Oscars Outsider - RHOBH S13E15 & Vanderpump Rules S11E02 Recap/Analysis

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

Welcome to the Bravo Outsider Podcast! This week hosts Craig Midwinter and Dylan Ferguson are raising a glass for an episode packed with insights and analysis of the S11E01 of Vanderpump Rules and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills S13E15. Dedicated to Merce Cunningham Chapters: 00:00 - Good As Gold 00:10 - Intro 00:41 - Vanderpump Rules Recap 20:36 - Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Recap 35:46 - Picks 41:56 - Outro 🍸Featured Bravolebs: Vanderpump Rules: Lisa Vanderpump, Tom Schwartz, Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix, Katie Maloney, Scheana Shay, Lala Kent, James Kennedy, Ally Lewber, Brock Davies RHOBH: Kyle Richards, Erika Girardi, Dorit Kemsley, Garcelle Beauvais, Crystal Kung Minkoff, Sutton Stracke, Annemarie Wiley 📣 Stay Connected: Find Dylan Ferguson on Substack at https://dylanferguson.substack.com/ Find Bravo Outsider on Instagram at ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/bravooutsider https://www.bravooutsider.com 📖 Credits Music by FASSounds from Pixabay

Here we go. Okay. Come on your ride and shoddy. Stop waiting for a sign. Come close and touch my body. Let's have us a good time. Hello and welcome to the Bravo Outsider Podcast. I'm your host, Craig Midwinter, joined again by Dylan Ferguson.

Dylan, how are you doing? Shit. I've been beset by illness and you can probably hear it in my voice. And hopefully I just sound extremely. sexy and convincing to everyone out there in podcast land. Just the two of us today. So we're going to dive right into what we're covering. We're talking about Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump rules.

Dylan, do you have a preference as to where you want to start? I'm still stoked about the new Vanderpump and the return of Sandoval. So why don't we start with that? Yeah, let's get into it. What did you find in terms of like the storytelling here that was really compelling to you? love Anne the assistant. Thanks. I wanted to just like have people over.

Oh. She's so great. Like just really funny. And it's just she has such a great demeanor of being somebody who is not totally camera ready. Who's like just like all her gestures and all her phrases like just so communicate the awkwardness of her position. even her posture yeah yeah and just how awkward this is for her to be in the situation where she has to like be their friend but not too much of their friend like enough of their friend that they're like you know chill with her and like talk to her like a human being but not enough that

like they feel like she's involved in the drama and that the accusatory statements have to be directed at her and not through her like i don't end your position at all but it's just a really fascinating position to be in and to just see the Tom and area and a dynamic played out through this one really funny character was such an amazing thing for me. Yeah, it's interesting to watch how she navigates this situation because in the clips that we're seeing, I actually feel like Tom Sandoval like speaks to her on a more human level. Like he seems like he's, you know, a bit more personal with her, whereas the clip that we saw with, like, Ariana and her where Ariana is kind of, like, let the dog out or whatever, it's just, like, very cold.

Oh, God, very nice hotel room. That's not happening. Okay. I think that's very disrespectful and inappropriate. If you want to have a party, he can have it somewhere else. Good. Yes. Okay.

You could feel Ariana's anger towards Tom manifesting towards, towards Anne. Right. Because she has Tom's assisted, right? Arianna's assistant. Like he's the one who's paying her. So that kind of makes sense that Tom would seem to be like more personable with her where Ariana is mostly using her just to like as a vector to deliver mean messages to Tom or just like, you know, to shut down everything he proposes.

But yeah, it has to be very hard for her to like just absorb those comments for Harriet and be like, yep, I'm going to file away that message and bring it to the person it's attended to without feeling like it's stabbing her, like that knife's going into her back. Just be like, yep, I will carry this knife into the other room for you. No worries. Got my gloves on. Yeah, it's interesting how her like job, her like off camera job parallels the on camera job of these personalities because like she also has to be someone.

that like deals in information. Like she is this like person that is a conduit for exchanging information. And we actually see her picking and choosing when to deliver certain pieces of information. Like when Ariana says on camera to Ann, I'm going to call the police and have a noise complaint. She holds that until a moment where she actually needs to use that. And it's interesting to see her also deal with information as as as currency. Yeah, totally.

they're definitely, yeah, like you say things where one of them will be like, tell them this right now. And she'll like not do it right away and feel like it's probably not the best time. And then there's another point where she like, what is it that Tom suggests, you know, just having people there and out by midnight or something. And he's like, okay, wait, say this first. And she's like, I already said it. Like, it's already off. I thought that was a good idea. So it's already sent.

Too late. Sorry. It's already said. So yeah, she has to definitely, definitely takes a lot. of skills to figure out how to compartmentalize your emotions and how to deal with the information skillfully. Very fascinating. I'm glad we got a lot of her. And also, it makes me think how so many of the people we see these shows have like off-screen assistants surely too. And I wonder how often they meet each other and if they hang out with each other after. I kind of want a reality TV show.

It's just about the assistance of reality TV stars, just their lives. How they deal with these people. Below deck style workplace, docu soap about it. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'd be really cool. One other thing that kind of stood out to me watching this was how through the course

of like Bravo and Real Housewife's history, we have seen more complicated relationship dynamics where there have been breakups than we see with Tom and Ariana. and none of them have had to have this like full-time intermediary that has like brokered this situation. Like I mean, just thinking about like with with Lenny and Lisa on Real Housewives of Miami, they don't have someone that is like their 24-7 needing to like pass messages back and forth. And they've got like children that they have to co-parent. It's like really bizarre that Tom and Ariana like seemingly have no real need to stay,

attached in this way and like navigate these situations as jointly as other people in that we've seen in similar, you know, uh, conflicts. Um, but they need to have like a staff to manage, manage the situation. Yeah. It's just so awkward for everyone involved. But, um, and just has, she has great delivery too, you know, when she's like, um, when, when San DeVal's like, oh, you know, if I have some people over her, what's she going to do? And he's like, okay, yeah, so I'm sorry. Ariana did mention something about maybe calling the police. Like, that's so good.

Just constantly, you know, tiptoeing around all these pressure points and trying to avoid setting people off. Amazing stuff. Totally. So one of the things that I think Vanderpump rules are, the most recent season prior to this of Vanderpump Rules did really well was bringing like using symbols within within the show. I'm wondering if you picked up on any like symbols that are kind of emerging this season on Vanderpump Rules so far. I mean, we've already mentioned the portrait of Tom and Ariana. You talked about that a bit in our episode covering the first episode of the season,

which seems to be this kind of looming thing, their past relationship looming over them in like a frozen graphic form, an abstracted, you know, public version of them that they have to kind of deal with the weight of it hanging over them like in the sword of Damocles or something. So that's the one that jumps out for me. Otherwise, I'm not really sure if I've picked up on something. What about you? Yeah, I think the thing that stood out to me mostly, is the house that they live in. What it's representing so far to me is like Ariana,

putting this idea of herself in opposition with Tom, this idea she's putting ahead of everything else in her life. So like her own comfort, her relationship with Dan, like we are seeing this being represented in the house, like both how they kind of schedule their time around each other and how they try to leverage their position. specifically relating to this party.

And also the sacrifices that Ariana is like willing to make about her are manifesting themselves physically inside the house. Like we see Ariana's room is just a complete disaster. It's mess everywhere. She's got every possession that she owns that she cares about is like all tucked away in this this tiny room that is hers. And she's doing it solely so that she can be in opposition to talk. Tom's desire to like buy the house out from her and she's really digging her heels in.

So I'm curious as to how this this symbol is going to evolve. And there was a moment at the end of this episode where, you know, James leaves Tom's party and ends up peeing on the bushes and Allie's like. Ariana's bush too. Which is something that I thought was a really, um, just kind of an interesting moment. And I'm curious as to what it is potentially foreshadowing here. My Libra moon hated it. Yeah. When I see James pissing on a bush, my first instinct is always, what is this symbolizing?

There's got to be something to dig it. No, I think you're right, though. And it definitely was remarkable, like you said, yeah, how packed and what a disaster is on Ariana's room was. And it does kind of seem like a manifestation of like her. or not to be too harsh on her, but maybe like putting these principles over her actual, like comfort and recovery.

It seems like instead of maybe trying to find the things that will help her move on with her life and move on to whatever the next stage in her life is, she's just so focused on making sure that, like, she doesn't give Tom anything and doesn't, like, accept any of his ideas, doesn't give him any ground, even if it's just, like,

for the principle of the thing, but it kind of feels like she has, like, you know, hemmed herself into this corner because she's placing that kind of petty principle over the importance of, you know, maybe healing and moving on. Yeah, totally. Another, like, physical space that I thought was

interestingly symbolic was the, we saw the closing of Pump this episode, which when I think about, like, mid-era Vanderpenterpac, Pump rules, like season three or four to like season eight. Like I think of like pump being like a really prominent, uh, prominent piece in Lisa's story specifically and how that relates to everyone around around her. And in the most recent season and this season so far, we're seeing like Lisa's tendrils

kind of being removed from this group. They all are a lot more independent than they were. And the closing of pump really feels like symbolic of us entering into a new era where, you know, that space is no longer as meaningful. And I don't think we've even seen Sir so far this, this season. Yeah, for sure. And we see that on the new credits too, where we've got the Sandwich Shop and Tom Tom. It's not, you know, sur-focused anymore.

Because Lisa has no involvement in the Sandwich Shop at all, I think, right? she invest in it? I don't think she did. I don't think she did. So it's like, yeah, the most recent restaurant opening is not another Vanderpump restaurant. It's one separate from her. So yeah, her influence does seem to be to be retreating, which is got to be an interesting thing to keep our, keep our eyes on moving forward and like it through the rest of the season. If we're, if we're entering a post, a post Lisa phase, it's just going to become rules. It's just going to become. I don't know. So what

highlights did you have from this episode? I mean, speaking of the pump closing, I love the in-memorium style cut that we get that, you know, the montage of scenes from the past. Very much styled as

like in Oscars, people who we lost this year, segment with like the classic van der Pump color spotting to denote a flashback. thrown in, was just great, very cheesy and full of emotions. There's just been a lot so far of this season of like reckoning with loss as like an undercurrent. So I thought that kind of you know, the loss of past relationships, past friendships, and just have the this kind of sappy,

sad sequence about this bar where all these memories happen, closing just seems to kind of further deep in that idea that loss is going to be something that we're going to be talking about a lot this season maybe. Yeah, totally. Did you have any other highlights from this episode? I did. I've got to, I do have to hand it to James Kennedy for having a good episode. He was very, very funny. He's been great. He's been great this, this season so far. He has had some funny moments. Yeah. Like when he's, he's proudly touring his house and being like, you know, huge bathtub, big ass shower. Very proudly, it was like really funny. I also just like seeing him and Ali walking their dog and like what looks like the most unlivable suburb in the San Fernando Valley.

And being like, oh, this is so great. You can't do this on the other side of the mountains, can you? Like what? You can't do what? walk your dog through like they didn't even have a dog they were just talking about getting a dog oh right yeah it's true walk yeah

they're visualizing the dog yeah just yeah just like through the most like cookie cutter like lifeless boulevard you could imagine next to the airport very funny I do got to give him props for his line

about walking into sandwell's party and be like yeah there's a real who's who in there I'm looking around everywhere like, who? Who are you? You don't go to where it's doing. It's pretty funny. Yeah. Yeah.

And I love the clip that we got immediately after it where there's this guy talking to James and he looks so completely uninterested. And he's like, look, if I'm not going to talk to Sandemol, I'm out of here right now. Yeah. It doesn't even like take the time to process what this guy's saying. Yeah. He's like, and point in fact, I don't know if you know who the fuck this guy is going. Like I was saying, who the

is this guy? And that's just classic James Kennedy, like putting social capital above everything else, you know, which is obviously very, social capital is very important for all these people. But for James Kennedy,

it's like, seems to you really the thing he cares about. And I'm sure he would be, like, he would absolutely be team, Tom Sandoval if like that's where the social capital was. If other people were lining up behind Tom, where he would be.

He has no motivations that are, you know, moral motivations or like, you know, feeling loyalty to Arianna or anything. It's just like, you know, he sees everybody lining up on Arianna side. Now he sees his chance to increase his importance. So that just kind of really underlines that where he's going into like, oh, I'm just going to go scope out Sandoval's party now that, you know, Sandival's coming back here. And for Sandoval, too, I feel like that's maybe kind of the point of him throwing his party, too.

is he's like Napoleon returning from exile. Yeah, you know, he's like, you know, he knows he has no generals left, but he's just going to see if he can, you know, get some soldiers to start coming to his side once he returns to the mainland and then, you know, and see if maybe he can tilt some of the balance of power in his favor. And so he seems to be making a bit of a show of being like, you know, I'm going to show that I still have some people behind me. Even the people he has behind him are like his assistant and like the manager of his band,

basically people on his payroll. Yeah. And Billy Lee. And Billy. And Billy. He's there too. Yeah. And and and you know, inviting James, I think is maybe part of that too being like,

oh, like, let's just like put some feelers out there. Yeah. And for James too, he's putting some feelers out there. be like, okay, let's see who this return Napoleon has actually, how many soldiers he actually has managed to summon as the first step of his comeback and is immediately like, okay, there's no social capital on this side. So this is not worthwhile at all. Yeah. Doesn't even have Allie get out of the car. Just going to make a quick, like, recon, see what he can get out of it. Yeah, why didn't hell even go in the car. Why is she even there? They pull up and she's like, I'm not going in.

Like, you know, why are you, why are you there that? I don't know. They're going to go to emo night, I think. Oh, were they stopping on their way to emo night? Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. They didn't look like they were dressed for it, though. I guess James was all in black, but none of them had like, eyeliner on. I think we covered most of what I wanted to talk to. Oh, you know what? We haven't talked about Sheena, who I thought had a, like, a pretty good episode. I did, yeah. I really appreciate, like, what Sheena brings to this show. I think that she is like really underrated in terms of like what she has. Like in the seasons where Vanderpump rules was maybe not at its best,

she was always working really hard and always like working with the like the new cast members that they were trying to make work and stirring shit up. And I thought that we saw like a lot of different dimensions to Sheena this episode. We saw her like we saw a really emotional side like a really. raw emotional like pure side when she got into an argument with brock but we also saw her kind of like doing her job and trying to like stir shit up and like we saw her at work where there was that scene at the the pump closing where all the girls are sitting around and and sheena's just like dancing and she's like oh I know I need to bring up what's going on with Lisa and Schwartz and she's like just like mindlessly doing her job and bringing it up um so yeah I I loved

She also gave us comedy here as well as driving the plot along and giving us like an emotional side because we got to see her in the studio doing her like screamo version of good as goal. Just a very well-rounded effort from Sheena. Yeah. And she fucking did a terrible job of that. That's okay. Because, you know, she's going for it. Yeah. I agree though.

She did have a great episode. I do like that we're seeing a lot of her like. reckoning with mental health and like, you know, focusing more on her new diagnosis she's had and stuff. Her anxiety about Summer Moon, too. Yeah. And at the same time, using that to introduce a new character who looks like it's going to be the person that is tied up in the love triangle with Tom and Katie. So she's even working when she's giving us that. Yeah. Yeah, I do think there was a lot of vulnerability and a lot of emotion coming from her in this episode. So yeah, definitely a good show. Interesting showing from Sheena this time around.

Should we get into Beverly Hills now? Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. So what's it out to you about Beverly Hills and how this was told? I really appreciate that the ashes of legendary American choreographer Merce Cunningham have become like a prop for one of those silly, like, tell us something that you're thinking about games and also a big Lebowski-style punchline about ashes blowing back in people's places. Okay, do it. All right. Sit back.

Don't fall. Please. Oh, Godly. Oh, sorry. The wind is blowing that way. Sorry, girls. It's all over Garcell's back. It was like Chekhov's gun as soon as the ashes were introduced.

Yeah. Just really funny to a. It would be funny anyways, but the fact that it's like the ashes of like the Leonard Bernstein of dance being used for these series of gags is beautiful classic Beverly Hills stuff. Just another great contribution to the culture from Mars. Anything else in particular about the storytelling here? About the storytelling. I mean, I mean, I mean, yeah. like that as a fulcrum a lot. I do find it, you know, it's, it's funny to laugh about it because it's

goofy. But I do also find it at Drisdick to have a sudden, like, just kind of mourning everything at once and just kind of having a bad time and deciding that this is her vehicle that she's going to use to kind of get these emotions out. That's not a bad little bit of emotion going on there. Yeah, totally. Yeah, what did you find most interesting? Yeah, I think that this scene was, was really great because like you said it did have this really goofy element but it was also clearly the emotional center of this episode

I thought that the like the letting go ceremony was like a good like mix of genuine like emotion and also you know in the case of Anne-Marie it was just like trying to say whatever she didn't really say anything

and then Erica using it as like an opportunity to like try to get a dig in. I'm here to let this go in representation of all the hurt. The last two and a half years that I feel many of you have contributed to. God bless Erica Jane. Like I love that like she steps up to the fucking plate and she's like, for me, these white flowers represent, fuck all of you. Yeah.

it really like she used it like a housewife would use one of those games they play at the dinner table in order to like air of beef and she saw like this everyone pouring out their emotion and like really not the moment to like have a big fuck you but she she used it as that and yeah yeah it was pretty brilliant and i um the storytelling piece about that scene that i really liked was the fact that i As soon as she like took that moment that was everyone else's. It was this beautiful group emotional moment. She took that and made it hers. And after that, we got a little like insert shot at the end of the scene of all the things that they were throwing away into the ocean and letting go just floating on the top of the ocean or on the top of the sea. And kind of alluding to the fact that these things are still sticking around and. The ways are just pushing them back. unresolved. Yeah, the ways are just pushing them back to shore. They're not going anywhere.

Yeah, totally. What other highlights did you have here? There was some good, like, supporting characters showing up. I enjoyed Trevor, Sutton's friend, the towering, mustachioed queer who like, when they're driving in the van is just being like, oh, there's a wonderful gay bar over there where it's like in a cave and you have to swim out to it. It just really, really reminds you. did me of. Do you remember those like Bill Hader sketches on SNL where he'd play Stefan? Oh, yeah, yeah. Talked about it like weekend update. This is just exactly the kind of things like Stefan would say,

you know, like the hottest club in New York is called Cave. It's that thing where you're in a cave and you have to swim to get there. Yeah. So it was, it was a good character. Manolo was a really good one too, a really good supporting character who shows up and plays flamankle guitar very enthusiastically and claims you wrote a song for everyone. We could have used some more, some more Manolo too. Yeah, totally. But if I'm being real, like, I've gotten my pad of notes I took on the episode, and it's almost 100% just be writing down every single thing that Erica says.

Because I just find her so fucking funny. And I thought she was just so on fire in this episode and was just just killing it for me. Like, when she describes the ashes being blown back into her face, and she says, I don't know this man. I don't want to taste this man. It's so good. Yeah. I was a little crabby patties about it.

Yeah. And sometimes, I love how she's like, sometimes watching Erica Jane is like, watching like a 60s interview with like Bob Dylan or Marlon Brando or something, just that kind of like overconfidence and just making completely like cryptic remarks with a stone face that are like just total like impenetrable non sequiturs. Like when Sutton starts saying like, so maybe we're not Erica Jane and Erica says, yes, you are.

what does she mean by that? Yeah, I was wondering about that too. You'll never know. You'll never, never know what she meant by that. Never. Yeah. And she's just so fucking evil, too.

It's great. She's such an evil queen when they're all talking about, like, you know, potentially marrying somebody. And she just says with, you know, again, her stone face in apparent seriousness, why don't you just fuck him up

and leave him with all your problems? Yeah. So it was just amazed by everything coming out of her mouth. That was mostly what I took away from this episode. Yeah, I love Erica's continued, like, insistence on trying to win this apology out of everyone. Yeah. She is so determined to get it out of everyone. And she gets just like a glimmer of it out of Crystal.

and she like latches on. She's like, oh, that's way better than the other women. Yeah. Yeah, I appreciate that this is like her main focus. And she's just like singularly focused on getting this apology. The only thing she's thinking about is, yeah, like who's going to say, I'm sorry to me. And yeah, like you say, literally nothing else in her peripheral vision. Yeah.

Yeah, it's pretty great. Yeah, did you have any other highlight? from Beverly Hills? No, not really, I think. I do. Okay, one more thing. Sorry. Why is Sutton so convinced

do you think that like having a horse is like going to give her a new sense of identity? Why is she so fix it on that being like the thing that's going to fix her? Like there's literally a point where somebody says like, who are you? And she says, I'm a woman with a horse. then you think you've gotten so much stronger since I know. I know.

Since we met. Like, who the hell are you? I'm a woman with a broken horse. Which seems to have been like a theme from the very first episode of the season. Like, what does this horse mean to her that like dealing with all this loss? She's like, this is the purchase that's going to like give my life meaning. Yeah, I have no idea what the like fixation is on on that. But it's a good opportunity.

If you are a horse girl, let us know in the comments what Simon is talking about. Yeah, because I don't own a horse. So maybe I'll never know. Maybe I'll never be able to experience that. Maybe that is when I'm missing in my life. Maybe that does fix everything. There you go. You can be singularly focused on getting a horse too.

I think that we've covered most of what I wanted to talk about in Beverly Hills as well. I think like I don't know what I feel about Kyle's journey at this point. I just am not really buying into this dynamic that they're teasing between her and Mo. It feels like it's almost being oversold. I'm curious what you, what do you think about that? Yeah, they seem to be trying to make that a theme more in the edit than it is in the actual episode because she's, Kyle's not saying very much about it, I think, with her friends. You know, they'll ask the occasional question about it.

But like, you know, when they did the ritual of the ashes, you didn't mention anything about. Yeah, exactly. Though they did include like a clip of a confessional of her being like, oh, maybe I was kind of thinking about, oh, at that moment. But that's not what she said. So I almost feel like the show is trying to make that storyline more than it organically is in the conversation. that she's having with everyone else. Yeah, what are you thinking about Kyle in relation to this, like, season as a whole?

I, like, I'm, I want to see more before the season ends of Kyle and Morgan. That addressed me a lot. Yeah. I would, I was, and the, the dissolution of her and Moe is something that I thought maybe we would, we would see, like, more happening in front of us than we have maybe.

So I would, I feel like maybe more of that's going on behind the cameras and in front of it than I would like for it to like, you know, be a really compelling storyline. Yeah, totally. I agree. I feel like if this is actually the time where there's a legitimate, like, breakdown in their marriage and she is,

you know, moving on with Morgan, I really would like to see more of that storyline because I feel like what we're getting out of Kyle is not compelling. And she's really feeling like she's doing a lot of self-producing, which is, I think that there's a way that you can self-produce well. You can be like one of these personalities that produces well and one that doesn't. And I think like the difference is if you are trying to like self-produce in order to control your your image and if you've got your actual like personality so tied to the character that you are presenting on on screen that you're trying to like control every element of it that is not that fun and that's what it feels like with Kyle. I would be like totally open to seeing her like take a break for a season

or two and like bring back someone like Lisa Vanderpump who I think also is very like is a producer but I think she was one of the best people that at being that producer type on screen persona because the way that she did it like she was

producing things external to herself. She did do like manage herself image. All of them do that. But I feel like Lisa Vanderpump the way that she like manipulated situations and use other people to do her bidding without getting her, like, her hands dirty. I love that type of, like, housewife

gameplay. And I would really like to see that element of agitation come back to this group, because it does, I feel like it's getting maybe a little stagnant. Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. I mean, we love to see a, we love an OG, and it's nice to have, like, one of those veterans who's been around forever. But the downside of that is that, when they've become so experienced and so practiced and so used to it, if they don't want you to know about something in their life, they know how to kind of to bury the lead a bit. And I feel like we're kind of seeing that with Kyle

and that she might be going through a fascinating personal transformation, that if she doesn't want that to be a focus of the episode, she knows how to make sure it isn't. Yeah, and I think the difference is, like, I mean, I talked a little bit about Lisa Vanderpump doing this. Another person that was really great at doing this was Lisa Rina. And she was like managing her own image, but she did create a separation between like Lisa Rina the person and Lisa Rina the character on this show.

And she was really good at producing Lisa Rina, the character on this show. And I feel like the fact that Lisa Rina came in like and write. her the gates she was Lisa Rina the character she was the shitser the villain like she was playing this character from the very beginning but Kyle we have seen Kyle present herself as like this authentic like person on camera and in the middle of the off season between shooting the last season of Beverly Hills and this season it feels like she flipped the switch and now we're getting Kyle the character like all of a sudden she's like oh I don't drink anymore by the way I don't even drink soda anymore and is just like putting this like really controlled version of herself out that you know at this point where it's a very like pivotal moment for like Kyle the person's character arc it's really disappointing that we're seeing you know that kind of tempered back and and throttled um I'm hoping that there's more to come on this and the the rest of the season but it is leaving me a like with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth yeah yeah

Taste like Mers. I think we covered about everything that I wanted to cover. Let's quickly give our picks for who our stars are for both Vanderpump Rules and Beverly Hills. Let's start with Vanderpump Rules. Who are your stars? First time giving it to Anne. And I'm not even being glib about that. She was literally the most interesting character for me.

There's a reason why. That's mostly what I talked about because I thought she was fascinating. So, yeah, let's hit her up with the first star there. Second star, let's give it to Sheena for being vulnerable and talking about her mental health. And, you know what, we got to give James some daps there too because he was really funny this episode. The episode ending with him pissing on a bush after saying, like, is it illegal to piss on? a bush is a great way to end the episode, especially because it's like, he's not going to know you did that? Like, what is that even, what is that accomplishing? But it's just a great, like,

just a great James moment in that kind of like, you know, that essential childishness that he has. Another funny moment was when he's talking about aging houses and he's like, I always go for the windows. That's the menace in me. I don't give a props for that stuff. Yeah, you got to give James a star. He pissed on Ariana's Bush, so star-worthy performance. Yeah, I would agree. I think that in addition to James and Sheena, who would be my two picks,

I got to give one to Sandoval just to see him return and, you know, pick up where he left off, really. And, you know, he's just going full bore. and seeing what he can do with what he's got left. So I appreciate that he's back and we're going to see more of that. You know, one more notable is Sandoval being back that I find fun too is because, you know, he just came back from shooting at New Zealand that kind of special forces, like survivalist training show or whatever.

You also see him at the start reading a book, S-A-S, which is like a special forces survivalist manual. I really hope that's a constant going forward this season that he's just going to be like getting really into like survivalism. And it would be really funny if like as he like, you know, goes into like, you know, street fighting mode to try to win back his cred. He's like also like becoming like a big like survivalist guy and being like, I can survive any situation kind of mindset.

That would be really, really funny. So I hope that's where this is leading. Yeah, he's already experienced one apocalypse. So now he's prepping for the next. There you go. How about for Beverly Hills? No surprise. My number one is Erica.

Yeah. Just what a lovely human being. Let's give Sutton number two. It's her episode in a lot of ways. So sure, let's give her that. And number three, Merce Cunningham. You'll be missed. Craig threw up a little montage of

of Merce and cutting out his best moments here with some sad music. Dedicate this episode to him. In a significant place and make this a really meaningful trip. Will he fit in this little container? Well, if we dump the ashes in there. I know you love Merce,

but Merce was in a zip lockback. Merce is in the purse. Okay, do it. All right, no. One set back. Don't fall. Please. I'm sorry, the women

flowing her way. Sorry, girls. It's all over ourselves. Yeah, I think my number one pick is going to be sudden. I just find her like a really endearing character. She's likable. She gives us a lot of like emotional highs and lows

and just really interesting to watch. And, you know, her being at the crux of the emotional center of this episode, I got to give it the number one to her. I think you're right. Erica had a like a great episode. She's really showing why she is just such a great housewife because even from like her position at the bottom of the ladder here, um, she's still able to like act as though she's at the top

and look down on people and try to command, you know, command things that she's got no right to command. So, um, just yeah, I, I love Erica's journey right now. And we get to see, you know, based on the pieces of Erica that got stripped away by her downfall, what remains is like still a very like compelling housewife persona. So, um, yeah, love that. Um, and then I think that number three, I, um, I, I like, I like crystal this season. So I'm going to give her the, the third star, even though I don't think like she had a huge impact this, this season.

I think that, or this episode, I think that, you know, her letting go, I feel like that was her, like, giving us, like, authentic emotion. And, yeah, I, I am appreciating this journey that, that she's on and that she's, like, fully giving us the authenticity that we're not getting out of Kyle right now. Or maybe I should give a star to Dorit's Spanish, ordering her Coca-Cola. normal or whatever. Yeah, called normale. It just, yeah.

Got to specify. Yeah. Cool. Well, I think that about does it, Dylan, want to let everyone know where they can find you? I write about movies

on Substack as Dylan Ferguson, which also happens to be my name. It's just a, just a coincidence. Awesome. Well, I'm Craig Midwinter. You can just find me

at Bravo Outsider on Instagram and TikTok. You can find our website. site bravo outsider.com. Be sure to like and subscribe, leave a review, tell your friends, that helps us out a ton. Until next week, keep on wiping.

Bye.