Oscars Outsider - We made someone who doesn't follow Bravo watch RHOBH S13E12 and RHOM S06E12...

Episode Date: January 20, 2024

Welcome to the Bravo Outsider Podcast! This week hosts Craig Midwinter and Dylan Ferguson are joined by writer/podcaster Mary Mascari for an episode packed with insights and analysis on the latest episodes of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills S13E12, and the Real Housewives of Miami S06E12. 🍸Featured Housewives: RHOBH: Kyle Richards, Erika Girardi, Dorit Kemsley, Garcelle Beauvais, Crystal Kung Minkoff, Sutton Stracke, Annemarie Wiley RHOM: Guerdy Abraira, Lisa Hochstein, Julia Lemigova, Nicole Martin, Alexia Nepola and Larsa Pippen, Kiki Barth, Adriana de Moura, Marysol Patton 📣 Stay Connected: Find Mary Mascari's Vennix the Mighty on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/713270027516054 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

Okay, Dylan, you viewed it? Oh, yeah, I viewed it. Okay, we just watched the trailer for The Valley, a new series that is going to be premiering this spring on Bravo. Dylan, what did you think about this trailer? Sometimes you just don't got to overthink your promotion. If you have the idea to put Jacks in a little toy car wearing driving gloves, that's all you need.

Like, you've already got gold right there. That gives me the whole show. I hope wanted to be in that car the whole show. I hope he sustained like a late. injury and he's like too proud to admit it so he's just like it's my new thing now i drive around a little mini toy humber yeah i was hoping that it was foreshadowing some sort of d ui storyline that we'll get here so we'll see hello and welcome to the bravo outsider podcast i'm your host craig midwinter joined once again by dylan ferguson welcome back dylan hi oh my god you look

amazing did it Did that land with you? I'm experimenting with greeting my friends more the way like the women in these shows do. Actually, like they're on to something. Did that feel right? Or did that stuff? Yeah, it felt great.

What do you think of my esophagus? Can you see it there? Look at it. Look it tight. Damn. Yeah, nice and thin. Well, we're pleased to be joined by a writer with a brand new scripted fantasy comedy podcast called Benix the Mighty.

It's Mary Mesgaree. When they going gets tough. I need a nap. It's true, though. Is that the tagline for like the real house cats? Oh, that's perfect. I think that would, I would be in that one. I would watch that.

Yeah. I would watch the hell out of that for one. And yeah, I would love to be in that one. I'd fit in better for sure. Awesome. Well, do you want to just like start by giving us a little bit of your background with reality TV? Or TV in general, like what kind of content do you watch? Well, actually I do like a lot of reality TV.

I tend to focus more on like the competition like stuff. So I like I watched like the first episode, the first season of Survivor. And I remember like the it going out on the news that that Richard Hatch has won, spoiler from 30 years ago or whatever. Like and I, so I loved it. I love like Project Runway, Top Chef. Try to think it's like dancing with the stars, amazing race.

I always like those. I always tend to draw on to more of the competition thing. I like seeing people, there was that top design for a while. There was an interior designer thing. I like to see people, creative people doing their jobs well. I think that's fun with a little drama. So how did you think that these shows compared to that? You know, I came into it with, I tried to keep an open mind, right?

So I was like, okay, well, there's no competition here. So what the heck's the point? And honestly, I was quite compelled. You know, I was like, okay, I can see, because it's the same idea. It's just a storytelling, you know, in the editing room. Awesome. Well, let's get right into our discussion about these shows. Which of these shows did you find the most compelling?

They're both compelling in two different ways, but Miami, I think really, I think I liked, the Miami was a little different. I kind of liked that little more. I thought that was, like, if I'm going to watch another one, it will probably be Miami. Okay, great. Let's jump into Miami then. Yeah. We're going to start with a segment we call Housewives in a hurry. So we're going to put 20 seconds on the clock, and I just want you to brain dump whatever comes to mind about this episode. And I would say start with whatever is the most memorable or important.

Don't try to worry about describing it chronologically. So your 20 seconds starts right now. Okay. Swim Week fashion show. we got Julia and Kiki walking awesome Then we have the fighting by the pool And then the limo and then everyone leaving And then Julia and a goat And then this one woman's got cancer

And she blows off her family to talk to her face time With her friends and then they're gonna go to Mexico Yeah good that was really good You got a lot out there Awesome That was crazy Yeah so the first thing that came to mind for you was Miami Swim Week, which was like a very like visually stunning thing to watch.

And I think like one of the things about Miami as a series is that they have a very strong like visual vocabulary that is built into the show. When you think about Miami, you've got an idea of an image and like even without thinking about real housewives, you've got this idea of Miami and like the colors that are there and the vibe. And so I think that that helps Miami, real houseways of Miami in a lot of ways in terms of establishing this vibe and this aesthetic. But I want to like talk a little bit about, about the themes, the visual storytelling, just in terms of the presentation or technicals on this show, was there anything that stood out to you? There are a couple different things. First of all,

to what you were saying about like your preconceived notions of Miami, I thought it really interesting that the visuals in the opening credits were like city. They're very urban and it was raining, you know, which aren't like I was like, oh, okay, Miami. They're going to go down the thing, all the art daco buildings and the pastel and like, you know, someone's butt. And no, it was none of that. Like it was, it was, like I didn't realize they had buildings like that in Miami and, you know, it was raining. Like it doesn't rain, you know, like, oh, I guess it does rain in Miami is Florida. So I thought that was kind of an interesting contrast to what you're saying that they're like, you know, there's more.

than that. And this was, I watched this one first. So this was my absolute first exposure to any real housewives of any kind. Okay, yeah. So it was a little different. And I, I really was struck by this sort of dichotomy

between like the, I want to say kind of like the fake and the real, but like the bold and loud and, you know, tits out and here we go. And then the more realistic human side. I felt like they were constantly going back and forth between those to the point where like, I didn't recognize Julia in her confessional at first because she looks so different, right? Because she's got her hair was short. She was not wearing any makeup. You know, she's got this

gorgeous peasant blouse on. And then her confessional, she's all dolled up and, you know, with an orange tan. Wait, oh, that's her. Wow. Wow. Why is she wearing that? That just doesn't seem like her vibe. Like, okay. but I felt like that was going on back and forth a lot. Yeah, totally. Dylan, how about you? What did you take away from this episode in terms of the presentation or theme? I did like the swim week or whatever the hell it was called, Shark Week, whatever it was.

And I did find it like very, yeah, fun visually, for sure. And nice to have kind of a positive sort of heartwarming story art for Julia. I find Julia, like, very easy to like, so it's nice to feel good for her. I did find it a little surprising that, like, after we see her modeling some bikinis and shit, they have her go down the runway, like, just draped in curtains. Yeah. Yeah, and she was like, oh, I hope I have a lap. I'm like, are you kidding me?

You look fantastic. She looks great. Her body looks amazing. And they're like, keep talking about how, you know, boundary breaking it's going to be to have somebody her age, model swimwear. And then when they actually push her out there, she's wearing, like, a whole aisle for a bit, and beyond. Like, it's, like, what happened to the whole, like, empowering bit?

Like, they seem to be hiding her. So I thought that was a little shocking. Yeah, I mean, the inspector, like, be on a little rascal. Like, she's like, she's so old. Yeah. What are you kidding? She's amazing. I also kind of appreciate Alexia's subtle shade when she was like,

yeah, Julia was so fierce out there rocking that 90s vibe. Yes. Yes. I thought that was really funny. 90s, huh? 90s, nice. Like 90s energy. Doing it the way they did 30 years ago.

He's so brave. Yeah. And of course, me, I was like, yeah, 90s. Wait a minute. That was a while ago. No fair. Miss USSR 1991 right there. Yeah.

Because there was Miss USSR for a couple years. Fucking gorbache. Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah, I thought that this was like a decent episode. In terms of like when I was trying to identify like themes for this episode, the thing that stood out to me, I guess was like the apprehensiveness that kind of was pervasive through all the characters on this episode. I mean, with Julia and Kiki, we got that like clearly telegraphed through their words in the lead-up.

to swim week and like the act of walking down the aisle and having this big platform and being out of their element you could feel the nervous energy but it was like kind of like an excitement and then we got a real like contrast to that with the apprehension that is felt by like Gertie with her cancer diagnosis and the test results that are like looming over her head this entire uh this entire episode and we also get that with like Lisa not knowing the outcome of what the settlement with her and Lenny is going to be and Mary you mentioned one of the things at the beginning of this episode that we see when we are first introduced to Lisa in this episode she is like there's a literal like rain cloud over her head and she is like pumping the gas on her own in like to her

Rolls Royce and she like says like I'm I'm just going to go wait and inside the car. We got that sort of, you know, this looming cloud that was over her, like, visually presented to us right out of the gate with her, which I thought was a really great way to introduce her in this episode, in this context. Yeah, totally. I didn't put that together because I didn't know who she was later, but yeah. Oh, yeah. Now that you say, like, oh, that was Lisa. Okay, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Let's talk about our highlights from this episode. Mary, what were your highlights?

Okay, first of all, Kiki's walk. Oh, yeah. Holy crap. That was amazing. I watch a lot of Project Runway. I've seen a lot of walks. I mean, Julie was good, but Kiki, holy cow. So that was one of my big highlights.

I was like, girl has got it. The Haitian sensation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I don't know, like, I don't know if that's been a thing of her modeling other times, but I was just like, that was awesome. And we haven't really seen, sorry.

Yeah, no, we haven't really seen this side of her. Like, we haven't seen her in her element like modeling. She's always been like this friend of. She's not a full like mojito, uh, mojito holder. And yeah, that was a really, um, impactful walk down the runway. And I love how they like treated her like a magnet when we got that, that shot of the phones like panning and. following her.

Yes. It was amazing. It really shows the energy, how the energy is following her and the impact she has in the room. Very good. Yeah, totally.

The camera staff there. And when she, and like afterwards, when they're all sitting by the pool, and she comes out, it's like, ah, here she is. You know,

just like she, in that amazing dress. So cool. Yeah. And she's gorgeous. So I was really just taken by her totally in love. She was just really cool.

And her story. too, right? Like, it was so humanizing. I wasn't expecting that. Just like her telling her, like, this sounds like Project Runway. Like this sort of like, oh, my mother. Like, oh, well, she's going to be eliminated. Oh, there's no elimination. Okay, then never mind. You know, just that was that kind of that kind of vibe. Yeah, totally. And it's interesting that we've

like had to wait three seasons. Like, this is the third season that she has been like a presence on this show. And we've never really got this kind of fleshed out background story to her. She has always been like very funny. She's like she's like she's like unpredictable but like always very like funny and supportive and also willing to like do a little bit of prodding and dirty work when some of the other housewives

might not be willing to rock the boat one of the things that we touched on uh last episode when we were talking about like the reaction that alexia and marisol have been having to like Anna's appearance on on screen has been that a lot of the cast here, they were on Real Housewives of Miami, you know, before it was canceled. And then it was on it was canceled for like eight years and then came back. And so they're just like very protective of the screen time. And they are like playing the, the game a lot more defensively and trying to like protect their their time in front of the camera and make sure that they, you know,

stay the stars there. So I think having people like Kiki who are able to just come in, they've got much like lower stakes. They can be like agitators is really helpful for this for this series. But you also have people like Adriana, who is one of those people that was on the original cast, who is still like not really afraid to stir shit up. But yeah, Kiki is a fantastic addition. And I think that she'll probably get promoted to a full host. life soon. Yeah, I seem that there was like the core and then the the auxiliary sort of thing.

They all came in later. I was like, wait, who are all these people? What's going on? It was very confused. See, the other highlight, like just Julia at the farm and also the top she was wearing at that point. Like that was so, and again, she's such an earth mother. She seems so ground, like, you know, no makeup. And then they're professional. She's totally not. But like, I love that. It was such a nice little vibe that made, I felt made her much more approachable. So, like, I resonated with that. So I was like, oh, that's a little more familiar. This more, you know, hippie-dippy thing.

Like, yeah, that's me. Yeah, she's like a little bit of a chameleon, like adapting to her environment. It's, yeah, I love Julie. I think she's very likable. And I think we see that extended, like, beyond her style a bit. because she seems like a very different person when she is with Adriana versus when she is with Alexia. Like we got that this emerging friendship between Julia and Alexia in this episode that we see take place at the farm. It's like very like fun and bubbly and like a little bit like artificial and surface level.

And that is totally like Alexia's vibe. But then when we see Julia and Adriana who she's got like this more established friendship, it takes on like a little bit more of a like a serious like determined tone and that is how Adriana really externalizes her like personality and I mean there's a lot more to Adriana I think she's one of the most like complex people on on Bravo but she does present herself with like a severity while at the same time doing like completely goofy shit like showing up like waving a white flag. But she does, like, present herself very, like, severely. And Julia, like, takes on that when she's close with Adriana. So it sounds like she's someone who's got a lot of

empathy, and that's usually a quality that people that have a lot of empathy do is they will kind of adopt the, at least somewhat the mannerisms of the people they're with just to kind of vibe. And I just, yeah, I remember thinking that was so cool that, oh, yeah, here, come on over to the farm. And, oh, you're not comfortable with my animals? okay, well, let's go inside. You know, it wasn't like, oh, come on. You know, she's like, all right, we'll go inside. We'll talk.

Like, she's just, and I'm surprised to see that there, you know, in this sort of genre where the conflict is what they, what they hype. I mean, all the teasers are like, oh, all the, and yet here's this person's like, okay, come on inside. Let's have some, have some coffee and relax, you know. I thought that was really interesting. Yeah, totally. Dylan, what were your highlights here?

I mean, I think the emotional core, as much as, you know, Julia's story, is really good. It has to be like the heartbreaking stuff, news around Gertie. And I thought it was really interesting and really heartbreaking to see her really emotionally struggle with the not very good news about her latest tests and just kind of her like very frustrated and angry denial of, you know, insisting that she's not going to do another operation even though she needs to and just, or may possibly need to and just, um, just, um, just, um, just, um, I thought that was very raw and very, uh,

and very, uh, and very, uh, also don't envy, um, being in the position of her husband who has to like, be like,

reset her her expectations the way like, like you can't just, you can't just, you know, he's not going to, to lie and say like, oh, I'm sure it'll be great.

Then you won't have to worry about it again because, you know, then she's setting herself up for an even more crushing disappointment. If, if the, if she doesn't end up needing another procedure further down the road. And that's, just such a difficult situation to

to handle for her, obviously, first and foremost. But it's just such a wrenching thing to go through. But I'm also grateful to have that, you know, show to us in a very honest and raw way on camera.

Yeah, totally. That scene between her and her husband at lunch was like very real. There was like, and I love how like naturally it was presented. There was like no flourish. It was just the raw conversation and emotion and like the raw humanity that was on display. And you could see, you know, Gertie as a coping mechanism,

like really trying to just like put everything to the side and just like not think about a blinders, like put on her blinders and her husband taking this like having to reluctantly like take this like very real approach. Like we have to consider that this. like might not be fine. And it was, like you said, it was very touching. Yeah. And speaking of like very, now go ahead, Barry. Oh, yeah, it's also kind of that interesting, again, contrast between kind of like the real and the fake is like here they're at this high level high restaurant. They're all dolled up.

She's like in this. And so you kind of assume a sort of plasticness, a sort of fakeness and shallowness with that. But then here comes in this, this humanity. And I really dug that. like that was like I checked myself. I'm like, wow, I was making assumptions. And look, she's a freaking human being. And I think that's why this episode really spoke to me a little more than the Beverly Hills one.

Because I got that sort of that little more realism, even with the lips and the tits and everything like that. Yeah, totally. So speaking of Larsa. Okay, go ahead. No, I just wanted to say that I also really had a good time watching the, the scene between Larsa and Marcus Jordan. And I just don't, I don't understand for different reasons. I don't understand why Larsa says that she needs to like give Marcus a year and have to,

and she's like waiting for him to figure his life out. Like, how do you want him to have his life more figured out? The man literally has a podcast. Yeah, that's what you mean? What more could you possibly want from a guy in his mid-30s in terms of accomplishment, success? fulfillment when he already is doing a podcast. He is clearly there. He's arrived, yeah.

He just married now, so, Christ. Maybe she's worried he'll peek. Like, you know, he'll peek and then that'll be it, right? So that she's got to, that's really what it is. I mean, you're up high, but how long can you stay up there? That's the real question. He needs two podcasts.

Yeah. There you go. He's already on par with his father anyway, in terms of achievements. They're like neck and neck. What other highlights did you have, Dylan? That's basically it, really, I think. I think we pretty much covered the ground, for me anyways.

Yeah, I think we covered a lot of what I had to touch on. I do like how we are seeing a very different Alexia than we have the past two seasons. Like, she's still trying to, like, present this, like, very, on top of things persona, but she's clearly like acting more like a wounded animal and being like very like reactive to anything that is not, you know, going exactly the way that she wants. I mean, the most obvious example of this is with like that the whole Anna situation, but, you know, I think everything surrounding that with how she is just generally responding with, um, uh, to Nicole and

you know her dissatisfaction in her like the house hunt that she seems to like be very reluctant to let go of this status that she appears to be losing behind the scenes and being like very protective

of her relationship with I can't remember what her husband's name is now but just the response of that party at the beginning I am excited to see kind of where this goes and how she responds because we got in a confessional where I think it was Adriana was saying that Alexia does not like Nicole because Nicole has like great taste.

She always like dresses well. She's got a great house. She is she is the the Barbie that Alexia wants to be. and I think that that is like so spot on. It was just like a brilliant read of the situation. Let's just go around the horn and if any of you guys had anything that was just a weird little thing that you notice that you want to call out. We'll start with you, Mary. Did anything stand up to you? Well, the first thing, just as a side note, I was expecting plastic surgery. I was not expecting Marisol

That is like She took a picture of Sailor Moon To her plastic surgeon and said like that So that's all I just that little comment Yeah I was like wow But Malkin my This is kind of getting into the stars thing

But like when Adriana was recording Her vocal coach Oh yeah She was amazing She could not have been more outsider Right like like in her New York shirt and, you know, just hair down and it just like, and like, oh, good job. It was just a strange.

Like, where'd she, what, where'd she come from? How is she? Why? What? So it was like, that was just really stood out and it in a cool way, but also just like a, huh? So. Yeah, totally. Dylan, how about you?

You know, I'll see Marisol too because there's a confessional look. I haven't seen yet. actually I'm getting caught up in the season. And when Marisol has that like Roman shield patterned dress, conventional look. It was a pillow. It was a pill, like a throw pillow on her chest. Yeah. To me it looked like she just kind of like maybe drunkenly got stuck in a vase and just

try to play it off as a dress, you know, just. Well, you could rest stuff there. You can put your drink. You have a little spot there. That's why she's doing it. There you go. You got the code. Yeah.

She's sticking. little straws in there. She's marinating herself in tequila right now. The pillow is full of liquid. It's like it's just full of tequila. Yeah. That's the best explanation for herself. It's like a camelback but more high fashion. Yeah. Okay. There we go. We've cracked. Yeah. The one little

weird thing that I wanted to call out that I really enjoyed was when Alexia was making her phone calls to invite everyone to Mexico City. Larsa in like typical Larsa fashion when she's like, oh, we're going to Mexico City. That's where, like, trying to think of, like, what she can tie in personally. It's like, oh, yeah, that's where, like, the bottles for my tequila get made.

Like, oh, how can I, like, make this about me? Can we visit the factory? Yeah. Oh, visit the factory. That's just what everyone wants to see. Yeah. Now, I want to ask you guys, I don't know how much the Virgin of Guadalupe is, how familiar you are with her as a character as a figure?

Yeah, not at all. Okay. It's a huge. Yeah, she's a patron state of Mexico. I live in Chicago, large Mexican population. This is huge. And in Mexico City, there's a gigantic basilica to her. She's like, because just to kind of make this story short, there was a, she appeared to

this farmer, Juan Diego, and asked for a basilica to be made. And she had to make a miracle. So she told him to pick flowers and put him in. his cloak and then he went to the archbishop and opened the cloak to pour out the flowers and there was the image of the virgin painted magically on the cloak on the cloak and that cloak is actually in the basilica like you go the church and it's right there and it's a very but it's a huge like it's a whole complex like there's all these other little places you just kind of walk around it's gorgeous but um but like for anyone who is Mexican the Virgen de Guadalupe is very

important. So I'm really curious to see, like, are they going to go to the basilica? Like, that's a, like, it's kind of a holy place, but like, you know, maybe so. That there, this is a little more of a human version. So I don't know. It's really interesting. But yeah, it's a big Mexican, she's huge. And if you ever see her, she looks like, if you ever see a Virgin Mary that looks like

kind of a, in sort of an oval of, of star, of sunlight rays, that's her. And it's, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, I think that they are going to go there. I feel like I saw that in a preview. But Alexia did make it clear to Gertie that the reason why she selected Mexico City was because she, like, this was a saint that really helped her get through the accident that her son Frankie had. And she wants to bring that energy to Gertie's battle with cancer. So I feel like we are going to see that.

that's definitely something that I'm going to brush up on leading into these next episodes because I feel like we're going to get a lot of imagery related to that throughout the presentation of this trip. I'll be curious to see how they tie that in for sure. It's definitely the most Catholic of the Housewives shows. And I haven't, like I said, I've missed a lot of the episodes, but I remember from the trailer for this season, there seemed to be a lot of church imagery going on. So I'd be interesting to see where they take that in Mexico City.

they may very well go to that facility. That would make sense. Yeah. They're Latina. Oh, I have one more question. Is Nicole Latina? Because her Spanish is terrible. Yeah, she is.

Yeah. But it's true. Yeah, she's clearly out of practice. Yeah. Not very good. Okay. So before we close out Miami, I want to get everyone's

one to three all stars from this episode. Mary, who were your picks? Julia Kiki and that vocal coach. Yeah, that's good picks. How about you, Dylan? Yeah, I've got to go with the Haitian sensation. Go with Julia.

I think she was somewhere under there on the runway. And, yeah, let's throw a gertie there too for just throwing a lot of like, you know, real human emotion. and instead of just, you know, she's not just off crying in a corner. She's being extremely defiant and extremely emotional and extremely present. And it's like a very kind of powerful journey to watch. So let's give her a start for that too. Why not? Yeah.

And that aligns with what I would pick. I think Julia Kiki and Gertie were the standouts for me in terms of who I found most compelling. I want to move on to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills right now. Um, we'll get things started right over the gates with housewives in a hurry. Uh, Mary, your 20 seconds are going to start right now. Uh, I can't think of a single thing. Oh, the gala. So we've got the, the, the toothless and homeless and toothless.

And then just so much fighting between Crystal and Anna Marie and the freaking esophagus, uh, Pilates with the assistant holding the, the phone. Um, and that's all I can remember. That's good. One second to spare, I think. Yeah. Well, that's because I left stuff out. Yeah, that I think covers the broad strokes on this. What did you think just in terms of the presentation of this and the themes?

What did you identify as like really standing out? Yeah, this one was interesting. For this one, I felt more like I was, like The Watcher is a housewife too. I didn't get that. For some reason I didn't get that in Miami. But here I kind of felt like it was the way it's shot and the way it's set. It's like, like, you're just one of the group. You're right here with them, which I thought was kind of neat.

And I think it was really just about like what you should and shouldn't do for the people that are in your group. Like how to treat people. What's the right thing to do? How to behave like with, you know, even like Kyle being so kind to Sutton. We had a little bit of Dorrit and Phoenix Dorit, Dorit, I don't know how pronounce that. Yeah, Doree, yeah. Yeah, and then, you know, Ragged on Mauricio, Crystal and Jeff and the fiancé,

and then just this whole, oh, and P.K. and Doret, supporting each other, and then to contrast, Anna Marie, just being psychotic. And just that sort of thing is just kind of, the lesson here is, here's how you're supposed to, how you're supposed to behave, how you're supposed to talk to your friends and the people who love you and how you're not. Yeah, that kind of aligns. with one of the like main themes that I saw in this episode, which was like acceptance. So I think like all those examples that you identified fall into that.

Um, I think with like Anna Marie, I think she is actually really trying to be accepted in on this show, like in this cast and like trying to be accepted as like a reality person. Like like just she's interacting with like, I guess almost the, uh, the, the meta. of the medium by like really trying to drive some drama and really being focused on it and really trying to um trying to get accepted by the fandom and things are going the opposite way in terms of the reaction online right now but uh that is like a theme and like a core motivation that we're seeing for her. It's also the edit she's getting.

She's getting the villain that it's so much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not being kind to her. Another thing that I thought was a really interesting choice for them to include in this episode was the scene that we got between Crystal and her brother, which again, this is one of those scenes that it could have been shot at any point during this season, but they chose to include it during this episode because I think it aligned with the theme of this episode, this like acceptance, where they're having a discussion about the relationship that her brother has, has, with her, like, or his ex-fiance and how his ex-fiance Vivi never felt accepted by Crystal or her mom. And, you know, this is a storyline that I have been finding like really, really

compelling since it was introduced a couple episodes back. I think that it's a really interesting family dynamic that I am curious to see how her relationship with her brother evolves. But yeah, that tied into that theme that you identified as well, I think. Dylan, how about you? Yeah, in terms of like Anne-Marie, I agree Craig that like she kind of really feels a need to try to get the center of discourse because she's a newcomer and that's what you have to do. You have to get messy.

I think like she came off as way too intense, which made it too easy for her to get the villain at it. Like I think if she had like played it a little more slyly and been like, you know what? I think the whole like thin esophagus thing is kind of bullshit, you know, based on my medical experience. It just like played an office.

Like, I'm gossiping to you quietly in a corner. That might have played a lot better. But the fact that she was like shouting about it for like a fucking hour and being like as a board certified nurse, like it's like just getting so aggressive. Just made it too easy for her to turn herself

into the villain. Though also like I also found Sutton's very, very. southern reaction of getting angry by just shouting ma'am a bunch of times. It's really weird and funny, too. You know, like, just as she gets, she shows her anger just by saying, ma'am, more frequently and more loudly. It's just a weird southern tick she has.

You know, excuse me, ma'am, ma'am. All right. It's very odd, but it was all fun. All good stuff. Gossip can bring you together, right? Gossip can be a very bonding thing. Like, oh, my God, let me tell you this thing. I think, oh, yeah, I think that's it, too, right?

but she used it wrong and it ended upalienating her. Because she made herself the subject of gossip. She made it too easy for other people to go off and be like, oh, Ad Marie's acting nuts instead of being like, oh, I just got a juicy tidbit from Ad Marie, you know? When they cut away to the receipts, like that was like to the different, like at the time stamps, that was amazing. Like Chef's case, I love that so much. Yeah.

And I love that we got a shot of her like saying this to, Teddy Mellencamp and Teddy just looking so bored. Like Anne-Marie, you bored Teddy. Like the most boring housewife. Unanimously considered the most boring housewife. Not by me. That's like, this is fan service on my part, but you bored Teddy. Good job.

Also like that that her partner husband, Marcellus is just like getting drunk on gin while this is going on. Just be like, hey, guys, what's up? So he would just. He's like, I'm a hugger first. And I remember who he hugged. I think it was Sutton, wasn't it? Yeah. And she was just like, ugh, uh, uh, uh.

Excuse me, sir. Yeah, sir, sir. But yeah, very, very unstrategic use of this information by Anne Marie. I think, like, she just, like she came in, like you said, clearly wanting to make an impact, but she made it impossible for anyone to hitch their wagon to that. Like, if you're going to do something like that, You got to be like very careful. You got to like know that this information is currency and you've got to use it in that way and try to get like someone on board with you and like form a bond.

And she just like came in and made it impossible for anyone to like jump on this. Even like early in the season we saw like Kyle and Dorete clearly looking for something to get into conflict with Sutton over. This would have been perfect. But it she just like burnt it. she just like, you know, rose hell and it's no longer valuable. So very unstrategic. Dylan, did you have anything else that you wanted to talk about in terms of the storytelling and themes? Homeless, not toothless is funny every time somebody said it.

The joke did not wear thin. It was just such an amazing, terrible choice of name for that organization. I get where they're going with, right? They're going for toothless as in powerless, you know? But when you're invoking the image of a homeless man who, you know, are a homeless person, they're very often missing teeth. It's like, how are you like expecting people to not like just kind of snicker at your poorly choice, chosen name choice?

It's just very, very good. Just very good. I just love having this fancy reception at the Beverly. Hilton for all the stuff, toothless. Maybe they do great work. Maybe, I hope they're doing amazing work and are really providing resources and are really like, you know, that's all that counts. If they're doing something to secure sustainable housing for William H. Macy, then it's,

it's a positive step. He needs it. You know, he's, it's, it's, if they can't hold him up anymore because she's, she's canceled. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, actually, one of the leading causes of homelessness in Los Angeles is when Paul Anderson and the Cohen brothers stop casting you in their ensemble pieces. What are you going to do? It's rough out there, man.

You've got, like... In the arms of the angel. Yeah. You've got Julian Moore, like, living in a tent on Les Yanaga, just, like, you know, scrounging for change and Todd Haynes rolls. You've got to do something to help these people. So we were actually introduced this organization last. year. And they said that what this organization does is like they fix homeless people's smiles. Like they

do dental work on that. Oh, it's actually is dental work. Okay. I didn't know what's which is why Eric's dentist was there. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah, it's still a terrible name. It's still a terrible name. It is. Yeah, totally. It does tie into what I thought was the overriding

theme of this episode, which was like the importance of aesthetic and image. Like, um, they really focused on, you know, even how the details on this gala, they were so focused on just the little things and how it was presented. And obviously, you know, the, the whole charity is about improving like an aesthetic image for, for people. But I thought that there was, um, you know, this, the storyline that we're getting about Sutton and this potential eating disorder that she had, uh, it all ties into this idea of, um, like how important image is to people in general.

So I thought that that was a really important theme on this episode. But I do want to talk about the visual story surrounding Crystal this episode, which I thought was, it was really great. I love that when we got her introduced in this episode, it was like a very cozy imagery. She was like curled up on a chair by the fire in her like, backyard, like clearly like cozy and very, very warm. And we actually got it shot through the like the refraction from the heat of the fire that she was in front of while she was talking with

Garcell. We got to see her in like a very comfortable place. And one of the things that I've talked about a lot on this podcast is that I think that we're seeing this new comfortable crystal emerging. And so I felt like that was a really good way to embody. that. And then the next thing that we saw with her was we saw her in this reddish pink outfit at this

cafe where all the walls were like red and brown and she almost like blended into it and then her brother was there in white and the crystal and the environment this red kind of surrounded him

and it really spoke to like the smothering relationship that she has had and how she's like driving her brother away by just like overwhelming him and i just thought it was a really like compelling visual that matched up with with their conversation and then when we finally got to the the gala she comes in and she is dressed so understated like she's like just in a like a black dress the least memorable outfit out of anyone there like no shade like she still looked good but she was like very understated and when we see everyone gathered around the bar table before they're going into the ballroom and that that fight breaks

out she's actually like physically positioned behind Erica Erica's like backs to her she looks almost like she's like a background character and then she finally like is drawn into this argument and we like get her pushed past Erica and emerging into the center of of the group. And I just really like that visual in terms of getting this like emerging picture of Crystal as a more important housewife in this series. Because up until this season, she has been pretty forgettable and a bit of a wallflower, in my opinion. But I'm so much more compelled by her story this season. I thought that this was just a really nice way of having it visually represented.

Yeah, great points. Absolutely. It was like a path from like kind of almost normal person to housewife, you know, just like that ascendance. Yeah, totally. Mary, what were your highlights here? There were small things. So I've mentioned some of them already, but first of all, I loved Sutton doing Pilates on her board while her one assistant's holding her phone. And then she's talking to another assistant, who I later learned is actually on vacation.

Like, that was so extra. I mean, just, like, it's amazing. I loved it so much. And just everyone with all their assistants. Yeah, and she was, like, right by a fire. Yes. Oh, more fire. Yeah, more fire.

We got the two most, like, angry people in this episode, which are Crystal and Sutton, both pictured directly next to fire. That's interesting imagery that I did not take note of. That's interesting. Yeah. And then she was also cutting roses, which I don't know if that means anything. There's a symbolism there. Just like the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.

Yeah. A bright lime green mini dress, which, of course. And then there, okay, so I mentioned earlier that the way the camera work was, it kind of felt like you were one of the housewise, right? It's all just kind of like right with them as if you're just kind of there, except when they were teasing into before the fight in the, at the ballroom outside. We got this sort of like Jaws thing behind Anna Marie and Marcellus.

Just like this bon-up, bon-up. We were like behind them, like, here they come. And even the music was just like, oh, no, here it comes. And I thought that was a really fun little moment that it was just this, that like, here it comes. We know this is going to be different and such a big change. And then my last thing was just multi-nominated artist, Taylor Dane.

Yes. I was actually like so legitimately excited. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know who that is. I'm with Henry on that one. I don't know.

Okay. No, but I just thought it was funny. It wasn't multi-award winning. Like multi-nominated artists. Like, oh. Oh, well. Yeah, that's what she said was a huge hit.

Introduced by Paula Abdul. I like that was like, Paula Abdul is there, but she's not performing. She's introducing Taylor Dane. Yeah. Yeah. but I was excited by Taylor Dane.

I think like tell to tell to my heart is such a banger. So when it came on, I was like, oh, Taylor Dane, that's great. But yeah, obviously not not everyone was as excited.

But I will say that Doreet and Peky are really like checking off the boxes on my like 80s playlist this season because this wasn't as like big of a, um, uh, moment as we saw earlier this season. season when P.K. had planned this, uh, this date that was themed like, uh, pretty woman. So everything was like meticulously planned to be just like the movie Pretty Woman. And, uh, Doreet was given this red dress to come down in. And they capped it off by having like a private performance, uh,

from Berlin, not doing a song from Pretty Woman doing the theme, the theme from Top Gun as they slow dance. It was just like really, really great. Yeah, as we say, Berlin, the only one I know is take my breath away. Yeah, exactly. Pretty woman at all. That's an odd compliment. You're like, darling, you're like a sex worker to me. Like, oh, okay? Like a, all right.

Big mistake. Huge. Dylan, what highlights did you have? I really love that. that they include the moment of Erica meeting her dentist. Yes. Just because it's awkward. You know, I love just a little awkward scene throughout in there. You know, neither of them seem to realize that they know each other right away.

Or maybe one of them does and doesn't really want to admit it because they're not sure the other one does. And just, yeah, very awkward stuff. Wonderful. That's what I live for. These little just like interstitial awkward moments of them living their lives and having to grin through an interoperate. that they know what I have. I love the idea of like a dentist not being sure if he knows someone and really trying to get them to like laugh or smiles. So you can see the inside of their teeth.

Just getting as close to his face, her face as he can. Just being like I feel like I know those bicuspids, but I'm trying to place them. Can you try saying something? I'm going to put my hands in your mouth. Now talk. Oh, yeah. I know you. Yeah.

Oh, they're little. an armpit, so who knows, maybe that's not. Yeah, that's true. Did you have any other highlights on? Not really. I mean, I do want, I just want to see more and more of Kyle Richards and Morgan Wade. I've got, I don't see more of their dynamic. I want to see what's going on between those two women with the names of four men between them. Kyle, Kyle is so giving me Demi Moore vibes, right?

Is it just me? I feel like her more recent faces have been perhaps modeled on Demi Moore. Okay. Yeah, possibly. But she also kind of sounds like she's got the raspy voice and stuff. So I was getting, I was getting Denny Moore there, which, no, not bad. Hey, go for it. Yeah.

I think that we touched on everything that I wanted to talk about. We can move into the what's weird. Mary, did you have anything weird that sit out to you? When they cut to the picture of Jeff and his fiancé and her face was blurred out. That was weird. Like, why did you, what is, why? Like, had she been on the show at all before or like? No, she hasn't.

So she must not have a release. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So she wouldn't do it. But it's just like, then why cut to that picture? The whole picture is like, here's the two of them. But I can't, I won't show you the other person.

Like, that was really funny. I mean, it was weird. It's just like proof that she actually existed at some point. Why is that relevant? Like, another this could exist. We don't care. It's all fake. Who knows.

Dylan, how about you? There's a moment where Erica does an impression of a referee blowing a whistle, just as part of a sentence she's saying. Remember this? And she does it so fucking well. Just like she whistles in a way that sounds so much like a soccer referee's whistle. And I was just so impressed by that. She was just.

I was wondering if that was sound design or if that was actually her doing the impression. I feel in my heart it was her. I don't know. But, you know, she's an icon. And so I think she could pull it off. And I think she did. Excellent. Yeah, no, I had two things that were weird.

The first was at the intro to the party. The step and repeat had like one of the, you know, the sponsors on it. It was Beverly Beach by Dorit, which was the brand that Durit started a few seasons ago that we've heard nothing about since. So I don't know if that is still going or not. But the fact that it is a sponsor for this event just was. very like savvy businesswoman of Doreet to get her her brand put on that or they're just repurposing the step and repeat that she already owns, which could also be the case. But one thing that stood out to me when we were getting the montage of everyone getting ready was we got a short little scene with Crystal and Rob. And, you know, it was expressing the goal was to express why Rob was not going to be there.

and Crystal's just like, oh, what is your event? And he's like, oh, it's for the brave little toaster. And she's like, oh, okay, well, I'll meet you after. I mean, if you didn't know who Rob was, it would be like, wait, what? That doesn't make any sense. But he directed the Lion King. So he's got his, like, his foot in that world very firmly planned. That makes a lot more sense.

But, yeah, that's, but, you know, it's kind of interesting that, like, he's going for the brave little toaster, whereas Maricio was doing something. I don't remember what it was, where he couldn't be at the funeral or a celebration of life. And then just different levels of husband quality going on here. Yeah, totally. Okay, well, let's quickly identify who our all-star picks are from this episode. Mary, do you want to go first? Crystal, Sutton's esophagus, and Taylor Dane.

Yeah, right on. Yeah. Dylan, how about you? Um, yeah, this is, this is a tough one for me. Um, yeah, let's get Crystal. She has a strong, uh, strong, uh, story. Even though, you know, she loses some points for like trying to, uh, prove her side of the esophagus story by saying like Google auto, auto completed a sentence.

And that's proof that like, it's a real thing. Um, but, uh, but she, she got a lot of screw time. Got a, we got a developer character a lot more. So sure, let's get Crystal in there. Um, let's get our amazing performers who wowed everybody. Erica for doing the whistle and Morgan Wade for playing everybody's favorite hits. My picks are the exact same as you, Mary. I think Crystal, obviously, Sutton's esophagus, making another appearance here. We're going to get really tired of this soon, but not yet. It's still fun.

and oh what did we say for the third one we had crystal i said taylor dane oh taylor dane yeah for sure taylor dane uh love to see taylor dain there looking great that's good for her if she did a co-lap with morgan wade that'd be so magical yeah well look out for that maybe we'll see yeah um well thank you so much for doing this mary uh do you want to tell us a little bit about benix the mighty i do yeah so it's a a comedy podcast, a scripted fantasy comedy podcast, lots of words together. So if you imagine kind of a mix-up of Terry Pratchett and Hello from the Magic Tavern put together. Oh, okay. I wrote it and directed it, and I play a part in it, but the thing I'm really most excited about that,

I want everyone to understand is the cast is so freaking good. I've got some, I mean, some of the, like, some really great talented artists of Milwaukee, but, like, they're really good. Like, there's so amazing people so, so, so funny. And so I really want people to hear that just so that they could hear these talented actors do their thing because they're so good. The hardest part of making this was just not messing up the takes by laughing. You know, it was like the Princess Bride. So, yeah, it drops every Friday.

They're really short episodes. So if you want to, like, kind of group them all together and like binge watch, you could totally do that. but yeah I really hope people see it because I'm super proud of it and super excited about the cast and everyone who's done such great work awesome I'm gonna have to check that out

I literally last night just started reading truckers by Terry Pratchett to my five year old son so I'm gonna be checking that out for sure Dylan want to let people know where they can find you yeah if you've heard me making a movie references in the show you'll probably notice that my movie opinions

are impeccable so I do have a substance where we're at movie opinions under my name, Dylan Ferguson. Read that. Yeah. Do it. Awesome. I'm Craig Midwinter. You can mostly just find me here on Bravo Outsider.

We're on Instagram at Bravo Outsider. We're on YouTube, Bravo Outsider. Check out our website, made some changes. Bravo Outsider.com. We're also on TikTok and X, the usual places. Just look us up. You'll find us. Be sure to like and subscribe on,

YouTube, leave a review on your podcasting platform of the choice that really helps us out a ton. Until next week, keep on wiping.