Supporting the LGBTQ+ community can happen in a multitude of ways. Some volunteer, while others simply offer a friendly hello to a queer classmate. The Real Housewives of Orange County utilize a less orthodox method: creating wonderful television each week by slinging mud in all directions. And that is a win for queer people everywhere.
The best RHOC season in years has no intent of slowing down, despite Heather Dubrow’s futile attempt to assuage drama in the name of Family Equality. That’s in large part thanks to the layers to all the conflict. There’s the masterful DUI Shannon Beador vs. Jesus Jugs plotline, the smaller stakes Katie vs. Heather petty feud, and the brewing Tamra vs. Jenn explosion. But quietly, a subtler takedown has arisen, as Tamra sets Gina up for a fatal fall.
Once upon a time, Gina Kirschenheiter was the worst Housewife in the land of Orange County, dismaying audiences nationwide with questionable hairdos and a grating voice. She still is, but thanks to a needed rebrand as the cast punching bag, she’s become shockingly watchable.
The Gina takedown finally made it to the forefront of an episode this week, as Gina finds herself in the hot seat with Katie and Heather. It’s a refreshing departure from Shannon’s series of unfortunate events, and one that shows the vulnerability of Gina’s orange.
The only cast member less safe than Gina, after all, is Alexis, who spends the episode doubling down on delusion. We pick up with the aftermath of Shannon’s tearful chat with Heather, our resident mother sending Shannon off to glam before dinner. At least she can serve face even if she’s being served with lawsuits and threatening videos of her trying to run over her ex-boyfriend’s daughter.
Overlaying Katie saying “she is, like, broken” with a harrowing shot of Shannon, Bravo’s editors drop hints that Shannon’s not in a good place right now. And Emily goes to Alexis’ room to drop hints that she needs to pivot her approach if she wants to come across well at all.
Emily tells Alexis that Shannon found out about the videos, leading her to have a breakdown. Alexis doesn’t really feel sorry, though. She wants to know when people will consider her side of things. Shannon has tormented Alexis for years! For example, she got an orange in Season 9. Guess who got fired before Season 9? Alexis. Shannon was clearly behind that. To make matters worse, Shannon dated John Jannsen for years, fully knowing he’d dump her and go on to date Alexis. And the house Shannon drove into the night of her fateful DUI? Yep, it was Alexis’s.
At least, that’s how Alexis is acting. Shannon has all but avoided Alexis all season, even offering to pay John the full amount he sued her for if he’ll just sign a non-disparagement agreement. But John said no because he loves disparaging Shannon, and somehow that means Shannon is attacking Alexis.
Alexis sits out dinner, and everyone takes a sigh of relief. The Alexis Bellino strategy of burning up all your goodwill and attacking your connections to the group no doubt makes great TV, but it makes for an increasingly worrisome future on the show.
The last real Alexis soldier is Tamra, who has been striking out for weeks now. At dinner, she urges Shannon to talk with Alexis in an attempt to make peace.
“I feel like Alexis needs just as much support as Shannon does,” Tamra says in a confessional, justifying her friendship with Alexis. And to do her part, Tamra has isolated Alexis from the group dynamic and created an easy way to get her fired or destroyed come Season 19, while she’s called Shannon an alcoholic who takes no accountability.
You do not ever want Tamra’s support. The best thing she can do is ignore you. That’s what she did with Gina for years, and now that she’s set her sights on her moldy orange, it’s a ticking time bomb.
Even Shannon takes a shot at Gina, changing the conversation at dinner to Gina’s vaginal rash. Here’s an update on the rash we never knew about: It’s getting better! Yay. Don’t update us again.
The next day, the ladies split up again, to Alexis’ disappointment. She just wants everyone to be friends, but of course, Shannon is taking the lawsuit personally. Women can be so irrational, John surely told Alexis.
Meanwhile, Shannon and her group embark on a nature healing journey, which Katie uses as a chance to follow up on her feud with Heather. Unfortunately, smelling grass and drinking tea doesn’t heal any of the group’s wounds, as Heather admonishes Katie for trying to address this on the day of her LGBTQ+ fashion show. Heather Dubrow fights for gay rights, not at events for gay rights. Luckily, the rest of the cast does!
At the show, Heather assigns each of the ladies an outfit to sport on the runway. She has Emily wear a “big leather jacket,” which is “supposed to be oversized.” Is it chic, or is it Heather’s subtle way of calling Emily a Snufflupagus, again? It’s probably a bit of both, even if Heather doesn’t realize it. And this finally gives Emily an interesting way to channel her story arc this season that doesn’t involve telling Shane he’ll die if he doesn’t get a six-pack. More to come next week, when the two get into a screaming match.
The drama continues as Tamra pulls Heather aside, the group’s two ringleaders organizing a diva summit. It’s here that Tamra finally loads her gun to take a shot at Gina, alerting Heather that Gina set up Katie to take the fall. She also tells Heather that Gina’s only friends with her because of her real estate connections, leading Heather to put on her button eyes and utter a chilling statement: “Well guess what? She lost that. Big time.”
Gina should purchase a beautiful burial plot and make all the arrangements she feels necessary ASAP. Heather Dubrow has put out a hit on her. Mafia Mamma goes to chat with Gina after the show, telling her she’d like to schedule a chat for tomorrow, as she’s not in a place to fight on this gay sabbath.
Without missing a beat, Heather gives a lovely speech after the fashion show, which brings Alexis to tears. There will surely be fans mad at Alexis’ inclusion in this event, but as the (surprisingly supportive) mother of a transgender child, she arguably should be there more than anyone else. Heather including her is further proof she’s an exemplary ally—especially since it gives us a rare chance for Alexis and Shannon to chat.
“It’s a very loving event. It might be the right moment,” Heather tells Alexis, as Tamra chimes in, “love is love.” So true. That is exactly how that phrase was intended.
Shannon does not believe in Tamra’s version of gay rights, apparently, as she approaches Alexis and says she has no interest in a conversation, before jetting off to Houston. Give it two business days and Tamra will be accusing Shannon of hating gay people… at the very least implying it.
With Shannon out of the picture and the queer fashion show in the rearview, it’s a new day. That means it’s Gina’s time to die. The ladies hit up a vineyard, where an uneasy Gina just begs the ladies to get the slaughtering over with.
Queen Dubrow nibbles on some food and turns to Katie: “You want to lead this?” Calm and collected, Heather lets the puppets fight, knowing full well she doesn’t trust either Katie or Gina anymore. If you’re a Housewife named Heather, you’re contractually obligated to serve—and Ms. Dubrow has reached previously unforeseen levels of power. Just like her pioneer ancestors, she’s blazing a new trail.
Katie asks Gina why she’s calling her a liar, while Gina responds by yelling at her that she is a liar, before turning to Heather and yelling at her too. Heather shoots back with Katie’s claim that Gina’s using Heather for her real-estate connections, further befuddling Gina.
The ladies ask Katie what exactly Gina said, which she relays as, “Heather and I are close. She helps me with my career.” Disgusting and disturbing. It’s actually so hilarious watching Heather recoil in realization she let Katie and Tamra twist Gina’s words into this storm. Whoops.
Here’s the thing, the game of telephone definitely did its thing, but Gina’s also clearly an opportunist in her friendship with Heather. And Heather knows that, even if she “believes” Gina.
Tamra turns up the heat and yells at Gina that acting like this makes her look guilty, leading Gina to break down in tears and call her a “fucker.” Gina then says she’s going through drama with Travis and that’s what’s really upsetting her. Yawn. Rinse and repeat. But it works in calming the mood, allowing Gina to escape with her life intact… for now.
Maybe Tamra’s midas touch of destruction is fading. Maybe we’re stuck with the forces of Gina for the rest of time. But one thing’s for certain: the Real Housewives of Orange County are all masterful allies to the important cause of television. Even you, Gina.
