“Hi, um, this is Shannon Beador calling. You guys made a delivery for this luncheon. Nothing that I ordered. Really upset about it.”
“Oh,” a defeated voice replies.
The Real Housewives of Orange County have departed the depraved suburbs for the bright lights of Amsterdam, following in the footsteps of their sisters up in the hills. No, nothing in tonight’s episode lives up to that absolute insanity, but the very first scene serving Shannon Beador vs. random customer service representative makes up for it all.
The barometer for if you’re a good Housewife or not should be if you can sell the mundanity of life just as well as your drama, and the simple truth is I’d eagerly watch Shannon on hold with the Wifi company. Jenn would kill that, too. You just know she accepts all the scam offers just to be nice.
The ladies of Orange County are in limbo, the echoes of Katie long gone, while a new feud hasn’t quite caught hold post-boy band affair allegations. Perhaps it’s the perfect time, then, to leave the country for greener pastures. There was once a time a cast trip got a two-episode build-up, but nowadays, you blink and they’re on a canal in Amsterdam.
That’s a great trope of the trade, the ladies nonchalantly discussing trip ideas before a departure later that week. Famously, all group trips are planned this way, especially when you have no PTO to request. This is a work retreat, after all. These ladies are business professionals, even plugging Peacock and Bravo’s Love Hotel in the 30 seconds of plane footage.
And Amsterdam proves a fascinating choice, if only because it’s a gorgeous backdrop. The walkability of a western European city provides such a pep in the step of every cast trip scene, something you’ll never see in the sluggish suburbs. Beyond that, we learn some tales from the crypt of Dubrow, as Heather shares that her parents actually lived in Amsterdam for 15 years. This seems like something that’s come up before, surely, but it’s news to me.
The trip gives Heather a chance to go beyond the surface, something she has often struggled to do given her buttoned-up exterior. But her upbringing explains that, making every drop of lore absolutely scintillating. It’s both touching and heartbreaking hearing her reminisce about the relationship that never was with her father with a bittersweet acceptance. It just makes me want more scenes with her mother, whose murder of a Nobu waiter is one of three watchable moments from Season 16. Add that to her IMDb.
Heather Paige Kent is an actress known for her industry-defining role on That’s Life, in addition to having an enigmatic and intoxicating mother whose presence should dawn our screens at least twice a season. She is the OG of the OC. Everyone else is just a copy.
Meanwhile, Tamra orders a delicious-looking margarita pizza while her husband lectures her on how her drinking is destroying their marriage. She barely got to take a bite of that pizza before Eddie hijacked the scene. Classless.
The #RHOC are going to Amsterdam tonight and they are bringing the fashions! pic.twitter.com/kjjrsznT4e
— Queens of Bravo (@queensofbravo) October 16, 2025
Almost every couple gets a little moment before the trip, actually, although we get a welcome break from the Emily and Shane experience. Don’t worry, Emily still makes time to talk about her child (she got him a Build a Bear with her voice!), but at least she’s doing it in a new country. It’s the little wins.
Off to Amsterdam, the land of space cake, red-light districts, and bread that helps you calm down! You are contractually obliged to fight on a boat and, if you buy the premium package, slap Lisa Vanderpump. So, out of the blue, Emily asks if Shannon felt Tamra was trying to dig at her in Temecula. Emily wasn’t even there, mind you.
“Are you able to forgive?” Emily asks, to a cut-and-dry “no.”
Emily’s just full of questions tonight, hitting Jenn with “so how’s the vagina going?” if anyone was dying for an update on Jenn’s pelvic floor issues. Apparently she got some surgery and she looks prettier than ever, down there. Yay! I guess.
Meanwhile, emboldened by the familiar surroundings of her ferocious youth, Heather decides to get a little saucy with the questions herself. Back on the boat, she asks Shannon how she feels about Jenn’s friendship with Alexis Bellino, the ghost of Orange County past, who probably should have had a few guest appearances this season despite the fact everyone hates her.
Stuck between a rock and Shannon, Jenn wavers on going to the royal wedding between Alexis and John Jannsen, who (in real time) tied the knot two weeks ago. Jenn was not in attendance, as she was disinvited, an unnamed source who was definitely not Alexis Bellino exclusively told PageSix. Don’t worry though, Tamra was there in a big old hat. Maybe we can blame that on the alcohol destroying her marriage.
It might be worth switching to space cake. High off a new supply, the ladies go into the night having a giggling good time, proving that maybe, just maybe, their dysfunction has finally plateaued.
Of course, that’s not the case. Next week promises arguments between just about everyone, with Gina smack in the center. Could the first-ever Gina power hour be upon us?
(Heather Dubrow voice) By the way, there’s nowhere else to say this: What’s with all the statement hats this season? Tamra’s Von Dutch hat; the “I don’t cook but I stir the pot” hat; Ryan’s hat that says “WATER” backwards; the dueling caps donned by Tamra and Gretchen mid-fight next week… Is this the 2025 rendition of the Sky Top? Inquiring minds would like to know.
The post The Real Housewives Escape Suburban Psychosis in Amsterdam appeared first on The Daily Beast.
