Eliz

AMEN I have nothing against these guys or their commentary. But I have a very strong format preference, for this and any/all shows.

Question for the group: I've now read two recaps (here and vulture) that characterize the dinner convo as Ramona "admitting" she has "only" had sex with three men since her divorce. My interpretation of that scene as I watched it was that the ladies' reaction to her saying three was that they thought she was inflating that number, not that it's an embarassingly low number. My view is that their reaction is in line with their reactions to her weak attempts at dating over the last couple years -- e.g., she can't even talk to a guy she brings to a party as her date, she says she never gets past a first date, etc. What did you all think?

It's too bad Kate went home for it, because Hot Cross Bunny Churros is a very very clever and funny name. She had a good record on creativeness of her showstoppers -- I thought her prior girl guide gingerbread and especially the braided/plaited cornmaiden were both smart and unusual (and very well executed). If she isn't already running a baking business specializing in children's themes, she should be.

Here's my unpopular opinion: I haven't seen Naomie do or say a single thing to Craig that I thought was wrong. I was really sorry to see her apologize to him, because it validates his completely wrong view that being a supportive partner means never calling someone on his bullshit. Can we just take a step back and look at how big-picture crazy it is that Bravo used that Landon-Thomas sitting-on-the-bench conversation as the frame for the whole season? To start the first episode with that, as if the whole season is leading up to it? When actually their relationship was over before it began. It never really gelled into anything. Just as a matter of narrative structure, I don't get why the producers thought they needed to set it up like that. This season was sort of aimless. I think this show is running out of gas.

Craig seems not to understand the difference between a close relationship -- in which it is important to get to the root of problems -- and a causal friendship -- in which it is not important to hash everything out, but it's enough to just smooth things over. Craig is sort of dumb, exhibit 1,000.

Hey Adam and Danny-- Re: Candice's jewelry box and last time's mirror. All the contestants bring their own serving pieces every time for their plan-ahead items. In the past I have definitely thought that some of the showstopper ones have gotten crazy, much crazier than these ones from Candice.

Ha, sounds like the Apologizer family motto is really coming together.

My armchair psychologist viewpoint: Ramona is fundamentally messed up. She had an abusive childhood that she has never dealt with. She moved to the city and got some positive attention for her looks, which made her feel better about herself but really isn't a path to substantive feelings of self-worth. And then she married Mario and made a life. All the while, the pain and hurt that she never resolved was lurking underneath. When Mario left her, that blew the lid off everything. She wasn't just hurt by his betrayal; it also stripped away the veneer of "I'm okay, I'm okay, everything is okay, my life is great" that has been papering over her severe issues for decades. She's been in a major spiral ever since. I thought it was nakedly on display in this episode -- she can't keep her shit together. She doesn't even want to keep her shit together. She's been on tilt all season, careening around from one cackling extreme to another, looking for an outlet for her rage and despair. She's my number one housewife that I couldn't stand to be in a room with for 10 minutes (tied with OC Vicky -- I think they're really similar). I find her truly toxic. But I do also feel sorry for her. If she had ever gotten some therapy she might be a functioning human being right now instead of this mess.

You know who came out of this episode looking pretty great -- Carole. 1. She's friendly to Tinsley, and in talking about the building also reveals this whole part of her life as part of the community in her building that is separate from the show and sounds eccentric and interesting. 2. She backs up her friend when her friend tells her she has just been through something terrible and is leaving Dorinda's house. 3. Manages to communicate about leaving with Dorinda in a way that they both feel fine about (theirs is probably my favorite friendship among these ladies). 4. While in the middle of doing that, she doesn't take the bait *at all* when Ramona lashes out in total desperation and lies about Bethenny saying Carole is boring. 5. She engages in zero bullshit about everyone coming to the show the paintings of her -- no disinviting or maneuvering to try to get Ramona not to come. Just says, oh well, invitations went out a long time ago, people will do what they're going to do. 6. The scene with Tinsley and Adam's sexy salad is sort of derpy, but whatever, good for her for enjoying a cute boyfriend who takes pictures of dumb salads. Good on you, Radzi.

I mean wtf. There's a lot of high-level drama going on, but let's not lose sight of this one. Sonja's behavior is terrrrrrible. And then to say, "I know Tinsley's mother, and she raised Tinsley better than this." It's so snotty and condescending, even aside from being just, like, not factual, since Tinsley doesn't seem to have done one darn thing wrong.

LuAnn is sort of fascinating. I think she has been a hustler her whole life, scratching and clawing her way to financial security. When we met her at the beginning of this show, she was at her peak success. She then suffered a huge humiliation in a very public way, and she never let anyone see it break her. After biding her time, she met Tom and saw an opportunity to regain the sort of life she wants, so she made it happen. In my opinion, the only thing that has rung false about any of it is her big put-on last season about the fairy-tale romance. Remember how weird it was when she would wax rhapsodic about how IN LOVE they were? That was a total charade. This is a transactional relationship between two people who both want that. Really, it's her best defense against all the "concern" her "friends" are laying on her; she just can't come right out and say it -- although in this episode she came pretty dang close to just saying it. Her ability to repress all bad feelings so that she always looks strong and in control doesn't necessarily make for a mentally healthy person, but I do respect it in a way.

This is ultimately where I came out too. There was zero evidence that Sister Cathy had done anything to confront Maskell. In fact, she left the school entirely, which seems completely the opposite of what you would do if you wanted to protect the girls there. I keep going back to the quote from one of the other women who was in nun-training (I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I don't know the correct terminology) with Cathy and Russell, and she said they were both "very compliant nuns." I think it's entirely possible that even if Sister Cathy had some idea of what was happening, and even if she said comforting and sympathetic things to some of Maskell's victims, she didn't actually do anything about it. The same level of unquestioning obedience to priests that primed the girls to be victims would also have been operating in a nun who bought into that system enough to devote her life to it. I think the series does incredible work in documenting the sex abuse and the church's cover-up. I think it is actually not very good at all as an investigation of the murder. Throughout, it doesn't construct any coherent narrative about who killed Sister Cathy. Its position certainly seems to be that she was killed by Maskell or someone acting with him, but it spends an entire episode digressing on two unrelated randoms, and up to the very end, it comes down pretty heavy on Koob as a possible suspect, which wouldn't fit at all with the Maskell theory. The more weight it gives any of those theories, it actually ends up undercutting the connection to Maskell. It all comes down to two women, really. Sister Russell, who might have been able to shed some light on what, if anything, Cathy had done about Maskell, but did not. (And honestly, shame on her for going to her grave without telling someone what she knew.) And Jean, if she recovers further memories that link Maskell to Sister Cathy.

Boy, I do not understand the point of this episode. If the main premise of the documentary is to make the case that Sister Cathy's murder was part of a cover-up for the sex crimes at Keough, then everything they have to say about these two other random guys undercuts that. And one of these stories -- I think my uncle killed her and carried her out in a rug -- doesn't match up AT ALL with any of the facts of her murder. Of all the things that are unknown about the night she died, there's no suggestion by anyone ever that she was murdered in her apartment. My own opinion is that the show does not do a very good job connecting the sex crimes to the nun's murder. But just as a matter of internal consistency, I don't get at all why it goes on this episode-long diversion into these two other stories. The main impression it made on me was, wow, maybe amateur sleuths -- however appealing they are -- shouldn't be investigating this if they are not capable of sorting through and discarding these wild goose chases.

As long as we're armchair diagnosing, I'd go 100% narcissistic personality disorder. That lunch scene was quite a display. I hope to all that is holy that is the last time Jennifer agrees to aid and abet that shitshow. It's one thing to be a Bravo reality show Friend Of when you just show up and stage a couple fun conversations with your gal pal and tag along to parties where you take a backseat while the cast screams at each other. But when you have Real Shit happening in your life, it is completely nuts to show up for no other purpose than to be abused on camera. This was an interesting episode -- no event to get them all together in one place. I liked it. I think Shep is over this show. I found him utterly delightful in the first season, largely because he found himself so delightful. I think his shambolic lifestyle has become less charming to him as the show has held it up in front of his face. One thing I really do like about him is that he really doesn't like to fight with his friends. He could barely summon any words or outrage to display when he was supposed to reprimand Austen for breaking bro code.

She didn't make a big splash, but can we just note what a big get Candace Bushnell is as a Friend Of. The morally corrupt Faye Resnick will always hold a special place in my heart, but Candace is major. I sort of can't believe it took this many seasons for her to roll up. Would definitely read a behind-the-scenes on how she and Andy (or whoever) decided now is the time. Hope she's around a bit more this season.