Season 9 Episode 8 Recap: Showdown at Villa Rosa

Congratulations to Lisa Vanderpump, John Sessa, Sen. Alcee Hastings and all parties involved in passing the bill to end the dog and cat meat trade around the world.

As #puppygate drags on, the episode begins with Denise and Aaron going through their wedding gifts. It’s a cute moment but I’m really over hearing about Charlie Sheen in almost every other sentence in Denise’s confessionals. Is this all she has to offer? Next! 

A BUNCH OF HOGWASH

We then cut to Lisa Vanderpump (LVP) in the Vanderpump Dogs Centre (VDC) filming a segment for the Puppy Bowl. John Sessa then suggests that they host an event for House Resolution 401 (HRes401) which is to help stop the dog and cat meat trade around the world. The thing is, it would be the same day as the charity ride they (VDC) had planned with Teddi. I could already tell how this would unfold.

Teddi is home having a chat with her husband, Edwin. They start talking about the upcoming charity ride that she and VDC had planned. Her liaison? None other than Blizzard. She goes on to say she had not heard from VDC about the charity ride but she’s still doing it because she had made a commitment. She hints at not knowing whether LVP would show up or not because she hadn’t heard from her. I find this completely laughable because she hadn’t called or had spoken to LVP about anything all season but expected to hear from her about an event that they’ve done before. If anyone follows the casts’ social media, they’d know that LVP hadn’t been to any of these cycling events prior to #puppygate. Like Teddi said, someone from VDC always shows up. So why was she questioning this? Had she spoken to LVP she’d have known that she had an event, put together at the last minute for HRes401, but that wouldn’t have served her narrative well. 

As you saw in the clip, Dorit phoned Teddi to speak about the article from RadarOnline. Dorit starts singing like a bird, expressing her hurt over the article and that she knows for a fact LVP put the story about #puppygate out in the press. At this point, Teddi proclaims that she doesn’t like people who claim things are fine but go around and bring other people into the issue. The problem with that is, that never happened. If you’ve been following since the beginning, you’d know that Teddi planned to bring up the situation with Blizzard, which took place before Dorit filmed with Erika. Teddi claims again that first LVP brought her into #puppygate (still no proof of that), brought Kyle into it (we saw that LVP tried to shut down the situation but Teddi “filled” Kyle in regardless) and now she’s bringing this to the press after pretending all was fine (no proof of LVP doing that but we do have proof of her resolving the issue with Dorit and PK, only for Teddi and Kyle to bring it up in The Bahamas). Isn’t it funny how both Teddi and Dorit have now accused LVP of being behind a set up yet none had actual proof of anything? Both Teddi and Dorit, instead of calling LVP to ask about “suspicions” they had, talked about it to everyone else but her. Like Teddi said in her blog on Bravo’s website this week, “it’s the little things”.

THE CATTY BUNCH

The women meet at Cycle House Alfred where the event will be held. It’s still early but Teddi is already on edge and seems like she was expecting VDC to not show up. When VDC actually does show up, she exclaims it’s not who she expected because she planned the event with Blizzard. Teddi again decides to point out that she hadn’t heard from LVP. Am I the only who remembered her saying at Camille’s birthday party that they were not friends? So why does she expect to her from LVP? Did she call her at any point to ask about the supposed set up at VDC? Rinna makes some snarky remark about if LVP comes, would she ride a bike. Well, had there not been an event at VDC that day, I have no doubt in my mind she would have shown up. I mean she showed up for Kyle in season 6 when they did a charity for Habitat for Humanity. Funny how Evolution showed a clip of Erika at that event but didn’t use the full clip of the room.

If they had any interest in what LVP’s life or called her at any point, they’d know about the event. Rinna then decides to talk about the RadarOnline article and how much it upset her to read it but wasn’t too concerned or upset about this…

They all seem to make allowances for Rinna to go extremely low because she “owns it” but none have tried to hear LVP’s side without basically castigating her. Rubbish! 

After cycling they gather for lunch to further paint the most horrendous picture of LVP’s character.

To start, Kyle informed the women that LVP wasn’t at the event because she was hosting another event at VDC but they of course question LVP’s motive and start mocking her. Truly the most mean spirited scene I’ve ever seen on this show. Denise doesn’t seem to understand why LVP wouldn’t show up to the charity then go to her event. This is where Kyle was supposed to tell the women what the event was for and that LVP wanted to be present when the vote for the bill was made, but she didn’t.

Dorit takes her shot by stating again that she knows LVP planted the story with Erika chiming in, that she thinks whar LVP did was indefensible and that she manipulated the truth as there were less than 10 people who knew the story. How in the world would Erika know this? Has she ever asked LVP about what went down? Did she ever try to hear LVP’s side? She portrays herself to be this fair person, yet all she knew about the situation was from one source, Dorit. What’s indefensible is her behaviour in this situation. But that’s Erika for you. She’s never given LVP a chance. The women start talking about the language used in the article and that it sounded like LVP. Rinna and Teddi said the use of “poor creature” affirmed their belief. What’s funny, is the article doesn’t make use of that term. Me thinks Rinna and Teddi know exactly how this article came about. 

Kyle feels she can’t defend LVP because there had been allegations in the past of her leaking stories to the press and she also feels that there’s truth to it. All this while stating she has no proof of any of these allegations. This really shocks me because Kyle had actual proof of Teddi planning to take Dorit down and has defended her but has no proof of LVP doing anything, but won’t defend her. Some friend, huh?. Then again I’m not surprised because back in season 2 she said this about Taylor.

Here, Kyle explicitly states she couldn’t believe Taylor’s claims because she had no proof of the abuse. I was shocked in 2011 and I’m still shocked today. Taylor was Kyle’s friend and she doubted the abuse. I should have seen it then how Kyle operates. 

Dorit continued to play the role of a victim since all the women were now in her corner, telling her she did nothing wrong. This just makes me think that these women only care about their own pets and no one else’s. How have they let Dorit skate by with no criticism? 

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

So Kyle was tasked with the plan to address the women’s feelings toward LVP. On her way to LVP’s she talked about having defended her in the past but she can’t in good conscience do so because it doesn’t feel right and she wants to set a good example for her daughters. It’s so funny that Evolution keeps going back to season 4 and season 6 to prove any point Kyle tries to make as if we didn’t watch the episodes ourselves. 

The flashback to season 6 in the clip, to show Kyle defending LVP, couldn’t be more wrong and further from the truth. If anyone recalls that lunch after the women went cycling for Habitat for Humanity, put on by The Agency, the Lisa that Kyle was referring to, as it pertained to munchausen was Lisa Rinna, not LVP. Good try Evolution. 

In the scene Kyle does what she usually does and stirs up drama. Yolanda and Rinna spoke about their issue and resolved it but not to Kyle’s satisfaction, so she whispered to LVP just so the conversation can be brought up again. Sounds familiar? This is what she did with #puppygate. Had she left it alone when LVP told her it was resolved, it would have been dead before The Bahamas.

She arrives at LVP’s house and I witnessed the most heartbreaking scene as a fan of the show.

I tried to wrap my head around what took place and why Kyle believes LVP would do such a thing. She claims she has no proof of what she’s accusing LVP of but still decided to attack her in her own home.

All I can think about is back in season 2 as I’ve mentioned in my blog Kyle Is The True Sniper From The Side; more specifically Episode 11 – Tempest In Tea Party. In that scene, the women gathered at LVP’s house for tea, where they talked to Taylor about their feelings but as Taylor highlighted, the plan was to confront LVP. While having the chat and moments before Taylor’s abuse was brought up, Kyle she didn’t know whether to believe Taylor or not because she had never seen Russell be abusive. Need I remind you that that Kyle and Taylor were “friends” and she was doubting her story. Taylor announces that there had been talks about LVP’s ego being inflated. The same clip was shown by Evolution. But why would they say that? What transpired after season 1? Like I stated, most of the women wanted their own spin off and were rejected by Bravo but Vanderpump Rules was picked up. This is why they claimed LVP’s ego was out of control and even Paul, Adrienne’s ex husband, said Kyle had been the main one who kept talking behind LVP’s back, the most. She probably was never really over what happened on season 3 or 4 when LVP and her weren’t as close because Kyle never defended her. I guess someone does holds a grudge longer than LVP.

Since the fallout, they’ve tried to paint a narrative to the world and their fans that Ken is aggressive toward women which is truly horrible. In season 3 when Paul (sorry to drag Paul into this cuz at the time I understood his frustration) was shouting down Brandi and threatening her, Kyle didn’t seem to think that was wrong. When Mauricio was upset at Brandi in the Moroccan restaurant, Kyle said this

But was so shocked that Ken raised his voice at her. I do recall Mauricio being rude to LVP in that same scene.

If it seems like I’m making Mauricio out to be someone he’s not, then Kyle, the cast, and the fans should see what they’re attempting to do to Ken is wrong. Whatever story came out about the argument would only benefit one person, Kyle. So if we’re supposed to believe that VDC would benefit from the article being out about Dorit, so LVP planted it, then the same goes for the article about the “showdown at Villa Rosa”. With that said…

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Tuesdays at 9pm on Bravo.

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