This week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County took things to a new level.
This week’s episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County The drama escalated. This week’s theme was “Singled Out,” with several ladies feeling left out. Jen hosted a pool party to show off Ryan’s house. But Shannon didn’t attend and instead traveled to St. Louis to host the Dos Amigas show with Vicki.
Jane has learned some life lessons.
This week’s episode starts off simple enough with all the women meeting. But I will say that watching Jenna and Shannon bond is both creepy and interesting. After getting a nice tour of Shannon’s place, she offers some decent advice to her former enemy about taking a moment to herself. Katie and Emily also meet Jenn. But is this a betrayal on Emily’s part since her loyalty is technically to Jenna?
Jen shows up out of nowhere to pay for coffee, which is a nice gesture, but I imagine her banking app sends her a low balance alert afterward. Jen seeks out parenting advice as she tells her friends that her kids need chores and consequences. She admits that a hard life lesson she learned was that she should have invested in herself. And let me tell you, this one hit home for you: “I need to put the hammer down, and I don’t know how to do it,” Jen says. Her son doesn’t like the conversation because Dawson is a spoiled 16-year-old who’s used to getting what he wants. You can’t blame him for being a bad parent. But before Jen can get too emotional, she invites everyone to a pool party at Ryan’s house.
It’s not about the dress code.
Back to Emily’s conversation, she’s still very upset about last week’s decision to bring her own jeans to Heather’s charity event. Once again, she feels like someone is suggesting that she doesn’t fit the mold. But did Fancy Pants do that on purpose? Please. This woman with her own issues in life isn’t worried about Emily’s waist. I can’t imagine Heather intentionally going out of her way to banish Emily to just jeans. Maybe Heather doesn’t realize how much work Emily has put into herself, and it’s not Heather’s fault. Emily can’t shake the feeling that Heather still sees her as the big girl, and that’s Emily’s problem—not Heather’s. “I’m so emotional,” the lawyer snaps. “I got a testosterone plant up my ass,” as if that explains everything.
There’s a lot of side conversation in this episode as Katie once again opens up about her divorce and estrangement from her kids. Katie’s daughter, Kylie, is a stay-at-home mom-in-training who says she doesn’t like bad men. Tamra, who’s always been visionary, tells their daughters, “Be careful who you have kids with.” It’s interesting to get the child’s perspective as both daughters agree that they don’t think marriages end well. Sophia doesn’t want the kids to know that “it’s irresponsible to commit to something this big.” Tamra is caught breaking down in her confessional, admitting, “Simon wasn’t a great husband or a great father. I still hate him so much.” Gosh, I thought these two had discussed this a long time ago.
The struggle is real.
Finally, we arrive at Jen’s poolside party, and the star of the show is Sparkles, the dog who single-handedly welcomes everyone to the party. But even with a super-friendly golden retriever, Emily is a ticking time bomb. Before the ladies down an ounce of tequila, Emily jokes, “I’m not on Ozempic. That’s why I have to wear jeans.” Oh, Emily, stop it! I can’t say I love this self-deprecating side of the lawyer. FYI, someone needs to tell the glam squad that high ponytails and Botox don’t mix. In fact, the whole look is creepy.
To make matters worse, Alexis comes in hot—or shall I say, cool as a cucumber—which makes everyone nervous. She hints at problems with Shannon, telling her that she’s exhausted from the burdens of life. John turns out to be more than Alexis expected, but breaking up isn’t an option. For a brief moment, humor hits the scene as Tamra and Emily hide from Alexis, with Tammy Sue joking, “John has a special type.”
Emily takes out her frustrations on Heather.
After one margarita, Emily had run out of courage. Alexis, who was “annoying and crazy,” had been bothering Emily, and it didn’t take long for her inner demon, who would now also be “annoying and crazy,” had been unleashed. “When you asked for our measurements, you asked me to bring jeans; I thought everyone would bring jeans,” the lawyer tells Heather. “What really bugged me was when I realized I was the only one who wasn’t wearing anything by Susan Bender. I felt like I was isolated, and it killed me.”
Heather seems genuinely shocked by the information and doesn’t understand all the concerns, saying, “I thought I was giving you a major role. I wanted to make sure you felt like a star.” However, Heather got a little angry in her confessional after explaining that the women had all sent in their measurements and then noted that “the dress was tight on Emily.” Meow, the cat has claws.
Dos Amigas was one too many
Heather gets very defensive when she’s not shown in a good light. It’s about time these baseless attacks on Heather got boring. A fight broke out when Emily accused her of being cold and condescending. Heather then asked, “Are you going to shut up?” Emily replied, “No, get off me.” Okay girl.
The party ends with Heather saying, “I don’t care.” We might have been better off going to Shannon’s show instead. However, Dos Amigas are in their own land of illusion. Vicki notes that they sold out the shows as if they were Adele, cutting the show to half the audience and stopping the show altogether. “They didn’t get a very good reception from everyone,” Shannon says, belittling the show, and Vicki opens the show by saying, “I need a shot of tequila. We’re not driving tonight.” Oh my.
Real Housewives of Orange County continues Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
Tell us – do you think Emily had a right to be so upset about the jeans? Do you think Heather should have been more understanding? Do you think Emily might need therapy?
