Sun-Bun

Yes and no. I think Carrie is a perfect example of of one of those self-described “hopeless romantics” who may indeed genuinely appreciate the *idea* of being in love, but doesn’t yet understand the work, compromise and commitment that a truly functional and healthy romantic relationship requires. Even by then in her early 30’s, she still had a lot to learn and just wasn’t emotionally mature enough yet to really settle down and be the type of wife that Aiden wanted—-she seemed to base their whole relationship on their raw chemistry, romance and overall attraction, while he needed someone far more chill like him, with a more settled lifestyle and simpler tastes. At the end of the day, this was a typical case of opposites attracting: while they were both attracted to each other and had a great chemistry, their general views on life were too opposing and they wanted way too many different things for it to actually work. That seemed to be a general pattern with all the men she dated long term on the show—-she was way too into chemistry/romance alone, while conveniently ignoring long term compatibility. I feel like we saw this fact eventually dawn on her when she realized what a horrible mistake she’d made by hastily moving to Paris for Alex. She made that speech(“I’m looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t-live-without-each-other love.”) and it was probably the most self-aware moment I’d seen from her throughout the series’ run. Of course then in one of the fairy tale/unreal moments throughout the series’ run, Big just happens to have realized he FINALLY feels the same way about Carrie and runs off to Paris to “go get our girl”, but whatever...that’s TV for you. Carrie would likely still be single and quite bitter if this were indeed real life. Or divorced after making some nice guy’s life Hell.

Reality fame took over as well. I think Shep is a prime example of someone who was already the “man about town” and fairly popular among many local circles, but as soon as he was on national tv, he probably had every local bar cutie visiting or living in the city practically throwing herself at him. So of course he probably figured, “Why should I bother to settle down when I can just enjoy the adulation of as many lovely ladies as possible right now?” See also his protege, Austen. You see this kind of behavior in so many sudden reality stars though—-they get some fame and local/national popularity, start to believe their own hype, their former solid relationships and/or job status becomes a bit unglued, the men tend to rapidly age/bloat due to excessive partying while the women tend to lose excessive weight and/or develop plastic surgery addictions and enter a strained marriage or two...reality show fame is a weird, weird beast, it looks like.

Yeah, I’ve had two chihuahuas...both of them died by age 14, cataracts and all—-it’s really rare for them to last beyond age 15-16. Poor Ginger likely won’t live through this...but what a wonderful long life she’s had as a pampered pooch!

That wasn’t Topper, but one of her serious boyfriends she met in Palm Beach after her divorce—-his last name was Fanjuli or some name like that, another rich guy from some big powerful family.

I also feel sorry for Tinsley and always have. She was a glam and beautiful young woman just in her prime when she suddenly began to attract such attention from the press by her fashionable presence at the Manhattan social events she and Topper attended; like Paris and Nikki Hilton, she always looked great, had the pedigree and was fun at parties. And from all accounts, she’s a very sweet and friendly person. She had instant access to this rarified world that she was thrust into—-most anyone else would’ve gladly taken advantage of that instant fame and fabulous lifestyle like she obviously did. That marriage gradually unraveled when her own rising star and notoriety began to overshadow Topper’s wishes for her to chill and focus more on being a quiet and dedicated housewife. He’s a fairly low-key old money sorta dude who never was into that whole chi-chi socialite scene. And let’s be real: they started out as high school sweethearts—-I think they just outgrew each other and wanted different things in life as they got older. Tins seemed genuinely gutted about their divorce on “High Society”, but I wonder if she just was weeping for the loss of that lifestyle and high status marriage: she seems completely lost without a powerful/rich man in her life, especially seeing how hard she’s clinging to Scott. Based on the fact that she’s seemingly had a steady boyfriend by her side since she was 15 or 16, I’m guessing this is mainly why she seems a bit emotionally stunted and girlish: she doesn’t seem to know how to be truly happy living all on her own because she never has. And I’m sure there’s a part of her that feels a bit saddened to see her first true love Topper in such a happy marriage and embracing fatherhood when she’d supposedly wanted to have children with him.

That’s the most fascinating story just because Luzanne actually started out running the @welovepatriciaaltchul Instagram account as a Patricia fan—-Pat was so touched and impressed with her that they got close and became friends. Soon Luzanne was invited to stay with Patricia and met various cast members along the way, but obviously she and Thomas weren’t quite a true love connection...interesting story and I completely believe her side of it, especially given all these other similar allegations against him and the fact that Patricia isn’t his friend anymore. Luzanne is quite educated and seems very kind and level-headed; it sucks that she somehow got dragged into T-Rav’s messy affairs but I’m glad she got this story out there. He’s a nutjob.

Sorry to hear that, @theredhead77; what a shitty excuse of a concert buddy! That’s just goddamned rude. No offense to parents and I understand the dilemmas you guys often face, but it’s tough to have truly dependable friends when they’ve got a child or more to raise and attend to first. I sorta feel your pain though—-back in my single days, I made a point to buy two concert tickets strictly because I was sure that *someone* would be willing and able to join me for the fun. After three different concerts where supposed friends flaked on their tickets I’d nabbed for us both at the last minute, I learned to just be content going to concerts alone. So hey, at least she made an effort to join you, despite her super annoying lateness.

So I’m currently on the job search and going through the tiring contact/interview/wait to hear back game. I haven’t done this in 7 years and now I know why—-I absolutely *loathe* the job searching routine. Fortunately my job search is going well for the most part and I even just got several offers, but what always gets me are the supposed professionals who completely ghost you, either before or after an interview. I literally just contacted a place, then the supervisor emailed me saying he’d like to talk to me and schedule an interview, so what time could I talk. I thanked him and told him the time to call the next day. He confirmed and I waited for his call. NO CALL. So I emailed him back to politely inquire if all was well and that I still would like to talk. NO RESPONSE. So I’m assuming this guy either suddenly died or is just a rude asshole; I’m naturally assuming the latter. If you found someone else to hire or suddenly don’t want to interview me, that’s fine, but at least have the respect and courtesy as a professional to inform a candidate of the job’s status. Don’t leave me hanging and quit wasting my precious time—-a simple, “Thank you for your time but we’re going with another candidate” email would suffice! Actually, I’d never work for a place that would have the nerve to treat its job candidates so rudely, therefore the silence actually speaks volumes to me. But still, be a professional and treat job candidates with respect; you should be honored that people actually want to work for your company. Ghosting in general is so pathetic and rude, but it bugs me on a totally different level in the professional world—-it’s just inexcusable to me. You know what else I find equally inexcusable to me in the professional world? People who don’t return work emails. I’ve had that happen numerous times, even with higher up workers in major organizations that I’m connecting with on an equally professional level—-since when is that remotely appropriate?!

Take it from a semi-regular Hilton Head visitor(got some older relatives who live on a golf course there): it’s boring AF. Lots of retirees there, very quiet and sleepy, no decent food/restaurants/shopping...unless you’re into golf or outdoorsy beachy stuff, there’s really not much else to do, as the show displayed well. Man, please tell me Ashley is playing a role and she’s not really THAT pathetic and pushy. Please tell me that she and Thomas decided to ramp up things like that onscreen for drama’s sake. Even Kathryn wasn’t quite *that* obvious about trying to be the next Mrs. Ravenel! She’s just acted like a total diva on that entire trip so far; not exactly a bright way to ingratiate yourself within your boyfriend’s social circle. I guess Ashley’s true inner kook(or character she’s playing?!) came out as soon as they traveled with the group—-and she’s proving that it’s so true what they say about never actually *knowing* someone until you travel with him/her. Also, why would Ashley even *want* to go to a 2-year-old’s birthday party? Sorry, but unless you’re a child, children’s birthday parties suck! Whitney was practically mute this episode and I didn’t mind that much. And at first I was curious why he was driving such a sensible, average car until I realized it was probably just a rental. Clumsy oaf Shep and his constant(likely drunken) injuries...that guy is going to break his neck falling down a stairwell if he’s not careful. Or break a hip and/or have to get both knees replaced before he’s even 50. He’s going to age himself as rapidly as T-Rav if he’s not careful. Speaking of T-Rav, he seemed almost sedated most of this episode. Moving in slow-mo, not talking as much save for random goofy outbursts/comments, just giving Ashley the silent and/or “yes dear” treatment. Maybe he was just walking on eggshells to keep her from completely going off on him a’la Kathryn. Like the rest of you, I’m liking Kathryn better this season and I really love how she’s not completely taking Ashley’s bait so far. Although I get grossed out everytime they show her hands on camera, usually clutching that jankyassed cracked phone of hers—-she either has grimy, bitten-off old peeling manicures or her fingers are splattered in paint(guess she’s taken up painting as a hobby?)...she just seems really dirty to me half the time. Oh Cameron...my heart(and uterus) is heavy for her—-just watching her waddle around in such misery, gorging on cheese puffs, whining about her intense boredom and groaning about constantly feeling the need to poop makes me feel *extremely* glad that I personally never bothered taking the pregnancy plunge. Am I one of the few non-Gizmo fans?? The cat’s beautiful, but I don’t care for pissy cats that hiss/growl regularly. He probably scratches Naomi on the regular. Not that she doesn’t deserve it, but comon Gizmo, don’t be a dick and bite the hand that feeds you reality fame!

Shep will likely still be trolling the same bars, having one-night-stands and/or dead-end relationships with the same types of random younger women, traveling randomly—-he really is T-Rav Jr in many ways, even in the possible sexual misconduct sense: if he doesn’t stop drunkenly smooching/grabbing girls in bars, he likely will start getting in serious trouble. T-Rav gets his “mailbox money” courtesy of his real estate investments, Shep with his own landlord/bar-partner earnings. T-Rav was dumb/horny enough to finally impregnate a much younger woman; I could see this happening to Shep when he’s older and if he’s still out there looking for that mythical “unicorn.” Craig is still so young and still finding himself. Yet he's a handsome, smart dude with a law degree and some real estate investments, plus he’s a nice guy raised with good values who genuinely wants to settle down with someone and raise a family. I think he’ll be just fine in the long run—-he’s everything Shep probably secretly wishes he was.

In Shep’s slight defense, he might just have a set of those funny “faux” solo cups: I have an 8 cup set of those thicker, heavy-duty red plastic solo cups I use around the pool that I got from a local chicken shack which are meant to be washed and reused. The whole joke is that they’re either heavy plastic, rubber or ceramic cups that are just made to look like the typical flimsy solo cups you buy in sleeves. Funny marketing tactic for lots of local bars and casual joints, especially down here in the South—-I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had friends and family over who ask, “Why are you putting those solo cups in the dishwasher?” only for me to trip them out when I show them that they’re “faux” solo cups. And then they usually want to know where to buy some!

Oh, I think they might’ve drunkenly made out that time on the beach, or maybe Kat even went down on him or vise versa, but I just can’t imagine Craig agreeing to go for some beach time full-on sand rolling fun...and wasn’t he hot and heavy with Naomi by then??

I’m so bummed. This show had such potential and such an awesome cast. It deserved a second chance!! This is why I shy away from new scripted shows more and more: the minute I start to get sucked in, they get cancelled!!

Yeah, she totally got the Jennifer Grey treatment. I hope Nomi’s happy with her basic model new nose because her original nose made her so uniquely pretty. As for Craig and Kathryn potentially dating? I just don’t see it; they’re both in completely different stages of their lives. Craig seems like he needs a sweetly supportive and mellow girl in his life after the endless ball-busting of Hurricane Naomi.

Oh God...this is hysterical: “Thomas looks like a Winklevoss twin that was left out in the sun for too long.”

Yeah, ever since Carole had gotten so close to Tinsley throughout last season through this one, it’s like Bethenny had no use for her anymore. I was a bit more Team Bethenny at the start of this season, but after seeing how Beth keeps snapping at Carole and making her usual passive-aggressive digs in her talking heads, I’m firmly on Team Carole—-Beth seemingly has gotten to a point in her life where she doesn’t have much patience with women who aren’t as ballsy, professional and naturally driven as she is. Once she lost her constant clutches on her loyal minion Carole, she suddenly was over her and began to hyper-focus on how little they actually had in common. It’s a shame to see because I think they truly had a very genuine friendship for a while there, even though Beth seemed to bring out Carole’s mean girl side. But it’s so typical of Beth to be involved in friendship breakups at this point that I’m beginning to wonder just how much she expects friends to measure up to her insanely lofty standards—-it was very telling that she barely seemed to acknowledge Carole’s big marathon victory while Tinsley made a point to actually be there and help cheer her on that day. Hell, even Ramona at least half-assed a party for her. I just don’t think Beth knows how to be a true friend anymore: she expects so much and will do nice things at her own convenience, but it appears that her own friendship offerings are sadly lacking: give and take doesn’t seem to be her mojo with girlfriends.

Seriously, I wish those two could hook up for good. She’d get to make Patricia an instant grandmother and get to live the swanky party life with Whit. Unfortunately, I think she’s way too demanding and high-strung for Whitney. Insert closet gay Whitney joke here.

I agree—-last season she was doing the whole “finding myself by going back to Manhattan” storyline well, but this season it’s literally just been nothing but her blubbering about her breakup-to-makeup with Scott in between bitching at other cast members about their gossiping about her. She needs to find another storyline STAT; like pursue a new career or discover a new hobby, start looking for new places to live, just DO SOMETHING already!! And I say this as a Tinsley fan; she’s a legitimate socialite whom the show was lucky to cast originally. But she’s better bring something else to this series soon or she’s likely going to get fired.

Just saying: with his laidback charms, stable career and good looks, he could probably *very* easily find an equally good woman who isn’t a cruel, raging shrew like Tamica. It’s a compliment to mention that someone “can do better” than their current significant other when said SO is treating that someone like shit. Damn you, Justin; way to fake out your lady into thinking she was getting a ring! That was so cruel; her disappointment was so palpable. I truly felt for her; unlike Tamica, SHE seems like a very sweet, decent lady who treats her man well. Oh Jon Moody and his proclamations of the “Jon Moody Experience”...he may be talented and handsome, but he really is wayyy too high on his own fumes.

Seriously. She may be gorgeous, but she’s also a demanding, self-absorbed diva who apparently ain’t into regular sex either. Unless this is strictly for the show, their marriage looks just as rocky thanks to a bitchy shrew of a wife as her equally annoying bestie Reagan. That’s a damned shame too, because Barry is damned fine—-Barry could do better, just saying.

Oh I agree with you there: much as I like and enjoy Mama Pat, she’s a big ol’ snob. Ditto Whit.

Juliet’s face always reminded me of a rodent or something—-she’s not a very pretty lady, unfortunately. The constant sneer on her face and her annoying personality didn’t help. Honestly, she’s the textbook “ugly American” stereotype they tried to push on that show; ditto Caprice and her hideous plastic surgery/stank attitude. Actually, none of the American women on this show were raving beauties, save for maybe Season 1’s Noelle—-beautiful Caroline and the similarly lovely Danish gal made the show for me.

Awwww, Whitney ain’t that bad, is he? I hear he’s actually pretty awkward on camera because he’s so self-conscious—-according to Shep and Cameron, he’s hilarious and pretty different offscreen. More relaxed and very humorous. Hey, I’m not a fan or anything, but I think it’s brilliant how he’s grown this quirky little television empire on Bravo. He may not be the greatest relationship-material and he comes off as rather slimy onscreen, but it’s interesting to see how he’s evolved since the show began. Now Patricia may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but she’s sharp as a tack, witty and elegant, not to mention she isn’t your typical dumb golddigger who got lucky: the woman knows exactly what works with the upper echelon fellas in her scene. Her life views may be archaic and outdated, but consider her age: she’s a baby boomer who’s lived her whole life mostly surrounded by misogynists; doesn’t excuse her, just explains her. Patricia pretty much makes the show for me because her scenes are just so delightfully over the top and she always brings the extreme wealth porn.

I’m not sure how I feel about reality stars who do this sad promo shit—-on the one hand, it feels so gross and desperate seeing them peddle all these diet shakes and teas and tooth whiteners and monthly boxes...on the other hand, I’m sure those gigs pay pretty well given how many of these “stars” actually lower themselves to do them. Hell, when someone as rich as Lisa Vanderpump is peddling this junk too, you almost can’t blame them for taking such easy money! But yeah, it’s still as tacky AF; I’ll bet there was a time Carole never thought she’d ever be lowered to the status of promoting doughnuts.

What a Bitter Betty—-she was just so snarky, snide and jealous, particularly towards LaLa—-she just sat there glaring and muttering rude comments the whole time. She probably knows her days on the show may be numbered and LaLa’s promotion on this show and in this group of friends just might completely push her out of the cast if she’s not careful. LaLa is mostly living the life Scheana thinks *she* deserves. Scheana’s obviously not well-liked, she ain’t getting any younger, and her only storyline this season was her pathetic attachment to Rob, with the editors making sure to highlight every painfully awkward moment possible. If she left this cast now, I doubt anyone would notice much.