'Black Ink Crew: Chicago': Can Charmaine and Ryan get past their enmity and be friends once again?
Charmaine Walker and Ryan Henry's friendship graph on 'Black Ink Crew: Chicago' has been an interesting one and has stood the test of time. What went down in the Season 5 finale, it was anybody's guess that they would kill each other if locked in the same room. But things changed.
Charmaine was employed at Ryan's old tattoo shop '9mag' (same name as now) as a celebrity concierge. However, when people brought personal relationships to work, the shop witnessed an influx of drama. It was when Ryan decided to pull the plug on all of it by closing down his venture.
When he discussed this with Donald "Don" Brumfield Jr, he was taken aback. However, he was assured that he and Phor Brumfield would retain their roles as artists at the new '9mag' outlet and tasked to break the news to Charmaine. At Phor's party, Don announced that 9mag had closed its doors for some of its employees, Bella and Charmaine.
Bella was furious because that was the only way she could support her daughter and with the income gone, she doesn't know where to go. The reaction from her was explosive but also pretty valid. Meanwhile, Charmaine was told how she wasn't doing much as 9mag's celebrity concierge and that her skills will no longer be needed at the shop. She wasn't hurt because she was fired but because Ryan chose not to talk to her about it. That was the beginning of their bitter-sweet relationship, which took a horrible turn when Charmaine opened her own tattoo parlor called '2nd City Ink' with Jessica.
The first 6 episodes of Season 6 focussed on how Ryan and Charmaine were struggling in their own power trips. No one was willing to back down. A couple of weeks ago, they even got into an ugly spat over one stealing tattoo artists from another's parlor. The way they ended their argument, no one would have thought in a few days Ryan would be by Charmaine's side as she grieved her mother's death.
As soon as he found out about Charmaine's loss, he was the first one to arrive at her home and comfort her as she cried inconsolably.
His kind gestures didn't end there. Ryan walked into the 2nd City Ink shop to inform Charmaine's colleagues that she would need them by her side in New Orleans (where the funeral was to take place).
However, later, he rented a property in the said city for everyone to stay as they attended the event.
His thoughtful acts may have touched Charmaine in more ways than one. But will it revive their friendship completely?
Catch 'Black Ink Crew: Chicago' on VH1 every Wednesday, 8/7 c.
