After what was a rather frustrating season to get through, I had no high expectations from this group of women. Whatever morsel of hope I had left was basically diminished. They spent two seasons ganging up on a single housewife, while hiding their own issues, yet they couldn’t understand why a lot of fans have turned against them. I thought season 9 was bad but the way these women (besides Garcelle, Sutton and default Dorit) treated Denise Richards for setting boundaries with her kids, was truly deplorable. The most hurtful to Denise being carried out by Lisa Rinna, someone she thought was a real friend for over 20 years.

So how will they treat the allegations levied against the Girardi’s that will take centre stage this season? That is yet to be determined but I wouldn’t expect any level of “accountability” from The Real Hypocrites of Not Beverly Hills (Harry Hamlin’s wife, Kathy Hilton’s brunette sister and the lady from Connecticut).

Episode 1 – Dressed to the 90210s

Garcelle is in her home with new bestie Sutton and Sheree Zampino (Bravo needs to hirer her asap). Garcelle tells them that she received an invitation for drinks with Lisa Rinna. She’s apprehensive about seeing Rinna because she’s displeased with how the situation with Denise was handled. I don’t blame her one bit. The three had a friendship before there was a RHOBH and Garcelle was as shocked as Denise to see how cruel Rinna was. It’s not surprising that as filming resumed, Rinna picked up the phone. How much are you willing to bet that she hasn’t texted Denise? Sutton is #MendingFences so she is supportive of this idea.

Over at Kyle‘s, we see her in bed with bandages on her nose. There have been multiple rumours about her having a nose job or two over the years but this time she had a proper excuse to have one. Her nose was broken on the set of that Halloween movie over a year ago (so she says) and she finally decided to fix it. I gotta admit, this is probably the most real Little Kathy’s sister (Kyle) has been on the show in about 3 years. She has never appeared less than “perfect”, so for her to actually film the procedure and appear on camera while recovering, is huge. That or the pandemic go to her. Either way, I appreciate this bit of realness and honesty.

She is joined by Rinna at first who tells her about plans to meet up with Garcelle. Kyle then says she wants to move on with Garcelle too, so she’s going to message her. Okay, whatever makes the show work. Erika and Dorit join shorty after. They talk about how they hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since the reunion taping and again, I’m not surprised. Outside of Kyle and Dorit hanging out for business reasons and (my assumption) because the have Lisa Vanderpump in common, these ladies do not even have lunch unless it’s for the show. Tell me again where the real friendships are? Anyways, Dorit invites them to some fancy bbq to kick things off.

We get to meet new housewife Crystal Minkoff by way of Kyle and Rinna. She is allegedly Little Kathy’s friend but she wasn’t there to give us the intro. I said allegedly because I find it hard to believe that of the many parties hosted in Beverly Hills by Little Kathy that Kyle had never seen or heard of her sister’s friend, Crystal, until she was cast on the show. Sutton has been bumped up to full time cast member and is now living in Kyle’s third or fourth home she has lived in since season 1. I’m excited to see what Sutton will bring this season.

Rinna and Garcelle meetup. As mentioned before, Garcelle wasn’t really looking forward to seeing her because at that point, she wasn’t fond of Rinna. Right off the bat Rinna starts apologising for not having Denise’s back like she should’ve but she couldn’t let it go. Garcelle asked her why that is and she gave her typical response, “she [Denise] wasn’t being truthful”. Is that the best Rinna could come up with? Rinna went as far as downplaying her friendship with Denise and in the next breath say she tried to protect her. One could see that Garcelle wasn’t buying any of Rinna’s crap but as she told Rinna, she will proceed with caution. Something tells me Rinna heard what she wanted and will spin what Garcelle said.

It was now time for Dorit’s bbq. To be quite frank, the episode was dry. The ladies arrive, one after the other, and I must admit they all looked good. The focus on Erika’s wardrobe was very obvious as we saw earlier in the episode when the cameras zoomed in on the many racks of clothing, shoes and jewelry in her overflow closet. She wore a very expensive necklace that received tons of attention from the women. I’m sure the victims of the charges against the Girardis loved seeing that. Little Kathy provided some comic relief and revealed she used to perform dental work on the kids in the neighbourhood. Somewhere, there are adults walking around with fear of the dentist due to Little Kathy. LOL.

The final scene in episode 1 laid the groundwork for what I believe we can expect from this season. Erika decided to share that she fell into a depressive state during the lockdown but she had dinner with Tom every night, so that was good for her. Mind you, it has been reported that Tom now has Alzheimers. I’m just wondering if Erika saw any signs. After all, Little Kathy asked the women to name two things they realised they couldn’t live without during the pandemic, and Erika said her dog and Tom. I find this fascinating because she didn’t mention her son (the one she snapped at Eileen for). It makes what followed in the press and in the next episode very suspicious to me. Rinna is chosen by the producers as the host the cast trip, so she tells the ladies that she has found a house in Lake Tahoe for them to spend some time.

Episode 2 – Two Truths and a Lie

You’ve made it this far, so just stick around for a few more scrolls. I promise I won’t ramble on. I haven’t really felt the urge to blog because after watching the first episode, my suspicions were confirmed. This season is being edited to put Erika in a victim position. Listen, I can only speculate but things just don’t add up.

Garcelle and Kyle finally sit down to talk. The issue of Kyle waiting till the reunion to mention to Garcelle that she hadn’t received her pledge for the charity was on the table. Kyle hosted a charity event for a children’s hospital last season (this was taped in November 2019) and hadn’t received Garcelle’s donation. We found this out during the season 10 reunion that aired months after filming ended which meant that Kyle’s need to embarrass Garcelle was more important than the money needed for the charity. She pretty much said that in her confessional. Garcelle asked her if she would’ve done the same to a white woman and then proceeded to tell Kyle why that implication is worse for her. Kyle apologises and the two decide to start fresh. First Rinna, then Kyle? These women sure know how to turn it on for the cameras.

The cast gather together to fly to Lake Tahoe but not before we had to see Erika picking out clothes and shoes for the trip. She mentions Tom like 20 times which is probably double the amount she did in the previous episode. What’s your angle Erika? Me thinks someone knew a certain news was about to hit. As pointed out by a Twitter user, the beginning of the Lake Tahoe trip was shot on October 28, about 5 days before the divorce announcement which will play out to detract from the very serious allegations against Tom and possibly Erika.

They play a game of two truths and a lie where Erika mentions that she once wore a wire in a government case, she was adopted and that she worked for the mafia. The comment that caught my attention and I’m sure many fans of the show, is the one about wearing a wire in a government case. Again, what’s your angle Erika? Garcelle and Rinna have a chat to see where they are at since their meeting. Garcelle asks Rinna how can trust that if she shares something with her, it won’t come back and be used against. Can you believe Rinna sad she can’t promise Garcelle that she won’t betray her? No one needs a friend like Rinna.

The moment that had many people talking came at the very end with Sutton and Crystal getting into a disagreement. Sutton expresses to Kyle that she was happy to know she and Garcelle spoke. Kyle tells both Sutton and Crystal that she hadn’t thought of what her comment could mean for Garcelle (she’s admitting her privilege here without saying it) and Sutton was in agreement. Crystal begins to add her bits to the dialogue, also in agreement, but Sutton cuts her off before she could finish her thought, by claiming she too has a stereotype. Now, there’s a stereotype for many things but what Sutton did is what I’ve come to realise a lot of people like her do. They use the fact that some white people are called rednecks and conflate it with other racial stereotypes for Black, Asian and other races. It must be stated that a redneck stereotype does not carry any weight when put up against racism and bigotry toward non-white people. Sutton apologised to Crystal in real time (I hope she did this on the show) and she accepted it. It’s unfortunate for them that this is reality tv and they will live this 3 times before season 12 comes around.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on bravotv Wednesdays at 8pm.

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