’t spend another night in her home and asks if she would join him at a hotel. “I wish Ed could stay at my home and spend time with my son,” Rosemarie tells the camera, hoping Ed would have connected with her son Prince before leaving again.

Rosemarie bathes Ed and her father together before they head out. “This has to be the weirdest experience of my life,” Ed confesses, as chickens and rabbits run through the house. Ed drops the soap while a rat scurries past his sandals. “I cannot wait to get out of here,” he concludes.

Not-So-Happy Hour

Erika and Stephanie arrive in Erika’s hometown, and the couple get settled in their hotel apartment. Erika invites her friend Clair to meet up with them later, but Stephanie isn’t ready to meet anyone just yet. “It might be a little hard for me tonight because I feel like you’re really mad at me and I’m now supposed to put on a face and act all happy around your friend,” Stephanie confronts Erika. Well, gee, maybe it would be less awkward if they had discussed this on the way there!

Erika says that she was hoping Clair could act as an icebreaker to their tension. Later while at the hotel bar with Clair, Stephanie immediately fuels the fire by opening up to Clair about how much she disliked the bust sculpting date.

Erika explains that she is planning a party to introduce Stephanie to everyone, but Stephanie is nervous about running into any of Erika’s exes. While Stephanie is in the restroom, Erika confesses to Clair that there has been a lack of intimacy and affection with Stephanie and she’s worried about how compatible they are together.

David and the Real Girl

David wanders around Lana’s city hoping to find her. He does have her address (or a supposed address), but he doesn’t want to “scare her.” Instead he resorts to showing her picture to random shopkeepers. Great plan, David.

He finally decides to just go back to his hotel to see if she’s online. She had messaged him earlier asking if he still wanted to meet to take a photo so she could get her visa. This thinly-veiled attempt to use him for a Green Card somehow makes David elated. “Everything is forgiven … I’m so close,” David giggles giddily.

Tears & Fears

Now back to Geoffrey and Varya. He admits to being in prison for two years, and she is shocked that he didn’t tell her sooner. Geoffrey continues to say that he was poor growing up so drug dealing was an easy way for him to get money. Varya tells him that her cousin died from a drug overdose, and so his confession is especially upsetting to her.

“I don’t even like thinking about it, thinking about the people I could have hurt,” Geoffrey tears up. He says he tries to “lead by example” for his own children today.

Still, Varya states that she never would have let Geoffrey come to Russia or introduce him to her mother if she knew the truth beforehand. He asks for forgiveness, and she tells him that she just needs space.

Pork Problems

Rosemarie, her father, and Ed travel to their family pig farm via bus. Ed has trouble navigating the farm and slips in mud before slinging food into the pig pens. Rosemarie’s father apparently lives in a shack on the property across from the pigs, and right after learning this, Ed asks to take Rosemarie to a hotel because he can’t stand the heat.

“I’m so glad we’re going on a vacation away from her family and away from this environment, ” Ed tells the camera. He is also unsure if it’s “true love” to Rosemarie after seeing her living conditions.

Save Your Tears

Stephanie and Erika return to the hotel, and Stephanie offers to sleep on the couch. “I feel like I’m getting a lot of mixed signals. I want someone to be excited about being around me,” Erika vulnerably tells her, citing their lack of both physical and emotional intimacy.

“There’s a difference between talking about things online and then meeting and being thrust into a new situation,” Stephanie stoically counters. “Like, I just met you.” She brings up her illness yet again and that the stress of being around Erika is too much for her.

Erika is a bright light of reason and maturity during their whole conversation, and eventually she leaves to give a selfish Stephanie space to sob to no one.

Mother Disapproves

Usman encourages Lisa to don traditional attire before meeting his mother. Usman, Lisa, and goat Barney arrive at his mother’s house to hopefully receive her blessing before getting married in Nigeria.

They meet with the women of the family: Usman’s mother, his two sisters, and his sister-in-law. His eldest sister says she never expected to see Usman with an older woman like Lisa, but he reminds her that Lisa is an American and they should be open to her.

In a possibly jumbled translation, Usman tells his family that Lisa is a doctor in the U.S., when she is in fact a hospice caregiver. Usman’s brother joins the conversation, and finally Usman announces his intention to wed Lisa. His mother and older sister both immediately say no and walk away.

“I am totally disappointed of their reaction,” Usman says to the camera before telling Lisa they should leave. His mother explains in a confessional that she’s not just worried about Lisa’s age, but also about Usman potentially leaving to live in America with tense race relations.

“You’ve had two years to practice this,” Lisa tells Usman. “At this point our relationship could be over.”

Previews

We see Avery trying to break through to Ash, who tells her that it’s not right for her to question him and he considers himself single. Varya asks Geoffrey to tell her mother about his past, and Usman begs his brother to try and persuade their mother to accept Lisa.

Plus, Darcey meets with twin Stacey to discuss all things Tom, and Yolanda explains the blackmail situation to her daughter. Stephanie confronts Erika about her previous relationships, and surprise, surprise Lana will most likely stand up David yet again.

See you next week!

90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, Sundays, 8/7c, TLC