LA Ink Season 2 Episode 1 Recap : 'Kat's Back but Where is Hannah'

LA Ink Season 2 Premiered tonight and it started off with the gang crowded around Kat Von D and her disclaiming that she’s pregnant. Then she quickly stated that she was joking. Nice work TLC and Kat - the promo of this moment set off a firestorm of rumors that KVD was carrying her first child.

Anyway, the major story in the first episode is that Hannah is back home in Chicago and liking it just a little bit too much. She doesn’t show up for work for over a week and the other artists are worried that she won’t return. But, we all know that there aren’t too many tattoo reality TV shows out there that are hiring. While she doesn’t return during this episode, I’m betting that she will be back in episode 2.

In Pixie land, Kat finds out that her best friend took an unannounced week-long vacation to Mexico without her permission. Kat’s fed up that Pixie is taking advantage of their friendship and not treating her like a boss. More on this later.

Here’s the hour’s tattoos (click thumbnails for a larger pic):

Patron: Joanna, Adult Film Star
Tattoo Artist: Corey
Concept/Backstory: Joanna wants a women inside of the symbol of the planet Venus in order to depict the her duality of feeling strong and weak.
Result: Corey adapts her original design and the end result is a simple, well done tattoo. 

     

Patron: Marky, Make-Up Artist
Tattoo Artist: Kat Von D
Concept/Backstory: Marky has the skin pigmentation condition called Vitiligo, which he is always asked about. He decides to get “It’s Called Vitiligo” on his arm as a form of empowerment.
Result: This one is a bore - cool backstory, but nothing special. Marky is happy with how it turns out.

    

Patron: Chris, Visual Effect Producer
Tattoo Artist: Kim
Concept/Backstory: For his first tattoo, Chris wants a tattoo of flowers to symbolize all the women in his life: his mother, his girlfiend, his best friend, aunts and cousins. 
Result: This tattoo is huge and intricate! Kim has to give Chris two sessions for this one. The end result is the best tattoo of the hour - large on detail and very impressive. See for yourself.

       

Patron: Jon, Self-Employed
Tattoo Artist: Corey
Concept/Backstory:  wants a half-sleeve tattoo of crow descending into fire. For him, it’s a counter-tattoo to his phoenix rising out of water tattoo. Together, they symbolize life and death for him given that he was in an accident 6 years ago that almost took his life.
Result: Another very intricate tattoo, but a little bit too busy for my taste.

    

Patron: Lala Romero, Famed Latin Singer
Tattoo Artist: Kat Von D
Concept/Backstory: Lala wants a tattoo of a Soldadera - a woman soldier from the Mexican revolution that was sent into combat with the men.
Result: Great black and white tattoo with the popping colors of the Mexican flag behind. I love the detail Kat put into this one and so did Lala. 

      

Later on, Kat tells Corey that she wants to start a tattoo convention / music festival in Los Angeles and make it stand out from the pack of other “crappy” conventions.

As for her situation with Pixie, Kat enlists the help of a life coach, who suggests that she would probably fire Pixie if she wasn’t a friend. Ut oh… sounds like more drama on the way.

Tune in next time when Corey’s mom stops by the shop and Kat supposedly fires Pixie. We’ll see if that actually happens because trailers have been known to outright lie.