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The dry plains of Superior, Montana, have proven to be a great backdrop for The Real Housewives of Orange County’s shenanigans this season. This week, the women complete their final round of Midwestern activities, including whitewater rafting and fly-fishing, which are both surprisingly funny to watch. Among other amusing highlights, Shannon thinks she’s going to be eaten by a lobster. And the whitewater rafting instructor has a testicle slip.
Most significantly, the cast finally moves on from grilling Jenn about Ryan’s sexual proclivities (for now) and addresses other simmering tensions amongst them, all involving Heather. When they get back to the O.C., they gear up for what seems to be even more explosive fights—and apparently some napkin throwing—in next week’s episode. We’re really on a roll here!
First, let’s start this week with the one cast member who's barely been in the mix this season, Emily. Forgive me assuming all storylines involving Housewives and their kids are either filler or C-plot. But it turns out Emily taking her daughter Annabelle on auditions and photoshoots is actually her main storyline this season. And I couldn’t care less!
Emily is helping her daughter achieve her showbiz dreams in a very pure and loving way, and that just doesn’t make good TV. It’s funny because Emily jokingly references Yolanda Hadid and her sad model children, as if she could ever deliver that level of darkness. Unless you have me on the verge of calling Child Protective Services, I really don’t need to see this kind, supportive stage-mom act. (P.S. Annabelle is very cute and hammy, and I wish her the best.)
But back to the real action going down in Montana—we left off last week’s episode with Tamra confronting Jenn about Ryan’s alleged comment that he wanted to sleep with her. Jenn decides to handle this with Ryan at home. Meanwhile, Gina was sobbing in a tractor after being, once again, triggered by the discussion of Jenn’s infidelity. Heather advises Gina not to talk with Travis about her lingering disappointment about her previous marriage for fear of turning him off.
This advice seems somewhat reasonable—although, later on, it becomes a bit confusing whether Gina is mainly still upset about her ex’s affair or the alleged assault incident. In the case of the latter, Gina should definitely be able to confide in her partner. But if she’s still hurt about her ex’s affair at this point in her relationship with Travis, that is, to Heather’s point, a problem.
Regardless, Gina gets upset at Heather at the women’s final dinner on the trip when she asks “how much can Travis take”of Gina’s breakdowns. Later on in the episode, Travis sweetly assures her that she can always come to him with her baggage. But Gina’s ready to wage war on Heather for not being an empathetic friend.
In general, this last supper, which is supposed to be a kumbaya moment for the group, goes terribly for Heather. When she reveals that she’s felt left out by Shannon and Tamra recently, Shannon gets weirdly defensive about her friendship with Tamra, given that they went through so much over the past year, to the point where she starts crying.
Heather wasn’t dissing them as a pair at all, but I get the impression she feels more insecure about her place amongst the cast now that Tamra’s back. Either way, things are looking bad for Mrs. Dubrow.
Ultimately, everyone apologizes to each other for whatever rifts they caused on the trip. Jenn is obviously still hurt by Tamra’s bombshell, so she sits down with Ryan when she gets back home, not to confront him but to allow him to defend himself.
With his eyes practically leaping out of his head, he vehemently denies ever wanting to sleep with Tamra. I honestly think this is the one offense he could’ve gotten away with since he allegedly said it before he knew Eddie, Tamra, and Jenn. He also could've just said that he initially found Tamra attractive and made a bad joke. It’s Liar 101 to take responsibility for at least one accusation, so you appear somewhat honest. But Ryan and Jenn are that bad at not looking totally sketchy.
Even more than Tamra’s claim, I can’t wait to get an explanation on this dick pic scenario, which Jenn and Ryan also rehash. Originally, Jenn said that Ryan accidentally sent the photo to some sort of private group—maybe on Snapchat or Instagram—that just included her, their kids and their old friend, Heather Amin. (Unless Heather is living with them, it feels a bit random that she’d be a part of this group, but I digress.)
In this scene, though, Ryan says he sent the dick pic to his entire “address book,” which makes it like it was a text and not like a Close Friends scenario. But also, how the heck do you do that??
I’m not sure how old Jenn and Ryan are, but they clearly don’t know we all share the same technology and can fact-check this stuff. Either way, this photo situation seems kind of traumatizing for everyone involved. But this dude is just like, “Welp, I sent all of my loved ones and future stepchildren a photo of my dick! Oops!”
Jenn also uses this opportunity to set the record straight on the mysterious Heather Amin. Jenn tells us that Heather was basically a sister to Ryan (hmm, okay) and that the three of them were like their own Tres Amigos at one point. But when Jenn started dating Ryan, Heather began warning her about his behavior, which Jenn didn’t want to hear. So they basically got rid of her. (I’m really appreciating Jenn’s deliberate stupidity about Ryan, BTW. Keep it up!)
Then we have a scene with Tamra and Eddie where they pretend to be shocked about Ryan’s fetish for married women. Tamra tells Eddie about Ryan’s comment, which he seems weirdly unperturbed about. Eddie also gets in on the mess by revealing that someone at Cut Fitness told him to watch out for Ryan because he likes to sleep with married women. Tamra acts shocked, even though she’s been telling everyone this man is a hoe for weeks. Both of them look like they’re plotting something.
Next week, it seems like Jenn has fully had it with Tamra’s instigating when things get physical amongst the two. And while I can obviously see Jenn’s perspective, it’s hard to be mad at Tamra for lighting matches this season. Talk about understanding the assignment!
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