‘Black Ink Crew: Chicago’ Recap: Miss Kitty Is Back, Ryan Keeps It Very Real With Van

Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz

On this week’s episode of Black Ink Crew: Chicago, Miss Kitty is back as an apprentice, Draya’s dad reaches out, Prince is going through some drama, and Ryan finally has a conversation with Van.

Prince Is Going Through It

The episode opens up with Prince and Don catching up on life. Don talks about his recent trip to Dallas to see his daughter, which did not go as smoothly as he would have liked. Prince also has some drama going on in his life, he reveals to Don someone stole his car, and his expensive tattoo equipment was inside.

To add more insult to injury for Prince, he shares with Draya that his father is suffering from mounting health issues which have him worried about losing the only person he feels has left in his life.

Draya’s Dad Reaches Out

Last week, Draya was happy to learn that Anastacia was indeed her sister. After that revelation, her dad finally decided to reach out to her. Draya’s father wants to meet her, and she is nervous, but after a conversation with Prince, she decides to take a trip to New York for that meeting which will be a painful one.

With Prince by her side for emotional support, things shouldn’t be as bad as she feared they would be.

Miss Kitty Is Back, Ryan Is Impressed

We thought Kitty was gone for good. Little did we know her emotional exit to head to London was only preparing us for her dramatic return to 9 MAG.

After speaking with Ryan and Don and spending time in London, Kitty has decided to take this tattoo thing seriously and will become Draya’s apprentice. Taking a page out of Coming To America, 9 MAG’s new apprentice made a hell of an entrance using dancers and having rose petals dropped on the floor.

Ryan and the crew were blown away but also weren’t worried because Kitty would be the one having to sweep those rose petals up because of her new apprentice role.

Draya is happy to have Kitty as an apprentice because she feels that it will help her earn a guest spot at Kitty’s tattoo shop in London if and when she eventually opens it with her “friend” Steven.

Ryan is also impressed to see that Miss Kitty is taking the apprenticeship seriously. We shall see how long this lasts.

Ryan Was Not Happy To See Van

In last week’s episode, Ryan decided to bounce to Dubai for a cryptocurrency conference, but we also feel he didn’t want anything to do with Van being on the show.

Don tells Ryan that he linked with Van while he was in Dallas, and the 9 MAG owner could care less. Ryan finally breaks down why he no longer wants anything to do with Van, and it mainly has to do with him stiffing him with the $600,000 lawsuit he had to pay for because of Van’s struggle tattoo he did on a client when he worked at the old 9 MAG.

What Ryan didn’t know was that the whole conversation was just Don getting the temperature of Ryan and Van’s relationship because Don was secretly setting something up.

Don decided to put together a game night for the guys to blow off steam and have some drinks, but it turns out the night was set up so Ryan and Van could finally speak.

When Van walks in, Ryan is instantly annoyed by his presence and is not too happy that Don set him up like that. Van immediately asks him why they no longer talk, and Ryan puts it all out there for him.

Ryan explains paying $600,000 for his mistake didn’t help. Van claims he didn’t know about the lawsuit. Ryan also felt moves Van made, like linking with Ceaser while the tattoo shop moguls were beefing, were him doing things out of spite.

Van apologizes and wishes Ryan well, but clearly, no love is lost between the former good friends.

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Photo: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz