syzygy

What's with the weird NYC hate in this thread? Yes it used to be pretty bad but it's a lot safer nowadays. A couple weeks after I turned 18 I moved here for college - was I just not supposed to go? God forbid someone who is 18 (which LisaR's older daughter is) be unsupervised in NY? I don't get this line of thinking. I mean, I'm here and alive 7 years later and being unsupervised in college at 18 in NYC didn't kill me. Hell, since we lived in jersey, my friends and I would sometimes wind up in NYC alone to go watch broadway shows or whatever. Not at night, granted, but it's not like we were robbed or kidnapped as teens while wandering about. Yes, LisaR's daughters might not appear to be super street-smart but I know nothing about them, and leaving them alone in NYC for a night is probably no different than leaving them alone in BH. Just wanted to throw that out there.

It's interesting, because during this episode I was actually thinking about how Katie is quite pretty even if she could afford to be skinnier. And I said this a couple episodes ago, if anyone should not be on TV it's Kristen - she's ugly inside and has way too high of an opinion of herself considering how she, well, looks. And if anyone is overweight it would be Brittany this season, who has gained a lot of weight, but hasn't had much showtime and generally comes off like a nice person so it doesn't feel as acceptable to make snide comments about it. I said this before as well but it's hard not to be petty when watching such petty people. But there is plenty to comment on aside from their bodies/looks, which are typically much harder to change than, say, fashion. I thought Katie's get-up at the Porsche dealer was doing her absolutely no favors, and I don't understand that nose ring at all. To me it looks ridiculous. (A side piercing would look better if she wanted to do one...) I also thought Lala's asymmetric dress in her talking head just looked... bad. On the flipside, I like how one of Stassi's recent talking heads matched her shirt color to her eyes.

Hm, I do think it's true - I've been in a position where I just haven't been supported and it sucks. You do want someone who can be there for you and have your back. In Katie's case, a lot of that just happens to be petty mean girl opinions where you can't even talk to someone if they're not on the approved list. I mean, I watch the show and I think it's ridiculously juvenile bs that they pull, and I reckon Schwartz sees it that way too. Even so, I suppose there are scenarios where it's reasonable to expect your SO not to talk to someone who is terrible or who has hurt you (or your friends) in some way. It's just the entire cast is terrible and I admit I can't remember who's wronged who, and how. I still think Schwartz is probably too nice for her, but yeah, the lack of a backbone when it comes to his own girlfriend is disconcerting. He strikes me as the kind of guy that makes a great, loyal friend but maybe not as good of a boyfriend. And if we are being generous to Katie, then finding out he went to therapy about the wedding is shocking - but she should have probably taken a breath and listened to what he had to say instead of shutting him out. That's just going to cause more problems. Basically they both have their faults, as people. I just think Schwartz would probably be happier with more sane people who don't get into crazy drama all the time.

I don't think that's contrarian at all - I completely agree. I think the problem is that this is a TV show, so most of the people on this boat don't have the experience (or work ethic) that employees would on an actual charter boat. So you get Captain Lee or Kate trying to boss around people who give no fucks. There have been so many times on this show that we've seen someone completely talk shit to their boss or someone who outranks them and nothing happens except that they then have to keep working with each other on the boat while hating each other. In non-reality TV these people wouldn't dare because then they'd be out of the job. (I know that we've seen Lee replace people, but I think that's only after Bravo gives him permission.) Like, a lot of the animosity throughout the seasons basically stems from being told to stop slacking off and do their jobs. Like, duh, that's what you're supposed to be doing? And then they act like the chief stew or Lee or whoever is the bad guy for wanting shit done. I'm not saying Kate is a saint, and her fake smiles/tone probably get grating, but I get the sense that if you just did your job properly you wouldn't run into that situation. (Baring regular personality conflicts I suppose...)

I admit that I watch this show because it's mean girls, IRL. (Or on reality tv, that's kind of the same thing, right?) Season 1 absolutely slayed me with how huge of an asshole everyone somehow managed to be and I've been hooked ever since. I just find it unbelievable that girls their age are still acting like they're in high school. Hell, even high school isn't like that for most people. Clapping at Scheana not being cordial to Lala? Yikes, not a good look. Nor was it when Scheana ignored Lala's question for a few seconds - I mean, you could even see how awkward it was in person, and a part of me believes that even Scheana realized how dumb it was and that's why she blurted out her (equally dumb) explanation. I'm glad that Lala's response was to incredulously laugh it off because, seriously, who acts like that? Being given the silent treatment can actually be pretty shocking so my heart went out to her in that moment. And yeah, Lala is hardly innocent herself. She's said and done a lot of shit, but from the get-go she was disliked by a lot of these girls. I don't really mind her as much as the others since I feel like she has moments of self-reflection and actually tries to make things right sometimes. Oh, and poor Schwartz. Like, he's an actual nice guy, so while if it was someone else about to marry bitchy Kristen I'd say they deserved each other, Schwartz really doesn't. Same with Brittany being too good for Jax. It's interesting because I feel this show also brings out the worst in a lot of us viewers. I am normally pretty forgiving of TV characters (especially when it comes to looks of ordinary people, y'know?) but when some of them have such vile personalities it's hard not to rag on them for everything. Like how can Kristen be so full of herself when she's probably the least pretty one there? Yeah, see? Petty. I'm sure if she was an actually nice person I'd have never said that. Oh well.

I totally agree. I've generally liked Ben on the show (except when he throws hissy fits over cooking, aka his job) but I guess we've seen his immaturity before and when it comes to actually dating people... well, we can see how that's going. Not sure why he was so surprised about Emily wanting to be social for once. Their relationship is already awkward on screen and well-adjusted people like to see their friends. That in particular was very awkward imo.

Ben and his brother literally do sound identical, it's kind of crazy. I wasn't always looking at the screen while watching and for a bit I thought it was Ben talking until I looked over LOL. I do kind of wish Kyle/Sierra would get over it. I think Kyle is letting things rile him up for no reason - Sierra handled this entire thing pretty immaturely but he's not going to get any kind of real further apology from her because she doesn't think she did anything wrong. (Or if she ever realizes it, I think she's still too immature to really deal with how she treated people and will just keep pretending nothing happened.) I do find Kyle's attitude otherwise pretty refreshing. Dude's who he is and gives no fucks. Actually, though, if he has a girl back home then he really DOES need to get over Sierra stat because even if they're in some open relationship or on a break, he really can't be mad if another girl ain't into him. I don't think he deserved a night in the master suite either but he did ask and Kate did give him permission. I didn't need to know why he wanted a night in the master suite (isn't spending a night in the master suite reason enough?). I think it's crazy how disrespectful the deckhands were with the room and the boat in general. I get that those sorts of things happen when plenty of liquor is involved but maybe don't drink so much if you can't handle not wrecking the entire place?

Brittany definitely gained a ton of weight. I'm not one to body shame or something but it always makes me wonder what these people get up to that they gain so much weight. Stress and partying, probably. I'm somewhat vain and I think I'd probably at least try to stay in shape if I was on a TV show, but I've had a couple times in my life where I've ballooned up a bit as well and it can just sneak up on you as you're living your life. That's why I was a little surprised to hear them calling Katie fat but saying nothing about Brittany, when Katie really didn't look that different. (edit: I mean it's not that surprising because I assume they don't have any real beef with Brittany so they wouldn't have a reason to call her names, just that in terms of gained weight she takes the cake... ha ha..) I also noticed that after James/Lala showed up and started all the arguments, Brittany was nowhere to be found. Like she wasn't sitting with them on the couch anymore and didn't reappear that entire night. Wonder what happened.

(bolding mine) Just wanted to point out, on the boat Kyle saw her texting and asked if she had a guy back home (I forget what he phrased it as - a male interest? some weird turn of phrase) and she muttered "mmhmm" or something like that. That's when he got the impression that she was texting a guy back home and that's what he told people when they came back from the trip. Sierra later claimed she was texting a (girl) friend. I think probably Sierra didn't understand what he asked at first, or maybe later she saw that he seemed hurt and denied it. Either way, it really didn't warrant Kelley's response. I totally agree, he had a very aggressive/demanding manner and people who have that kind of attitude can end up being scary to deal with. At least in my personal experience.

I think Sierra definitely acted really immature on the date. She really just should have not even agreed to go, or made it into a group thing if she wasn't actually interested in him. (They could have downgraded to getting some coffee together on the island or something - less pressure and not stuck with each other for hours on a boat with no escape.) If I'm not interested in a guy romantically and not interested in the activity of fishing, I would not have accepted such a proposal. That said, although I think she totally mishandled the whole thing, I can understand that it was most likely coming from a place of immaturity rather than real harm. Kelley on the other handed really needed to mind his own business. It's not that I don't agree that Kyle wasn't somewhat wronged, it's just that Kyle handled it just fine himself and I feel like Kelley was overly aggressive about it. I've had experience with guys who are pushy and use a demanding tone when talking about what one should or shouldn't have done and it's never led to anything good later on. I think he really did cause additional drama. And his bosun performance has been less than stellar, so I'm not surprised about Nico being named replacement in the previews. I liked that Nico at least kept his head on his shoulders re: the toaster and seems to be generally good-natured. Ben & Emily seemed a bit forced to me. Of course, not every dinner date is going to end in some super romantic connection and I'd feel awkward regardless with cameras following my every move.

Ben is totally not my type physically so I can't fault people for thinking he's icky, but I do think he's pretty funny and chill and would probably be fun to hang out with on the boat. As long as he's not freaking out about dinner, anyway. You'd think after years of being a chef he'd get used to plans changing or guests deciding to be super picky and needing to change things on the fly. I guess it's a high pressure job... But yeah, overall I am one of those people who likes seeing Ben on the show and I'm always glad when they bring him back, haha. Also - yeah, he got those flowers after Kate mentioned Emily never having gotten any, but he even admitted as much on the episode, I think. ("oh I heard Kate say that Emily has never gotten any flowers so I thought I'd fix that" or something like that). I think that's pretty cute for a guy to do. (Count me in as someone who mostly gets flowers from her own mom... I've tried to teach my boyfriend why it's a thing but I don't think he gets the concept, LOL) I think those are best served as friendship flowers rather than romance flowers but that once again stems from the fact that I personally wouldn't, you know, do Ben.

Yeah, I think it actually says a lot about Kyle that he is so willing to send money to his daughter (and even the baby momma) rather than just wiping his hands clean of the one-night stand she apparently resulted from. That said, I also don't fault Sierra for putting the brakes on when she found out that he has a kid - that changes dynamics quite a bit and for some is a legitimate dealbreaker/red flag. Granted it's not like a fling on the boat would go anywhere but wanting to protect your/the other person's feelings is pretty valid as well.

Re: the little pool thing they set up behind the boat -- I forget where I was, either Bermuda or somewhere in the caribbean, but one vacation the jellyfish had swept in and it was basically impossible to take a dip. These things were like a foot in diameter and everywhere. If that's what it was like at the time of filming I could definitely understand the need for the weird pool thing. Then again they took the guests snorkeling a bit further out and there didn't seem to be an issue so who knows. As for Emily, I don't think she looks particularly hot or anything day-to-day but I can totally see why guys like her when she gets dressed up. I actually enjoy the fact that a lot of the Below Deck women aren't supermodels and come off as average or just quirky or non-stereotypically pretty. Then again, it's easy for me to find at least something nice about everyone and I wish more people did that instead of putting other people down.

As other people have pointed out, I think LisaR's real issue was that Yolanda was using her sickness as a way to conveniently get out of doing things (especially for her paid job - in this case she could've shown up to Erika's dinner. And the other half the time she bothers showing up for events it's to make a token appearance and peace out). Hell, she said as much in her TH. Any other housewife who decides to skip out on so many events would (rightfully) get called out for it but you can't technically do that with Yo since she will always have the "I'm sick" excuse. It's not like I haven't had days where doing one social thing mentally exhausts me so much that I don't want to do the next social thing. But it's pretty bad manners to RSVP to both and then last-minute cancel on one, and at least in those cases I'd try to power through it. Yo just happens to have a convenient excuse where she can go to a lunch and then be horribly sick by dinner. But the way LisaR brought it up just made it seem like she was mad about something that honestly realy wasn't her business - if Erika was fine with Yolanda skipping her dinner, then the fact that Yo had lunch earlier that day really shouldn't concern anyone else either. Eileen is getting tiring. For all her accusations of LVP being "manipulative" she is really doing the same thing by constantly going around and having these conversations with people where she talks about LVP, well, being manipulative. Since apparently constantly bringing up a topic is manipulation, as in the example of LVP asking Rinna if she was fine about the bipolar comment. I do think LVP's dig about Eileen bowing out of the charity event a bit hypocritical/unnecessary, but I can see why she'd be peeved. "Well erm hm uh I just want a day off!" is kind of a weak excuse for skipping a housewife event, especially a charity/special cause one. It probably wouldn't fly as well if this had been a charity or drive for something more common like cancer or something, too ("sorry, I'd love to support your charity for cancer but I'm tired and going to stay home with the kids!" - hm, yeah, doesn't sound as good) so in a sense it was like Eileen saying the issue just wasn't very important. Not that they're friends or anything so I can't fault Eileen for not going, and insinuating she didn't care about dogs is silly, but yeah. I actually didn't know about the Yulin festival so consider awareness raised.

Except they're not calling LVP out, they're passive-aggressively calling her manipulative behind her back... for what effect? To further some storyline? I made a post about this last episode, but what people call "manipulative" I think is just really good camera/persona management. LVP is slippery in that she doesn't say much that could bite her on the butt on camera. It's not like she doesn't have her own opinions or goals, but even when something doesn't go her way then yes, she is good at deflecting and protesting until people give up or it blows over. She doesn't directly produce drama but is usually fun enough to watch that she doesn't need to in order to stay on the show. I think the other housewives are just mad/jealous/annoyed that they aren't as good as playing the reality TV game. Eileen is pissed that she didn't stop LVP from prodding into her affair, Erika's only real claim this episode was that LVP was asking her how long she had known Yolanda (who is her tie-in to the show, so it's not exactly some kind of malicious or weird question to ask in the first place!). And then they also feel threatened(?) when LVP is not buddy-buddy with them off the bat, and although the show would like us to pretend that they are all actual friends in real life, they're really just coworkers. They are all welcome to control their emotions/thoughts/conversations in front of the camera. If they're such strong women then LVP suggesting a topic of conversation doesn't mean they have to automatically blab about it or do what she says. I just don't understand what going around calling her manipulative actually does. I guess it gives them an excuse to not be friendly with her?