Pop Tart

My biggest issue with the affair reveal as regards everyone's response was that most of them, including Eddie, spent nary a moment thinking about what this news was doing to Katherine. I get that she's not as intertwined with the group as everyone else is, but they've been friends for years so she has definitely spent time with all of them over the years. So how about a moment or two to be worried about her? Certainly she seems to be someone who plays things pretty close to the chest and is not as free and open with the others in the group, so okay, you're not going to descend on her house to comfort her. But how about sparing her a thought? As much as I think Delilah was getting a little bit of a pass from the guys, mostly because of Jon's death, she at least did spare a moment to care what Katherine might be going through. Even before she got into the car with Katherine - which I thought was not a great idea, but did show that she was willing to take Katherine's wrath - she had the flashback memory of Katherine trying to return the shirt/scarf? and telling Delilah that she was so sweet when she said it was a gift. That memory gave Delilah pause, clearly, because she knew how bad what she had done was to Katherine. But the rest? Crickets. Even empathetic Maggie didn't make mention of her. And Eddie? He went to Bruins fantasy camp! Yes Katherine told him to get out, but he couldn't think of anything else to do? Maybe he should have gone to find Delilah to give her a heads up in person rather then leaving her a voicemail? Anything else? But clearly it was more important that his bro-buddies were not mad at him?

Thanks Biggie, I fixed it.

I figured the dogs were connected to the missing girls in some way, given how many times the detective's case was mentioned, but I thought the reveal worked okay. I did find it interesting that it seemed in the last scene, where they've all been drawn in the middle of the night to the plane and they watch it blow up, the one not there is the boy with leukemia who only wakes and sits up in bed when the plane explodes. So I'm guessing the "mystery" of all of this will be closely tied to him in some way. I liked the pilot well enough to stick with it for the hour (which really does say something, I promise) and though it seems I'm in the minority, I liked the female cop character as well as I did anyone else in the episode. Well except for her ex-boyfriend - him I found blah and wouldn't care if I never saw again and actually in terms of his character all I really care about is his wife, Michaela's best friend Lourdes. I'd rather see what happens with that relationship, Michaela/Lourdes, then I am in Michaela and the ex-boyfriend. Though I'll watch for another couple episodes, I don't have high hopes for this, mostly based on how the other shows that were like this fared over time. Often it seems the writers don't themselves have a true handle on what the "mystery" answer is, so shows become muddled messes. edited to fix the name of the female cop - thanks Biggie B

I was okay with the idea of them looking at Amy's parents and wondering if that's what they were like or would become. I think it's not unusual for married couples to look at other couples and compare and contrast and perhaps re-examine their own relationships in the process. My issue with it was the plot just went nowhere. They had a brief discussion about "are we like that" and then Penny made Amy's dad leave. There was no follow-through at all and basically the whole thing fell completely flat because of that. Similarly with Raj's story. The twitter feud was funny, if only because of Howard and Bernadette's reactions, but Raj having absolutely no awareness about how badly he did on the news show and how poorly he performed from a professional standpoint? Again felt like a story thread that was just dropped for a couple weak twitter jokes. Regarding Amy's irritation with Sheldon's schedule. I thought it stemmed from her expectations being initially raised by Sheldon's openess after their wedding night (they're in bed together as ep. opens) and then her expectations were dashed when he brings up the schedule. Not because there's a schedule, but because she'd just told him she was really exhausted by their day. They've just returned from a day of touristing and she was tired and Sheldon was not picking up on her cues at all. That's not unusual for Sheldon, but I think she'd kind of had a brief hope that things might be changed based on his earlier comments. So her hopes for change were dashed there and then Sheldon compounded that clueless behavior on their tour the next day which pushed her over the edge.

She did the same thing on WWHL last week (?). Andy asked if she and her husband were in fact divorcing and she tried to talk round and round the idea with some kind of word salad that included always in each others lives because of the kids, love and care about each other, still friends, etc. She wouldn't come right out and say they were divorcing - this may be because it hadn't yet been "revealed" on the show - but also all this gobbledygook about how amicable it all was. Not wrong sentiments but I didn't believe it for a moment and it didn't seem Andy did either. I started out sort of liking Gina, at least more than the other newbie Emily, but her constant attempts to badger and get a rise out of Shannon are moving her into the dislike column. It seems like she's decided her way to a second season is to go after the "weakest" member of the cast. I have weakest in quotes because it's not necessarily so, but I think it may be how Gina is perceiving things, especially since Tamra has turned on Shannon. Her trying to blame Shannon for Kelly's behavior and that she somehow stirred her up? Not what I saw. Shannon knew that Kelly was determined to start a fight with Steve, in fact it was probably part of the story-sheets from the producers for the day, but what Shannon tried to do was to mute Kelly a bit. Since she knew that stopping Kelly altogether was a no-go, she tried to steer her into a less volatile response. Kelly was always going to go off, no matter what anyone did, so Shannon had no responsibility there. Otherwise rest of the episode left me kind of meh.

But the thing is that she is putting her need to be right - "neener, neener, Bethenny said Tinsley and I are BFFs and we're not! So there!" - over any consideration at all for Tinsley's feelings. Sure they're not best friends. Makes total sense that Carole would have long-term friends who are her "bests". But she hit Tinsley over the head with it at the reunion, by saying it over and over just to prove Bethenny wrong. And not only didn't she get it in the moment that she was hurting Tinsley's feelings, but then she doubles (triples?) down on it and reiterates it in a tweet. That's just so the opposite of empathetic. That is having no emotional intelligence at all. I don't think Tinsley thought she was Carole's bestest, closest friend, but I think she thought they were closer then what Carole thinks they are. I've had that happen in the past, where I thought I was much closer friends with someone then they thought we were and when it became clear where I fell in their estimation, it hurt. I've been on the other side too, Carole's side. When I realize that the other person thinks we're much closer then I think we are I try to ease them into an understanding of where I stand. I don't announce to them multiple times in person and in a tweet that my true close friends are so-and-so and this other person and not you. That's just base level mean.

Her big career move at the moment seems to be lots of tweets about what she’s put up for sale on the Poshmark site, whatever that is.

Lu’s legs on WWHL? Like phenomenal. And this is reunion adjacent because she’s wearing the dress she would have worn if she’d been at the reunion. ? Clearly now that Carole is done being a RH, she’s not only ditching Bethenny but Tinsley too. And I’m sure she’ll be trashing the show from here on out because clearly she was always too good for it. That notwithstanding the six seasons she took the paychecks. I think what’s made me turn around on Bethenny this season is the way she knows what her job is in regards to being on the show. She uses the show to promo her stuff and keep her name out there and the show uses her to generate energy and drama. I never liked her in the past, though I could appreciate what she was doing as a reality show “performer”. But this season it’s come to me that she may be the “realest” of them all in that she is really always being her truest self. Sure that truest self is a sad, lonely, embittered soul, but she is who she is and that’s what she shows on tv. Carole’s big mistake has always been in her thinking that she could dip her toe in, but not really have to fully partipate and get dirty. She wanted the perks of attention and paycheck but also wanted to somehow pretend she was still way above all of this. Always the “too cool for school” gal in the city.

Menacing. That was the word, thanks. Menacing is a pretty strong word and of course chosen to fit into her bullied narrative. And then her big explanation about her very large hippocampus (read that as her very large brain, because she is the smartest of all).

From that article about Carole’s new deal with Verve: “On September 5, Deadline announced the news to readers, confirming Carole has numerous projects in development over multiple platforms, including “scripted, unscripted, digital, and publishing.” See? A whole bunch of not-yet-in-existence-probably-never-will-be projects for Carole to add to her resume.

And she said that she was bothered by Bethenny’s crying because she felt threatened by it or it was aggressive or words to that effect. Huh? Bethenny’s crying could have been to get attention or sympathy, that I’d accept as a reason to be put off by it, but poor little bullied Carole is “threatened”?

The camera paused for a number of seconds on Ramona’s face at one point, seriously what is going on with her eyes?

I usually don't comment much on how the women look, though I do comment on clothing choices they might make, but Kameron was reminding me of someone/some character and I could not figure out who. Until this morning. This is who I've been picturing:

Bethenny knew the moment Carole said that Andy was afraid of Bethenny too that that would be the end for Carole. That’s what that smile there at the end meant.

What's interesting to me is how far Dorinda has moved to "Dream Team" since the season wrapped. Sure she was getting digs in at Bethenny all season and certainly did want to take her down a few pegs - mostly to even the playing field I think - but she was still pretty copacetic with her as the season wrapped. In Cartagena Bethenny was the one Dorinda had a one-on-one with the morning after her drunken tirade at Lu the night before. In that one-on-one she admitted that she knows she hurts people when she's so drunk and how sorry she was about the night before and Bethenny was comforting her. And when they got back from their trip Bethenny had Dorinda over for lunch at her new apartment and again they were still getting along. Think that was in the second to last episode and in the finale, while Dorinda didn't like her defending Lu, again she didn't have major beef with her. And now here at the reunion she looks like she wants to kill her, like literally. I'm sure it's because she's now seen the whole season and Bethenny made too many mentions of her being a drunk, including revealing to Lu how drunk she was in Puerto Rico and taking her side in the fight between them. All of this is just too much in her face about her drinking and since she's in deep denial about that, that makes Bethenny the enemy. Nothing a drunk hates more then someone who makes them face, even for an instant, the fact that they are a drunk.

Well and she walked in without knocking or ringing the bell so Stephanie didn't know they'd even arrived. And yes, a lot of the housewives do just walk into each other's houses, but when they do they can't expect that their hostess is going to automatically know they're there. They did seem to be the first to arrive (other then Brandi and her family).

Yeah that was weird. Even at the party she seemed mortally offended when she realized there was already a baby. Her face was all kinds of angry looking. At a party where someone is introducing her new baby to all her friends?! First reaction should just be happiness for the new parents. If later she wanted to razz Stephanie a bit about how she, Kameron, guessed right, then okay. But from the previews it looks like not only is she still in a snit about it when they go on their trip, but she’s trying to egg Cary on to be upset too because they didn’t tell her about Bruin right away, or something. It’s really kind of bizarre.

I replayed that multiple times and probably laughed like a fool. Here’s Ramona ramping up one of her clearly rehearsed talking points, with the rest of the “dream team” ready to chime in, and Andy shut her down hard. And when she tried to recover her moment by then emphasizing that Bethenny jumped out of the car to hug a Jill in front of the cameras, thus opportunistic, Andy again shut her down by saying he was glad that happened on camera because HE wanted to see it. She and the rest were all caught and completely wrong-footed. Dorinda insisting, so self-righteously, she would never want to be on camera at a funeral? Well clearly no one asked her. I certainly wouldn’t want to be on camera at a funeraleither, but that was Jill’s choice. She certainly knew the cameras were there when she and Bethenny had their moment.

Ramona’s dress is flattening her boobs into her stomach, which is not good.

I think Bethenny should have responded to this by admitting yes that is so. When she thought Sonja had a bunch of fake start ups, businesses that were nothing more then a pre-launch, she called Sonja on it. Same thing she’s done with Ramona. But when Sonja has an actual product, the shoes, she is supportive or at the least acknowledges that, yeah, you’ve got something going. The times they’re calling her unsupportive are those times when a HW announces this or that business venture that doesn’t yet, and probably never will, exist. Sonja’s toasters, Ramona’s skincare, etc.

Normally that would bother me, him jumping in, but if he didn’t this reunion would be pretty unwatchable. Watching three hours of four women ganging up on one would not be enjoyable. I think the “dream team” thought they had this and were going to WIN the season, which makes it only more delicious that their gang up is failing so spectacularly. And the funny thing is I say all this as someone who was not a Bethenny fan in the past. I always admired her game, but didn’t love her by any means. It’s just when there is such a concerted effort to bring someone down, I start rooting for the underdog. Unless it’s Siggy - nothing could affect my loathing for her. Oh, okay, and Vicki is on that list too. But most anyone else. ?

I didn't think it was just for sport. I thought Bethenny was perfectly calm and polite to Ramona when she first walked up to Beth and Carole. Bethenny asked Ramona to give them a few minutes so they could finish their private conversation. And Ramona rudely decided to stay put. Beth asked her several times, again politely, to please just give them a moment to finish up and Ramona's like, "what, one minute? two minutes?" and then started in on her rant about how Bethenny didn't go to her anti-skin care pre-launch and doesn't support women, yada, yada, yada. I think Ramona came up on their conversation for two reasons: First she was determined to make sure that Carole and Bethenny didn't have any type of rapprochement in their relationship at that point. She has loved it all season that the two of them have been on the outs. And secondly because she needed to have a moment in this final episode to once again go off on Bethenny with her pre-rehearsed lines. Bethenny's dry, quiet "noted" was the perfect response. She knew that Ramona was trying to gin up the moment - perhaps laying the groundwork for a storyline next season and Bethenny just wasn't going to help her in any way. Nicely done, I thought. edited to add: I was very pleasantly surprised by Luann's show. I was really dreading seeing her show within the show because I thought it was going to be 90% Luann singing and just a bit of the other "and Friends". And though I like Luann, always have, she is not a singer. But instead her Cabaret show looked like a blast. Broadway performers singing and dancing, that female comic (who I find very funny), Rachel Dratch, etc. and Luann bantering and singing just a little bit? I'd pay $100 for that show.

I used to get that from my mom but the last time I stayed with her I found out she'd gotten hooked on 90-Day Fiance. She tried to explain how it happened, but I just told her "hey, no judgement". You do you mom.

On top of my loathing for this because it's Billy, I'm also just beyond irritated because when's the last time we've seen a single female character lauded like this in terms of her job? When has any female character gotten praise for how well she does her job and how good she is at it? When Victoria was running her own company when did a single character laud her for her business acumen? I get that she was lousy (in any real world sense), but so is every male character by the same rubric and yet, they're wunderkinds, every one. They're naturals. They can start up a business in a coffee shop and be immediately multi-millionaires. We'd occasionally see Hillary get some praise for her job performance but I'm not going to count that because her job was to gossip and so of course as a woman she'd be good at that, wouldn't she? This show is just so incredibly misogynistic in so many ways, I know that, and yet everyday I spot something else.

I think the gist of B's comment about the skincare party is that Ramona was having a party to "launch" her future launch of a skincare line. She doesn't actually have any product yet or even fully formed ideas of what the products will be. It was a party to celebrate something that doesn't even exist yet. Much like Sonja's toasters, Ramona's previous versions of a skincare line, things that this HW or that one has talked up as her next "business" that have never come to fruition.