S01.E08: Hollman Holiday

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

Stephanie struggles when Travis attempts to take control of his birthday planning. Elsewhere, Brandi and LeeAnne try to find common ground; Cary fumes over Mark's overspending on gifts; and a boozy Brandi invites all to a weekend getaway.

[Grey Goose]

Does anyone know what Cary's husband does for a living? eyeroll.

She reminds me of a woman I knew who introduced herself as Mrs. Dr. Jones.  So you knew she was married to a doctor.

She's a special kind of unlikeable. 

[Misslindsey]

Quote

Does anyone know what Cary's husband does for a living? eyeroll.

If I was just a casual viewer and hadn't heard the numerous doctor mentions I would assume Cary's husband was actually just her personal shopper similar to Erika's, from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, glam squad. Only Cary's is a glam squad of one, her husband.  

[hoosier80]

So now Brandi and Leanne are all friendly?  Just like that?  I think Leanne decided she couldn't have Brandi as her 'enemy' since Brandi's brother, a vet with PTSD tried to kill himself.  Too many might say Leanne was just picking on Brandi during a difficult time, like pulling the wings off a fly, so Leanne smoked the peace pipe and moved along to another target - Cary.  Cary is almost making it too easy.  

The whole I don't like presents and then basically coaching the 3 year old to say the same thing, was something else.  Cary has a lot of suppressed anger or dislike for her husband.  Not sure she's really into him; maybe just into his status/money.  What kid doesn't like presents?

Overall, this show is boring. Not Potomac boring which was deadly, but boring.  Only reason I see it is because of the first show (Southern Charm) and I'm often too lazy to change the channel.

[Maharincess]

Leeann is so fakely earnest when talking about her charity work that it makes me sick.  She lowers her voice and  tries to sound so compassionate and I for one am not buying her bullshit. 

Gray Goose,  I know what Cary's husband does for a living but did you know that Leeann had a bad childhood?  She never, ever mentions it so I'm not sure if you've heard.  

[LilaFowler]

Mark is harmless but insufferable and pretty obnoxious.  Cary looked 15 years younger in her wedding photo and wasn't that only six years ago (and she's only 39)?  She had a much fuller face then.  She looks a bit overworked now -- too much plastic surgery? 

Brandi was ORANGE at Travis's birthday party.  She is screaming for a makeover.

Stefanie's singing Happy Birthday in that cake was cringeworthy.  Those two have sex in missionary or doggie style ONLY.  All lights off, covers pulled up.

This show is the dullest dull that ever dulled. I don't care who Leeann is fighting with. It's all such petty, bullshit drama.

Edited May 31, 2016 by AmandaPanda
removed inflammatory language

[Maharincess]

I'm so sick of everything on these shows being a "Gatsby" theme.  How many of these idiots do you all think have read the book?  I'm sure they've seen the DiCaprio movie but I'd bet my life that not one of them even knows it's a book. 

Edited May 31, 2016 by Maharincess

[Pollock]

Boring episode. Again.

I can't wait for next week though, the preview was juicy. 

[JoJoPowerRanger]

Did anyone notice around the half hour mark of the episode, Brandi started out her phone call with Leanne with no nail polish, and then when she ended the call she magically had some bronze-y nail polish on? Nice try, Bravo  :/

[JenFromCincy]

1 hour ago, JoJoPowerRanger said:

Did anyone notice around the half hour mark of the episode, Brandi started out her phone call with Leanne with no nail polish, and then when she ended the call she magically had some bronze-y nail polish on? Nice try, Bravo  :/

I didn't notice that, but I did notice that she had LeeAnne' s contact name as Loud Mouth. LOL

 

I also noticed that there didn't seem to be a single scene during Travis' s birthday where Brandi and Bryan were together. That was really odd to me.

 

Mark was rude to ask Zuri what kind of cake she wanted when it was too late to do anything about it. It was like T.Dubrow going on about onion rings.

 

I like Travis more after watching him take Stephanie's needs and opinions into account.

[ghoulina]

The husbands on this show are so weird. 

Travis strangely obsessed with his own birthday. I get it, your birthday is the one day each year when it's all about you. I'm sure plenty of people secretly wish their loved ones would throw them a big part. But the dude is like insane about it. He wants to micromanage everything about it, down to having his assistant pick out his present! Also, it seems a bit odd that he wants his wife to jump out of a cake topless AT the party. I'm glad she did it in private, and somewhat clothed. 

Travis continues to seem pretty controlling, but I don't think Stephanie is being controlled - if that makes any sense. I liked the talk they had, exploring how their different upbringings have effected how they do things now. But she seems very light and easy around him, and laughs off his more ridiculous demands. She doesn't appear to be afraid of him or worried about not pleasing him, so I think they're likely fine. 

 

Then we have Mark, who is obsessed with fashion - to the point that he picks out his daughter's own birthday dress, because he thinks it looks like her mother's wedding dress. I don't even know how to analyze that. I do know that I literally forgot those two had a child. Their onscreen time has been mostly about clothes and sex, so.... But I thought Zuri's birthday celebration was interesting. She barely seemed to know her parents, and wasn't interested in their gifts at all. Also, don't ever bring another non-chocolate cake into the house again! 

So Brandi and LeeAnne made up. I'm beginning to think most of these women are fine with each other and just spin a bottle before filming each episode, to determine who they're fighting with. Although it is pretty funny that Brandi has LeeAnne as "Loudmouth" inside her phone. 

As much as I find LeeAnne to be overbearing and taking herself too seriously, I do think she genuinely cares about people and causes. I thought her speech was very nice, and she looked lovely in that floral dress. 

My husband came into the room during part of this episode and he was fixated by Brandi. Not in a good way. He kept asking, "What is wrong with her face? Has she had too much of that Botox stuff?" Then she gave a TH and he was like, "How is that the same person? She doesn't look the same at all!" Just walk away, honey. Walk away.

[Grey Goose]

7 hours ago, LilaFowler said:

Mark is harmless but insufferable and pretty obnoxious.  Cary looked 15 years younger in her wedding photo and wasn't that only six years ago (and she's only 39)?  She had a much fuller face then.  She looks a bit overworked now -- too much plastic surgery? 

Brandi was ORANGE at Travis's birthday party.  She is screaming for a makeover.

Stefanie's singing Happy Birthday in that cake was cringeworthy.  Those two have sex in missionary or doggie style ONLY.  All lights off, covers pulled up.This show is the dullest dull that ever dulled. I don't care who Leeann is fighting with. It's all such petty, bullshit drama.

Wow. Wow. Wow. She does not look like the same person.  Amazing body but I'd be heart broken if that was my "Before" and I had Cary's "After".  She has a man's face now.

[ghoulina]

That really does not even look like the same woman. At all. Not a good advertisement for plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures. 

[Primetimer]

Ranking the highs (the 'gift of the grave'!) and lows (Travis...and more Travis) of this week's special occasions.

View the full article

[deltaburkefan]

This week's episode was kind of boring, but next week looks AMAZING.

I didn't like how Cary and Mark seem to fight through their daughter. Once Mark gets bored of treating Cary like a mannequin, I don't see them lasting very long.

[Slider]

Am I the only one that hated Cary's dress?  Wasn't impressed at all.  Brandi's on the other hand was gorgeous!  Loved the feathers.

[ghoulina]

I didn't think Cary's dress was THAT 20s/Gatsby, because the colors reminded me more of the Southwest. I don't know. I have a weird sense of style, but I didn't really care for Brandi's either. The feathers and that color were too much for me. I thought the flapper wig looked horrible on Marie's tiny/narrow face. I thought Stephanie looked the best, simple and elegant. I really liked her hairpiece. 

 

Travis's hat was just wrong. All wrong. 

[AuntiePam]

I don't know that any of the women at the party looked particularly Gatsby, if Gatsby is supposed to be 1920's.  Brandi's dress was probably fun to wear, but was it 20's?  The men should have been in white suits and the women in slim, short flapper dresses. 

LeeAnne's speech to the HIV group was better than I expected, but I did wonder if she was outing her best friend's father as a child molester.  Surely her best friend would know who she was talking about.  And did she say a boyfriend tried to kill her? 

I was okay with Cary's daughter's little birthday party.  At least it was about the kid, and not about her -- like Taylor's on BH.  Did I hear Cary tell her husband "You're so stupid!"  ??

[parrotlover]

12 hours ago, Maharincess said:

I'm so sick of everything on these shows being a "Gatsby" theme.  How many of these idiots do you all think have read the book?  I'm sure they've seen the DiCaprio movie but I'd bet my life that not one of them even knows it's a book. 

Wait it was a book? Now you're going to tell me Titanic was a true story. Boy that Dicaprio knows how to pick scripts. ;)

Anyway, totally agree that Gatsby has been done to death. Also Moulin Rouge themes, but maybe because RHOBH just did that this past season for someone's birthday or anniversary. Didn't one of the husbands last night say something about "gangster"? Gangster/Gatsby the same thing? Okay then.

I thought Cary's dress was totally wrong and it reminded me of Southwest too ghoulina. And at this point, I dislike her as much as Leanne. She did look a lot better before all the botox/surgery whatever. Her husband is just plain creepy to me with his obsession of buying her clothes. I used to think it would be a great think to have a man that would do that, now not so much.

As much as I can't stand Leeanne, I thought her speech was very good and she did seem to genuinely care at the luncheon or whatever it was. If she wasn't so over the top batshit crazy 99.99% of the time I could tolerate her better. Not a fan of Brandy's but Leanne didn't apologize for calling her a piece of trash, unless it was edited out.

Facts that make us feel like a beaten dead horse: Leanne had a bad childhood. Cary is married to a doctor. Cary doesn't like gifts. It was Travis' birthday.

Random thought of the episode - that birthday cake for Cary's daughter looked so freaking good. I love vanilla birthday cake. Would have eaten a huge chunk of that cake and gone back for seconds.

Austin trip should be good. I honestly am only watching this because it's summer and there's nothing else on at that time and it's a few weeks before the OC starts. Yes that's my excuse.

Edited May 31, 2016 by parrotlover

[Texasmom1970]

The scariest part of this episode to me is that Brandi had a makeup artist do her makeup before the party and it still looked weird to me.

The way they were all going on about how important Travis' birthday was you think he could walk on water, get a grip people!

Heartfelt or not, I like to think it was Leeanne's speech was touching and she seemed to have on a normal amount of blush at that speaking engagement. 

Cary has way to high an opinion of herself and her looks even though she tries to play it off like money and all that means nothing to her. Reminds me of those certain girls in high school who would also say oh my god my hair is awful today. Just so others would no way you look beautiful, just to get their ego pumped. 

What age is Brandi? She sure does like to hit the Jesus juice like she is in college or something still.

And Mark is once again obsessing over fashion, think he needs an intervention.

[princelina]

8 hours ago, JoJoPowerRanger said:

Did anyone notice around the half hour mark of the episode, Brandi started out her phone call with Leanne with no nail polish, and then when she ended the call she magically had some bronze-y nail polish on? Nice try, Bravo  :/

What I noticed was that after Brandi invited Leann to get together and Leann accepted, they both said "Ok bye" and hung up without making any plans.  Bravo, that's not the way to convince us these are real interactions!

19 minutes ago, parrotlover said:

As much as I can't stand Leeanne, I thought her speech was very good and she did seem to genuinely care at the luncheon or whatever it was. If she wasn't so over the top batshit crazy 99.99% of the time I could tolerate her better. Not a fan of Brandy's but Leanne didn't apologize for calling her a piece of trash, unless it was edited out.

I don't think so - Brandi had a TH pointing out that all of Leann's talk did not include an apology.  I am not a rewatcher but for those of you who are - it would be interesting to count how many times Leann used the words "I, me and my" in her response to Brandi's apology.  Stephanie didn't seem to think much of Leann's apology to her last week, and I'll bet she and Brandi have a blast making fun of her away from the cameras.

I don't really mind Travis - some people are just control freaks, and if his birthday is a big bash every year I guess he looks forward to it.  He seems to respect his wife and treat his family nicely.  I don't think he expected her to jump out of a cake topless in public, and was probably pleasantly surprised that she did it at home.  I was surprised, however, that such a control freak has an apparent high-school intern as his personal assistant :)

I actually enjoyed this episode; I like when they have events without drama.  I'm on board for shenanigans next week in a private home, but Travis' party was interesting enough watching everyone have fun (except of course for Cary, sitting there with a puss on her face the whole evening) and I enjoy seeing real charitable endeavors (not yours, Yolanda Foster) and there was no reason, IMO that either of those events needed to be ruined with some stupid fake fight about nothing.  I did LOL when Leann TH'd about how she couldn't believe she and Brandi were having fun at the party - I said, "You're talking about poop, moron - of course Brandi's having fun!"

[ghoulina]

Wait, so Cary doesn't like gifts and Travis thinks his birthday should be a national holiday. Maybe Dr. Mark should switch partners with Stephanie. 

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, princelina said:

What I noticed was that after Brandi invited Leann to get together and Leann accepted, they both said "Ok bye" and hung up without making any plans.  Bravo, that's not the way to convince us these are real interactions!

This has bugged me too, with all the franchises.  Then I remembered that the producers probably have to contact the venue to get permission to film, etc.  So they can't say "Okay, we'll meet at Jack in the Box at 1 p.m. Thursday." 

[LydiaOhLydia]

Didn't Leann say a few episodes back how inappropriate poop talk was...and now we see her getting along with Brandi with zero care sharing her ass fire that required ice cubes story hehehawhawhehe UGH. Why am I still watching this. And why do parents laugh at their kids' poop comments at a dinner table instead of saying 'we don't talk about poop while eating'. Parents teaching their children how to be rude so they can keep their parents laughing is gross to watch. Better decide quick if they are raising clowns or gentlemen.  Speaking of clowns..WHY does LeAnn use that shade of blush and WHY doesn't her 'friend' tell her it's unflattering. Her face always looks like she's made up to be viewed from 50 ft away (theatre style). At the themed party her make-up didn't change from her usual tones, was just applied thicker. She has great cheek bones, doesn't even need blush IMO. 

 I'm hoping for a spa day so I can get a glimpse of some reality. Out of all the RH's this series has the most awkward looking face work and makeup. 

Something is 'off' with Mark. Beyond his lust for designer wear, gives me the dangerous creep vibe. 

[ghoulina]

Maybe LeeAnne thinks poop stories are appropriate at birthday parties, but not charity events. 

Frankly, I'd be happy to never hear another one as long as I live.

[cooksdelight]

Cary should hide her new face until she can find a competent surgeon to give her back her old one.

[JoJoPowerRanger]

4 hours ago, princelina said:

 

I don't think so - Brandi had a TH pointing out that all of Leann's talk did not include an apology.  I am not a rewatcher but for those of you who are - it would be interesting to count how many times Leann used the words "I, me and my" in her response to Brandi's apology.  Stephanie didn't seem to think much of Leann's apology to her last week, and I'll bet she and Brandi have a blast making fun of her away from the cameras.

 

I rewatched and counted for funsies--about 15 times! If expressions of Leann's narcissism were a drinking game we'd all be getting our stomachs pumped in the ER every Monday night.

[RHJunkie]

Wow, Cary looks like a completely different person and that was only 6 years ago? She looks so much prettier, youthful and vibrant without whatever it is she's done to her face since then. It's reasons like this that I don't get the 'preventive' use of botox, etc. Using botox at 25 is not preserving your youthful look. It helps with wrinkles and skin elasticity - using it before you actually need to only transforms your face into a tight, less expressive face that often makes you look much older than when you started. I have no issues with women who embrace cosmetic surgeries but it saddens me when I see beautiful women that are too insecure to see that they still have so many years left to enjoy their natural youthfulness and they ruin it by 'fixing' something that doesn't need fixing. She takes a lot of subtle digs that imply that she's better. Her comments about being lucky that her wedding dress is an actual dress and not a costume dress was unnecessarily shady. Also, I'm so sick of listening to her and husband reminisce about which country or high end store they bought each of their expensive designer clothes. 

I will give LeAnne credit for one thing - she's a good public speaker. Not going to debate the sincerity of her charity involvement but she's a confident speaker and that's usually the hardest and most important part in reaching your audience. 

Stephanie mentioned how difficult it was to be the only female around all guys but she totally has that boyish juvenile humour, lol. So far I like the relationship between Stephanie and Travis. He was calm listening to her criticisms and he acknowledged them right away but also didn't sugar coat that it would be something that would be easy to stop doing but was showing willingness to try. Felt bad for her popping out of the cake - she was clearly feeling awkward with the singing and acting sexy but she did look great in her lingerie. 

I like that Brandi called out that LeAnna tip toes around offering her own apology - and it was owed to Brandi. She publicly insulted the girl over fake poop in a hat. Her punishment for Brandi didn't fit the crime. Credit to them, they did well interacting with each other at Travis' party. 

Edited May 31, 2016 by RHJunkie

[JennyMominFL]

OK, um, as woman who has been HIV pos since 1990, I would like to know why leanne assumed those women were ashamed.  I may be misunderstanding, but why assume these women are ashamed, why assume they need to be told that they have worth, and aren't defined by HIV? Is it because they don't broadcast it. That might not be shame, it may before the protection of family. It's like she needed to go in there and "save" these women. She makes a lot of assumptions on how people feel when they live with HIV.

Yeah, I'm sorry but this whole thing bugs me. I sure don't need someone like Leanne to tell me what I'm worth.

 

ETA, and while this in no way justifies murder, one of  the cases of a woman being murdered for telling her status, was a case of her telling her status to the man she had been sleeping with for a long time without telling him her status. That's not right, but it's not like she was a random victim of HIV related hate

Edited June 1, 2016 by JennyMominFL

[wait.what]

Ummm, Travis' personal assistant looked 15 years old. 

Cary and her girlfriend/husband? Tired of their humble bragging or whatever they are doing. They must be so exhausted convincing everyone how incredible they are. 

[Neurochick]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Cary should hide her new face until she can find a competent surgeon to give her back her old one.

I can't stand Cary, to me she's a disgusting human being who should sue the plastic surgeon who fucked up her face.

I can't stand people who have these ideas about how apologizes should go.  What Leanne was saying was when she's nasty to people it's not about THEM, it's about HER and her shit.  I don't think that's being narcissistic. 

[JoJoPowerRanger]

eh everyone has his/her own opinion, I mean, the scene could be heavily edited but she never said the actual words "I'm sorry," "I apologize," "excuse my behavior," or any other phrase that we as society have come to acknowledge as an apology lol. Heck, even Brandi said Leanne didn't really apologize!

When I say Leanne's narcissistic, I'm not just referring to her "apology"--I've been watching her since her "Big Rich Texas" days and I've got a pretty good grasp on her (or, of course, how the producers/editors choose to portray her).   I will say that I find Cary to be exponentially more narcissistic than Leanne.

 

Just sitting here irresponsibly diagnosing everybody from my armchair lol

[ChlcGirl]

Both LeeAnne and Cary are narcissistic.  Tiffany is a classic shit stirrer.  I only really like Stephanie and Brandi since they so obviously genuinely care about each other.

[AuntiePam]

2 hours ago, wait.what said:

Ummm, Travis' personal assistant looked 15 years old. 

Gosh, yes.  Is she the daughter of a friend?  Doing the job for college credit? 

Re Cary's new face -- did she think the soft lines of her real face made her look fat?  I don't understand why women want sharp angles, prominent cheekbones and jawlines. 

[Jeremiad]

Bravo should put Leanne in a show about carnies.  It could only be more interesting than this dreck.

[CrinkleCutCat]

I'm shocked, yes shocked, that these people are as young as they say! Cary isn't even 40 yet?! She looks waaaay older than her age.

[Hagosaurus]

2 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

Re Cary's new face -- did she think the soft lines of her real face made her look fat?  I don't understand why women want sharp angles, prominent cheekbones and jawlines. 

I am wondering if her sharper, manlier features are a result of steroids or HGH. The woman is cut. Even her face is cut :)

[swankie]

I swear, these people are absolutely obsessed with excrement.  I can almost forgive the kids because they're kids.  Little kids always talk about poop.  Poo poo pie and all that?  That's what kids do.  But the grownups on this show really do get giddy whenever they talk about poop.  What the hell is that all about?

[ToukieSmith]

10 hours ago, JoJoPowerRanger said:

eh everyone has his/her own opinion, I mean, the scene could be heavily edited but she never said the actual words "I'm sorry," "I apologize," "excuse my behavior," or any other phrase that we as society have come to acknowledge as an apology lol. Heck, even Brandi said Leanne didn't really apologize!

IMHO, she did not owe Brandi an apology. Brandi started all of it by mocking Leeanne's obsession with charities.  It wasn't Brandi's business.  No one is telling Brandi about her stringy hair, baby talk, bad makeup application, and drinking wine 16 hours a day.

Brandi wore the poop hat to screw with Leeanne and get laughs from Stephanie and Cary.

Should Leeanne apologize for reacting poorly to Brandi's attack?  She can, but I don't think its required.

Cary was prettier before botox and whatever else she did to her face.  Maybe this is why she is so bitter.

[TexasGal]

Brandi looked like she was gonna poop her pants when she was calling LeeAnne to set up the lunch.  Why are they all afraid of her so much?  Are they afraid she'll sneak into their houses and attack them with her blush brush?

I'll give LeeAnne credit for that speech though.  Public speaking sucks and she did a good job. 

[RHJunkie]

2 hours ago, ToukieSmith said:

IMHO, she did not owe Brandi an apology. Brandi started all of it by mocking Leeanne's obsession with charities.  It wasn't Brandi's business.  No one is telling Brandi about her stringy hair, baby talk, bad makeup application, and drinking wine 16 hours a day.

Brandi wore the poop hat to screw with Leeanne and get laughs from Stephanie and Cary.

Should Leeanne apologize for reacting poorly to Brandi's attack?  She can, but I don't think its required.

Cary was prettier before botox and whatever else she did to her face.  Maybe this is why she is so bitter.

Leanne used Brandi as the catalyst to berate Stephanie over their friendship and I believe she did call Brandi names. Brandi showing up with fake shit on her hat was meant to rile up Leanne no doubt. Was it immature? Definitely. Was it harmful to anyone or ruin the event? Absolutely not. If in my fit of anger, I called someone names, pointed in their face and then went to their friends to tell them how associating with said person would ruin them in society...I don't know, if I were a fair person when calm, I would think that would warrant an apology.

Edit: Also, Leanne didn't condone her own behaviour but she spent a great deal of time explaining why she reacted the way she did. If in retrospect you can see how poorly you behaved, why wouldn't an apology be warranted to the people that were impacted by your behaviour?

Edited June 1, 2016 by RHJunkie

[JoJoPowerRanger]

8 minutes ago, ToukieSmith said:

IMHO, she did not owe Brandi an apology. Brandi started all of it by mocking Leeanne's obsession with charities.  It wasn't Brandi's business.  No one is telling Brandi about her stringy hair, baby talk, bad makeup application, and drinking wine 16 hours a day.

Brandi wore the poop hat to screw with Leeanne and get laughs from Stephanie and Cary.

Should Leeanne apologize for reacting poorly to Brandi's attack?  She can, but I don't think its required.

That's fair, I see what you're saying, Brandi seems to like to push buttons and you can't fault a dog for biting you if you keep pulling its tail. The thing is, the only thing predictable about Leanne is that her reaction will be 100x worse than whatever you did to her. So I'm going to maintain my opinion of Leanne until we see the next episode, but I definitely get where you're coming from.  

I do respect that she apologized to Stephanie because the latter deserved that "sorry" without question.  But I'd also like to note that even when Leanne was apologizing to Stephanie, she talked at length about herself, her memoirs, her motivational speeches, etc. Stephanie commented something along the lines of "She's the most narcissistic person I've ever met and it's exhausting."  

NB: I dislike each one of these women, but some I dislike slightly more than others

[RHJunkie]

1 hour ago, JoJoPowerRanger said:

That's fair, I see what you're saying, Brandi seems to like to push buttons and you can't fault a dog for biting you if you keep pulling its tail. The thing is, the only thing predictable about Leanne is that her reaction will be 100x worse than whatever you did to her. So I'm going to maintain my opinion of Leanne until we see the next episode, but I definitely get where you're coming from.  

I do respect that she apologized to Stephanie because the latter deserved that "sorry" without question.  But I'd also like to note that even when Leanne was apologizing to Stephanie, she talked at length about herself, her memoirs, her motivational speeches, etc. Stephanie commented something along the lines of "She's the most narcissistic person I've ever met and it's exhausting."  

NB: I dislike each one of these women, but some I dislike slightly more than others

I think Leanne sees her talking about herself as a way to open herself to others so they can get to know her better and while that's understandable on one hand, it can easily leave the wrong impression when you give little time in getting to know the other person and when you take the opportunity away from someone to ask questions of interest to them. Leanne talks about herself as though everyone wants to know and that isn't an accurate assumption all the time. I do think Leanne was sincere in the moment that she offered the apology, even though she found a way to make the discussion about herself.

[ButterQueen]

Stephanie looks odd with those big, fake boobs.

LeeAnn looked yellow in her TH's.  I cannot stand her, and it appears her boyfriend barely tolerates her.

Brandi seems so sad.

Cary, you are really not that funny!  Give it a rest.

[ButterQueen]

I noticed the women stayed far from the food at the birthday party.

[Nancybeth]

When it comes right down to it, The Great Gatsby is a pretty tragic fucking story....not that I expect any of these nitwits to have read it or even seen the movie.  I mean, it features adultery, murder, organized crime, alcoholism, excesses of the rich and morally corrupt*.  Why can't it just be a Roaring 20s party? 

(*This actually sounds like a description of most Real Housewives franchises, so maybe it's more apropos than I first suspected.)

[TV Diva Queen]

15 hours ago, JoJoPowerRanger said:

eh everyone has his/her own opinion, I mean, the scene could be heavily edited but she never said the actual words "I'm sorry," "I apologize," "excuse my behavior," or any other phrase that we as society have come to acknowledge as an apology lol. Heck, even Brandi said Leanne didn't really apologize!

When I say Leanne's narcissistic, I'm not just referring to her "apology"--I've been watching her since her "Big Rich Texas" days and I've got a pretty good grasp on her (or, of course, how the producers/editors choose to portray her).   I will say that I find Cary to be exponentially more narcissistic than Leanne.

 

Just sitting here irresponsibly diagnosing everybody from my armchair lol

When was Leanne on Big Rich Texas? I can't remember her.  Last week, I did see the Big Rich Texas, cheerleader's mom at that Goth party.  off to google.....

[princelina]

21 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

This has bugged me too, with all the franchises.  Then I remembered that the producers probably have to contact the venue to get permission to film, etc.  So they can't say "Okay, we'll meet at Jack in the Box at 1 p.m. Thursday." 

I'm sure you're right - but they should still say something like "I'll call you tomorrow to pick a time and place."  Why does this bother me so?  :)

18 hours ago, JoJoPowerRanger said:

I rewatched and counted for funsies--about 15 times! If expressions of Leann's narcissism were a drinking game we'd all be getting our stomachs pumped in the ER every Monday night.

Thanks for taking one for the team!

18 hours ago, RHJunkie said:

Wow, Cary looks like a completely different person and that was only 6 years ago? She looks so much prettier, youthful and vibrant without whatever it is she's done to her face since then. It's reasons like this that I don't get the 'preventive' use of botox, etc. Using botox at 25 is not preserving your youthful look. It helps with wrinkles and skin elasticity - using it before you actually need to only transforms your face into a tight, less expressive face that often makes you look much older than when you started. 

I agree!  That's why I think the Hollywood women who look better are the ones who started messing with their faces later.  (Courtney Cox vs. Jennifer Aniston, for example)

[jaync]

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Wow. Wow. Wow. She does not look like the same person.

Wow is right. What all did Mark do to her face? It looks like she's had an eyelift of some sort, and her chin looks more pointy or something, but would that change her looks that much? Her face isn't as jacked as Heather Dubrow's or Adrienne Maloof's, but still.

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So far I like the relationship between Stephanie and Travis.

I do, too; it seems her lightheartedness is a good balance to his "in control" personality. Each series in the franchise could use a HW with Stephanie's disposition, imo. She looked pretty smokin' in her cake outfit, too.

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I may be misunderstanding, but why assume these women are ashamed, why assume they need to be told that they have worth, and aren't defined by HIV?

Maybe it wasn't assumed. It could be that the women had directly expressed having those feelings to Leanne and/or the woman who hired Leanne to speak. Besides their HIV/AIDS status, there may be other factors as to why those women are members of that particular support group, and maybe Leanne's words were something they specifically needed to hear.

[RedheadZombie]

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2016 at 1:29 AM, LilaFowler said:

Mark is harmless but insufferable and pretty obnoxious.  Cary looked 15 years younger in her wedding photo and wasn't that only six years ago (and she's only 39)?  She had a much fuller face then.  She looks a bit overworked now -- too much plastic surgery? 

Maybe this is the reason they cut off Cary's face when posting her pics on the website.  Who would seek out someone who did this to their own wife?  I'm actually surprised how quickly I've developed a strong dislike for Mark.  I actually have a visceral reaction to that voice.  He may be the worst label-dropper I've ever heard of.  I would be interested to hear about his background because he seems like a fierce climber.  And does he act this way off camera?  Because I'm pretty sure Cary knew Zuri's dress was bought "in Italy", and Mark was simply taking the moment to brag about it on camera.  He wants to appear sophisticated and well-travelled.  I wonder how old Zuri will be when daddy gives her her first plastic surgery.

I was initially impressed at how low-key Zuri's birthday was.  One friend, one small cake, two gifts.  But then I noticed that the whole thing seemed stiff and unnatural.  So either one of two things was happening.  One - this was a fake birthday party and the real one happened off camera (fine by me).  Or two - these people are so caught up in the drama of their own lives they lost site of their daughter's birthday, or simply didn't care to organize a real party (not so fine by me).  I've never seen a child so disinterested in a present, so that leads me to believe she just got a load of them at her real birthday party.

I agree with the comment upthread that Zuri doesn't seem to know her parents very well, but perhaps that's how Zuri is reacting to the lights, camera crew, and commotion.  Maybe she's just wanting to get off camera.  If I were Cary and Mark, I would keep Zuri off camera next season.  They're not coming off as nurturing involved parents.  Part of it is simply the unnatural setting, and I'm sure Mark and Cary work long hours so they're being filmed at odd hours.  And I'm not shaming Cary for being a working mother.  I hold Mark equally responsible for the disconnect I'm seeing in the edit.

Does Mark have children from his previous marriage?