Disco Inferno

We're still at Dorit’s dinner for toothless homeless people. You will recall Lisa had a "breakthrough" moment in the grieving process for her recently departed mother, Lois, but she's all recovered now. Dorit brings out a birthday cake for Kyle and they all sing Happy Birthday to her. Between O Holy Night and now The Birthday Song, it's apparent that RHOBH has really upped the song royalty budget this season (Asher's little ditty written especially for his beard notwithstanding).

Meanwhile, Mauricio, PK, Woody, Doctor Davit, and Kathy's gay husband, Dwight, are having "men talk". PK is going on about his latest business venture; some kind of shady cryptocurrency thing, and stoner Mo' chimes in, telling all the men that they don’t have anything interesting going on. The audacity to tell Rob Minkoff, the genius behind The Lion King and Stuart Little!

At the women’s table, it's time for one of Rinna's good ol' spin the wheel and "Air Your Grievances" games. Crystal makes the first spin, and brings up how hurt she was to hear that her alleged eating disorder was being conjectured about. She sets the record straight on the treatment she’s received and plans to continue to seek. Ya, whatever. Sutton is up next, and it’s time to discuss Erika's "liability" comment that she made to Sutton's mouthpiece, Garcelle. Sutton finds it very interesting that SHE was accused of being a liability when a lawyer reached out to her about Erika’s legal woes. So who's the "liability" now! However, Sutton is very cryptic with her words and says, “I did get called by an attorney,". Like a leapard zero-ing in on it's prey, Erika peers at Sutton, and it is clear that she has been preparing for this moment. Erika tells Sutton that she is being dragged into this because she shot her mouth off about a rumor she heard about Tom on national television.

It's Diana's turn. She tells Garcel that she is the most "guarded" and difficult to get to know. Garcelle sarcastically asks Diana "What do you want to know Diana?", but all Diana has to offer is a bunch of flashback scenes between her and Garcelle. Then in a bitchy talking head, Garcelle says that Diana wants to get to know her, she can google her. Rinna the chimes in, askins Garcelle if she "hears" Diana, and then the two of them begin to spar. Garcelle then plays the victim and tells the group that just once, she would love to hear "Garcelle was right".

It's the next day, and we see Soon-Yi and Woody at home. Per the hw husband script, Rob asks Crystal how she's feeling about all the women talking about her alleged eating disorder. This makes her cry because she wants to stop throwing up her food for herself damnit, and not because the coven is ordering her to. Right on cue, Kathy shows up. Yes, we are supposed to believe that 63 yr. old Trump supporting Conservative Kathy Hilton is friends with this 30-something yr. old millenial snowflake. Kathy walks in bitching that she had to drive "all the way" to Crystal's, and then rudely demands to be fed for her trouble. Rob throws her some cheese and crackers, and Kathy then schools them on proper ediquette. Still teary eyed about the group gossiping about her alleged eating disorder, Kathy lies through her vaneers and assures Crystal that the girls all love her and only cercerned about her health.

In two separate filler scenes, we get Erika and Rinna having drinks, and Kyle and Sutton having dinner. Erika and Rinna rehash what went on at Dorits and trash Sutton, and Sutton trashes Erika to Kyle. From where I'm sitting, both scenes are merely opportunities for Rinna to announce her (second) launch party for "Rinna Beauty", and for Kyle to show off her newest Birkin bag, respectively. Rinna's tells Erika (and us) that the party will be disco themed, and Erika approves, telling Lisa that will be channeling Jerry Hall, as if anyone under 40 watching this knows who Jerry Hall is.

It's the night of said disco party on the rooftop of some nameless location. Wearing 40 pounds of sequins and hair, Lisa is frazzled because she's used to Harry Hamlin doing all the work, but this time it's all up to her. After discovering that the tiny make shift bar doesn't have fresh lemons and limes for her guests, we get a glimpse of what I believe is the real (diva) Lisa Rinna. But for the most part, she's thrilled with what the party planner has done. Lisa tells us that she actually once went to original Studio 54 in NYC, which really surprises me, because it was pretty much shut down when I became of age, and I think I have a few years on Rinna.

Looking like a Pam Grier character in any given blaxploitatoin movie from the 70's, Garcelle’s shares the time she went to Studio 54 as well. Her story is juicier than Rinna's and reads like a scene right out of Dorit and PK's "powder room". bathroom. As all their wigs fight to the death in a crowded photo booth, Kyle invites them all on the infamous Aspen trip, which is finally on the horizon. With that out of the way, all the women conjugate under giant plastic disco balls on rented couches. Producer Kyle brings up this "liability" thing again.

To start the conflict, Kyle screams over the other women and asks Erika what she meant by calling Sutton a “liability" (to Garcelle). Erika nonchalantly replies, “Hindrance”, and then clarifies by saying that Garcelle's friendship with Sutton is keeping Garcelle from getting close to the other women. Forget the fact that this is no more than a paid gig for Booshievay, and she could give two fucks about "getting close" to these women.

Suddenly, everyone is upset at Sutton for saying that Erika has multiple lawsuits, which of course is like saying "the sky is blue". Clearly ordered by production to take a seat in the back row at her own "event", Lisa screams, “I’m not having your back right now. Have your own fucking back, Sutton Stracke”. As Kyle attempts Kyle attempts to lay out the timeline, Kathy chimes in with, “At the toothless and homeless foundation?”, which sends Garcelle and Shereé into giggles, earning them all a scolding. “Honey, I’m so sorry,” Kathy says. “I’ve worked with the homeless, I’ve worked with the toothless.”.

Erika brings up the "drinking problem" story line yet again, this time more aggressively, accurately accuses Garcelle of trying to spread a false narrative. She then tries to claim that if she actually had a drinking problem, Garcelle would not be the one to pull her aside; it would be one of her real friends like Lisa, Kyle, or Dorit. The problem with this argument is that Lisa did pull her aside because she was concerned about her drinking ... on camera! So what is the truth? Erika suggests that Garcelle brought it up, not out of concern, but to make her look bad, and then finally comes another infamous trailer line: “Erika, I don’t have to make you look bad; you can do that on your own.”. Erika responds, “It's MY life to either move forward or destroy". Always the one to get the last word, Garcelle says, "Then destroy it.”.

The episode ends with Kathy turning to Garcelle in disbelief over how she was snapped at for the "toothless" debacle, and it’s clear that Kathy’s standing within the group is beginning to falter. Only one short season ago, these women were all up Kathy's ass, carrying her luggage, fetching her little treats, and teaching her how to plug a box fan into a wall outlet. But now it appears the group is growing impatient with her. We saw it when Kyle snapped at her for interrupting an “important” conversation earlier and then in Dorit’s annoyance at her suggestion that they just lift each other up rather than fight. But why this sudden sea change? Are the other women jelly that Kathy was the breakout star last season and now need to take her down? Do they resent her for skipping the entire first half of this season, presumably for more money? Maybe they’ve grown tired of her interrupting them with her idiotic quips as they talk about the same thing to ad nauseam. Regardless, the disastrous Aspen trip is finally on the horizon, and it looks like it's going to be a real shit storm.