There are few things as sacred as a Real Housewives 1-on-1 sit down. As two women awkwardly order prop food items they’re sure to ignore while trading vicious jabs inside a public space, the 1-on-1 is one of the finest Housewives set-ups, from an undercover hipster Cynthia Bailey dueling with a chronically late Porsha Williams to Diana Jenkins and Sutton Stracke ping-ponging “So you say” and “That I know.”
But the 1-on-1 has become somewhat of an endangered species in the past few years, all but erased on fractured shows The Real Housewives of Potomac and The Real Housewives of New Jersey. It’s fitting, then, that the original franchise has perfected the delicate formula.
Tonight’s episode features not one but two sit-downs that exemplify how effortlessly The Real Housewives of Orange County is firing on all cylinders. It’s an episode that is jam-packed with juicy plot, revealing just how confident Bravo is in their material this year, feeling no need to space out these top-tier scenes.
As veterans Shannon Beador and Heather Dubrow agree to come together after a rocky run last season, OC novices Gina Kirschenheiter and Jennifer Pedranti crash and burn in the confines of a densely populated coffee shop. And yes, Gina is still a newbie in essence, even if this is her sixth season.
An expert episode from start to finish, RHOC’s second outing this season proves that this ensemble has more than just Shannon torture storylines up its sleeve. We open where we left off, with Alexis Bellino storming away from Shannon, before the ladies sit down for Heather’s new year lunch. Playing a game, as has become tradition for Housewives events, the ladies hop in a wind machine and grab a question to read aloud as part of their 2024 resolutions.
Alexis goes first, the Santa Ana wind machine asking her what her friendship goal is for the year. How random and spontaneous! Despite throwing down with Shannon moments before, Alexis declares she would like to make peace with her, while Shannon barely hides her contempt through gritted teeth.
As admirable as it may be for the second coming of Jesus Jugs to want a friendship with Shannon, she’s certainly not helping that by flaunting her “promised” ring—something entirely different from a promise ring, by the way—and discussing how she and John had sex twice that day with Shannon just feet away.
Clearly uncomfortable—maybe due to the wispy flames all around her (seriously, I was so distracted by these wild flames surrounding those flammable flowers)—Shannon steps away for a moment, followed by Tamra.
It’s here the ladies share a beautiful heart-to-heart, realizing they’re stronger together without the minutiae of petty drama. Or, that’s what briefly seems to be happening, before Tamra decides to promote Twisters and spins up a tale of the wicked Shannon Beador. The way Tamra is able to flip from sincere to vicious is fascinating, especially as she manages a genuineness through it all.
As the two argue over the downfall of their friendship, Shannon offers Tamra a sit down, to which Tamra rebuffs her, saying: “You’re not a good person.” Sadly, our frenemies are squarely in the enemies corner for now, and it’s not looking like that will change anytime soon.
Tamra is fully feeling her villainy, tapping into an evil we haven’t seen in full since Season 9. Even though it seems we’re missing some crucial context for this fallout, it’s a much more engaging arc than last year’s Tamra vs. Jenn, simply because Tamra’s mischief doesn’t seem put on. Whenever the inevitable Tamra/Shannon sit down occurs, it’s sure to be must-see TV.
What’s not must-see TV, though, is Gina’s little real estate arc. The pros are that she actually is doing real estate and it wasn’t just a storyline for the show (what happened to Gina’s skincare line, CaraGala?), and the cons are that Gina selling houses is not engaging footage. It was kind of fun watching the couple on Gina’s tour feign interest in a house they clearly don’t want to buy, though.
Dismissal of tragic Gina solo footage aside, she’s at least wielding her real estate license for good as she comes for a recently evicted Jenn. It feels very Coto Insurance-coded for this working woman Housewife to offer a helping hand to the hapless Housewife only to chastise her in the aftermath, like a modern Vicki Gunvalson and Lauri Peterson, and it’s a plotline with genuine stakes.
The strength of the RHOC renaissance is that its storylines are all earnest and relatively untouched by the heightened TV reality, allowing for organic conflict to soar. Sure, Aleixs wouldn’t be at events with Shannon without the guise of a reality show, but she would be dating John Jannsen and wreaking havoc via unhinged Instagram posts. Remove cameras and you’ll have the same exact Tamra vs. Shannon fight, the same Jenn down-spiral, the same Heather sanctimony, and most-certainly the same Shannon Storms Beador rollercoaster.
To that extent, Gina and Emily truly feel enmeshed in the cast dynamic at this point. That’s most evident when the two work out with Shannon, offering surprise allyship to her in a time they could’ve easily gone in for the kill. Call it Stockholm Syndrome, the Charisse Jackson-Jordan so-flop-it’s-good trajectory, or a secret third thing, but Gina and Emily are here to stay, and I’m finally okay with that. At this point, it actually is believable that Shannon would find solace in those two, and their scene is resonant, especially if you ignore that Emily’s trying to sell her new obsession with…flag football?
Before that, Shannon meets with Jenn and Katie to go on a gossip walk, a quintessential OC activity. It’s here we learn that Katie’s not like other girls—she hates working out!—which would hit harder if she didn’t have the figure of someone who clearly has worked out once or twice in her life. Not to accuse Katie of having a gym membership or anything, but maybe I just have her on watch after that “NFL of tea” line (which the cruel editors included in the “previously on…” segment).
But the real tea spilling—the NFL of it, if you will—comes from Jenn, who’s frustrated with Gina’s crass discussion of her eviction. Gina, on the other hand, is livid, feeling that Jenn ruined her reputation. That would probably carry more weight if Gina had been a real estate agent for more than three minutes, as it’s simply implausible she had a reputation beyond “That OC Housewife who sells houses now—no, not Tamra, who also does that sometimes.” But who knows. It did apparently cost Gina $50,000, which is probably her entire Bravo salary, so no wonder she’s pissed.
Of course, Jenn’s state of abject delusion isn’t exactly the reasonable perspective, either. Poor Jenn, she’s clearly such a nice person who just is challenged in the art of making smart decisions, and that really shows when Katie asks what Ryan does for a living.
“Well, nothing now,” Jenn says. “There’s no office. There’s no… I feel like he just sits around and plays in the sunshine.” Oh, Jenn…let’s workshop a lie to save face, diva. At least she can rest easy knowing she lives rent-free in Gina’s head, even if she’s temporarily homeless.
After a brief detour to watch Tamra and Eddie eat every fried food known to man, we visit Jenn at home, whose parents are in town to visit. As a native Oklahoman myself, I feel a special affinity to Jenn’s family. Her mom is just so Oklahoman in every sense of the word, and we need more Southern-adjacent moms in this franchise now that Dale Mercer is off our screens. I just know this family could follow in the harrowing footsteps of Chrisley Knows Best—even the fraud part (thanks Ryan)!
We finally get a Katie solo scene this week, too. It’s not as desperately engaging as Jenn’s life falling apart, but there are signs of life. It’s not really her fault that Katie seems well-adjusted and normal. Her family life is very nice and cute so far, so only time will tell how the layers will unravel. Her husband does have that very annoying dad quality where he doesn’t want his daughter to date, and her daughter is kind of a star so far, so it’s always possible her side characters will start to deliver soon.
As the episode comes to a close, we are with the fruits of these ladies’ devout labor with back-to-back sit downs. First, Shannon and Heather meet for dinner to figure out their friendship after coming to a head last season. They are briefly interrupted by the sirens of at least a dozen ambulances, probably having caused many people to faint in the presence of their joint slay. Shannon and Heather are such wonderful scene partners and it’s hopeful to see them enter a new state of friendship, although it seems especially fragile.
Finally, Gina and Jenn meet up to make nice. Thankfully, they do no such thing. From the second Jenn walks in, Gina’s riled up, noting that Jenn’s glammed up and dressed well, despite Gina’s considerate choice to don a tacky outfit and unkempt hair in sympathy. How rude. Gina goes in on Jenn, telling her, “You need to grow up! You need to pay your bills! You need to figure out how to take care of yourself and your children!” as a poor barista carefully places Jenn’s latte down before scurrying off in fear.
But Jenn hits back—in a confessional, so a few points deducted for not being on the spot. “Are you fucking kidding me? Gina, just because my life is falling apart doesn’t mean my hair has to fall apart like yours did.” Gina’s longest standing legacy on this franchise is having bad hair, and she may have escaped those insults for an entire season, but Jenn whacked her good here.
Gina gets her confessional whack back too, noting that Jenn’s “inability to even see how this has affected me has told me everything that I need to know about her, which is mostly that she’s stupid.” Gina vs. Jenn is a feud that the trailer barely even touched on and yet is already proving avid entertainment, elevating both ladies’ star power. A rising tide sure does lift all boats.
If you exited the premiere thinking this season would just be everyone dunking on Shannon, rest assured that the ladies of RHOC are engaged in a vicious battle royale, and no one’s safe. This is already the best Housewives season since The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 4, and next week Shannon gets to grapple “with the fact that Alexis seems to be taking over everything that was once hers,” according to the plot description. Oh, what a time to be alive.
The post ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’ Are Fighting for Their Lives. It’s So Good. appeared first on The Daily Beast.
