Monsters and Critics columnist Liz Long recaps The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Season 11, Episode 18, Del Mar by the Shade, with a little help from a glass of Rose (or two) …
Hi, my Housewives lovers! We are in the thick of it and Erika and Sutton are officially no longer friends … the “Ice Queen” is sounding more and more like a robot with each passing episode, and Garcelle might just become part of the inner circle after all!
It’s your recap, my loves. Let’s go.
Kathy Hilton decided to host her own “girls’ trip” and, hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to Del Mar they go!
Kathy hosts the ‘ladies’ in Del Mar
Now, I wasn’t very familiar with Del Mar prior to this episode, but it apparently has seals by the sea who like to get it on. And get it on these seals did at Kathy’s “pop-up picnic”!
Oh, I long the day I’m as rich as Mrs. Hilton that I host pop-up picnics, engage in “sound baths,” and have a “lady” who delivers my purse to me at an intersection whenever I forget it at home.
But back to the pop-up. Sutton can’t make it because she is having swollen ankle problems, giving Erika the perfect opportunity to turn all gangster and tell the others “she should be threatened.”
Oh, who am I kidding? Erika would say this directly to Sutton’s face and the ladies continue to be taken aback by Erika’s brazenness — not to mention the twists and turns of her Tom stories.
The twist this week? Tom is being committed to a home because he has dementia, and he “allegedly” was unconscious for 12 hours that time he tumbled his car down the hill.
But this episode wasn’t SO much about Erika as it was perhaps about Garcelle.
Garcelle has a break-through with the group
At dinner, the ladies started out the evening by going around the table and expressing to each other how they were feeling.
“I’m happy.” “I’m fearful.” “I’m anxious.”
Hi happy, fearful, and anxious. Might the rest of the 7 dwarves be joining us this evening for Chilean Sea Bass?
When Kathy opened the can of worms by explaining she was anxious because there was still some unresolved tension throughout the group, this gave everyone the perfect opportunity to talk over each other and hash out their respective beefs.
Of course, we began with Sutton and Erika where Erika wasn’t down for being called a “liar” and Sutton wasn’t down for being called “small-town.”
However, now that everyone has agreed Dorit is “long-winded,” she can’t even get five words in before being shut down (even by Kathy! And when the Queen speaks – they listen).
Rinna, however, channeled her old-school “own it” vibe and told Garcelle, if you want a friend, you need to be a better friend. (Poor Garcelle. Rinna is never going to let her live down that time she hosted her birthday party and Harry made her sauce.)
But this opens the door for Garcelle to share how nobody took up for her at Dorit’s house. And she has felt like an outsider all her life and feels different every time she walks into a room.
Garcelle broke down and as all the ladies agreed, it was a beautiful moment. They felt closer to the vulnerable Garcelle and Garcelle was happy too.
So all is well in Beverly Hills! Right?
Wrong. We still have Sutton and Erika who don’t speak … but things just might change next week. We see Erika giving Sutton a compliment(!) … but Sutton just might ruin all of that as she talks about Erika on her hotel patio directly above Erika’s ears.
Oh, where’s Jasmine to deliver a good ol’ sound bath and drown out all the noise when you need her?
C’est la vie.
‘Til next week my Housewives lovers!
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.