Oscars Outsider - Real Housewives of New Jersey S14E11 & Orange County S18E03 Recap/Analysis

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

We're back and we're diving into the latest episodes of Real Housewives of Orange County and Real Housewives of New Jersey. If you enjoyed this breakdown, don’t forget to hit the like button, comment below your favorite moment, and subscribe for more Bravo content! Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 01:07 - Real Housewives of New Jersey S14E11 Recap 25:27 - Like, Subscribe & Olympics talk 29:27 - Real Housewives of Orange County S18 Taglines Reviewed 38:07 - Real Housewives of Orange County S18E03 Recap 1:04:34 - Outro 🥂 About Bravo Outsider The Bravo Outsider Podcast offers an outside perspective on Bravo shows like The Real Housewives, unlike any other Bravo podcast! We focus on the artistic value of these shows while providing strategic analysis of the social game at the core of the Bravo docu-soap. We love thick literary references and diving into themes before diving into the drama! 🍸Featured Bravolebs: Real Housewives of New Jersey: Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Dolores Catania, Margaret Josephs, Jen Aydin, Danielle Cabral, Rachel Fuda, Jackie Goldschneider, Frank Catania, Gia Giudice, Joe Gorga, Milania Giudice, Luis Ruelas, Bill Ayden, Jen Fessler Real Housewives of Orange County: Tamra Judge, Heather Dubrow, Shannon Storms Beador, Gina Kirschenheiter, Emily Simpson, Jennifer Pedranti, Katie Ginella, Vicki Gunvalson, Alexis Bellino 📣 Stay Connected: Find Bravo Outsider:On your podcast platform of choice: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bravo-outsider/Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/bravooutsiderTikTok: ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@bravooutsiderhttps://www.bravooutsider.com Find Dylan Ferguson: Substack: https://dylanferguson.substack.com/ 📖 Credits Music by FASSounds from Pixabay #RHONJ #RHOC #vanderpumprules #bravo #realitytv #thevalley #RealHousewives #vanderpumprules #scandoval #pumprules #rhodubai

That looks like something from the funeral, though. Somebody passed? I don't think so. Oh, okay. Oh, she's so disgusting. It's from March. No, no, I don't want it. Refuse it.

Tell her to stick it up her ass. You know what? Margaret completely went over Danielle by doing that. Because Danielle's sitting there, like, you know, waiting for the biggest secret ever told in life. And it's completely let down, like I think most of I were. Like, you know, she was there and wanted something juicy to really turn the temperature up. And did it happen? And then when Margaret's flower arrangement shows up, then it happened.

That was the actual moment. Like that was the actual douche moment. And Daniel loved it. This is the most gangster move I've ever seen in my whole existence of life. Hello and welcome to the Bravo Outsider Podcast. I'm your host Craig Midwinter, joined by Dylan Ferguson. We're flying tandem this week. We got great episodes to talk about.

So I'm pretty pumped. You're going to be our honorary outsider this week. So do you have a preference as to where we start? You know what? I just watched New Jersey right before where we started recording. So I'm ready to get into it. It was pretty juicy. Yeah. All right. Let's dive in then. Do you want to give a three-sentence summary of what happened here? All right, sure. Plus or minus a few like commas and semicolins. You'll just have to imagine where they're sprinkled throughout there. but I guess in the aftermath of the Pink Pajama Summit, Teresa, it ranges to convene everybody for the biggest secret ever told in life. And in Danielle's summary, at the same time as the guy,

there are dueling guys nights as well. And we get a couple different meat parties. and as people just kind of try to try to reorganize whose side is, who's on whose side as they have been all season long. Yeah, this was a really fun one, I thought, just because we got like you said, the dueling guys night and just the various sides to this conflict.

Was there anything that stood out to you in terms of the presentation on this? In terms of the dueling guys nights, well, I did think that Joe's meat party was, weird. Like it's just weird to just you have your decoration, just be like hunks of beef at room temperature.

Just like just sitting there. A lobster just dying. Just a dying lobster. Just sitting there slowly suffocating. It did actually work in his favor when we got the contrast between the visuals of Louis' party and Joe's party.

They underscore it by having a cut of of Louis being like, yeah, that's good steak, that's good steak about like little like fragments of beef steamed in a like plastic bowl or something. And Joe eating like actual steak. Like Joe actually won that visual battle and they underscored that of the editing. Because, you know, they're like, they've got, they're chugging vodka out of beef marrow roasted over a barbecue. And that's intercut with Louis like removing tinfoil from a little bowl of shredded cheddar cheese. Yeah. I love how physical, though, the visuals were here as well.

Like, we got the emergency services coming in for John Fuda and him having like a physical reaction. I think calling Louis thing a party is maybe being a little bit generous, though. It was just kind of a cult meeting, which I really wish that I was able to take apart. of do you want to do a quick devotional right now or should we save for later. Save for our Patreon, which we don't have. Does Louis have a podcast? Because why does he have a studio

in his basement? Is there a Louis podcast? I don't know. I feel like I'm missing out, but I know Teresa has one. I don't know if it's shot there. Honestly, I'd never watch any of their, like any of the podcasts of Bravo celebs or listen. So it might be for Treesas. This might be

They're going to start watching us first. That's the arrangement here. Yeah, exactly. One thing I loved about that devotional while we're on the subject is it was also really great editing when they have Bill Aiden doing his extremely weird and creepy, like, little baby voice message to Jen. And then they have like various shots of people like Polly just like like laughing in shame and embarrassment. Like, oh my God, what the hell is this guy doing? And then they just end it. the little shot of Louis dad, like, kind of nodding, like, yeah, great job.

That was awesome. That was a really good comedic moment for me. Yeah, so I was trying to get, like, figure out when he, when Bill started, whether or not he was being genuine here. Like, I thought that he was making a mockery of it. But then he, like, really just leaned into this baby voice and it seemed like this was earnestly, you know, Kim. I think it was earnest, yeah.

I think that was genuinely his idea of what it is to be, like, a sweetness. nice guy. Yeah. By the way, that bullet is getting out of control on him. He looks more and more like Steven Segal every day. Yeah, that's a great progression. Did you have a quote that's to know to you from this? I guess, oh, you know what? Okay, we're talking about Louis' dad. I do like that he says, there's an old saying that dirt always rises to the top. I don't think that's an old saying. I think cream rises to the top and it's a positive thing. That is an old saying. I don't think dirt rises. That's not the physical properties of dirt. That's not a thing people say. That's your riff in there. So that and also, Gumbaya was also a good quote. That was genuinely very funny

and something that I'm going to incorporate in my everyday speech. Yeah. I feel like there was so many great quotes in this. One that stood out to me was when Margaret was talking about this lawyer and she started bringing in the geography of the lawyer's office and the proximity to like the meth clinic in Atlantic City and, you know, hers being on Madison Avenue. I just love the way that she was able to pull geography in and try to use that as a way to convey to the audience status. Yeah, I thought it was really effective. Yeah, I just thought that there was so many great quotes. It's also we're Italian. We live on low oxygen.

I don't. What are you talking about, John? What are you talking about? All he's saying as he's like on the verge of asphyxating. It's just like, I'm Italian. I'm Italian. Everything is. We don't go to the hospital.

We're Italian. I'll take some Vicks. Italians take Vix. I'm Italian. I'll just do some push-ups. What are you talking about? What is? His solution to like having a medical crisis is just to like say the first thing that comes to mind and say,

it's an Italian thing, I swear. Just a very, very weird reaction. Yeah. Also, the scene between Margaret and Jen Fessler is a highlight for me because like that just gave us so much regarding Margaret's character and just her like calling. I can't remember who it was that she called first. And she was like, are you going to Teresa's bashing of me on Thursday night? Just immediately characterizing this meeting as as a bashing of her, which obviously, that's exactly what it is. But yeah, I just, I loved it.

That was a really good scene. And one thing that I really like in that seat is the bee, of course, you know, big stana from the bee. But it's funny how this bee seems to manifest like when Fessler can't handle Margaret. its intensity anymore. Like, the B seems like this image of like how annoying it can be to like try to try to remain friends with Margaret when she gets so intense. So I feel like this is, this seed almost kind of refutes your theory, Craig, where you're, you've been saying that Margaret is not like letting emotions get the best of her, that this

is a very like galaxy-brained 4D chess strategy on her part. I'm not sure that this scene really matches with that theory because it just, because again, she is focusing completely on Teresa, which you said she's been trying not to do. And she's just like, she seems to be burning bridges by being so intense about it. Like, Fessler is already to just start getting cozy with her old pal again.

You know, you can see how they have, that they are like great friends and that as much as Jen Aiden tries to cleave Fessler off of Margaret's side, that like they have this deep reservoir of friendship that it's very easy and comfortable for them to slip back into. But then Fessler just kind of can't deal with it when Margaret just kind of starts going, like going right from zero to 100 and like just rage calling her friends and just getting like

really worked up about it. But it was effective. It got, it got Fessler to decline the invite to the lawyer. So I feel like it actually worked because the crown jewels that Teresa wanted there was Jen Fessler, Danielle, and Jackie. Like that's who she really wanted to get isolated in order to like drop this bombshell and really like frame the moment with all the pageantry that was associated with it,

which like is so much fun and also just like a really smart and like great TV strategy in my opinion is to just like bring it a lawyer to tell this as opposed to just like delivering this on your own. man. Which is so funny. Why do you don't need a lawyer for that? Yeah. Yeah. Let alone the guy that they've got, this like greasy guy. But yeah, I thought that, you know, this was a very like clear strategic move on treats

part to like drape this secret and all this pageantry and be like, I can finally let you in and tell you this and really like put as much weight as she could on this. And, you know, that wasn't for, like, Jen Aden's benefit. Like, if Teresa wants to give information for Jen Aiden to do something with, she can't. Jen Aiden probably already had that information. But, like, she needed to really dress this up in, like, all this pomp and make it so official just to really drive it home for the sake of, mostly for Danielle and Jen Fessler, I think, because Jackie is just going to, like, go with whoever's. dangling the the tastiest meat in front of her. Yeah.

So I thought that that was really great. And I thought that Margaret's move to like send the funeral flowers like to also like lean into the like the like the pomp surrounding this and make a big physical gesture while not actually being there. And you know, kind of this was like a reflection of the bottle that got sent to the party earlier to send these funeral flowers and being like sorry for the loss of your dignity and just like be present without actually being present. I really, really love that. You know what? At first, when the flowers showed up, I was like, this doesn't seem like a good move because it feels like

it would be a stronger flex to just kind of ignore it and not like make a bit and show how much it affects you by like going out of your way to make this big gesture. It seems like you're showing how much is getting under your skin. That was my first reaction. But then I realized it was actually a really good strategy based on Danielle's reaction because she completely, Margaret completely went over Danielle by doing that. As you can see in this episode.

Because Daniels sitting there, like, you know, waiting for the biggest secret ever told in life. And it's completely let down. Like I think most of I were by like this lawyer being like, so it seems like maybe Louise X has it been in touch with Margaret. I'm like,

okay, like whatever. And, And then, like, you know, she was there and wanted something juicy to really like, yeah, you know, really turn the temperature up and didn't happen. And then when Margaret's flower arrangement shows up, then it happened. That was the actual moment. Like, that was the actual douce moment. And Daniel loved it. She was like, this is so funny.

And so, like, you can see that and worked on Danielle at least. Like, if for no one else, it actually, like, made Danielle want to be Margaret's buddy because she thought it was hilarious and fun. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I just really love this as a reflection of the blue label bottle from floor. Even down to the card that Teresa said that she didn't read, which obviously her card was unread earlier this season. But yeah, even Teresa was smirking when she brought, when she came back after refusing the flowers.

Like I think she can see that this is good TV and recognize that. For sure. For sure. It was a fun moment. And like you say, another great use of like just sending symbols to each other. Anything stand out to you in terms of strategy here? Yeah, yeah. I feel like we kind of already, uh, uh, already went through it just incidentally. Um, yeah.

Do you still think that like Margaret's work in a good strategy here? Like, how do you see that? Do, uh, do you not think that, that she's just getting a bit? very emotional and kind of losing her, uh, her steely cool grip on things. Or do you think that I think that this was, so I think that obviously this is something that there's some truth to that it is like

striking a nerve and that's why she had to like react to it directly. Um, I, I still think that my theory about how she was performing, you know, for most of this season is, is correct, but I think like this, this gathering, the bashing of Margaret was something that she couldn't just sit idle for. She needed to do something. So yeah, I still feel like my theory is correct.

I don't know that this is, you know, a net positive or negative for Margaret. I think that maybe she did come out ahead here just given the fact that you know jenn fassler didn't go to this uh and daniel seemed to really buy in more to to margaret's side um yeah i i think that she is maybe coming out ahead here uh and this didn't really land the way that teresa maybe would have liked it yeah yeah it definitely did not come off as like the bono shell that changes everything the way she wanted it to be framed as much as she tried to like put the appropriate framing out of it like this is a very serious moment we're going to gather around the dinner table and eat buffins and have a lawyer disclose information it's just the information just wasn't

interesting enough for it to for it to work honestly I don't think yeah I do like like getting the context that you know Margaret has been kind of functioning as a vessel for someone else, like on the show, um, you kind of picking and choosing what she wants to, um, what she wants to bring to light on camera and how she can use that. I really like that.

I thought that Danielle making the comparison to what Teresa and Jen were doing with Laura is, um, you know, that's that's spot on. And I think that, um, you know, I think Teresa did a better job of, trying to expose that than Margaret did last season.

Like Margaret last season just really was, you know, just spewing on camera. I think that, you know, Teresa, having all this ceremony surrounding, like, trying to expose that, that's way more fun television. I think it has way more potential to sway people if they were actually, if the people that needed swaying were actually present. and if, you know, if it was just like a little bit juicier. But yeah, I think that Teresa handled this better than Margaret handled it last season. Okay.

What other highlights do you have? You know, I like Joe Bonino in this episode. I like that he, like, it's actually a good showing for him to kind of, try to cut through the bullshit and be like, this guy might need a medical intervention and just be dogged about that and not let everybody's like goofy, oh, party time or just being silly here,

attitude distract him from doing what he thinks needs to be done in the situation. I think he's right. Like, I doubt John Fuda's health is very good. He doesn't look like a healthy guy to be. I feel like, like you got to err on the side of there might be a serious issue here. And I think that's a good look for him to,

to actually take that seriously. And they could look for him to like basically tell Joe to fuck off at his own health because he's pissing next to a guy who's in ataphylactic shock. Yeah. You know, like it's if you do put any stock in like, you know, cliched, like heterosexual ideas of like masculinity, it is like a contrast between like the theater of masculinity that Joe Gorga is putting out of being like hunks of meat drinking alcohol out of barbecued bones.

And Benino is like actual action based like, shut up. We're going to try to help this guy. We're going to call the ambulance. I'm going to tell you to fuck off if you get my way because this guy might need a medical intervention, like actual, you know, he's actually acting in a moment where action is potentially needed. And nobody else is. everybody else is just kind of in his way.

So I think that's a good look for Benito. And even if maybe Fuda would have been fine, like that's still the kind of, that's the kind of people you need around because you'd ever know when one of those situations is going to be worse than you think it is. And I think that Fudo was lucky that Benito was there. Yeah, totally. That's a great point. And I think that one of the things that makes the guys on,

Real Housewives of New Jersey so endearing is the fact that they do seem to form like true emotional bonds with each other, which is something that, you know, we don't see in another franchise. And part of that is actually caring about someone and taking action when they seem like they're in distress, even if they're not taking the situation themselves seriously. And so, you know, on, on one hand, you've got like Joe Gorga being like, you know, people love us because. we're fun and goofy and like whatever we're leaning into this um and that is true i think that like people really do love that about the the jersey husbands but you've got the the flip side that there's actual like authentic like care between these people and you know that's what makes it genuine

and that's what makes the connection feel genuine and i like that we had you know joe taking action and kind of underscoring this goofy dynamic that they were putting on for the camera. Yeah. And then you got Frankie just like commenting on the situation, putting an arm around Fuda as he's still struggling for Aaron being like, you ever reflect on life and how you got Gorga pissing in front of you

while the ambulance is coming to save your life? That immediately calls the other guy's night and being like, hey, John almost died. Top that. Yeah, that's really good. I am disappointed that we had Bill at Louis' party as opposed to Joe's party. I just really like his dynamic with the rest of them because... But then we wouldn't have got it his amazing little mix moment.

You would have deprived us of that. That's true. I wonder if part of it is just... Like he couldn't show his face after all the talk about prostate milking that he was the subject of at the slumber party. One other highlight that I would like to talk about is the Danielle and Jen dynamic. I think that it took a lot for Danielle to show up at this bashing knowing that Jen is there. just the place where they're at is so, you know, toxic and polarizing. So I really enjoyed Danielle showing up and being in the same space as Jen.

I think that that's one of the things that makes her a higher tier housewife than someone like Rachel Fuda, who's very quick to be like, nope, not going to do anything with Teresa. Danielle is at least, you know, open to, open to combat and like showing up places. I really like that. I love that. As soon as Jen walked in, we got a shot of Danielle, like having a physical reaction, like, she was going into anaphylactic or whatever. But, yeah, I just, I really like that Danielle is there willing to play ball a little bit.

Yeah, you're right. And that is like a contrast to, uh, between them. between Daniel and Nathan maybe and Rachel and John, who as we've seen this episode, are really trying to show their power, not by engaging with people, but by cutting off conversations and connections to other people, which is maybe not the best TV

and not necessarily the best strategy either. Though I do like that they've been showing a lot more, like, strength and initiative this season. Yeah, totally. Do you have any other highlights that we haven't covered here? You know, I think we basically chewed through it. Cool. Let's start with our, we'll start with your stars. Okay. Yeah, who's going to be first star here? You know what?

Hmm. I guess, you know, she kind of got the last word in there and the last moment counts for a lot. So I'll give Margaret a first star. Like I said, my initial reaction to the, flower arrangement, or rest in peace, your dignity or whatever the hell it was, was like, you're getting too involved. But then again,

seeing Danielle's reaction, I was like, you know what? This was actually a good and funny move. And since she gets kind of a last laugh and really gives us the moment that we wanted, that Teresa didn't really give us, why don't we give Margaret the first start? Because that was a good moment for her.

Second star, Joe Menino, because potentially saved Futa for better or for worse. And let's give a third star to the B that's hassling Jen Fessler. And I hope that it becomes a recurring theme that there's just a bee following her around in every single episode from that one. Yeah, I think number one has to be Margaret. She really took the moment away from

Teresa there. So yeah, number one star. I'm going to give number two, Teresa, because I think that, you know, she really tried to give us something. And I think she made more of this than it would have been if she had, you know, tried to handle it in another way. If she just tried to, like, drop it at a dinner party or something like that.

I don't know if it would have had the same, you know, level of impact or fun as, like, minimal. as the level of impact was. And number three, I think, yeah, Joe Benino is probably a good pick to be on there because of all the reasons that you mentioned. Okay, well, we're going to get into Real Housewives of Orange County right away. But before we do that, if you could take a moment to subscribe on the podcast platform of choice, if that's where you're listening or on YouTube, that would help us out a ton. Be sure to like and leave a comment that is great for us.

We're also eligible for the podcast awards. So if you could go to podcast awards.com and vote for us to get onto the slate of nominees, that would be awesome. Yeah, Dylan, how was your week? Pretty busy, but pretty good. I've been digging the Olympics. I'm an Olympics guy. I don't know what you, Craig.

Are you an Olympics guy? I am. Yeah. The Olympics are dope. The opening ceremonies was so much fun. And I'm just a huge fan of discovering sports. I've never watched before and immediately becoming an expert in three minutes and calling out the judges and commentators for both having terrible takes. Within the same five second time frame of me understanding how anything works.

It's great. It's great. So what are you glued to? So I like to discover sports that I never even like thought about before. And this might sound stupid to a lot of people, but I never watched rugby before. And rugby is insane. Like rugby is so cool. And I know that sounds very obvious to any of you weirdos who live on islands because rugby's huge on islands for some reason.

Every country that's an island loves rugby. And France for some reason, I don't know why France loves rugby. It feels like an outlier. But it's cool. It's like everything. It's like they fixed American football and made it cool. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, I've never been able to get it to American football. It's just like like, you know, every play lasts 1.6 seconds. But in rugby, it's like nonstop action. It's crazy. It's so intense. The skateboarding is one that I've been watching quite a bit. It's just so visual and fun to watch. Surfing, I have tried to watch a little bit.

And it's surprisingly like not very fun to watch visually because the cameras are so far out and they have a hard time tracking the surfers. It's got so much potential, but I feel like it just doesn't live up to it. Oh, yeah, I'm surprised to you that. I haven't tried to watch it yet, that I feel like they could get those, like, camera rigs they use on nature documentaries and get sick footage. I'm surprised that they haven't, like, operated to that kind of stuff. Yeah, no, it's, it's a bit disappointing, in my opinion. Maybe you'll watch.

If you could get me, like, killer, like, HD footage of, like, a cheetah hunting an antelope, you could get me killer HD footage of somebody surfing a crest. So I don't know why it would have to be in this day and age, like, from far away and hard to see or whatever. well they're doing the surfing like way like it's near Tahiti so it's like on the other side of the world from from Paris oh okay so they're doing it in France in one of those like

French territories right you're like why that white why is that France again France like France like low key is like the one European power that just never stopped being a colonial power like they're absolutely have colonies all over the world and like well every other European country we just slowly seated those overtime. Pratt's was just kind of like half hiding in the doorway,

hoping nobody notices that they still have like islands all over the place. Why did they still have that? But yeah, when you watch something like the swimming, like that's one of my favorites to watch just because it's such great visuals. Like in the pool, the underwater shots and diving as well. It's just so much like such a fun visual experience. But then surfing, you would expect to have that and have like people out there tracking,

getting cool underwater shots and like within the within, I don't know what they, I don't know any serving terms, but inside the barrel of the wave, whatever it's called. In the water. Yeah. The water.

You know, I want some splashy shots. Okay, let's get into Orange County. Speaking of the ocean. That was awkward. Hill. I'm going to dub that again in editing or something.

We haven't covered taglines yet. So did we hear the taglines in these episodes? I feel like I still haven't heard them. I feel like I still haven't heard them. Maybe it's just the version I've been seeing. But yeah, I feel like I haven't even heard the taglines yet. Okay. So we'll be able to have you guess to see if you can figure out who's it is.

This is going to be pretty easy for you to figure out who's who in this. So the first one we'll start with is just because I drink from a flute doesn't mean you can play me. You know, I might be missing the reference on that. Originally when you started out with drinking guys, like it's probably shattered. But drink from a flute, I feel like that's probably a Heather thing because she's a champagne. Yeah, you got it. What do you think of this one? Awkward.

It's awkward. You know, like, okay, flute's being used two ways, but they don't like match. Like, just because I drink from a flute doesn't mean you can play me, but the flute isn't me. It's like it. I don't know. I don't think it's working for me. Like it's it's it's too clunky. If I find a clunky, I'm given that like a like a C plus for effort. Whoa that. Yeah, that's I kind of like this one. Yeah. I'm going to give this a B plus. I think that it's it's pretty good. I don't know. It doesn't need to be anything like fancy. I think the execution is is fine. I don't I don't find it as clunky as you do. But you know, you can be wrong sometimes. you're not always, right? Just like, if the flute was me, like, if you're using flute in a way that represents me, then you say, no, it doesn't mean you can play me. Then it would, like, neatly match up.

Like, the two halves of the pun would, like, neatly match up. But flute is being used as two different things in the two halves of the pun. It gets points for being awkward because I like the awkward ones. But I feel like, if it takes you, like, a second to kind of process and be like, actually, it wasn't funny. Then it's like, it's, it's too unwieldy for me. Okay. Well, how's this one for wieldliness? Even in the harshest of times, this storms will always weather it.

All right. Well, so Shannon. So once again, the put is not working, but I find this one funnier. Like this one is the awkwardness is like, is delighting me. So I find this adorable, actually. I'll give this an A. Yeah, I think this is an A as well. It's awkward and like ominous. Yeah, just really fun. I used to question people for a living.

Now I just do it for fun. I used to question people for a living. Who has a job where they used to question people for a living or had a job? Is that Gina? No. I'm trying to think of what I know about their hearing. histories. I don't know these women super well because I haven't seen like I haven't seen most seasons of the show. Yeah, this might be a tough one for you to get. Yeah, yeah. No, tell me, tell me, tell me.

It's, it's Emily. So she was an attorney. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Check's out. So yeah, it's okay. It's okay. It's like a B plus for me. It's not like a saucy enough for me. It's too like just like generic in the sense that it's like, oh, I question people. It's not like it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, It doesn't speak to like messiness or wackiness. It's just like, it's questioning people is like a very like soft way of saying that you're involved in drama. So I'll give it like a like a like a like a B minus. Okay.

I was going to I was going to give this a C. I don't think it's very much fun at all. It's somewhat personalized. But yeah, you're right. That's the thing. It's missing the fun factor. Okay. Like the properties I represent.

I know my worth. Okay. So probably Gina because she's. a real estate agent, all of a sudden, a terrible one, apparently. We'll get to that. Yeah, so very similar to Emily's one, right? It's kind of a similar thing, like job function and then, like, transitioning into a pretty generic statement of like, again, I know my worth isn't like super fun, messy, weird.

I'll give it the same thing, a B-minus. I feel like this in the same category as Emily's. Okay. Yeah, this would be a C, but it's Gina, so she gets bonus points from me. This hits my G spot. So, yeah, so I'm going to give it a B. When you live your life on the green, envy is just par for the course. Who's into golfing here?

Who have we not done? Is Tamara into golfing? Is it Tamara? Hmm? No, this is the new girl, Katie. Oh, okay. I guess she was talking about golfing with Sutton. She was like...

She was a golf reporter or something like that, I think. She was a golf reporter. Okay. Yeah. And Sutton who was like, like, absolutely shocked that somebody didn't know that Augusta Georgia is famous for golfing. I guess I should have made that connection. I was shocked by that Gina didn't know that. I don't know what the hell Augusta Georgia is famous for.

But I mean, I guess I'm not expected to know. I didn't know Augusta was in Georgia, but I knew that Augusta was associated with golf. Like that's what I think of when I hear the word Augusta. All right. Sure. That's another sport I have yet to discover, I guess. All right. Yeah.

Tune in on the Olympics. Is there golfing on the Olympics? Yeah, for sure there is. Yeah. Dang. Okay. What do you rate this? Right.

Yeah. It's okay. Back to that. Wait, give it to me one more time. I feel like I already forgot. Okay. When you live your life on the green, envy is just par for the course. Okay, so the good thing is that there's two puns in it, right?

You've got green and also par for the course. So you're getting two golf puns in one. If it was one or the other, it would be not very good. But packing two in and one phrase is entertaining to me. Let's give that. I'll give that an A actually. I like it. I like the double pun.

Yeah, I like this too. I think this is two cheesy puns in one. Yeah, good stuff. People bend over backwards to get me and their form is terrible. So everybody is doing like. kind of professional taglines. It seems like everybody's doing something related to a job. So this is probably Jen, who has a yoga studio and, again, is terrible at her business.

So that's, uh, give it to me again, if you bend over backwards, what? People bend over backwards to get me and their form is terrible. Yeah. I do, I do have a soft spot for the ones that are like, you all do this, but you're bad at it. You know, I like that kind of haterish ones. Those are always like, those always kind of hit. me. So I enjoy that. It's not amazing, but it's like a B plus for me. Yeah, I think that there's a missed opportunity to fit in like, since squatting or being called a squatter is of point of contention

this season. I really would have like that worked in there somehow. I feel like there's opportunity with the yoga, but it's not coming to me immediately. Yeah, something like you call me a squatter, but my form is great when I'm doing it or I don't know. Something like that. Yeah. Let us know into your comments how you would work squatting in this one. Okay. And so finally we've got the only thing stuck up about me is my middle finger. I like it. I just like how I was just like fucking straightforward and screw you and like just barely a joke. You know, nothing about the job I work. No pun based on what's going on in my life. Just fuck you. So obviously Tabor is the one who's left. It's a day. It's a day. Yeah. Yeah.

A plus. A plus. I like it. It's funny. It's just like, it's just. And it matches Tamara too. Like she is like, like, like when she like starts beefing with Shannon, for example, it like you, it comes off like she just hates her. Like Tamara will come off. Like she's just not afraid to come off. Like I hate you. Fuck you. Uh, so this matches her personality. And I, I, I like it. Let's get into the episode we're talking about. Do you want to? give us a brief summary of what happened here? Sure. Flag football on the beach goes down and so does Gina and Jen's relationship, I guess. As Gina continues to dig into Jen for tarnishing her reputation. And there's a bit of a reconciliation, but not too much. And well, featuring a guest appearance by Sutton and her dog named June Bug Carter Cash, which was, I couldn't wait, that's the best part of the entire episode, Sutton just trotting out a little pooch named June Bug Carter Cash. Yeah, I love it when we get a cameo from a host wife from another franchise too.

They just like, they feel like they're that much bigger of a star to me than when I see them through their like normal presentation. Like, you know, just seeing Sun on Beverly Hills, it's like, yeah, obviously she's there. But when she's on Orange County, it's like, oh, yeah. And she gets the star treatment coming out of the car with the dog. And yeah, loved it. Yeah. What's it out to you about the presentation of this episode?

The flight football game was good. You know, I like when they do a sporting match and they present it in a way where you can kind of follow along to what's happening. Good job there on team love versus team destroyers. Yeah. It was a fun match. It was good. And I like that. Gina's got the, you know, black tape under her eyes.

Like, yeah. In like, you know, ready for battle mode. And she's still wearing that when she starts just digging into Jen afterwards. That was like a great visual of having her like dressed up for for battle dressed to win and being like, you're sitting across Rudy. Now, Gina or Jen, you're sitting across me right now. I'm going to dig into it. like it's this fight time. Like that was like a great look for a good moment.

Totally. And I love the timing of her like taking them off and becoming vulnerable emotionally when she needed to be. Yeah. I thought that that was great. Great episode for Gina, which I'm obviously biased because she's one of my favorites. But yeah, I thought this was a fantastic episode. I thought she did such a great job of digging into Jen and like using her. are exposing her vulnerability when she needed to and just overall being like low key really good at

football like they didn't they kind of like alluded to it in the episode before but then like in the background anytime you see her playing she's like killing it like just delivering like passes like directly on the mark and yeah it was was really fun I thought it was a great episode for yeah it was and also the fact that she kind of is like in battle moments kind of helps you understand a bit of where her anger is coming from beyond just the obvious that she's pissed off that her career is taking hit because of this. But also just like, you know, some people are like, oh, you know, Jida, you've been through hard times financially. You should understand that Jita's perspective seems to be kind of like, yeah, I've been through hard times financially. And I had to fight and I had to make changes to my life.

And you didn't. So there's like seems to be that edge of her being like, I see, I'm ready to fight. I'm in battle mode. know, and you're not doing that. Why aren't you, like, able to, like, step up and actually do things the way I'm, I'm, like, I'm insulted by your inability to fight the way I, I thought. And that's, like, just kind of another layer to her, like, being fight mode battle ready in that, in that situation, because it helps you understand where she's coming from, too.

Yeah. I do think, uh, having said that, like, first of all, I do love this whole argument just because it's great when an argument is about something more concrete, more real. I do like it when people have money issues on the show and they talk about it. I know we kind of talked about that in our last episode. Some people don't really love having a housewives talking about struggling financially on the show. I think it's great. I do like having that kind of like real world issue that so many people can relate to.

That just adds a little bit more meat to some of the some of the, disagreements that they're having. It's something a little more real and it's something that's, that's human. And I like having that discussed. This was great for me. I do think that Gina is not really taking enough responsibility for her part in this too, though. Like she did vouch for somebody. She should not have vouched for. Right. Like this, like, that's your friend, sure. That's your co-worker, sure. That doesn't mean you should automatically put your professional reputation on the line for them, unless you're willing to take,

to assume the consequences when this person who has never had a credit card, who's $25,000 in debt on a Land Rover who you just said, yeah, you don't have to do a credit check on them. They're cool. Take my word for it. Like, uh, defaults on their payments. Like you do have to assume some responsibility for the judgment call you

made when you decided to vouch for that person. Totally. Um, but so, you know, I understand where she's, coming from with her frustration towards Jen, absolutely. But I do think she has to kind of assume that that was a bad judgment called her part too when she made that professional decision. Yeah, I think

it's interesting because Jen is kind of emerging as this reflective surface for Gina and, you know, being like vouching for someone who is in a situation that is very similar to what she had gone through. you know, she's, she sees so much of herself in Jen. And I think that, you know, that's where her, her anger is, is coming from. I can kind of forgive her for being like, no, she's got this. I, like, I know I've been through this. You can get through it. And, you know, Jen is going to do that because Jen is, I see myself in her so much.

Sure. Yeah. For, to be let down by that and so angered, like, I kind of, I kind of get that. also just like trying to emerge within a competitive field like real estate like wanting to get a deal I think would also influence your decision and also knowing that you do have income coming in because you're on this show like you know that's kind of an unspoken thing here but she does have she must have some money coming in from being a cast member here so it's not you know it's not it's not crazy to think that she could be like that Gina would reasonably think that Gina could afford this place. Sure. And the fact that she's on the show too, though, that also I think makes it a little uncomfortable for me when they're like, oh, you know, Jen of course always has her hair done. She's always wearing great clothes. It's like, yeah, that's her job. Like that she's, you know, she,

she can't show up looking like a slob or she won't get her contract renewed. Like, she's, like, She's, it's her job to present a certain way. So just, I'm a little uncomfortable with that line of attack, both because it's kind of too similar to that kind of like attacking welfare queen's kind of like line of reasoning being like, oh, you can, you can live a decent life. Well, then you don't deserve any help. But also just like, because she's a professional person who has to look good because she's on TV as like, as a housewife.

and like as like presumably an influencer who's like her brand that she's counting on to make any kind of income off of is based around her and her presentation of herself. So it's like, yeah, understandably she's going to have to spend money on the way she looks because that's part of how she's going to make money is by looking a certain way. Obviously she is sucks with financials and doesn't know what money is. but calling out the fact that she's spending money at her personal appearance, I think, is not like fair play because it's part of what her brand is and what she needs to do. Yeah, totally. That actually kind of leads into what my pick for a stand-o quote was, where Jen says, I've never had a credit card in my name. I've never known what fear or stress was. And she was saying this in a way that was like trying to get sympathy from people, but I just kind of feel,

like it maybe has the opposite effect. At least on me as a viewer, it's hard for me to feel more empathetic to someone that's like, oh, I've, I've never had to know what fear or stress is. I've lived a comfortable, privileged life. So, you know, shame on me, I guess, for not knowing I had to pay bills. Like, it doesn't land as something that's going to gain my sympathy as a viewer. So interesting to see that you would put that out there in an attempt to gain sympathy. But maybe her audience of like housewife, she sees as living similarly like privileged, sheltered lives. And that might be something that like hurts Gina to hear as well just because she has had to respond and get through these difficulties by, you know, being more grounded in the real world than Jen has been. Yeah. And Gina seems to love with as much

stress as like the little mouse you see running across your kitchen floor. Like she seems very stressed out often. And that's like a stark contrast to Jen who should have a lot of stress. But I feel like it's probably compartmentalizing in a way where she's like it's like it goes in the same part of her brain where her awareness of needing to pay bills goes, where it's just like filed away behind a lock door that she doesn't access. I think a lot of people who are like not dealing with things. have avoidant personalities kind of function that way and that they have a part of their awareness is just

kind of like locked away from the things that they're outwardly conscious about and I think there's probably like a very stressed worried Jen that she is making a effort to just completely ignore and just habitually her whole life

has just not acknowledged her worries and that's worked for her more or less so far. So she's going to keep doing that. She's just going to keep assuming that if she just doesn't acknowledge all these issues and bills that are piling up in her life, she'll somehow be able to just

keep coasting. And maybe she will. You know, maybe she will. Or, but also maybe she'll just end up completely dependent on people that she would rather not be depended on because if she lives her life that way. I don't know. I don't want to

speculate too much on the life of somebody who I don't know beyond a few episodes of heavily headed a TV. But it is kind of, but Jed continues to be a kind of fascinating case study more so because of what she isn't and what she doesn't say than of what she is and what she does because she is the most sphinx-like person on the cast to the point where it is almost frustrating how little she shows, how little she gives, how little she reveals. And just by being so sphinx-like, it, she becomes somebody like you say, she can become a mirror, if she can become somebody that people can pour their,

can project their frustrations onto. She can be somebody so annoying to somebody like Gina. And you understand how that's so annoying to somebody like Gina or Tamara in the previous season where Tamara kept trying to get her to react and she just wouldn't react. That's the best thing that Jen's bringing to the show is just being inscrutable and just being somebody who refuses to open those locked doors within herself. just being so closed and it just forces everybody to react to her in a different way. Yeah, she's just like there letting people pick the meat off of her like dead carcass,

like and scavenge off her. I thought that she was picked clean after last season and we wouldn't see her back, but there's still meat there and, you know, she's willing to just sit there and roll over. I love this attitude of like, well, if I don't look at my bank account, it's not going to say that I'm $25,000. and dad. Yeah.

That's what you do when you're a teenager, right? You're like, I'm going to withdraw money and purposely not like choose to not look at the balance until the money stops coming out.

I'm not going to look at my balance. I understand how that works. You know, that's how you roll when you're like going out to bars as a teenager. And she's been doing that our whole life. Some people do that. Sometimes it works out for them.

Sometimes they crash and burn. Let's, you know, wishing you all the best, Jen. Yeah. I also love that like her financial strategy when people are talking to her, it's like, oh, you've got this land, a range rover that you didn't pay for.

And she's like, no, that debt is cleared up now. Ryan assumed it. They rolled it into it. Yeah. Like, okay, I guess that's. Hads clean. Yes, you're done with it. Any other quotes stand out to you?

No, I don't think any quotes really jumped out at me. No. How about strategy? Any decisions here that are particularly interesting? Yeah. What do you think Tamara's doing? I did like that like that that that walk we get with like Tamara, Alexis and Jen, where they're chatting and their dogs are pulling them all in different directions, which is also a great image, right? I'm just like trying to stay to a trail when you've got all these dogs pulling you in different directions. And, but what do you think she's doing like with Alexis especially? What's going on there? I just genuinely asking. questions, I'm not sure. Yeah, I feel like she's just trying to kind of wait and see where things are going to shake out with Shannon to figure out how she's going to play things. You know, cozing up to

Alexis getting information that she needs and I guess just getting a lay of the land. I don't really see her being too particularly active here. And I don't really think that she needs to be. I think there's enough going on with with Shannon that um i don't know i i don't think that she's really got any sort of need to do anything she doesn't have any big enemies that she wants to take down she's kind of trying to make Shannon a bit of a source of conflict and using Alexis as a vessel for that or piggybacking on on her um yeah i i don't know that there's a lot of like careful, thoughtful strategy from Tamara, which is in itself kind of interesting. Yeah, but I think that like the Alexis and Shannon story is developing in a way that I find

pretty interesting. Like I love that, you know, Shannon is verbalizing the fact that Alexis is trying to become Shannon or they, there's so much of, there's so much reflection there between the two of them. And, you know, when she says that, she's like, oh, Alexis is trying to be me or good luck trying to be me or whatever. And then it immediately cuts to Alexis talking and she's got the same like mannerisms as, as Shannon. She's got the same kind of like neurotic mannerisms as Shannon in that moment. I thought that that was really, really fun. Yeah. In terms of other strategy that was going on here, this wasn't really a decision, but the, the, the, the,

The Sutton Summit, I really enjoyed that. And Sutton just kind of giving her perspective, like I wouldn't go up against, against Heather. Yeah. You know, trying to give Katie a little bit of a pep talk or direction here. I am still waiting to see what Katie's bringing to the table. I don't know that there's. Yeah. So far she's just there.

She hasn't done a thing. Yeah. There's no legs here with Heather DeBrow. I don't think. Like she's said that there's some like slight that happened. Like she accidentally tagged her on Instagram or something like that. Right. Or didn't say hi to her at a party or something.

Yeah. I think she was upset that she acted like she's meeting her for the first time when she technically met her previously, I guess. Yeah. Bringing in Sutton really feels like they're trying to shore up Katie's bona fides. But it didn't really work that well. And so because Katie was kind of like, yeah, I remember the first time I met Sutton. And I don't remember what she said, but it was something like, Sutton was like, you suck.

And I was like, yeah, I do. And then I'd realize she liked me. It did not seem like, oh, this is my good buddy. And we're like, we're totally equals. And I'm going to be the Sutton of OC now. It just felt like, look, this woman tolerates me. I thought that bringing Sutton on was more interesting, like as a comparison to Gina. And how Gina kind of said, you know, Sutton's ex owned the company that my ex worked at.

But Sutton made out way better in her divorce, which is something that we learned about Sutton last season that she just like made a ton of money in that divorce. Yeah. I really like that as a contrast. I thought that that was interesting. Yeah, yeah. What other highlights do you have from this episode? It's still like this was really a Gina episode, right? Like this was really, it felt like really her show.

And it is kind of funny to me how she's like soft launching her, her separation from Travis. Right? That's what she's doing. Isn't it? She's like she wants to separate from Travis, doesn't want to do like a harsh clean break. So she's, she's absolutely doing like, oh, I have decided that he's going to, move out for a while and we will see how things go. Like it seems like a strange wishy-washy way to break up with somebody.

Yeah, I, I think that she's making the right decision for her kids. And I think, you know, I respect that for her. Like, we are seeing kind of all these decisions that she's made over the course of her, like, time on the show being like for the best for her. immediate family. And, you know, this decision is the same. They are running into some sort of unspoken problem with the lack of space in their house. And she's making the decision that is best for her and her kids. And yeah, I respect that. I love the, like, kind of watching her grapple with that emotionally. And we kind of see the tension in their relationship within that last scene between Gina and Travis where he's giving her absolutely nothing when she's, you know,

like being emotionally vulnerable and like, oh, are we making the decision? Like, give me something. Like, tell me what you're feeling. He's just like, oh, well, yeah, it is what it is. Sometimes you make mistakes. Yeah. Yeah. He's been, yeah. He didn't like to be very uncommunitive. Yeah. And for it to like culminate on like the last shot that we get of Gina, like standing in front of, the two-car garage and, you know, there's all this like space is seemingly like a big enough space and it kind of visually alluding to me that this isn't about the space. This is something that is more about Travis and her. And I, I don't know, I really liked how that was communicated visually with her being on one side of the separated two-car garage as he pulls out with

the other car. Yeah. Yeah. And it kind of, I just, scores kind of what his perspective seems to be, which again, he sucks. And he's like not being helpful talking. But I get that he's like, you know, you made this decision for me. And now you're making an emotional scene out of like, did we make the right choice? Like, no, you made the choice for me. Like, yeah. But I think she's probably doing the right decision.

But, but you're right. That the way that it's framed does show you that the whole idea of like, oh, we need, I need more space without you here. is clearly just kind of a way of talking about something she doesn't want to talk about. It's not about the space as much as like space and real estate and housing has been such a big topic of conversation. It's also just a metaphor that they keep using on this show, whether they're talking about how Gina used to live in a casita, which feels like a very like Southern California way to like describe having been, you know, less. wealthy at a period of my life. And all like the real estate agent discussion. It's just like we continue to see in every episode of this show like how real estate is like

just a vehicle for talking about emotions and connection and like status, of course, but also like how comfortable you are in the life you have and all that stuff. Yeah, totally. Any other highlights? Yeah, that about sums it up for me. I think. I'll give you a low light. Heather once again

and not participating in an activity. Yeah, I don't know. I don't mind her being the referee here. I think that that was more fun than it would have been if she were participating. If she was just complaining about it the whole time. Yeah. Yeah.

There was a really good shot of her like holding the ball and like seemingly trying to do some referee stuff and Alexis just like snatching it out of her hands and being like, I'm, I'm polite to care. And Heather being like very miffed about it. It was just a quick little shot, but that was really funny to me. Yeah, I also really like her having two separate whistles, like, as though there was like a certain level of tone that she wanted to communicate with either type of whistle blow. I think that every referee in every sport should have that.

Just like, you know, different tones of whistle that they can, they can. just blow the passive aggressive whistle or I'm writing the IOC. We're going to get this in wherever the next summer Olympics are. Good news. I think they're in L.A. next time. Oh, wow. Yes.

Heather, we want you to be an official. Make her the commissioner of the Olympics. Take all her ideas. I have a low light and it is the fact that the big thing of Gatorade that was brought in. I was like, oh, yeah, Chekhov's got, and this is going to get dumped on someone.

Who is it going to get dumped on? And it didn't get dumped. I was so disappointed. Yeah, that is. What the hell? But yeah, I think we covered most of my highlights. We didn't talk about Emily doing her

modeling, her boudoir, which I thought was kind of a fun scene. I like that she leaned into the camp of it a little bit. And Shannon being there is fun, like just on the sidelines, wearing the bunny ears and mask and, you know, giving, uh, giving some quips. But it was underscored with them having like an honest conversation about struggling with

weight. So, um, I thought that this was like a good self-contained filler scene overall. Um, and also we got to, you know, see a little bit of on the development of the relationship between Emily and Shane where it has always seemed like a little bit cold and we've seen over the years, Shane not really reciprocating some of the things that Emily does, that, you know, not reciprocating the passion that she has. So I'm curious to see how this gesture is going to be reflected by him. Yeah, I thought it was a good little scene there.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Who are your stars? The first stars got to be Gina. Like I said, it was the Gina episode. it was, and she's good at football. So MVP, first team all-star. Second star has got to be June Bug Carter Cash. And, you know, let's give a third start of Jen because it continues to be fascinating

for what she doesn't say and what she isn't, as I said. So, you know, I like having Jen here. Yeah, I have to give number one start to Gina. We didn't really talk about it, but she was also really active in, the the exchange of information between Shannon and Alexis where they're talking about the issue with the trainer at the gym. She took on a really active role there and kind of stirring the pot a little bit and making things happen while also having, you know, a very nuanced episode of her own. So, yeah, number one star for sure. Eternal number one star in my eyes, Gina.

She could get one, spots one, two, and three here. for me. I think she deserves it. You can't snub the little dog. Oh, Sutton's dog? June Bud Carter, Cash? Yeah. Sure, yeah. And you know what? I'll give a start to Sutton because I also really

love Sutton. We didn't see yeah, we just got that little snippet, but like I said, it's a breath of fresh air. Yeah. All right. Anything else before we wrap things up here? That about covers it for me, I think. think. All right.

People can get, we'll give you some time back here to get back to your Olympics. Yeah. You know? I can't wait to see what I'm going to discover next. Yeah. Fencing? Do you,

do you want to let people know where they can find you? Watch the Olympics on my couch. Right on. You can, you can find me on substack, rarely writing about movies at, uh, at Dylan Ferguson.

It's just my name. All right. I'm Craig Midwinter. You can just find me managing some of our socials here at Bravo Outsider on Instagram and TikTok. Be sure to like and subscribe to us on YouTube. Do the things that help us out. Everyone asks you to do them so you know what they are. But people aren't asking you to go and vote at podcastawards.com under the TV and movie section.

And we are asking you to do that because we would love to be on the slate of nominees just so that we know that someone has actually had to listen to our podcast and give us some. feedback. That's all we really want. We just want some feedback. So you can either give that to us via the comment section or go and boat and get someone else to do it. I don't care. Until next week. Say mean things. I want to react to mean things. You know what? Say mean things. Do it. That's it. That's your homework. Yeah. You don't want the smoke. You wouldn't dare say something mean. Okay. Until next week, keep on wiping.