Tuesday on The Real Housewives of New York City Season 7 Episode 8, Carole runs for the board of her NYC building, Bethenny gets emotional, and the ladies fight at a caviar dinner celebration.
We'd love to tell you that by the end of the episode the ladies resolve their problems. But who would we be fooling?
There's two ways to talk about this episode: the sad and the mad.
Let's start with the sad:
Among the ladies of The Big Apple, Carole might be the most well-established in terms of career. She worked for ABC as a reporter, covering highly dangerous stories such as missile attacks during the Gulf War. She even worked as an embedded reporter in Afghanistan.
Her sophisticated work landed her three Emmy's and a Peabody Award. In terms of professional experience and success, Carole should not be underestimated.
But it is hard to take her seriously when she is running for the board of her building.
Carole hires a political consultant to help her gain an edge in the building election. And as she assembles a campaign team and advisers, it is almost embarrassing to watch Carole get so wrapped up in "the election."
Even Heather says, she "takes it as seriously as running for president."
Her enthusiasm for the mundane seems to be a recurring theme on the show. For instance, she is in the middle of a budding relationship with a semi-post-adolescent guy, Adam.
Adam is hardly to be taken seriously. He is LuAnn's personal chef, and he dated her niece. But Carole seems to be wrapped up in the relationship--a relationship that is unrealistic and doesn't matter.
Similarly, her campaign for the building board is unrealistic. She doesn't need an army of people to gain the confidence of 30 constituents. In fact, she should be doing something more important with her time.
Much like her relationship with Adam, it doesn't matter. Her role as a board member is small potatoes in comparison to her past accomplishments.
No one really expects the ladies of RHONYC to be doing extraordinary things. The whole purpose of the show is to portray the frivolous lives of wealthy women.
However, seeing Carole get worked up over running for the building board when she once won an award for a story about land mines in Cambodia, it is sad to see her with so little going on in her life.
I never thought I'd say this, but even Bethenny Frankel's storyline on this episode is sad.
On a good day, Bethenny Frankel is unprecedentedly annoying. But it was hard to not feel bad for her as she talks to her therapist about growing up with an abusive step-father.
The episode gave a little insight to Bethenny's quick temper and sharp tongue.
She told her therapist, she watched her stepfather drag her mother "down the hall and beat her with the phone." He would call he the "c-word," she tells her therapist.
Sadly, Bethenny defines her childhood as "wrong and dark."
Revealing that information, it makes sense that she is always on the defense. She was raised in a home where she was constantly protecting herself from being a victim of abuse.
Bethenny's behavior has been frustrating the entire season. From the start of the season, she has played the victim, calling herself "homeless."
But this episode suggests that Bethenny acts like a victim because she truly feels like a victim. She is a victim in her childhood. Likely, her current feelings of victimization are the remnants and resin of childhood trauma.
On top of all this, Bethenny had a tearful meltdown while shopping with Carole. Bethenny explains to Carole that she feels pressure to be a full-time friend and a full-time mother.
The ladies are angry she isn't spending as much time with them. But like a good mother, she would rather be with her daughter, Bryn. Really, it is sh!tty of the other ladies to even ask for more of Bethenny's time.
Most of them have children, so one would imagine they would be sympathetic to Bethenny's plight. However, their navel-gazing is so extreme, they can't even comprehend that Bethenny might be busy raising her child--and going through a divorce, battling for custody of her daughter, running a company, writing books...
It is sad that Bethenny has to go through this drama, but her vulnerability makes her a little more human. And, at least in this episode, a little more likeable.
Onto the mad. Sonja isn't mad, but she makes everyone else mad.
Sonja is possibly the most obnoxious personality to ever grace a reality television show. That award might be harder to earn than Carole's Peabody.
Sonja claims, "I have a huge Latin following." Really, Sonja? Then why were all the guests at your party other cast members???
Sonja threw herself a party because she is on the cover of Latino Show magazine. A typical display of her narcissism.
It is frustrating to watch Sonja flaunt her new clothing line when she has no products to show, other than an ad in a magazine. As Heather says, "An ad in a magazine is not a collection."
it isn't that Sonja doesn't have her product that is maddening. It is the way she talks about herself. Each word that comes out of her mouth is shrouded in exaggeration and insincerity.
So far this season, it has been impossible to trust anything that Sonja says. Whereas Bethenny's behavior, as revealed tonight, might stem from childhood trauma, Sonja's stems from the petty desire for attention.
Dorinda, Ramona, LuAnn, and Heather are also angry on this episode.
Dorinda is p*ssed because the ladies dislike her boyfriend, John. And all the ladies talking about him behind her back.
At a caviar dinner party to celebrate Dorinda's 50th birthday, Ramona and LuAnn battle it out about who said what about John. After minutes of talking over each other and blaming, Ramona and LuAnn were head-to-head and pointing fingers at each other for talking trash about John.
Let's keep it real, ladies. No one likes John. Not only is out of shape and sweaty, he is a womanizer. During her confessional, Ramona explains, John " crosses the boundaries." He's touchy feely with the other ladies, and that is gross.
Despite the fact that all of the ladies agree about this, they fight about it, pointing fingers at each other for who said what. Mostly, the vitriol was between LuAnn, Heather, and Ramona. Heather mostly got into the middle of it to side with LuAnn.
But according to the preview for next week's episode, it looks like even Kristen has something to say about John.
Ramona is quick to change the subject, but she doesn't leave the argument unscathed. Dorinda, who is supposedly Ramona's BFF, says, "Ramona was using LuAnn as the scapegoat."
The caviar party proved what we all have always known about these ladies: friendships are fickle and no one can be trusted.
Will the ladies resolve their argument in next week's episode? Will Bethenny find a way to balance her roles as a mother, entrepreneur, and friend?
Hit the comments below and tell us what you think!
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