‹ Back

RHOBH Rundown: Threats and Promises

 

This week’s episode begins right where last week’s left off. The women are all gathered at Kathy Hilton’s home for an uber elegant dinner party. Sutton musters up the courage to question Erika’s word on … well everything, and the Kunty in Erika comes out. Erika says “Look at me; I’ll go head on with you all fucking day … I am telling the truth”. She continues, “I am not a liar”. Sutton tells Erika not to talk to her that way, and then gritting her pearly caps, Erika says “Or what … OR WHAT?”. Clearly, Sutton is caught off guard and sheepishly responds, “Or nothing”. Then Erika says, “If you ever call me a liar again, I am coming for you.”, and as usual, the reactions on the other women’s faces are priceless. Sutton then accuses Erika of threatening her, and Erika says, “That’s not a threat; that’s a promise!”. Gulp.

 

 

As Teddi, and now Sutton have discovered, apparently calling Erika a liar triggers her even worse than mentioning her police officer son. Of course the irony here is, the only person(s) Sutton poses a threat to are Dolce & Gabbana (for desecrating their designs). In my mind, threatening Sutton is like threatening an innocent puppy for piddling on the rug. Kyle and Dorit attempt to defuse the situation by trying to reason with Erika, but she isn’t having it, and then says “I’m about to lose my shit on ALL of you”. Kathy then tells Erika to “calm down”, Rinna says “take a breath”, and Garcelle tells Erika to “hold it in”, but it’s too late; Kunty is riled up!

 

 

Humiliated and angry, Sutton gets up from the table, and heads out the door, but not without grabbing her Baccarat gift bag. Sutton may be a lot of things, but stupid ain’t one of them, and she recognizes quality swag when she sees it. Garcelle and Kathy chase Sutton to the door and try to get her to stay, as Erika repeats, “Bye!”. The scene concludes as Rinna hands Erika Kathy’s dog for her to use as an ESA (Emotional Support Animal). It was indeed a “dinner from hell” that easily rivaled Camille’s, all those season’s ago.

 

 

The next day, Lisa Rinna goes to Garcelle’s house to talk about what happened the night before, and Garcelle once again points out that she senses a “divide” between herself, Sutton, and Crystal and Kyle, Rinna, Erika, and Dorit. She does have a point, but this has always been the formula throughout the entire housewife series.  Garcelle then brings up that Rinna never takes her side, as production rolls the flashbacks of receipts; Erika coming for Garcelle, and Dorit coming for Garcelle, as Rinna just sits there (enjoying it). Rinna apologizes, but in a talking head immediately following, says she’s on the side of the truth, and besides that, Garcelle hasn’t treated her very well either. Amen to that, but then Rinna overreaches by accusing Garcelle of having bad social etiquette for not texting (additional) thank yous for things like birthday cakes and hand delivered jars of Harry Hamlin’s famous Bolognese sauce.

 

 

Meanwhile, Kyle and Sutton are getting a personal preview of an upcoming Bonhams auction showcasing very expensive furniture and jewelry. We see them both drop thousands of dollars on items that they simply cannot resist, but something tells me that we were only shown a small portion of what these two insanely rich women actually spent.

 

While gushing over vintage Cartier and garish wooden swans, they discuss the dinner from hell the night before. Sutton feels like she was pressured into having “the” conversation with Erika. At this point, you know Kyle wanted to say “Yes bitch, that’s the way the show works”, but of course that would be breaking through the fourth wall. I’m with Kyle on this one, because Sutton’s wussing out in Erika’s presence does make her look weak, but on the other hand, Erika took it way too far. So much for fellow Georgian loyalty.

 

 

Dorit and her love, her bubba, her papa, Pee Kye, are having a “date night”. The conversation turns to what else, Erika. PK is concerned about Erika’s tasteless (and borderline pornographic) social media posts, but Dorit points out that she is the ambassador to some lingerie company (something I did not know), and she has to make money and promote the brands she’s contracted to promote. This may be true, but PK thinks Erika should also worry about her reputation in the long run. IMO, Erika’s questionable SM posts coupled with her nonchalance about Tom’s alleged victims undercuts the sympathy she was building in the first half of the season.

 

 

Not to be outdone by Crystal (and her stupid dumplings), Garcelle has all the women over for a Haitian dinner which turns out to be as disgusting as it sounds. I will own it; I’m whiter than white, and NOTHING on that table would have been going down this gullet. I’ll never forget trying Conch (in the Bahamas) for the first time …. it looked like a fried tarantula in between two buns. Speaking of owning it, even Rinna (who can’t stomach fish) tries to eat some, but Garcelle’s Haitian chef even manages to fuck up fish. Everyone is trying to be polite, although I’m sure Kyle’s grimacing and making childish faces is sure to come up during the reunion.

 

I feel kind of bad for Garcelle, having to compete with the kind of wealth that the RHOBH is all about  While her new rental? home is beautiful (in a boring new construction “subdivision” kind of way), and she did host a nice dinner party (in her kitchen), Garcelle is not on the same level as the other women.  But I appreciate the fact that she doesn't even try to pretend; but instead often places herself in the mere mortal shoes of the viewers. Also, it was just her bad misfortune to have to follow a Kathy Hilton dinner party in the same episode.

 

Back to Erika for a moment. For me, her “Sleeping with the Enemy” (victim) performance was quite effective, but now, between the contradictory statements, the combative SM posts, and the rage, she blowing it. I don’t think she’s a dumb woman, so it’s quite possible that she knows something that we don’t (yet), and will therefore spout off and behave any way she wants.