ladle

And triply gross because Emily is criticizing Heather for doing exactly what she's doing (sucking up to Tamra)!

See, this is where it gets confusing to me because it seems like the other women -- or at least Emily -- knew this information independently of Heather. So, there are two scenarios: 1 -- Shannon vented to Heather about her relationship in confidence, and Heather went and shared those details with the other women. or 2 -- Shannon vented to Heather about her relationship in confidence. Then, Heather was talking to the other women and they were all complaining about how frustrating it is that Shannon acts like her relationship is great on the show, which is different from what Shannon tells them in private. Then, Heather piled onto that conversation by mentioning that Shannon tells her that her relationship isn't good. (And maybe Heather shared specific details that Shannon told to her in confidence and maybe not -- but I'm guessing not or else the other women would be saying, "Heather told us [this specific detail]" and not just "Heather talked about your relationship being bad.") I would be willing to bet money that what went down is closer to scenario #2, for a few reasons. I don't think Heather is stupid enough -- or frankly, close enough with the other women -- to just randomly blab something that Shannon told her in confidence. I am far from a Heather defender. She has been awful to Shannon across multiple seasons! But, in this specific case, Shannon is misplacing her anger if she's blaming Heather. Heather wouldn't even be part of this narrative at all except that Tamra and Emily have decided it's Gang Up on Heather Season, and they clearly don't give a shit if Shannon is collateral damage.

It's very confusing, and it's made even more confusing by the fact that it's too boring to muster up the strength to try to figure out. I don't think Heather is fully innocent in this. She clearly gossiped with the other women about Shannon and John's relationship, to some extent. I just think it's messed up that she's getting the brunt of Shannon's ire when 1) all of the women seemed to have gossiped about Shannon and John (except maybe for Vicki, who was too busy getting her love tank filled from behind); and 2) Heather is innocent of bringing up their relationship on the show, which is the main thing that Shannon cares about!

I feel like this is an instance where it would be beneficial if they could all just freely talk about the fact that they're on a reality show. It seems pretty clear that Shannon confided in Heather, and that Heather then blabbed to at least some of the other cast members that Shannon and John were not doing great. (Whether she shared specific details that Shannon had told her in confidence or she just generally alluded to the shakiness of their relationship, I don't know. I think probably the latter, mainly because Heather doesn't seem all that close to the other cast members and that she does, out of all of them, seem like someone who would keep it "in the vault.") But!! There is a huge fucking difference between doing that behind the scenes and bringing at this on camera, like Emily and Tamra did. They are the reason Shannon's relationship is being talked about on the show, yet Heather is being nailed to the cross like Jesus was (TM V. Gunvalson). I'm not even a Heather fan but ooooh this makes me mad. Will Tamra never get her comeuppance???

I'm still liking the show! I think on the whole the women are pretty quick-witted and entertaining. I don't think I would like them all as people if I met them in real life, but that's true of virtually all of the RHW. I love that Jenna doesn't feel like she belongs on this show at all and that the person emerging as the "villain" (Jessel) is not someone who seems to be intentionally crafting that narrative for herself. And I actually like hearing their back stories because they're all new to us at this point. It's not like it's season one million and we're hearing about Ramona's abusive dad and Bethenny's raised-by-wolves childhood and JP Morgan for the umteenth time.

Going after Heather was an interesting choice on Tamra’s part. Heather is definitely smarter but Tamra is arguably more street-smart and certainly more vicious. I’m interested to see how this plays out.

Her whole face looked very strange in that scene, like she'd had reconstructive surgery. If Heather gets left holding the bag on the Shannon/John thing and Tamra walks away unscathed, I'm gonna start throwing napkins.

Oh, for sure. The question remains why Jenna didn't tell them in advance that she had an early call and plan to stay at her house that night, though. That seems the obviously correct course of action. It's possible that she thought that since they'd be filming all day, they'd be wrapped and in bed by ten (um, has she seen this show?). But once she was in the situation, she was kind of between a rock and a hard place. Her choices were either: 1) stay and deal with the noise, even though she had an early meeting; 2) try to discreetly tell Erin that she was heading out, and risk it becoming a "thing" (or risk Erin turning down the music for her -- which Erin pretty much said she would have done -- and get branded a wet blanket by the rest of the cast members); or 3) do what she did and hope she'd be back early enough that nobody would notice. I'm not saying she chose correctly, but her options weren't great.

I remain confused about the root of Ariel and Lance’s conflict. I know they disagreed about trans athletes but there wasn’t a ton of overt conflict over that, that we saw. Then later Lance told the newcomers something like, “It was really bad - we were ready to rip each other’s faces off” (paraphrasing) Was there an altercation that we didn’t see? Very confusing.

This may be the least intelligent comment I've ever posted on any reality TV message board, but ... I freaking love this show.

I get the points that people are making, about these women being vapid, ridiculous try-hards, with maybe one or two who are reasonable and a couple who are only there for comedic relief. But... exactly? I think what I'm enjoying so much about this season's conflicts is that the stakes are so low. It's not about embezzling from widows and orphans, or trying to ruin someone's marriage, or deciding prior to the start of the season which cast member they're all going to "go after." Give me tiffs about who slept where and who was rude about whose gift, every day all day! (Caveat: as long as these little conflicts do not become exhausting, season-long arcs.) While obviously a lot of the show is manufactured at this point, some of this season genuinely seems organic. For instance, I genuinely think that Jessel had no idea how she was coming off in her reaction to the lingerie, and her weird doubling-down about its ugliness at the restaurant. I think Jenna went to sleep at her place because it's more comfortable, and not as a plot point. I think Erin doesn't understand how she comes across in her talking-heads sometimes. These women may be "influencers," but they're not yet completely polished at appearing on reality TV. If they get a second season, that might all change, but for now I'm enjoying this ride.

Table for two then! More thoughts: I wonder why nobody brought up the risk of an infection with the popsicle. All that sugar is NOT healthy for the vaginal canal. That was the first place my mind went. I’m not kink-shaming — it’s just science! I agree that the Hamptons trip is likely so early in the season because they had to scrap the earlier footage. Maybe they should have kept the original HW and written her quitting into the narrative arc of the show, dropping the fourth wall just a bit. It would have made the season memorable!

I don’t understand this interpretation. If Brynn had gone to Harvard (and I get that she didn’t), why would it be “boasty” to wear the shirt? I also went to an Ivy League school and I sometimes wear the sweatshirt because… I have it, and it’s warm? I also have a baseball cap that I wear in the summer. But now I’m paranoid that all of these years, people have been viewing me as a pretentious jerk! Re: Jenna not sleeping over. There was too much ado about it; it was ridiculous. That said, I think at least part of it had to do with the fact that the other women felt they were fulfilling their contractual obligation by sleeping there, and she got to skip out on it. At one point didn’t one of the other women say “This wasn’t the deal, Jenna”? That felt like coded fourth-wall language to me.

*small voice* I ... am enjoying this show. These women are ridiculous, and I am here for it. I genuinely laughed out loud at several points in this episode. *ducks rotten tomatoes*

I feel like Jenna is the weird, artistic, maybe on-the-spectrum kid and the other cast members are the cool, mean girls. Except that they're all grown up and Jenna has become wildly successful, so it makes for a very interesting dynamic.

It's only weird to me because they're essentially colleagues and not close friends. I'm 43 and I've definitely talked about sex with my closest friends. As long as all parties involved are comfortable with the conversation, why not? I don't think it's weird to not talk about sex with your close friends, but it's not weird to do it either. That said, when the RHW talk about sex it often feels... performative.

Yeah, Shannon has her share of flaws. She's myopic, self-centered, wrong about science... need I go on? But she does appear to have genuine emotions and she doesn't seem meanly calculating in the same way that some of these other women are. In some ways, she's an easy target for bullies and people who want to take advantage of her. (Tamra: "You rang?") That said... I don't know if you get to say your relationship is "off limits" when you're filming a reality show about your life, it's a serious relationship in your life, and you are in fact filming scenes for said show with your boyfriend. This season truly is like a weird RHW version of The Prisoner's Dilemma. They could take down Tamra so easily if they all teamed up to do it. But they're all too scared to try.

Right -- can we talk about Emily?? I feel like she often gets a pass because she's more "relatable" (Hey, I also eat lots of tacos and yell at my kids! I get it!), but she's just as much of a shit stirrer as the others. Not to mention, she is doing the exact same thing she is critiquing Heather for doing. Emily has talked shit about Tamra for years and now once Tamra is on the show they're hugging and singing kumbaya. It's ridiculous. EDIT: TYPO

Co-sign all of this. I can 100% see Tamra probing Heather for info on Shannon's relationship, Heather saying something vague like "From what she tells me, it's not going well" and Tamra gleefully picking up that ball and running with it. For all of her (myriad) flaws, I do believe Heather is more trustworthy as a keeper of secrets than many of these other HWs, as we've seen in prior seasons. I feel like I've been defending Heather a lot this season - and I don't even like her! But Tamra is obviously the true villain in this scenario. As you said, evil but smart. It would be an interesting plot twist if it turns out Tamra is actually smarter than Heather.

Ok, I have a bone to pick with the editors... When Vicki got up to greet Shannon at the table and almost fell, they somehow thought it was okay not to replay the footage of Vicki falling off the stage while accepting her fake award. How was this sanctioned?

Is Jenn's therapist-shaman actually Alex McCord playing the role of a lifetime?

I mean, I would have loved the caviar on the Pringles too! And I agree that expecting a meal at 4 pm was ridiculous. But I still think if you're going to offer snacks to your guests, you should take into account their dietary preferences and offer something beyond this one specific thing that not everybody likes. If my guests arrived and I learned they were hungry, I would have started pulling stuff out of the fridge and offering it to them. I really think they would have been okay with a snack to tide them over until dinner. (I'm sure they would have still found something to complain about, but still...) And yes, Jessel was being awful.

I feel like if this were an "Am I the Asshole" post, Caviargate would receive a judgment of ESH: Everybody Sucks Here. Erin was a shitty host for serving something as specific as caviar for lunch, without other options and without checking to see if it fit the dietary needs/preferences of her guests. The other women (except Jenna) sucked for how catty and obnoxious they were about it.

Yeah, I’ll take a seat at this table! Heather is a flawed human for sure (though I’m 90% convinced that what we see on the show is her inhabiting a role) but it really does seem that Gina, Emily, and Tamra are looking for any reason to pile on her this season. The real estate license thing? Come on. I’m just interested to see how she reacts to this. So far it seems like her MO is to apologize and diffuse the situation — which seems to be effective in staving off the attacks. I doubt she’ll start screeching and throwing napkins in anyone’s faces or weeping dramatically, but who knows?!

I don't think we need to go on the Emily's-mom-is-mentally-ill-so-Emily-had-a-bad-childhood carousel again. Tamra is holding on to that orange hard. It's embarassing. I don't know what to think of Jen! My first impression was, eh, she's kind of generic and maybe too naive/fragile for this show, but I really liked the way she kept her cool during the Nobu altercation and even went tit for tat with Tamra. Has there ever been a gang-up-on-Heather season before? Because this could get interesting...