LibertarianSlut

I’m not impressed with Scott either, but it took me awhile to see how strange the situation is. I never thought he was a good looking guy. He seems bland to me. I think it shows a lack of boundaries that his first date with Tinsley lasted five days and then he dumped her like a hot potato. Everyone said at the time that Tinsley wanted a husband and Scott wanted a girlfriend, which is what made them incompatible, and I guess there is some evidence of that. Let’s look at Tinsley’s history: her first marriage had to be annulled (before she got remarried and divorced) because Tinsley and Topper weren’t allowed to be married at boarding school. Very strange. Then she’s arrested for trespassing on Nico Fanjul’s property when there was an order of protection against her (that she claims to have not known about) at the age of 40. Then there was Chad, who was 23, who Tinsley met, jumped in his lap and made out with and went on more dates with serious PDA. Later on that season, she continued that MO with Scott, and last season she did the same thing with a guy Bethenny introduced her to in Miami. That’s a lot of baggage going on. On this episode, I realized how unhealthy this dynamic between the two of them is. The chyron told us that Dorinda’s tea party had been “last week,” which was when Tinsley was very upset that the trip to Niagara Falls had been revealed because she was completely convinced this thing with Scott wasn’t going to work out. The next week she is moving to Chicago and saying if she doesn’t take this opportunity “now,” she’ll regret it? So, as of last week, Tinsley was emphatic she and Scott weren’t seeing each other, and this week she has to run like a thief in the night to be with him in Chicago? It doesn’t make any sense to me. It sounds like Scott is telling her “jump,” and she’s saying “how high?” I don’t give Tinsley the benefit of the doubt that she is an adult and she knows what is best, because as I outlined above, she has made some really poor relationship choices as an adult. Do I care? Does it keep me up at night? Nooo...but this is a reality show, so I comment on the reality I see on my screen and I form predictions and make opinions. I think Luann’s relationship with Tom was unhealthy, and I can name a thousand different reasons, and of course it’s their choice, but I still get to comment on it. If I knew any of them in real life, I would keep my opinions to myself, but I would also create distance. I wouldn’t want to be there for the fallout. I’m not even going to get into the pathology that would have to take place for Tinsley to be jumping at the opportunity to be with Scott in order to get away from the toxic women on the show. If Tinsley, at 44, can’t walk away from an unfavorable situation without a man waiting in the wings to swoop her up, then I have no words. Excellent point made up thread about whether a date has been set. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wound up not marrying at all. What has changed with Scott? We don’t know, because Tinsley doesn’t talk about it. And if they do marry, I’m not sure I see the marriage lasting more than a couple of years. I doubt these two will grow old together. I have a feeling that Tinsley Mortimer will be trying to make yet another comeback in New York in her early fifties. These are all just predictions. I hope they get married and live happily ever after. I hope I’m wrong. I have just never seen this relationship have a healthy moment. Way too much breaking up and getting back together over a period of years for me to think there’s something lifelong and lasting here. I also don’t know why she professes to love him, the same way that Luann didn’t really have good reasons as to why she thought she and Tom were a good fit when asked at the season eight reunion. And their marriage lasted seven months. Too many parallels here for me not to see a red flag. I think it was at the season ten reunion that Andy asked if Tinsley and Scott were seeing other people while they were apart and Tinsley said that Scott was seeing other people, and she just had to be mature about this one thing for the first time in her life. Scott was like 37 at the time, about 15 years too old to need to sow his wild oats before settling down. The fact that Scott was seeing other people when Tinsley was waiting in the wings means that he had a problem settling down with her, specifically, and It wasn’t because he was too busy to date, or too mentally unhealthy to date, or too wounded from a past relationship, etc. So, given that there is no evidence that Scott has changed since then, because Tinsley doesn’t talk about him (she’ll talk about her feelings for him, but she would rarely talk about Scott), I am left to the conclusion that this is a bad idea. Given that an engagement is not a legal arrangement, I wouldn’t believe there had been a solid change unless they walk down the aisle. And even then I still put it at less than 50-50. Selfishly, I want it to be a good idea and for them to ride off into the wild blue yonder so that she doesn’t come back to RHNYC like Bethenny, but there is too much from Tinsley’s past with Scott and other partners that give me pause. I get the impression that a lot of the decisions Tinsley makes are alcohol-fueled. I think she’d be a much different person if she didn’t drink so much and I would trust her decisions more.

Sonja getting into Century 21 is a big deal. It put to rest all the questions Bethenny and her team had for Sonja in seasons seven and eight. But I won’t believe it until the products are actually on the shelves and turning a profit. Still, it’s the best development for Sonja in half a dozen seasons. I rewatched the episode, and I couldn’t believe how gauche half the cast was acting... Luann is one step away from becoming a grifter. She wants Sonja to do her cabaret, but only wants to pay her a stipend for hair and makeup? This is some Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kim vs Kandi shit right here. Like, you can’t ask someone to perform for you and not pay them. That’s not how any of this works. Luann has been cheap since season three when she left Bethenny with the bill for the surfing lessons. Then, again, in the season when Bethenny was bleeding, Luann met Bethenny at a restaurant, talked over her a mile a minute, and left Bethenny with the tab for the drinks. That is not acceptable at all, and shows really poor character to me. Luann is a taker, and I really think a lot of this stems back to her childhood when she was one of seven children and she had to scrape and claw to get anywhere, and it’s really time to grow a little, because you’re not in that home in Berlin, CT with nine people sharing one bathroom anymore, Lu. I also thought it was very crass of the party planner to expect Dorinda and Sonja to get into a picture with him and Ramona so that he could post it to social media so that he could build his business on their names when all he had given them was macaroons. Ramona said she was getting a deal on the party, so of course she should have helped the guy’s social media campaign, but if I were Dorinda or Sonja, I never would have pimped that guy’s product for free, and the way he so casually demanded they do it, like, “Hey, Sonja and Dorinda, come over here. We need a picture for social media” was gross. He couldn’t even be bothered to ask. All these people have to learn elegance (ma friends!)

Sonja is trying to hone in on Ramona’s party for free. So tacky. Every year Ramona has a birthday party, and she was never asked to share with Sonja before. More and more, Sonja is becoming persona non grata. I think people are finally seeing what a mess she is and creating healthy distance. I think Dorinda is trying to emulate Bethenny in her talking heads, and it’s not...not funny. Saying that she doesn’t celebrate Jesus Christ as much as she’s being asked to celebrate Ramona on a Wednesday out in the boondocks without her contact solution was kind of fun. The way this season’s been playing out, I’ll take any port in a storm. Leah’s daughter is so pretty. I’m so glad she has her dad. I’m so glad Leah and Rob “don’t fuck.” So wonderful to say on international TV that your daughter’s friends are all going to watch, but whatever. At least she wasn’t drunk this episode. It was very sweet how Leah was genuinely happy for Tinsley. Leah even said that she was wrong in thinking that Tinsley should go for breaking the record and not the fairy tale. I have said my fair share about Leah, but I think she is a friend to Tinsley, and the rest are most definitely not. Ramona, yes the bartender is thinner than you. The fact that she asked shows a complete lack of self-awareness. And what is supposed to be the proper response from the bartender, a person in a position of service? What’s up with Ramona and Luann and then Sonja reversing themselves and pretending to be happy for Tinsley? I don’t think they owe her that, and I don’t think I would have sat down with them if I were Tinsley either. Leah is Tinsley’s only friend on this cast. The restaurant scene was so typical—Ramona had a date that everyone had met before at Beautique and The Regency, and Luann was insulted that Tinsley wasn’t putting her life and her move to Chicago on hold to attend her Halloween party. Hey, maybe Luann will write a cabaret about it, like she did with Feeling Jovanni! A girl can dream, right? I despise Dale. I blame her for stunting Tinsley’s growth so horribly. Dale making Tinsley’s move all about herself is gross. Remember Tinsley telling Dale that when she and her sister would return from summer camp, she could tell by the way how hard Dale would hug her whether she had gained weight and that Tinsley was only confident that she was skinny enough if her mom hugged her tight and Dale just sat there with her creepy frozen smile not denying it? She’s kind of a monster. Also, Dale, Sonja didn’t take Tinsley in because you were worried about her, she moved in with Sonja because she had no money, because you froze her trust after she got arrested. This all came out from a very embarrassed Tinsley at one of the reunions and I’m not going to stand for her re-writing history. She seems like one of those moms who tries to do that all the time and only remembers what’s convenient for her. Shivers. Glad not to see her again. I was not discussing it because technically it was a spoiler, but Tinsley has officially left the show and I am so happy. I wish her only the best in life, but the lashes, the tacky gold jewelry, the screeching, the crying, the victim hood, it’s all gone, and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from the show. I didn’t believe it until I saw it, and when I finally saw that writing on the screen that signaled her official departure, my heart soared. Tinsley was similar to Jules in a lot of ways—probably a perfectly nice person, but not a good fit for the show. I’m really sad this show is going on hiatus, especially with RHBH on hiatus, and especially with a quarantine, but it looks like they remixed the season, because almost none of the stuff they showed on “still to come this season” was shown in the season 12 preview and it all looks fun and dramatic and I am living for it, so I guess I can wait. I’m just so glad about this recent development. It was like finding out Bethenny was leaving the show. It was like, yes, finally, we can move on from this person and let things go in a different, better direction. I think Bethenny was worse than Tinsley, obviously, and they were total opposites, but the common sentiment is that they were dragging down the show and their unhappiness was palpable and I’m glad they’re free to live their best lives somewhere else.

I’m completely nonplussed about Tinsely’s engagement that didn’t happen yet and her announcement of moving to Chicago. She kept it off the show, so I don’t care. I can only imagine her co-stars feeling that way x20. It’s like, if you didn’t care to tell anyone about it, then...they have every right not to care about it. I think they had the wrong motivations. I think they were jealous, which is ugly. I think Ramona not congratulating Tinsley because Ramona was finally back in Dorinda’s good graces and she was afraid to piss off Dorinda was not just ugly, but insanely childish. But if I had been in the same situation as them, I would have the same reaction—“oh, you’re getting married and moving away? Ok, good. Have fun with that.” I would wish that person the best. But if we’re not friendly enough for you to tell me things ahead of social media, I’m not going to celebrate you in the way you deem fit. It was like Teresa with the tabloids in season four of RHNJ. All of Teresa’s friends/co-stars were wondering over and over why Teresa was giving interviews to the tabloids that she and her husband might be going to jail, but Teresa refused to discuss it with anyone on the cast. Ok, then, good luck with your legal case and I’ll see you around. How can anyone be there for you if you don’t bring them in, right, wrong, or indifferent? To the extent that Ramona, Luann and Dorinda kept their arrangements with Mario, Alex/Tom and John, respectively, off the show, I also don’t give a damn what went on. Luann kept her divorce private for all of season two. But she didn’t ask for attention for it once it came to air, so that was pretty fair. Other than hiding the fact that she and Tom were divorcing, Luann got dragged about Tom for all of season eight and half of season nine because she put it out there for TV. If Tinsley is going to withhold info because of some wish for privacy or something, then she doesn’t get the big hearty congratulations on air that she thinks she deserves. I think she gets an “attaboy” and then we move onto something more interesting. Next! I thought Dorinda’s cracks about moving out of the hotel and hoping that Tinsley liked Chicago to be kind of funny in a twisted way. She wasn’t being brutal or especially cruel, she was just being a bitch, kind of the way Luann laughed that Carole had no kids when Luann and Carole were fighting about Adam in season seven. Part of what made it funny was that Luann spent no time with her own kids. In the same vein, that type of immature dig about someone having to leave New York and move out of a hotel because they’re moving in with a Chicago millionaire businessman is not punching down, so I thought it was fun snark coming from Dorinda for a change.

I hate watching Luann plan a cabaret show. I hate the sound of her manager’s voice. This display reminds me of Bethenny selling real estate with Fredric Eklund in season nine. Totally boring. Sonja found a cheap soul sister in Luann. Sonja had a good talking head that Luann isn’t funny. True story. Those comedians completely sucked. I have no idea what kind of person pays to see “Marry, F, Kill.” I couldn’t be paid money to watch it. That was a really long scene of watching seven women get scared. It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t work secondhand. Can this show not find a happy medium between drunken screamfests and scene filler? And where was Bethenny crying? I was looking forward to seeing that. Luann, it is rich that you feel left out because Tinsley didn’t tell you she was back with Scott. How about the fact that you kept the fact that you split from Tom off the reunion and Andy had to trek all the way out to your house in Sag Harbor three years ago and give you your own little post-reunion? That’s called comeuppance. Love, your former fans.

I put what was wrong with it in bullet points in my post—she’s taking the attention off of James and putting it on herself and how noble she is and, worse, she’s using James’s recovery to promote her restaurant. When given an opportunity to talk about a big moment for someone, whether it’s a speech or a toast or a public comment, one is supposed to focus on the subject of the question, not themselves. I would feel crass even using the word *I* and I’d avoid it if I could. It’s like two steps away from promoting your place of business in a eulogy, which I don’t think is beneath her at all. But for laughs, of course, dah-ling! That’s the “what” and the “why” is because Lisa VanderPump is trash.

Yay! I’m so glad we get to discuss this, and I’m hoping there will be more traffic to this page next time Bravo decides to air a season again. I can’t believe how much you remembered from it! I forgot so much. Yes, I’ve always thought she was the most beautiful Housewife across any franchise ever. This time around watching—and sometimes I think HDTV hasn’t been kind—her forehead is a little too big, and it has this Tweetie bird effect, but I still can’t think of a better looking Housewife, and I think we’ve got about 150 at this point just including the domestic franchises. Marta was also very, very pretty. Joanna did say a lot that she wasn’t perfect, so at least she was copping to it, but it’s hard for me to accept her cutthroat attitude about fur and PETA when she doesn’t walk the whole walk. I get that it’s hard, and we all fall short of the standards that we set, and that shouldn’t prevent us from setting standards, but I just feel like if she was going to go that hard with her PETA stance, her behavior should have been impeccable. If she was more mellow and said “I do the best I can,” I’d be so happy she was advocating for animals. It just got really strange for me how laser-focused she was on Marysol possibly wearing fur, when no one—including Marysol—knew if it was synthetic. What is that they say though? Blame it on the al-al-al-al-al-alcohol. Been there! Also, she could totally be a RHBH! That’s a great idea. I think she’d fit in on the show right now especially. Yeah, Lisa really grew on me. I was thinking about it and Lisa was not only the youngest on this franchise, there were only two or three other Housewives in their twenties ever (Jo from OC, Ashley from Potomac, and Kim Z was either 29 or 30 when she joined Atlanta). So Lisa came from behind to kind of run the franchise and I respect that. I too was happy to find out that Lisa got the kids she wanted (as did Joanna, as you pointed out). I think Lenny would have left her if they hadn’t been able to make that happen. I see why this franchise was cancelled, but Bravo really seems to be floundering right now. I would absolutely love if they would do a Where Are They Now type of thing for the RHOM. Would it really cost that much money to send a camera crew around to interview them? I would like to see that more from this cast than any other. Yeah, definitely. She had everything going for her—she probably had the best man out of them all—and she seemed almost comfortable in her unhappiness, which made her really hard to watch. Yeah, Alexia’s story just got more and more tragic. I read on the Internet that her husband Herman dropped dead and now she’s in lawsuits with his sons over, I guess, property and stuff. She went through some shit, that’s for sure. I think she messed up her kid Peter, because season one she was kind of obsessed with him and did all of his bidding and dirty work for him. She let him get away with murder. He bought his girlfriend expensive jewelry with his allowance and Alexia just of just laughed it off. Then when Frankie had his accident, she said that she turned all of her attention on Frankie and Peter fell apart. She didn’t instill discipline in him and that was destined to happen, so I think Alexia bore a lot of responsibility there, and I would be pleasantly surprised if it turned out Peter ever actually did something positive with his life. He was so much worse than Rinna’s kids, no contest! Karent started out good for me. Her dental office was a five minute walk from my old crib—I used to pass it many times a week—so I liked her just for giving me that jolt of nostalgia. I also really respect dentists. I feel like they get a bad rap for some reason. I just thought that Karent could be a little insensitive sometimes, but she didn’t have a malicious heart. She seemed like she wanted to keep things moving, which I always value in a Housewife. Getting bogged down in anything is the kiss of death on any franchise. Same! That is a perfect way of putting it—a softness about her. I know exactly what you’re talking about. She had like a fragile feminine thing going on that you don’t see much these days on Housewives shows. Everyone is so aggressive these days. Yeah, I mean I loved me some Cristy, but I say that with a very limited scope of information. I loved her attitude. She was very composed and she had a fast mouth and I loved how she could switch in and out of English and Spanish and she held people to account, but again, she wasn’t hard, like she didn’t have a hard exterior. She seemed like a really warm person who didn’t suffer fools, but she didn’t allow her home or her family filmed, so I guess she kinda had to go. It’s so hard to judge off of six episodes. I can’t find the season one reunion anywhere (it was just a special edition of WWHL, if memory serves) so all I can remember is that Adriana flipped out on Cristy and really went for the jugular. She even made fun of her outfit and said it looked like a house dress. I kind of liked the fact that Cristy was able to get under Adriana’s skin and just tell it like it was, but, again, she could have been the biggest bitch or the biggest bore and it probably wouldn’t have come out in six episodes that comprised season one, so I can’t get too overwrought about her being gone. Yes, Larsa also seemed lighthearted yet able to handle herself. I don’t think she would have survived on the franchise today, because she said a lot of things that people might find insensitive. A big part of her storyline was that she was struggling to find a nanny, and she would get annoyed when they would get on the phone and start “talking Jamaican” when she wanted them to work. It didn’t bother me at all, because I don’t think she was completely serious and I like something that puts the “Real” in “Real Housewives,” even if they can be real bitches about nannies and stuff, but I think other people would go crazy about that stuff ten years later. I have to kind of admit bias toward Ana because I saw a kindred spirit in her. She was a Coral Gables gal and a lawyer like me, and I used to work in an area close to where she worked in season two, so I always felt happy watching her, but yeah, she said on the season two reunion that she is raising two daughters “who aren’t socially awkward” which was a dig against Lea’s son RJ, and I’m not about to defend that comment. That was bullshit. Oh, that’s awesome, because from what I understand, she’s still around, giving interviews with the Watch What Crappens guys and stuff. While I have shared some of my struggles with her up thread, I do think she was kind of the heart and soul of this franchise (until Lisa came up like a dark horse at the end of season three) and I don’t think she was a malicious person either. Amazing skin too, yes! I could never stop looking at how creamy it was. It really did have a beautiful setting, and I think that there were some women on the show who are harder to find on a RH franchise right now. I started this thread after someone started one for RHDC, and I was thinking about both of these franchises—the only two that got cancelled, and I realized they have something in common. I haven’t spent much time in DC, but I have heard people say that no one in DC is from DC. It has been my experience from living in Miami that very few people are from there, and few of these Housewives were from there either, so maybe that’s why neither of the franchises took? Then again, almost all of the RHNYC are from upstate New York and southern New England, and the only RHBH who was “born in raised in Beverly Hills” is Kyle. None of the rest of them are even from California. So, maybe it’s just a crapshoot why this thing got cancelled, or maybe no one will ever know. At least we can discuss it! And at least the Bravo website keeps up with them. I was sad that Joanna and Romain got divorced, but I was so glad for Joanna and Lisa that they had babies. Aw well, I’m glad I rewatched, but it did seem a little quaint compared to how fast-paced the franchises are now. Maybe one day I’ll stumble across that season one reunion and my life will be complete. 🙏

On James’s sobriety: Andy decided to “give Lisa the last word” on the topic and she said she thought James had made great strides and that he ought to be proud of himself. Oh, strike that. She said, “...when he decided to change his life around, I was there 100%. So, yes, he’s back at SUR and he has his Tuesday nights when we open...” So Lisa took snatched James’s victory and Made it about herself as well as; Used his sobriety to pimp her restaurants All in the span of less than 30 seconds! Meanwhile, the vast majority of the rest of the cast was so emotionally moved at the changes James made with the support of Raquel that they were dabbing at their eyes with tissues. Who has time for any of that when she can get free advertising for Tuesday nights? She is so crass and self-promoting and self-serving and shameless about it. And no one says boo, because they’ve come to expect this from her. What a small, horrid woman.

Kristen was the only one who took responsibility for her behavior this whole hour when she said that she was wrong for talking about Schwartz fucking around on Katie and that it was “a low blow.” Why the fuck is Lisa chiming in about Kristen, nodding emphatically about how much Kristen vents and muttering “exactly” when Beau—who is her actual friend—was cataloging Kristen’s behavior? Lisa and Kristen have nothing to do with each other. Lisa fired Kristen in season four. Lisa would be much better served to stay out of the Kristen situation. It just makes her look like a bully. When they did that flashback to last season’s reunion, I can’t believe how much better Stassi looked last year. Completely different nose last year in a better way. Her hair also looked like shit for this reunion. This is not a natural beauty, never has been. This is a woman who needs a makeup artist, stylist and hair dresser on hand at all times. I think Katie and Kristen will make up at some point in the future. Katie was sounding reasonable for a second there, and Kristen was receiving it. Stassi is the one making this thing toxic, I think. The only time I liked Andy was when he seemed to get really annoyed that Jax and Brittney’s dogs were barking. I seconded him there. They live in a giant house. They could have put the dogs in a basement for a bunch of hours to film a TV show without interruption. Everyone else has dogs, and no one else’s dogs barked. I found that disruptive and unprofessional, so of course it came from Jax and Brittany’s camp. What’s sad about Kristen’s life according to James? How is she not moving on? She bought a very nice home and she’s in a relationship. How is she doing worse than Katie and Stassi? Katie is in a sexless marriage and Stassi had to bully her boyfriend into proposing. Kristen’s at least living her own life, so...fail, James. He always has to get in a dig at Kristen. Andy never should have even tried to get James’s opinion about her. James is completely nonobjective when it comes to Kristen. For a very long time after they broke up, he was pursuing her and and she was just living her life and it drove him crazy and he kept poking at her. I’m not enamored by Kristen by a long shot. She was trying to gain attention for her tumultuous relationship with Carter and it came back to bite her. But everyone continuously going in on her for having a shitty relationship and being kinda open about it seems unfair and uncalled for. The people I hate on the most—Jax, Brittany, Ariana and more recently, Scheana—are probably the only ones who have been decent enough to let her make mistakes and not act like she has to be flogged for it.

I was a little glad to see Sandoval and Jax mend fences a little straight out of the gate. I don’t know how much longer this show is going to last, so maybe taking one iota of toxicity out of this trash heap is welcomed. Max is such a piece of shit and a liar. Andy asked him if the trip to Palm Springs was “strictly platonic” and Max said “for the most part.” The only acceptable answer to that question is “no” when it turns out that Scheana was giving him oral. These are awful people. Scheana came off so poorly in that segment saying that she had a problem with Dayna in the beginning because she was sick of being nice to people. That’s a really cynical outlook on life, hunnah. Much worse than the truth, which is that Scheana was just mean to Dayna because she was jealous of Dayna’s relationship with Max, as Scheana was friends with Charli, so her story fell apart. I agreed with Scheana that a woman should wear a bra to work. It’s not the same as Danica not wearing underwear. People can tell when you’re not wearing a bra. It would be really odd if someone could tell a waitress wasn’t wearing underwear underneath a dress. Unless it’s some other type of restaurant, which might be an interesting scene change. So Katie isn’t mean-girling James at this season’s reunion. A lot of growth shown there, Katie. But Scheana was completely right that James should apologize to Kristen, as there was footage of him screaming at her less than an hour ago. What was up with James sarcastically saying “thanks a lot” to Scheana? If he’s in AA, he’s supposed to be about honesty, and if he did yell at Kristen—which he did—he probably should genuinely thank Scheana for pointing it out so he can own his part in it. Methinks James may not be as far along in his sober journey as he thinks he is. Wow, Kristen, Raquel is so lovely that she’s on her way to becoming as lovely as Brittany? No words. What’s up with Andy asking Lala why the Fofty stuff didn’t play out on the show and Lala said it was when they weren’t filming then and Andy is nodding like crazy, practically drooling, going, “right,” like he was so glad she was reciting the party line. It reminded me of last week when Andy brought up the “racially inappropriate” texts of Max and Brett. It feels like Andy is trying to cover his ass here in some way, like he wants to mention things without mentioning them. I’m not about that life. I’m from the school of “mention it all.” Lala characterizing Scheana as wearing a “slutty JoJo Siwa pony” on the after show was good as gold! I refused to watch this bulllshit after show, but maybe I have been seriously missing out. Scheana, I’ve been on your side in general, but you don’t get to claim the “nice girl” title anymore. Not when you just said that you weren’t nice to Dayna because you didn’t feel like being nice to new people anymore. Pick a lane, toots. I think Scheana wants us all just to throw in the towel of logic and reason and feel pity for her because she’s been pathetic these last few seasons. That’s really not how I look at things. If you were an asshole, you have to accept it and apologize and only then can we move on. “Katie, have you been getting some knitting done [during quarantine]?” This is just like the season, so boring. I’m embarrassed for the show that they felt it necessary to air quarantine shenanigans at a pretty considerable length. There’s just nothing to talk about with this Dumpster fire of a show. Flat Iron is like Kristen in that they are really there for their friends, and I think I would put up with a lot of shit from someone that loyal, so I don’t like to see Jax act so ungrateful to Tom about Jax’s wedding. That part is just not true. Sandoval and Kristen will rally for their friends. I don’t really believe anything anyone says to the contrary. I have no interest in what Brett or Danica have to say at this point.

Tanner sketching Wendy—what a cliche. He feels like he’s the one naked under the covers. Ooh, the irony. Since when do public officials—like Madam Chairperson from the SEC—make calls at private offices? What’s a “regulatory Armageddon”? How does that apply to Axe? I feel like that line was there just to sound cool. Fail. What is Taylor working on now? Venture capitalists getting methane gas from the sea, and the amount of interest on this is like a hockey stick graph? Why don’t they ever speak English? And Oscar is working on the exact same thing at the exact same time with the exact same person? And he lets Taylor manipulate his pitch as if he just got out of grad school? Does Wendy do her job at all anymore, or does she just follow Taylor around, who is getting uglier and uglier? I’m so tired of Taylor trying to be the anti-Axe. She came on the show wanting to force Sandicott into austerity. Why rewrite history? So Chuck knew Axe had a real Van Gogh, because it has a weight to it that Chuck could visualize? That’s plausible. Why would Axe just let Chuck in? Even if they’re still pretending to be buddies, if Axe had something to hide, he could have just told Chuck, “hey, look buddy, normally I would, but I’ve got tons of women up there.” That was silly to me. Axe gives a big speech that he wants his workers earning more than ever and their response is to sit around asking Spyros MENSA questions? I feel like the writers have no idea what to do with the people on the floor anymore. I liked Chuck Sr cataloging cretins to morons. It seems like a lot of work to shuffle art from port to port just to avoid paying taxes on it. I liked seeing the short guy again. He’s always good. Not trying too hard. Not becoming a caricature of who he once was. So Chuck, who is NY AG, needs Cat to tell him why sex work should remain illegal so he can get a leg up on Graham, but she won’t tell him? As if there aren’t thousands of other sources for making a legal argument about something that’s illegal. That was just plot service too so that Chuck could get the “reward” (or however Chuck wants to think of it) in the form of the beautiful sex worker in the end. Though Chuck threatening Graham with “Inga” at the restaurant was the most like Billions this show has felt all season. Axe wouldn’t be able to convert a residential space into a commercial space in NYC. If it was going to happen at all, it would take years. That was very silly to me. We’re halfway through the season and all we have to go on is that Axe wants a bank and Senior needs a kidney. That and a whole lot more could have been established over the course of a couple of segments of the first episode in any previous season.

Wow, @Christina that whole post gave me the chills. Thank you for the info. I just watched Steel Magnolias for the first time last weekend and there are some parallels there. Sad story. This is on Mackenzie, not her mom IMO. She knew about birth control and didn’t take it even though she lost a baby at five months? 🤔 That just kind of leaves me speechless. If the endocrinologist didn’t require parental consent and having protected sex was so important to Mackenzie, she could have taken a bus to the endocrinologist or saved up for a taxi. If they had access to condoms and Josh “refused” to wear them, there is always oral sex, or heavy petting or abstinence. I can’t remember the show, and I’m glad someone was thoughtful enough to recap it for me, but if abstinence is someone’s central belief system, I’m not going to say it’s on them to facilitate it for someone else, let alone a teenager, let alone their own teenage daughter. To me, that’s the same as not taking her to the needle exchange if she’s on heroin. People have a right to exercise their own consciences. I find that to be one of the central tenets of free society, so I doubt I would change my mind about this. I don’t know what Angie did to restrain Mackenzie from having sex, but it sounds like she and her husband clearly did not do enough. I mean, she never shipped her out of state. She didn’t send her to live with nuns that I know of. So I would agree that that’s a major parental fail, especially if the girl was clearly already having premarital sex and getting pregnant from it. I think this is a tragic story all around. Hopefully Mackenzie’s fate will deter others.

I don’t remember the 16 and Pregnant episode chapter and verse—aside from trying on the cheerleading uniform—but did Angie actually block Mackenzie from getting birth control or did she just refuse to facilitate it? Because I think if you’re mature enough to consent to sex, you should be mature enough to to access your own birth control, whether that means riding your bicycle to the pharmacy to get some rubbers or taking the bus to Planned Parenthood for birth control pills. If it’s actually against a parent’s moral view for their kid to have premarital sex and they teach them against that, but the kid decides to have sex anyway, I don’t think it’s on the parent to put them on birth control, I think it’s on the person who is having the sex to take steps not to procreate.

I mentioned it one page one! But it was buried in a post full of various and sundry bullshit too 😊 I rewatched this episode and I’m re-watching season eight and I had some additional thoughts to add to my other thoughts: I think Ramona does have a sex drive, and it’s not all for the cameras. I was just watching an episode of season 8 (it’s shocking how much I learn from re-watching) and Ramona told Bethenny that her second lover had a small penis, and she thought it was punishment for screwing this guy when she hadn’t broken up with her first lover, her high school boyfriend. And it was a very off the cuff thing. I didn’t get the feeling she made it up at all. I think it’s laughable for Ramona to say a woman has to have a certain demeanor and caliber in order to hang out with her—unless that person is Leah, in which case I really get the impression she’s saying: if you want to be around me, don’t throw things at me or burn down my house. A tall order, yes. Sonja has less of a leg to stand on. She vomited in the van on the way home from the apple orchard and urinated in the corn fields. I noticed that Leah only has bandwidth for feedback that says she’s right. If anyone even wants to broach the topic of her overall behavior she goes into “I’m not apologizing for who I am” mode. “Who you are” is a raging fucking asshole, drunk or sober. I couldn’t imagine how tiresome it would be to be around her in real life. She and her sister are probably so far up each others’ asses because no one else wants to be around them. I don’t get the impression that either of them has a man or good friends. That’s not a coincidence. As I’ve said, I thought it was rude for Ramona, Sonja and Luann to go up to the bar and ignore their table, but for Sarah, Leah’s sister to confront them about it was totally not her place. She wasn’t even supposed to be there, no one wanted her there, and she was lecturing them that they had a social responsibility to hang out with her? Read a room, bitch! I thought Leah and her sister going to talk to the guys at the bar in order to get them away from Luann, Sonja and Ramona was so mean-spirited, and I thought it was horrible of Tinsley to encourage it. Maybe they look better than some women, maybe they look worse than others. It’s not all about looks, it’s about how you feel about someone, obviously, given the way the guy was conversational with the older women and had no time for the comparatively younger women. But, regardless of whether they had success, I think the impulse to do that is so unsavory. I’m pretty good at trivia. I would never join a trivia contest that my less educated friends had joined just to see them lose so I could gloat about it. If the women at the bar didn’t want to come to the table, there were a million ways of cutting them out of the restaurant circle, as has been pointed out up thread. Just tell the maitre’d that you’re now a table of four and let them hang out on the vine. Done. Case in point as to what is an appropriate consequence: Last year Ramona skipped going to see an artist in Miami in order to have lunch with her girlfriends and practically jumped out of their car when it was running to get away, and her penalty was that she didn’t get a piece of art. If Leah and her sister had been there, they would have followed Ramona to the restaurant and poisoned her food. Psycho bitches. I loved Leah saying she is trying to engage in moderate drinking. The season is half over. When is that going to start? Leah sounded so do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do telling her dad he needed to become vegan and do a cleanse because of esophageal problems. Leah is binge drinking while she’s on bipolar meds. Hypocrite much? I really don’t feel bad for Tinsley. She has every opportunity to shut down the bullshit, but she squanders it. I had forgotten that Scott didn’t want to be mentioned on the show. That’s...not a thing. Again, watching season eight and Dorinda is trying to negotiate how she can bifurcate her life between the women aka Bethenny and Ramona on the one hand and John on the other, because the women don’t like John, just like Dorinda bifurcated her life between Hannah and John in season seven because of mutual dislike. It doesn’t really work. It’s stupid when you’re on a show and you have an ensemble cast with whom you’re filming. They’re co-workers before they’re friends, and I think Dorinda should talk about Scott, just like Bethenny and Ramona should have talked about John. These are their lives and they’re getting big bucks to let us see them. The fact that Dorinda brings up Scott in the worst possible way and Tinsley reacts in the worst possible way is kind of humorous. They both look awful. This is Dorinda’s sixth season and Tinsely’s fourth. None of them have learned the art of delivering not-so-pretty things in pretty packages yet? This show would be so much better if Dorinda would exclaim in a very nice voice, “Oh Tinsley, how was Niagara Falls with Scott? I heard it’s beautiful up there!” And Tinsley can respond with, “It’s so beautiful when you’re there with someone you care about. You should really go up there with...well, actually it’s ok if you go alone too.” Like, is that too much to ask from women in their 40s and 50s who have been in this game longer than it took me to get a four-year degree? A little passive-aggression instead of full-throttle tantrums? Freaking amateurs.

^^^ I don’t believe in violence in response to speech, so I guess A2D. If someone talked shit about my sister, I’d let her fight her own battle with words.

I liked the idea of a party with no alcohol, although I don’t believe no one imbibed before or during. Aside from what looked like bottles of wine on the table, flasks are sold for a reason. The venue for that relax, relate, reset party was beautiful New York City space. I feel like the word “iconic” belongs in there somewhere, but that word is getting overused. I liked their brightly colored and pastel outfits for the most part. Maybe because this franchise is always filming when it’s cold, I usually I find their clothes boring. This was a nice little break from that. Leah had a knot in her throat because she was actually going to have to face these women sober. She started drinking for the first time in nine years just to face these women after all she went through with her bipolar. That says a lot about her insecurity. All those drunken flashbacks were amazing!! There are so many more too. Dorinda and her drive-bys with Tinsley and Scott drives again. “You need to tell them or I’m going to tell them.” I can’t believe how ridiculous this shit is, and I can’t believe how Tinsley doesn’t just laugh her off. I also thought Luann’s and Leah’s advice was ridiculous. How many good relationships started with an ultimatum? I don’t think Tinsley should fuck with Scott, but if she wants to, go for it. At least she knows she’s not playing from a place of strength. Leah, how does laying down the law with a guy work for you? How easy does Leah it will think for Scott to impregnate Tinsley as a 44 year old woman who’s never given birth? She’s so ignorant. Let’s look at Luann and Leah’s track records in relationships. Or any of them. Why should anyone in that group listen to anyone else’s advice when it comes to love? I was just watching the season eight episode where Bethenny said “it’s like the blind leading the deaf,” and I didn’t know what it meant then, and I don’t know what it means now, but somehow I know it applies to this situation.

In a game of Marry, Shag, Kill (I blame Satan Andy for the rising popularity of this utterly stupid game) Luann would “marry” Bethenny? The one who terrorized her up and down the eastern seaboard from Massachusetts to Miami (to say nothing of the other 51 states)? Why is she back to kissing Bethenny’s ass? Because she’s off the show so out of sight, out of mind? Luann’s a joke. She shouldn’t mention Bethenny’s name on camera to deny her the satisfaction. But I am glad we got almost halfway through the season without the cabaret. I wasn’t expecting such a respite. Leah’s dad is quite the drinker too, huh? An Old Fashioned and maybe a few glasses of wine later, all at lunch? If her mom doesn’t want her to drink, her dad should probably not drink in front of her either. Leah’s mom totally has her number: “Were you getting nasty?” And “I just think you’re on a slippery slope with the alcohol.” Ding, ding, ding, Leah’s mom!! Can we trade you for her please?

Dorinda is so weird. She keeps sticking up for Leah for how “young” she is. She’s 37. She’s old enough to be a grandmother. Dorinda was sort of like this with Jules, who was 34, but Dorinda and Jules had some history prior to this show. But Tinsley joined the show at 40 and she’s free game? Where does Dorinda draw her line? I’ve never had a night where I’ve thrown ravioli in someone’s face. And I’ve done a lot of wild shit when I was drunk. Leah didn’t just throw the ravioli, she threw it in public and it splattered across two people. I would be mortified if I did that. When Sonja and Luann and Ramona and Sonja are sitting around making sense about someone else’s behavior, that person has a problem. Because those four cows are very seldom right about anything. “It’s a piss in the ocean.” Wow, Leah’s sis is a classy one.

Good job holding it together for your kid Leah. Welcome to earth, where we hold our shit together and navigate our way through disappointments without getting in people’s personal spaces and destroying property. I didn’t think adding the sister was a good move. If it was supposed to be about the core women bonding, they were able to ignore each other to focus on Leah’s sister, which is the polite thing to do, but it definitely upsets the group dynamic, which was exactly the prediction Ramona, Luann, and Sonja made. I also just don’t have a good feeling about this sister. She gives off a loony vibe. Tinsley made out with her sister. But it was “as a joke!” <footstomp> That was WTF territory, even for Leah. As gross as Dorinda’s behavior has been this season, I’m glad Luann is there for her, as Dorinda was one of the only people who supported Luann with Tom when all the wenches were trying to drag her down. WTF is wrong with Arkansas? Having said that, why does Tinsley care if Ramona gets her flirt on? She feels ignored? Aren’t there six other women there? I feel like Tinsley is quietly judgmental sometimes. I picked up on it last week when she said that Newport was just like Palm Beach. Like this is her domain and it’s not a place to “cougar out.” Sorry Tinsley, not everyone gets drunk on a first date and leaps into the guy’s lap and makes out with him and winds up going to Florida with him for five days and then spends the next three seasons chasing him down like he’s prey. If Leah is allowed to act the way she acted last week—and they all seemed ok with that—then it’s perfectly ok for Ramona, Sonja and Luann to walk to the bar and flirt with men. It’s not proper behavior and it is rude, but it’s vacation. Not everyone is going to act to your standard. Good job getting that guy to pay attention to you and your sister, Leah! Not everyone thinks Leah has a golden pussy, when is she going to get that through her head? Pita Chip didn’t teach her that yet? I think Leah set the tone of bad behavior, and the fact that it was excused opened the door for additional bad behavior to ensue. I changed my mind—I’m glad for Elyse’s appearance on the show, because she is telling the truth—they all were drunk. Every single one of them. I thought Luann was the only one who didn’t seem extremely inappropriately drunk until she set the Indian corn on fire in the restaurant “because the energy.” I could tell Tinsley was in the cups because she got a really evil, black look in her eyes and screeched at a higher pitch than usual. Leah and her sister are trash. Throwing the ravioli for no good reason and after the night she had was like my last straw with her. I’m not sure she can come back from this Newport vacation in my eyes. I take it Leah’s trashy sister doesn’t have a man who is helping her raise her daughter. I feel sorry for that kid.

I rewatched this and I noticed a few new things. Spoiler alert: none of them are in Denise’s or Aaron’s favors, but all the players involved were wrong on some level: They flash-backed twice to Denise saying “I will be mindful of them being in earshot of all of us,” “them” being the kids. Clearly Dorit’s daughter being right behind her while she was cussing up a blue streak didn’t fit into what Denise said. Dorit was sitting two people away from Denise in a small, intimate gathering. I would think part of being “mindful” would mean that she could crane her head to the left and the right before saying all iterations of “fuck” at a children’s party. She was professing one standard while exhibiting another. That is the definition of a hypocrite. Dorit didn’t have to make the specific request that Denise not say “fuck” over and over in front of her very little daughter. Denise said she was going to be mindful of the children’s presences. Those were her words. Is there anyone who doesn’t know it’s not good to say “fuck” and “fucking” in front of little kids? Does Dorit have to explain to Denise that she doesn’t want her to drown her daughter in the pool also? If Dorit had gotten all up in arms about it, I would take Denise’s side. I would say that’s what happens when you shoot a Housewives show at your home and alcohol is served. Shit happens sometimes. But Denise was still wrong. She was not being mindful of the kids. Yet she got a pass on this from everyone except Teddi, who got a tongue-lashing. The most disingenuous part—the part that really bothered and kind of shocked me though—was that Denise is putting this all on Sami. She said, “I wasn’t even going to say anything until Sami said something to me and I was like ‘oh shit’.” Meanwhile, there is no footage of Sami saying anything other than they overhead them talking about threesomes and stuff and it was really funny. What Sami said verbatim was, “Mom, we were dying of laughter, it’s fine.” If Denise doesn’t like the way the women were talking in front of children, fine. She can say that. What she doesn’t get to do is lie by omission and make it bigger than it was. I would have 20x more respect for Denise and I would be so much more on her side if she had said, “in all honesty, Sami said she heard it and it was funny for her, but I was kind of embarrassed that I even had to have that conversation with her about threesomes in the first place and I wish we had established better boundaries.” Sometimes you have to give an inch to get a foot, and Denise clearly didn’t get that memo. I’m not going to entertain any conspiracy theories that there was other footage of Sami being embarrassed on a grassy knoll and this was swapped in to save the reputation of Denise’s daughter...the way I look at this is that I have to go off the four corners of the episode or there is literally nothing to discuss. I think a lot of this is being told backward, especially by Aaron. And I am kind of ashamed that there is not one woman smart enough to set him straight. Aaron was saying “what is your problems” when the one with the main problem was his wife. Aaron got to skate on that one because everyone was so worried about how they were being perceived to say, “hey, wait, bud, you’re not making sense.” Prior to the barbecue, the women’s collective problem was the idea that Denise perhaps didn’t want her kids around them, which is what they said at Garcelle’s event. But no one confronted her about that particular issue. I think they were wrong; they were a little embarrassed and ashamed that they were talking loudly about sex with teenagers in earshot and they didn’t immediately calm down. It seems like their party line is, “yes, we fucked up, but we’re good moms.” They probably did a little Monday morning quarterbacking and thought that Denise is all over TV—reality TV, not just Wild Things—talking about happy endings and big dicks, so they thought they were free to say those things in front of teenagers and when they were stopped short by Denise, they were a little like, “what the fuck?” And there pride was too strong and they had to dissect it and it looked petty. That was about their biggest mistake as a group before the barbecue. I am not excusing them; they were wrong, but this is what I think was going on with them before the barbecue at Kyle’s. It was hashed out too far and too long, and I wish someone would have just spoken from the heart and said “I’m embarrassed and part of my embarrassment is manifesting in looking at ways that you have exposed your kids to inappropriate sexual situations, and I’m trying to think it through.” (Then again, if Eileen were there, she would have said that, and she got all kinds of shit for talking in “therapy terms” during her tenure—and I was one of the people who thought she was laying it on a little thick—so sometimes there is no winning with these women, even with me, so I have to be honest about that). But I do think someone should have said something genuine to Denise, especially if they were going to spend so much time trying to trap her in her own web. What happened to Rinna’s “own it!”? It is just my opinion, but I think it is more objectively wrong to curse violently, like “fuck this” and “you’re shitting all over me” in earshot of kids than it is to talk about sex acts within earshot of teenagers. Having said that, I’ll say this for the 90th time because I feel like this keeps getting confused—Denise has a right to set any standard in her house she wants. She can mandate that everyone has to wear magenta eye shadow or they will be escorted off the property (Rinna would like that one) and that should be adhered to, but right besides house rules, there is common sense. I don’t think it can be discounted that Denise was serving alcohol and filming a reality show that has sexual overtones in her backyard. Same goes for Kyle. She also shot a reality show with alcohol in her backyard, and that’s probably why no one did make a big deal when Denise and Aaron were doing so much cursing. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. At the restaurant the night before the barbecue, Aaron laid out the standard to which he supposedly adhered: “ It’s so simple. Don’t be rude and crude when there’s kids around.” He would later go on to totally fall below that standard. On the way to the barbecue, it was clear Denise was pissed and she was on a mission. Just the fact that Denise said, “I won’t be eating” and that she wanted to go to a restaurant because all the women would be fighting meant she wasn’t going there in good faith. She shouldn’t have gone. She should have just went to another restaurant with Aaron if she didn’t want to be with these women. No one was putting a gun to her head and making her do her job. Denise was lying when she said she wasn’t upset with anyone at this table from Santa Barbara, because she had been to a facial where she was bitching about it and then she called Teddi a “shit fucking stirrer” about Santa Barbara. So she was given the opportunity to give her side and say why she was pissed, but she was being passive-aggressive in denying it and then throwing stones. Lisa asked if Denise was more concerned about the friends being there and Denise replied “both.” The fact that you can’t be “both” more concerned about your daughters’ friends hearing sex talk and more concerned with your daughters hearing it being an impossibility aside, Denise clearly had an issue with them. At the barbecue, Denise made that comment about not bringing her kids, namely Eloise, around “this group,” and Teddi and Dorit asked her directly what she meant and she was just silent. Teddi asked again and Aaron jumped in mansplaining (I don’t really know how to define mansplaining, but like Justice Potter Stewart, “I know it when I see it,” but if that is going to detract from my argument, please just substitute “explained condescendingly” for “mansplain”) and asking what the issue was. And I think this is where it got really stupid, because the person with the issue—as I laid out above—was Denise at this juncture. It could have/would have been so clean if Denise had just come and said Eloise had a play date, and acted pleasantly and if anyone brought up the sex talk, then Aaron could have swooped in to make all of his self-righteous and demeaning comments about moving on and being honest and talking about something else. They played their cards wrong, because they were on different tangents. That’s why I said I think Denise should have just skipped the barbecue and gone to a restaurant like she wanted. If anything, Aaron should have gone to the barbecue alone. But it’s dissonant when one spouse walks in with a puss on her face and an attitude and passive-aggressive digs and the other spouse is going in to ask the other women what their problem was. If Denise could have refrained from having a problem, it would have packed a substantial punch. Good teamwork geniuses. Something that keeps gnawing at me is that Erika was Denise’s biggest cheerleader last year. She was fan-girling all over Denise like an embarrassed teenager. She took all these pictures of Denise as Bond Girl in the Bahamas and said that her sexual fantasy is Denise and Aaron. I don’t think it’s as simple as to say, LVP left, they needed a new target, so that was Denise. I don’t think Erika would have just gone after Denise—I think she would have gone after any other woman on the show before Denise—just because LVP isn’t there. Something is different about Denise this year. I think she’s much more image-conscious than she was last year and she’s setting new standards and being more abrasive and saying she’s “fucking Denise Richards” which she never would have said last year and I don’t think Erika is merely “going after” Denise. I don’t think Erika is suddenly jealous of Denise this year when there wasn’t an inkling of jealousy last year (aside from the fact that it’s my opinion that Denise has more to be jealous of with regard to Erika than vice versa. I’m just going off what I witnessed, not my ideas). I think Denise is acting like she’s suddenly above them and that may account for the change in attitude of the cast toward her. Denise seems like she’s above it all this year. Erika has been a stuck up bitch in the past, but I never got the impression she had an ego about her fame aka Erika Jayne. If Erika had to leave Garcelle’s party early, she would have just been like, “baby girl, I’ve been up since six and I’m so exhausted, I’ll see you tomorrow, love ya, bye.” I don’t endorse the hokey overly familiar shtick; it’s not my style, but it wasn’t cold. I feel like Denise felt this sense of entitlement about leaving Garcelle’s awards party early that was expressed like, “don’t these bitches know I don’t have time for this shit show and I have to work. On my soap opera. Because I’m Denise Fucking Richards.” It’s not something she’s said verbatim—there’s no smoking gun moment—but for me the subtext is there, and that could be why they are turned off to her and channeling it into some controversy over sex talk at a barbecue and who said what when. I think it’s even more thoroughly ridiculous for Denise to take this superior attitude when this is not a show full of shrinking violets either. Denise may be the most famous I guess, but she’s got no other superlative to claim. She’s definitely not the richest, the prettiest, the skinniest, the youngest, and I don’t think she’s that funny or cool or nice this year either. So even though it’s disguised in jeans, I think Denise’s ego has taken a turn and that could quite possibly be what the women are reacting to. Every single one of them has said something about her, including Garcelle. The same couldn’t have even been said about LVP at the same point last season. So, giving the wisdom of the crowd its due, I think there’s something up with Denise that the cast is sensing and reacting to, albeit in a very bush league, immature way. I have said in the past that I get the sense that Denise is a good mom. I remember hearing about her taking in Charlie’s children with Brooke, etc. But that doesn’t give her a pass, let alone a pass for life. I watch this show and judge it episode by episode. If someone is behaving badly, I’m not going to excuse it because she picked up Eloise so many times she got hernias. I wouldn’t even know what the point of watching the episode would be if I had my opinions made up ahead of time. If Denise turns it around again next week and pulls out a win, I’ll be the first one to say it, just like I said I think she won last week. But everyone has to earn it through making good points and sophisticated moves. I’m not just going to hand it to someone because they happen to be a good person. It’s not that kind of show to me. It’s the opposite of that kind of show. It’s a bunch of women competing to be alpha bitch, and Denise could have achieved that if she’d gone into the barbecue with a game plan with her husband, instead of acting like a surly child. Maybe next week will be a better week for her. I’m not sure it could be much worse for her than this week.

Call me simple, but I’m still confused how Denise saying that Aaron still has a “big dick“ at that same party that she didn’t want the talk of lesbianism and threesomes doesn’t square with me. She has the right to do it—her house, her rules. It just makes no sense to me. That wasn’t last season. That was not at a different place or time. That was at the same damn party. I guess I won’t get that part until it’s explained at the reunion. Dorit’s six million dollar house looked kinda crummy. It’s so early to make any judgments other than knee-jerk, but Sutton’s Michael reminds me a little of Camille’s David. Garcelle kind of won me over when she said she wouldn’t eat placenta. It’s so fucking Teddi to want to eat the placenta “in pill form.” 🤮 I thought the twins—who are younger than Denise’s Sami and Lola—calling out their mom saying “shit” was a welcome contrast to all the controversy surrounding Denise’s barbecue. I go hot and cold on Garcelle, but I think this overall was a good episode for her. Aaron sounds fucking crazy. He really needs to not talk. If Kyle “tricked” Aaron into sounding crazy at her dinner party, what the fuck motivated this bullshit healing talk this time? Denise said she didn’t want to bring the kids around the group. Then she flipped to needing a date night. This is like saying that Sami talked to her about hearing threesome, but she didn’t want to get into what Sami said, because Sami was laughing. It’s double talk. She has every right to feel this way, but she said “fucking” when Eloise was right next to her at her own barbecue. It’s behavior I can’t understand. I don’t think anyone really expected Denise to bring her teenagers. If she didn’t bring Eloise to a kids’ barbecue, but didn’t want to cause a stir, she could have stuck to the polite excuse of a play date and not made any more of that. But Denise and Aaron came to a children’s party basically armed with verbal machine guns. If they were going to do nothing else, they were going to make their fucking point. And it was crude and disgusting and it undermined Denise’s entire argument. Aaron seemed really aggressive and it’s not a great look to be slurring about how to act in front of kids. He is completely crazy. And he said “fucking” too, which...makes him a hypocrite. When he asked Kyle to define “passive-aggressive,” that was when I would have gotten up to leave the table or invited them to leave. I echo every sentiment Erika had in her talking heads about Aaron. I’m going with the idea that he’s a psycho who also has good drugs. Denise was being a total hypocrite to say “fucking” in front of Phoenix and “shitting” when there were kids around too. “I was not fucking mad.” What kind of message is that sending? “Fucking come on” and “there’s a fucking line” is ok to say within the earshot of kids? She’s officially lost her damned mind. Very classy with the “fuck it” in making your departure, Aaron too. You really showed them! Of course it’s Denise’s right not to bring her kids around a group. But if she’s gonna announce it, she should be up to discuss it. Last week I gave her accolades for being restrained, but I also said I thought she won the battle but was going to lose the war. Now I feel like I’m being proven right. On the day I need “a hint” from Aaron, I will hang up my hat. The two of them and their fear of saying anything they didn’t already say because it’s “all on camera” while they are filming a reality show is fucking crazy. I really think Aaron thought he was going to walk in there and set everyone straight and knock their socks off with his logic and they were all going to be eating out of his hands when all was said and done. I’m not sure his appearance had its intended effect. That was horrifying. I wish the Phypher-Richards would have left long before they did and stupid Kyle didn’t chase after them in her stupid robe. They couldn’t have left fast enough for me. If I can make a legal metaphor, the women drinking and talking too loud about lesbianism at Denise’s barbecue was negligence. What Denise and Aaron did at Kyle’s was armed robbery. Last week I said Denise was well played and this week I am abhorred at their behavior. Dorit’s outfit was perfection. Edwin was the only smart one to stay away and play with the kids. I’ve got nothing else positive to say about that barbecue. As Peggy from RHOC would say, “Dis-gus-ting!”

I thought that was a really obnoxious way to open the show—basically to tease us with what’s coming up this hour to induce us to watch. It’s desperate, like “Coming up on Dance Moms.” Teddi’s closet looks like shit, I’m sorry. To have that much space and to just have t-shirts and jeans in messy piles is a shame. It was funny to see Lisa try to stir Garcelle up about Denise not saying something to Kyle’s face and almost realizing midstream that Garcelle isn’t a Kyle fan, and Lisa switches right over to talking about Kyle. The more things, change, the more they stay the same. I thought it was obnoxious of Garcelle to throw food repeatedly at a formal event. If it was supposed to be endearing, it missed the mark. She is making up for her diminished presence on the season though by bringing us to a black tie dinner and showing us her children and ex-husband more than we see half the husbands on this show. I think Kyle and Garcelle might be somewhat similar. That passive-aggressive dig during her speech was Kyle-esque to me. It was immature for the audience at large. I am predicting it now—if Garcelle comes back next season, she and Kyle will be friends. If Denise can’t stay for this “shit show” because she is so busy shooting another show, they should dock her pay. They should have docked Erika’s pay last season, and Garcelle’s and Kyle’s pay for the beginning of this season, and give it to Sutton, who is working overtime. Same with Rinna filming 24/7 and Teddi doing this at like 11 months pregnant without complaint, because this is their job. Oh my God, Garcelle is lecturing Kyle because there was someone in Nashville with whom she connected with better than Kyle??? This is the dumbest argument since “glam.” She is really just like Kyle. Reeking of desperation if she senses someone doesn’t approve of her. And I was so glad Kyle didn’t take the bait, because there was nothing to take. Lol at Sutton with the package deal. I’m really liking her.

She’s worse than a liar, she’s disingenuous. She just says whatever is expedient. I don’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth. If she says something, it’s probably the opposite. So, at the reunion, Jax and Sandoval were in this whole back and forth about whether Sandoval held Max to the same standard as he held Jax vis a vis Max’s “racially inappropriate” tweets, and Lisa jumps in, tells Jax to shut up and says, in part, “If I fired every one of you that made mistakes, it doesn’t matter to what degree, probably none of you would have a job.” Sooo many problems with that statement. So, now she’s leveling the playing field by putting “racially inappropriate” and “racially insensitive” tweets in with all other mistakes, like wearing mismatching socks? It doesn’t matter to what degree? Is she kidding? Nice way to muddle the issue. The human condition is to make mistakes. We are all flawed. We’re born flawed and we will die flawed. Lisa, too, makes mistakes, but not all mistakes are created equal and she knows that. She’s just trying to spin it away from her. Don’t only a handful of them anymore “work for” her on the show? Is she talking about the big picture, like being EP? I don’t think she has exclusive hiring and firing power there either. So, what is she talking about? If she wants to say to err is human, why doesn’t she include herself in that statement too? Taking the racial aspect out of it, which is really hard, because racism is a big deal, or at least she pretends it is to her, why can’t she say that if everyone got fired for making a mistake, nobody would have a job, including her? It’s because she really thinks she’s above all the peons. Meanwhile, these people are living in multi-million dollar houses. And they got there by making mistakes that she encouraged. So cool it with the double-talk, sis. Then she tries to do damage control by telling Max he has “a very diverse family.” She’s saying that so she doesn’t look bad, so she doesn’t look like someone who “employs” a racist. Come on. Then Lisa says that if she had any inkling that Brett and Max felt that way now, they wouldn’t be working for her. Why doesn’t Lisa tell us what her statute of limitations is on racism? That would actually require deep thought and honesty, so of course she doesn’t have to say it. She just gets to cover her ass so that no one starts a social media campaign against her and ruins her business. That’s all she gives a shit about. That’s why she covered for Brittany with the pastor. Lisa can tell Andy that Brittany was blind-sighted when she called her and told her about the pastor? No, that’s not fitting the narrative. Brittany had just finished divulging that she saw a tweet from the pastor and texted him to ask him if he was homophobic and she took whatever response he gave as the truth. That is the opposite of being “blind-sighted.” Their stories that they are telling within seconds of each other don’t jive, but Lisa’s story has to reign supreme, even as Brittany is telling us that she was not blind-sighted, because it would create a big media problem for Lisa if anyone thought she supported someone who supported homophobia. How does she get away with this shit? Brittany was not blind-sighted. Lisa may have wanted her to have been blind-sighted, but she was not, but why bother with the truth when a convenient narrative is handy? This is why I say she is disingenuous and I don’t believe a word she says. People will put the truth out there, and as they are saying the truth, as sordid as it is, she is spinning it into gold and covering her ass and partially covering the asses of the people around her, while also allowing them to get some mud on them. And we’re supposed to be charmed by that, which is the most insulting part. Call me crazy, but I prefer someone who has a halfway decent relationship with the truth. She couldn’t care less about the truth, she cares about how she looks so that she can line her pockets. She’s kind of always been this way, as people pointed out up thread about calling attention to herself through her antics with Cedric since season one of Beverly Hills, but now she is just lying through her teeth about serious issues, so I’d say she’s trending steeply downward.

From the reunion... She needs a makeover stat. She is hanging onto some outdated form of youth by a thread, and it looks awful. Everything she wears is straight out of the nineties, sometimes the eighties. Does she know how current she’d look if she’d bob her hair instead of having this wild lion’s mane? She always has the same look, with the shirt buttoned down to the navel and a lot of tacky jewelry. Lisa, what is beneath that shirt that you think anyone wants to see? They’re just some really saggy, fairly large natural breasts. Cover that shit up. And wear a different lip. “Shiny bubblegum” has been pretty much her only look since we’ve met her. Take some risks, make some choices. What’s going on is not working. Oh, and the high-waisted belt with the big silver buckle. I can’t understand what’s going through her head when she straps that on? Is she looking at her shiny satin shirt with its huge buttons and her four necklaces and does she think, “you know, there is just not enough bling here. I need the belt with the giant silver buckle. That will complete this”? Cause no, just no, honey. Why doesn’t she look at someone who has fashion sense and emulate it? Just off the top of my head, Kenya wore a gorgeous off-white dress to her RHOA reunion during quarantine that showed no cleavage and Jennifer from RHNJ wore a totally cute short sparkly turtleneck dress. I just watched the season seven RHNYC reunion and pretty much everyone looked better than her. She’s stuck in a time warp. Would it kill her to change something up? This would look so good on her: Can she not take a risk? She’s not ballsy enough to have this hair even though it would look so much better on her, because she is not confident, even though she pretends to be. That’s why she’s constantly has sycophants around her. She can’t stand dissent. She seems to think she has to look Uber feminine in a very daytime soap type of way, and I’m just going to say about her what Lala said to Billie Lee in season seven: “You’re boring to look at.” I have no idea if she could be a beautiful woman because she does herself so many disfavors in the looks department. I was going to devote my entire post to something different—which I’ll post next—but I felt like this needed to be discussed first and foremost.

Katie and Schwartz are always lying about money. They’ve been doing it since season five, when they went to the lawyer for the prenup and they estimated that they have about $4,000 each. A few episodes later, Tom wrote a $50-something thousand dollar check to the wedding venue. Way to stay consistent. I see that they’re continuing their lies and bulllshit with Tom saying the prenup is “somewhere.” Either you have one or you don’t. Stop jerking the viewers around. If you don’t want to talk about it, just don’t talk about it. Ariana has flip-flopped on being bisexual. Or at the very least, she flipped. At the season six reunion, she said that she felt privilege as a “straight, cis-gender woman.” I just re-watched it. She’s just as full of it as everyone else. And she looks dead in the eyes, like a shark. Too much filler. Wow, so much for the Lala-Ariana showdown that I was hoping for, that was so richly deserved. Those two have been sniping about each other for two seasons now, but for some reason they persevere in kissing each others’ asses. What a disappointment. What do they have on each other? I’m so glad Andy asked Sandoval why he didn’t bring up the pastor sooner. That is the $64,000 question. They thought it would be “taken care of”? By whom? According to Sandoval, when the episodes first aired, Tom was fretting that people kept tweeting and re-tweeting him and he was uncomfortable. He never spoke to why he didn’t say anything. The pivot to “racial equality” was a good attempt to not answer the question, I guess, as he did get out of answering. That was such an inelegant segue into Max and Brett’s racially insensitive comments. Why wasn’t that on the show? Why did they have to defend themselves on something that wasn’t presented to them directly or the viewer? That’s downright un-American and stupid at the same time. Why should we care about Max’s apology if we don’t know what he said? I don’t accept his apology. I would have no idea what to accept. And as far as Brett goes, “it’s” something Brett regrets? What the hell is “it”? This either should have been on the show or it shouldn’t have come up at the reunion. Such a sloppy job of virtue signaling, Andy. As long as that money keeps rolling in, he doesn’t give a shit. Just because Tom is a 5% owner doesn’t mean that he can’t go to Lisa and say he has a real problem with an employee and I guess what were public racist remarks. He could have resigned in protest, or at least chosen against expanding the garden bar with her if this was his problem. Also, why did he film with Max and Brett socially? He can do things; he just chooses not to, so he can bite me. I loved Ariana’s grateful little hand gesture when Lisa went on her little tirade about “firstly, as a five percent shareholder, [Sandoval] wouldn’t have the right to terminate [Max’s] employment.” So, it’s cool to just tolerate racism because Lisa says it is? Lisa is such a jerk covering up for whatever inappropriate racial remarks Brett and Max made, but telling Ken earlier in the season that Brittany and Jax weren’t going to have the pastor of their choice at their wedding because of tweets he made in 2015, as per the show. She can bite me too with her inconsistent standards. Schwartz made no sense trying to cover up for Jax and Brittany with the pastor. Jax then blamed Sandoval for the pastor’s tweets. I can’t believe these people. Brittany and Lisa are thick as thieves with their fake story that Brittany had no idea what was going on, she texted the pastor once, he said he wasn’t homophobic, and Lisa called Brittany and Brittany was blind sighted and Jax texted Andy that they were in “a situation”? What the fuck? Why couldn’t they just..break their contract with the pastor? Every person who got involved in this conversation, starting with Schwartz, acted like such an ass. What is not disputed is that every single person involved with this pastor knew or should have known about it at least since January 2019. Andy brought up the controversy on film. Who am I going to believe, them or my lying eyes? No one did diddly squat. They waited for Lisa to swoop in and clean up their messes because VanderPump Rules. I feel like I am going to vomit. And as soon as all the fun was sucked out of the room and the topic was sufficiently dark and obfuscated, and everyone was supremely uncomfortable, Andy said he was going “to put a pin in” these really gross exchanges. Oh, but next week Schwartzie is going to wear a nightgown with an ice cream cone on it and sing into a microphone, so...I guess all is good? Similar to last year, but much worse, I feel dirty having watched this reunion. I feel like I need to go take a shower. I’ll watch next week, I guess, but I’m no longer enthusiastic. That was a snow job on decency everywhere. It’s very hard for me to put that genie back in the bottle and go back to laughing at Lance Bass officiating this farce of a wedding or whatever we’re supposed to enjoy. The form it took was just awful TV too. We are going to talk all about racism without saying what was said. Andy and Lisa are the most duplicitous people on TV. This was such bullshit that I am excited to cleanse my palate with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills tomorrow night...and that’s about the most damning thing I can say. 😒