ladle1

RHOD in its heyday could hold its own! Stephanie always seemed too sensitive and kind to be a HW, and I’m really hoping she didn’t turn out to be one of the racist ones. Anyway, that show will live in my Hall of Fame forever for Most Convoluted/Tangential Reason to Have a Cast Trip - “My father-in-law went to Thailand and we can’t get him to come back, soooo… girls’ vacay!” I digress. Anyway, I really love RHSLC. All of the women seem to be playing caricatures of themselves (except for Mary who is either really being herself or who is a comedic genius) but it all just seems to work.

I thought it was hilarious too, thanks in large part to the editors. The grand announcement about going inside, followed by the creaking garage door? *chef’s kiss* I wonder how many viewers checked out Whitney’s bath bombs after this episode? Honestly, Whitney should send Meredith a thank you note.

Kadooz to the editors- this episode was really excellent.

Did anyone else watch this on Peacock? Because I have a confession to make, you guys….. …I have no memory of Tamra peeing onto a deck. I remember the Jenga game. I remember someone pulling out the block “Pee in the yard.” I remember the women laughing about it. And then…nothing. Did I enter a fugue state? Did they cut it out of the Peacock version? I’m not going to go back and check, for obvious reasons.

Valid point! I guess I meant, I can only imagine how Tamra would have used them *even worse* had they been on camera. (And actually, I don’t recall her talking much about Spencer or Sophia until they popped up on camera as adults.)

Sonja from NY didn’t have her daughter on the show or really discuss her, except in passing, when she was a minor. But I wonder how much of that was her ex’s doing and not hers. Simon is terrible but I am SO glad he stopped consenting to have his kids on the show after their divorce. I can only imagine how Tamra would have used those kids.

Okay, I know many people will disagree with me, but here goes... I will preface this by saying that, to greater and lesser degrees, I have been chubby throughout most of my adult life. I have been the "chubby" bridesmaid. I completely get where Emily is coming from, in that respect. That said, I don't think Heather actually did anything wrong when it came to the fashion show! It seems like she gave Emily three looks instead of the two that other people got, which is why she asked Emily to bring the extra piece. It also sounds like Heather just passed on Emily's measurement (or "mazurments," if you must) to the designer and that Heather had no role in picking Emily's dress size. The other thing is, Emily has been trying to make "Heather is a fat-shamer" happen since Snuffle-gate. And maybe Heather is a fat shamer! That would not be shocking; however, I haven't seen any evidence of it on the show. The dress that Heather gave Emily did not look too big, or "business"-y on Emily. Also, the fact that Satan-Tamra, who will do anything to spark a conflict, immediately said that Heather isn't the type to do something like this on purpose, I think is very telling. I do see why Heather was defensive, because Emily was trying to come for her all last season, and back then Emily also included allegations of fat-shaming. So, I'm sure Heather thought, "Here we go again!" Now, where I cannot get behind Heather is how she reacted to Emily in this episode. Emily even prefaced her comments by saying she didn't think Heather would do something like this on purpose. Heather should have shut her yap, and listened, and maybe considered that she has a blind spot when considering how a person of a larger size in a sea of size 2's might feel about a situation like this. Again, I think that Heather was particularly on guard because Emily has come at her with this allegation before (in a situation where, IMO, it wasn't warranted - "Snuffleaupagus was not about weight!). But, Heather's defensiveness was a really, really bad look on her. Like, if she had just shut up and listened and graciously apologized, this whole situation would have been a Nothing Burger and we'd be back to the 24/7 Johnny J channel.

It's hard to maintain the fantasy that these women are not all completely awful people when they trot out their minor children to have sensitive, emotionally-charged conversations for all to see and to be immortalized on video.

So, did JJ start dating Alexis *after* she was slated to come back onto the show, or did the show bring her back *because* she was dating JJ and they knew it would spark drama?

I'm interested in that weird snippet where Heather said that Gina told her everything, even things she (Heather) didn't want to know (??), and that Heather believes Gina re: Paparazzi-gate. What was that about? Then there's fashion-gate. This is also an interesting little pickle. On one hand, I totally get where Emily is coming from. As a chubby-ish person myself, I know the slight shame of having to rifle around in the sad bin at Lululemon that holds all of the pants over a size 8... like, girl, I get it. And Heather likely does not get it, because she is a thin person and it seems has always been so. She wouldn't understand why you maybe shouldn't put two people of different sizes, one of whom is larger and seems to have body image issues related to being larger, in the same outfit. That said, I don't think what Heather said about the jacket was bad. She called it "a big jacket" and "an oversized jacket" because that's what it was. It would be "large" and "oversized" on any size of model because that's the type of jacket it is-- i.e. it's meant to be worn slightly large. But, I also understand why Emily chafed at the comment. In real life, Emily might have felt slightly uncomfortable, and maybe may have mentioned it to Heather and maybe it would be a learning moment for Heather. But because this is Real Housewives, we are going to relive this moment for the next trillion damn seasons. That said.... the jeans thing was weird. It seems very odd that Heather would put everyone else in black pants and ask Emily to bring her own jeans. Didn't Tamra (or someone? they all look alike on this show) point out that the black pants were made to order, and that there were curvier models wearing them? So, Emily could have gotten the black pants. The whole thing is odd and smells a bit like producer manipulation to spark conflict.

Hmm, interesting. I don't know that I would put either Heather or Vicki in the "mean" category, per se. Heather can be condescending, elitist, pretentious, haughty, and clueless in a Rich White Woman way, but I don't see her as mean, per se. Vicki... where to even begin? Narcissist, delusions of grandeur, often doesn't take other people's feelings into account, perpetual victim... but I don't really see her as "mean," either. I used to really like Emily, but she's slipped further and further into "mean" as the seasons have progressed, which is disappointing.

Why does she make such enticing promises?

I actually agreed with everything Alexis said about that, too. Damn Alexis. Like a monkey given a keyboard who randomly types out Hamlet, she has these moments of sage lucidity and then... back to being Alexis. But the irony is, people seem to be brushing off what Shannon did because of Alexis!! Because, when Alexis came on the show, she was gunning for Shannon in a really dark way, sending Shannon into a spiral that overshadowed the DUI. If Alexis weren't there, every episode would probably be a Shannon spanking.

I’m willing to give Alexis half a point for supporting her kids, since she was so far in the other direction the last time she was on this show and that does indicate growth. Of course, that is offset by the trillion points deducted for trying to extort Shannon and bringing the epithet “Johnny J.” into public consciousness.

The fact that some of these women are walking in a fashion show for Family Equality, given their politics, is interesting!

I actually agree with you about Shannon (and Tamra's crusty face, though I doubt that's controversial). Shannon can be very self-centered and self-martyring, and I think there's a grain of truth in Tamra's claim that Shannon was very "me me me" in their friendship. That said, in this particular situation, I can't really blame Shannon because Alexis and Tamra keep coming at her in a public forum in a really horrific way. When even the women on RHOC are like "Holy shit, this has gone too far," then... this has gone too far. Believe me, feeling galvanized by Gina, Emily, and Heather rallying around Shannon Beador was not what I had on my 2024 bingo card, and yet... Please don't let this be her tag line next season.

It's very, very weird to be nodding along to someone speaking intelligently about how all people should be afforded dignity and respect and be able to live the lives they want to live and then... realizing that person is Alexis Bellino. Is this the world in which we live??

The most important thing to John Janssen is that he comes across as a "good guy"?? In that case: oops! I am not a clinician, so this is just a layperson's opinion of a reality TV show but ... I completely agree that there are some people who may not be "alcoholics" in the clinical sense but who have had problematic relationships with alcohol at various points in their lives due to stress, depression, life circumstances, etc. I know people like this. Heck, I probably fit into this category when I was in college. So, I agree with Shannon that this is a phenomenon that exists. However, the fact that Shannon cannot refrain from drinking, even during the hours she's filming a reality show on which the optics of her drinking are so, so terrible leads me to believe she likely is a plain old alcoholic.

Yet...seemingly... someone is?

Vicki is the absolutely worst, obviously, but I kind of love that she's still selling insurance. Truly, are there any other examples of long-term HWs who have held onto their boring, real-world jobs? Was that the same season when Tamra was Christian for five seconds?

Is Katie smart? Maybe, by the standards of "cyst and diseased"? I truly have no idea, as I feel like I don't really have a sense of her yet. That said... I feel like I'm insane, because Katie came onto this show actively spreading dirt about Heather, right out of the gate. Of course Heather isn't going to like her! It has nothing to do with kissing the ring or wanting Katie to "bow down" or whatever nonsense Emily and Katie are spewing. Now, can Heather be entitled, elitist, self-important, self-absorbed, etc.? Absolutely! But, in the real world, if my first introduction to someone in my "friend group" was their spreading negative gossip about me, I wouldn't be particularly warm to them either! They're acting like she's being cold and rigid -- which she can be, but in this case I actually think she's being kinder to Katie than a lot of reasonable people would be!

You would need the James Webb telescope to locate the shred of a shit I give about it. I feel like everything about Katie is too much too soon. She came charging right out of the gate armed with dirt about Heather. And now we're learning too much about her family background (which I realize is the editors' fault, not hers, but still) but she hasn't earned it. We barely know her. We have no buy-in. When Tamra talks about how her divorce has impacted her kids, we care (or we would if Tamra weren't the worst person in the world) because we've been following her story for so long. Heck, I'd be interested in an update on Michael and Briana. But we don't even "know" or care about Katie yet.

I actually think it's perfect for her, in that it's something a cartoon villain would wear. Right?! Is it just me or does that paradoxically seem... unsafe?

I dislike almost every male partner across every franchise of this show, to varying degrees, but I have to say that I’m a sucker for camera shots of Eddie calmly eating at parties while screaming and chaos erupt around him.

Oooh, I like “Storms a-brewin’”! She was bad, but Simon was also horrible, which perhaps occluded her horribleness. “Naked Wasted” was the point of no return though.