S10.E07: Santa Denise

[Cheezwiz]

I've just caught up on this show, which I haven't watched in several years, but Covid boredom set in, and my internet provider conned me into a computer TV cable package, so here I am.

When I last watched it, I think Eileen Davidson & Yo were still on, so it's been awhile! Good grief, the arguments have gotten so much duller & pettier.

I guess Kyle is the only OG left, and things don't seem very happy for her. Her new house (or estate, really) is absolutely gorgeous, but I miss her old house and feel like she should have stayed there. It felt much homier than where she's currently living. I've neither liked nor hated Kyle - she has a few good points, but she also has a major mean-girl streak. She's always been a cryer, but seems a complete mess this season. Mauricio seems to have checked out completely, and that may be part of it. I've been hearing rumblings of financial trouble - I know Mo was involved in a big lawsuit a few years ago, but thought it had been settled.

It took me FOREVER to differentiate between the new blonde ho-wives, but I think I've got it down:

Erika initially seemed harmless to me - a good-natured trophy bride, but the claws have really come out now. I don't actually know what her problem is, since she's apparently living her best life with gobs of money and a starring role in a musical. She would look much younger and prettier if she didn't trowel on so much make-up.

Sutton - I honestly thought she was going to be this season's bitchy villain at first, so what an anticlimactic come-down to see she's reduced to a quivering puddle of tears if anyone looks sideways at her. Don't like her or her ridiculous "couture" get-ups.

Teddy - Yep, she's boring alright.

Dorit - the one I hate the most. Not only because she apparently dumped an adopted puppy, or because she and her creepy husband seem like total grifters, but because she's so freaking annoying. I cannot stand her stupid designer outfits,  her constant wide-eyed "who, me?" stare, and her faux-accented baby voice. Along with Rinna she is the main instigator on the show - why has no one called her on this? I love the theory someone posted upthread that her little restaurant decor project is probably an arrangement to pay off gambling debts.

As for the others, 

Rinna - Hate her. Hate her signature hairdo, her over-inflated lips, her constant mugging for the camera, her shit-stirring in the guise of "let's get everything out in the open!" and "own it!!". I actually feel kind of bad for her vapid daughters - how can you compete with such a narcissist for a Mother?

Garcelle - I like what I've seen so far, seems fun gorgeous and fabulous, but she's just not on the show much at all.

Denise - Clearly she's this season's target. She's far from perfect, but are any of these  twits?  Initially to me she seemed a bit blowsy and crude, and sometimes inebriated on something.  But she does seem to have a good heart, and appears to be a bit more normal and down-to-earth in her day-to-day life. The other women are ganging up on her for a perfectly reasonable request she made in her own home, and they ain't letting it go. It's funny how when the ladies were in Santa Barbara they stated that they felt she was being judgemental of them, which is absurd, and a perfect example of projection. They were certainly ALL judging her. They were 100% slut-shaming her, and assuming that Charlie's past vileness, her language around fellow adults, and her racy movie roles invalidated her request, and made her a hypocrite. Given that they were intent on humiliating her, I thought she handled them with much more firmness and grace than I would have mustered, especially since it was 5 on one. I may change my mind, but for now #TeamDenise. I hope she teams up with Garcelle, if Garcelle ever shows up to anything.

[Set Them Free]

10 hours ago, Happy Camper said:

Some things are just not forgiveable. I believe that the New York housewives pretend to make up and move on, just to remain on the show. In reality, they don't get over grudges, they just continue to film with each other despite grievances for the $$$.  The truth comes out afterwards. Examples: Luann and Ramona vs. Bethenny. I guess it's no different than me continuing to work with people that were horrible. I needed the paycheque so just did what I had to do to get through.

If someone made reference to my young daughter having a threesome, I would definitely not chalk that up to "no one is perfect." I would be determined to take that person down. Hopefully Denise will take advantage of her $1 Million Dollar per season salary to get back at some of these RHBH bitches.

Denise’s anger isn’t over the comment about her daughter.  I would totally accept Denise getting angry again if it was because she had heard that.

Denise’s anger is because she held a Bravo work even at her home where these slightly drunk women, in the course of doing their jobs, continued a conversation about lesbian encounters and threesomes over her objections.  And her anger is because when she inserted herself into the argument between Dorit and Kyle (which as the hostess trying to keep the peace she has a right to do), Kyle in particular was very mean and rude.  These are all bad things.  But, especially when you look at the context, I don’t feel like it is so bad that you can’t accept a few sincere apologies and move on.  Sometimes, people aren’t on their best behavior when they are drunk or upset or trying to create scenes for a reality TV show.

Fact is, every Housewife has been in the situation where they have hosted an event, wanted everyone to be on their best behavior, and gotten something else.  Imagine if Teddi were still talking about how the Housewives created drama at her event and alienated her clients three episodes later.  Everyone would be telling her to get over it

[ShawnaLanne]

Denise spoke to the women individually, which is the mature way to handle it. Nothing wrong with that at all. The bitch brigade keep bringing it up. 

Brainless, heartless, broke, and boring don't want anything of theirs to be brought up.

[blixie]

I will literally in all my life never get how these bitches thought this was an adult party when there was a table full of children like 10 feet away, and 2 of them were Teddi's so that means when Denise invited people she INCLUDED KIDS, therefore it is NOT an adult party, it is family type event and maybe adjust your conversation accordingly. She had every right to flip the fuck out on these women for not STFU when she asked nicely. THREE TIMES. They totally don't know what "hypocrite" means and are ignoring that she  had two other children there who were there and maybe their parents wouldn't like it and they weren't married to Charlie Sheen for them to justify it.

I used to kind of be with Rinna on her Own It schtick, but she rarely owns it herself and it really is clear how habitually she screws "friends" over to feed a storyline, Denise and hell poor Sutton didn't even get a season to acclimate before Rinna came at her over nothing. 

Why IS Dorrit. I kind of like laughing at helpless secretly manipulative Teddi. 

[princelina]

12 hours ago, Set Them Free said:

Denise’s anger is because she held a Bravo work even at her home where these slightly drunk women, in the course of doing their jobs, continued a conversation about lesbian encounters and threesomes over her objections.  And her anger is because when she inserted herself into the argument between Dorit and Kyle (which as the hostess trying to keep the peace she has a right to do), Kyle in particular was very mean and rude.  These are all bad things.  But, especially when you look at the context, I don’t feel like it is so bad that you can’t accept a few sincere apologies and move on.  Sometimes, people aren’t on their best behavior when they are drunk or upset or trying to create scenes for a reality TV show.

Fact is, every Housewife has been in the situation where they have hosted an event, wanted everyone to be on their best behavior, and gotten something else.  Imagine if Teddi were still talking about how the Housewives created drama at her event and alienated her clients three episodes later.  Everyone would be telling her to get over it

Me neither!  But I guess I missed a few, or even one, sincere apology being given.  All I've seen is everyone telling her she's wrong to feel that way, and they are not moving on until she changes her mind.

Edited June 4, 2020 by princelina

[Cheezwiz]

1 hour ago, princelina said:

Me neither!  But I guess I missed a few, or even one, sincere apology being given.  All I've seen is everyone telling her she's wrong to feel that way, and they are not moving on until she changes her mind.

So bizarre - yes, she did mention it in private convos with individual ladies, but she did it in a quiet manner, and even if her own kid laughed about it afterward, so what? There were other kids present who were not her own. What were they hoping she would do in Santa Barbara? Grovel for them? When she'd had enough and shut the conversation down, they then accused her of being passive aggressive.

All it would have taken was for one or more of them to say at the party "Oops, sorry, yes we'll tone it down for a bit", or to offer a sincere apology afterward "We were tipsy and too loud, and should have reeled it in - really sorry". Instead they all got defensive and doubled-down by insinuating things about her, and attempting to embarrass her. Does Denise have a potty mouth and mention her husband's member too often? Yes. Does that invalidate a polite reasonable request? No. What a bunch of catty petty bitches.

[Set Them Free]

22 hours ago, princelina said:

Me neither!  But I guess I missed a few, or even one, sincere apology being given.  All I've seen is everyone telling her she's wrong to feel that way, and they are not moving on until she changes her mind.

I thought Kyle was genuinely trying to apologize for her behavior at the start of the dinner in Santa Barbara.

And in the one-on-one with Denise and Erika, Erika also readily apologized.  Her tone was genuinely conciliatory.  It felt sincere at the time.  Unfortunately, Erika couldn’t hold onto that feeling.

And I assume Garcelle apologized, because Garcelle and Denise seem OK now...

[princelina]

1 hour ago, Set Them Free said:

I thought Kyle was genuinely trying to apologize for her behavior at the start of the dinner in Santa Barbara.

And in the one-on-one with Denise and Erika, Erika also readily apologized.  Her tone was genuinely conciliatory.  It felt sincere at the time.  Unfortunately, Erika couldn’t hold onto that feeling.

And I assume Garcelle apologized, because Garcelle and Denise seem OK now...

I thought they seemed apologetic-ish when they were having private conversations with her, but then in the group they just continue to heckle.

[ladle]

On 5/27/2020 at 9:47 PM, LibertarianSlut said:

 I know Lisa isn’t popular, and I do think she’s a huge bitch when you pierce the veneer, but there is something about her joie de vivre that I like.  She is always upbeat and she appreciates things like the view at the winery in Santa Barbara.  She is not cynical or morbid and I do appreciate that.  

Yes, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks this!  Rinna is a deeply-flawed human, but she honestly seems to throw herself into whatever activity they're doing, and I feel like she'd be really fun to have at a party or on a trip.  Similar to Heather Dubrow from RHO OC -- whom I also didn't like.  

[hoodooznoodooz]

On 5/28/2020 at 12:52 AM, Rahul said:

I suspect the reason for Erika's vile remarks about Sami were two fold. First, Erika has typically been guarded around this group of women. She let her guard down and shared a story about her first (and only?) threesome, for which she was rebuked.  Erika, though she claims to give no fucks, actually gives plenty of fucks. Thus, she lashed out at Denise and her daughter when she felt offended and insulted.

Second, Erika exhibits hysterical, almost sociopathic behavior when she feels judged as a parent, probably because she still feels a great deal of guilt for abandoning her son to pursue her acting career in Hollywood and land herself a wealthy husband. In the past Erika has flown off the handle if someone mentions her parental practices or her son is referred to even tangentially. In this case, Denise being a good mother and enforcing boundaries around what is and is not appropriate around her children somehow set Erika off and she felt opprobrium.

None of this is to say Erika's behavior is excusable. I hope she's being called out on social media for her tactlessness and insensitivity.

Just needed to read this again. Thank you very much for writing it.

[gingerella]

On 6/3/2020 at 7:29 AM, Set Them Free said:

Sometimes, people aren’t on their best behavior when they are drunk or upset or trying to create scenes for a reality TV show.

Anyone else find that funny?! It's what's wrong with this show, right there in one little sentence.

On 6/4/2020 at 7:32 PM, Set Them Free said:

I thought Kyle was genuinely

Kyle does nothing genuine so the rest of this thought I'm having to disagree with on that basis alone. Kyle is vile. She is a mean girl of the worst kind as she enjoys seeing others in pain. You see it on her mug every time someone else goes for one of the group. She is a pathetic piece of human shite.

ETA: And she's short as fuck and dresses her body horribly. So THERE. I said it. I feel better now.

Edited June 27, 2020 by gingerella