'Kandi's Ski Trip' Picks Up Where 'RHOA' Left Off

You won't be alone this week if the sight of a "new" episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta surprises you on your DVR. But that's not actually a new episode of RHOA — it's the premiere of Kandi's Ski Trip , Kandi Burruss' family spinoff that kind of feels like an extended Kandi segment on a Housewives episode. I guess this is why the show is picking up in RHOA's usual time slot and proceeding under the RHOA title, just like last year's wedding spinoff.

It definitely seems like this was planned as a much longer series than just a little three-episode ski trip, given the flashback scene with Kandi, Todd, and Mama Joyce making up at Todd's mother's grave. But instead of a good relationship between Mama Joyce and Todd, the show teased a bunch more conflict, which has now shifted from blaming Todd to blaming Kandi for spending so much time with Todd. The ongoing thread of Kandi's trouble with her cousin Weenie and assistant Carmen, who both seem to have preexisting problems with her that will pop up more over the next two episodes.

Kandi's family, it's reminded every single time the show comes back from commercial break, is staying at the Bella Vista resort in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It's hilarious how much the Burruss-Tuckers found to complain about the place considering that it's huge — the site says it's big enough to accommodate 35 people — and it's filled with brochure-ready photos of smiling white people on corporate retreats. Not quite what Kandi's Ski Trip is like.

And the old lady brigade, AKA Kandi's aunts Nora and Bertha, hate the entire experience and are using the entire trip to justify their disappointment that Kandi made them stay in a room that had stairs and didn't have an adequate lock on it. Mama Joyce was speaking truth for once — her sisters were making a huge deal out of almost nothing considering they got to go on a free trip where they'd be spending more time with Kandi, something they said they wished they got the opportunity to do more often.

And I don't understand why they seem to think that Todd is the problem, when getting married to anyone would change the amount of time they had to spend with friends and extended family. At least so far, this doesn't seem to be a rehash of the same old, same old fights between Mama Joyce and Kandi. But Kandi's Ski Trip may prove that even the most dedicated RHOA fan will be annoyed to find new episodes... that aren't actually new episodes.

Images: Bravo