This week, Rob and Chyna are still dealing with the fall-out from their fight in the premiere. They haven’t spoken, despite Chyna’s best efforts. Rob has retreated to his house and isn’t returning calls or texts. The fight isn’t the big story in this episode, though. The big issue is Rob’s insecurities.
Chyna throws a birthday party for one of the employees from her online boutique. While making burgers and wings, the two women take a minute to catch up on what’s happening with Rob. Chyna misses the old Rob, the “sweet Rob” as she calls him. She is concerned that this Rob won’t be there for her and the baby. “It bothers me that Rob is always afraid to leave the house. He can’t live his life because of his insecurities,” she says.
Scott is at Rob’s house and they, too, are discussing Rob’s insecurities. Scott is no stranger to having his issues broadcast on reality TV.( For reference, see every season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.) He’s worried about Rob. Scott asks what’s going on with Chyna. Rob’s answer is unsatisfactory.
“It’s all good,” Rob tells Scott. Scott’s not buying it. “I mean, it’s not,” he says to Rob. Scott sees some of his own struggles in Rob and wants to help. “Obviously, I have problems,” Scott says, laughing. But he tells Rob that he feels like Rob could get his act together and have an awesome life. Rob agrees, but there is nothing in his body language that backs up that agreement.
Rob calls Chyna. She wants to know why he didn’t come to the birthday party. “Is it because of the argument?” she asks.
“It’s a combination of things,” Rob says, not really answering her question, but instead saying a whole lot more. To Chyna’s credit, she can read between the lines. “When Rob says bad things about himself, I get thrown off,” she says. She doesn’t see it, and some of the things that Rob says about himself make her really sad.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
At Kris’s house, Rob and Scott are there when Kim calls her mom. Ms. Kardashian West is having a bad day. Scott steps in. He suggests Kim compare her problems to that of her brother and faux-brother-in-law. “You want me to tell you all the problems I have in my life to make you feel better?” he jokes. “ If you think you’ve got it rough, just take a look at us.”
Scott is sincerely empathetic to Rob's situation, and when Scott makes up his mind he’s going to do something, he goes all in. (See, again, every season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.) So Scott appoints Scott Disick as Rob’s new life coach.
Rob goes to Chyna’s house. The hug for the engaged and expecting couple is awkward at best. Chyna, never one to mince words, call them out on it. “Things are pretty awkward between us right now, and it really upsets me,” she says. She wants to know what he wants out of life and this relationship. She straight up asks him. He apologises for not trusting her and disappearing. He says it was “dumb Rob stuff.”
Chyna has other business she needs to conduct with Rob. She has agreed to host a party in Cannes, and she wants Rob to go with her. When she agreed to the gig, he said he would go to France. Now, she’s not so sure where he stands. Rob says he made a promise to go, and he will keep that promise. Chyna is relieved and happy that he is supporting her. No one needs a spoiler to see where this whole Cannes thing is headed.
Scott Disick, life coach, has enlisted the help of super trainer Don, workout star of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Khloé and Kourtney’s Snapchat accounts. Don and Scott arrive to whip Rob into shape. Don says Scott looks like a push-up and pull-up kind of guy. “I’m more of a trading stocks kind of guy,” Scott answers.
Seriously, Scott is the engine that propels this episode.
Scott remembers when he first met Rob who was then on the track team at high school. The producers pull out some old home movies of Rob running. Cut back to Rob, depressed and insecure about his weight.
Rob’s fiancé is facing some insecurities of her own. A tabloid story has appeared where a doctor that doesn’t know Chyna has talked about her “butt collapsing.” She tries to get the doctor on the phone. She’s upset that people don’t talk about her hard work. They talk about her dancing in a club in Miami but not that she moved there to go to college. She wants credit for her accomplishments. The negativity gets her down. “It’s not cool,” she says.
At Rob’s house, a familiar Kardashian scene is taking place: a stylist has arrived with looks for an appearance. Jen Rade has a million pairs of jeans for Rob. None fit and he’s clearly not in the mood for any of it. Scott tries to shake him out of it, but Rob’s down a rabbit hole, and neither Scott or Jen can get him excited. “I don’t want to go to Cannes anyway,” Rob says. In his interview segment, he explains that even when he was in shape, he didn’t feel good about his body.
“It’s not you. I just won’t be happy, period,” he says to the stylist. “That’s just how I am.” Reality show or not. Kardashian spin-off or not. That is sad and all too relatable for so many of us.
Chyna calls Rob, and they have the conversation that was inevitable. He’s not going to Cannes. She is disappointed and angry. He doesn’t want to be seen by that many people or photographed by all of those paparazzi. He gets choked up but does manage to say he’s sorry. She knows the reason but doesn’t think it is fair: to her or him.
Chyna doesn’t stay down for long. She and Paige jet off to France without Rob. It all goes well, but Chyna is nervous about the party. She, too, is worried about what the paparazzi and media will say about her. She powers through, with a little help from Paige.
Meanwhile, Scott has taken his life coach job too seriously. He installed webcams all over Rob’s house to keep an eye on Rob. Rob, like any normal person, is not thrilled. He appreciates what Scott is trying to do, but this is just too much. Scott comes to his senses and agrees to take the cameras down. “I just want my bro back,” Rob says. “Ditch the cameras and the life coach stuff.”
Rob does take some initiative. He works out on the treadmill. He drinks a protein shake. He even puts together a baby swing and calls his mom to show her. Baby steps.
Chyna and Paige were only in Cannes for a day, and Chyna is still disappointed that Rob didn’t make the trip. Paige, who seems to be a good truth teller for the show, points out in her interview that Chyna is complaining about Rob’s insecurities when Chyna is dealing with a lot of the same things. ‘You felt like that for a moment,” Paige says about the tabloid story about Chyna’s butt. “He feels like that 24-7.”
The episode wraps up with Chyna going to Rob’s house for a heart to heart. She tells him she empathises with the body image issues. She apologises for being rude. Rob almost meets her half way, but can’t quite let himself off the hook. “I just need to get my shit together,” he says.
The couple shares a sweet moment when Rob shows Chyna the baby swing. “It shows me that he is willing and committed to me and the baby,” she says.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT