While trying to get some answers from Bad News Barrett, Alicia admits the Superstar broke her heart.

This was not an easy episode. Every so often, “Total Divas” likes to take a break from all the revelry and weddings and arguments about the pronunciation of “barbed wire” to just completely punch its viewers in the gut and, well, this was one of those weeks. About two-thirds of the episode centered around some kind of lingering emotional trauma for our Divas, so let’s tear off the proverbial Band-Aid so we can get to the healing warmth of a Brie Mode-fueled caper through Europe.

Dealing with matters of the heart this week is Alicia Fox. Up till now, the cast newbie has been a kind of merry tornado whipping her way through the show, but the wind gets taken out of her sails when her ex-boyfriend, WWE Superstar Bad News Barrett, returns to the road from injury. Unable to reconcile Barrett having moved on with the mysterious non-reason for their split in the first place, Alicia spends the episode having unpleasant physical reactions to his presence and lashing out at her friends until she bucks up and asks him why he called it quits. He’s firm, but honest in his answer — he didn’t think she was the one — and despite the sting, everyone feels OK moving on when all is said and done.

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Natalya, meanwhile, is at the end of her rope with attempting to convince her father, Jim Neidhart, to deal with his health problems. He’s about as stubborn as you’d expect a guy nicknamed “The Anvil” to be about confronting his demons, and she’s so stressed she can’t get through a meal without literally bursting into tears. Therefore, she enlists Tyson Kidd to bury the hatchet and help out with a last-ditch intervention. Not only does it work, but it seems like it maybe, juuuuust maybe opens the door a tad for a Natalya-Tyson reconciliation down the road.

Whew. Now that we’ve gotten through that, let’s get to Brie Mode. It’s a simple little story, really: WWE is touring Europe and The Bellas have a particularly full docket. Nikki — having changed her tune drastically from the last time this issue came up — has put the kibosh on Brie Mode for the duration of the trip. Paige, devilish scamp that she is, is having none of this, so she enables Brie to unleash her wild side to such a degree that Nikki almost isn’t speaking to her. Go figure, Brie wrestles a perfect match despite the aftereffects of her romp. No excuses, play like a champion.