“You come back or you’re fired!” That’s the ultimatum Jeff Lewis barked into his phone during the final minutes of last night’s Flipping Out.
Believe it or not, Jeff is ready to fire beloved house manager and surrogate mom Zoila Chavez over a silly argument involving lunch orders. But before that happens, he throws her a birthday party and gives her a Prada handbag! The bipolar turn of events that follows includes Zoila not being grateful enough (at least, I think that’s what crawled up Jeff’s hiney hole) and Silent Matt proving himself “disloyal” in Jeff’s eyes. Not good for Jeff’s fragile ego, to say the least.
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The crew gathers for lunch, which Zoila is in charge of ordering and picking up. She’s not doing so hot at this job lately. Jenni Pulos thinks Zoila is getting too old to drive around, park, remember orders, etc…while Jeff thinks Zoila is living the sweet life. She’ll be 67 soon and is “house manager” now, helped out by an assistant housekeeper Laura (sp?) who does the heavy lifting. Laura is not interested in joining the Team Jeff beyond dusting his chotchkies. She can’t attend Zoila’s upcoming birthday dinner, and she wisely doesn’t want Jeff to know anything about her personal life. Laura wins the smartest person award.
Apparently Silent Matt also doesn’t want Jeff to know his personal biz, as Jeff is having a coronary over recent news that Matt had a movie night with Chaz Dean and his assistant, LC. Chaz and his 22 properties are Jeff’s territory! Not Matt’s! At least that’s what Jeff thinks. He also weirdly feels it’s his business to know who Matt sees socially, and he plans to confront Matt at Zoila’s birthday party. Which is exactly what no one wants him to do. Prepare for the night to be ruined.
Before he gets down to the business of ruining parties, Jeff visits long time client Hania, who is both nutty and strangely endearing. She’s been working on the same massive 6 million-ish dollar property for 4 years, is going through a divorce, and is being swindled by her multiple contractors. Though she owns Coffee Bean and Subway franchises, she can not project manage herself out of a paper bag when it comes to this house project. Hania didn’t want to pay Jeff to project manage the job, but he’s still consulting with her twice a month on its progress – or lack thereof. It’s a mess.
Zoila’s party is held in a lovely library-like private dining room, where Jeff, Jenni, Gage Edward, Vanina Alfaro, Matt, and Megan Weaver join for dinner. Jeff toasts to “the nicest person I know,” offering lovely words to the mom figure in his life for these past 15 years. She opens presents from all, with the grand finale being Jeff’s gift of a gorgeous Prada handbag. Zoila is so giddy from the wine and extravagant presents, she even claims to love Gage!
But the love fest ends when Jeff confronts Matt: he knows what he did last Saturday at Chaz’s house. Matt says he’s not trying to go behind Jeff’s back, but he looks like he’s just sh*t his shorts at the table. Jeff is also suspicious of Matt asking for time off this week on short notice. Is Matt looking for another job? No, he claims. He’s just got a friend coming in to visit him. Mmm hmm. We’ll see about that.
Jenni and Vanina are in the car later that week when Jeff calls them to discuss the Matt issue. Why is he asking for time off so suddenly? WHO IS HE SEEING BEHIND JEFF’S BACK!?!? Jenni knows Jeff, once on a scent, will bloodhound his way to the very center of this poo-pile. But Matt is still claiming innocence.
Jeff, Vanina, and Jenni consult at a home store with a super chill client, Lana, which calms Jeff down for the moment. Accessories make everything better!
Back at the office, Jeff needles Matt about rescheduling with his “out of town friend.” He tells Matt it seems a little suspicious, no? Is he interviewing? Going to a training day for another job? Matt softly defends himself – there’s nothing fishy going on here, he swears. Oh well. He’s not cracking this case right now, but Jeff thinks his extreme paranoia/micromanaging will come in handy with his teenage daughter down the line. She won’t be getting away with jack squat under his watch!
Later on, Jeff reprimands Zoila for complaining about her duties. She only needs to clean half a house, and she’s got an assistant to help her. Getting lunch should be no big deal, right? Jenni thinks Zoila hates lunch duty though and is becoming combative with Jeff because she doesn’t want to admit it. Jeff says he doesn’t want to explode and scream all of the time about it, but it seems to be “the most effective” management style.
Back at Hania’s, she’s fed up with the lack of progress. One of her contractors, Robert, tries to explain the delays, but Hania calls him a liar. Fed up himself with this sh*t show, he storms off. But Jeff nudges him back, offering to be his point of contact from now on. So, Jeff is not the project manager…but he is the project manager now? Looks like his soft spot for Hania is going to cost Jeff Lewis Design lots of free labor. Hania does her best stank face in the background.
Lunch time. Zoila is quiet and withdrawn, which Jeff knows is her form of pouting. Jeff says he works 7 days a week to provide “all of this” for everyone here, including Zoila, so he gets frustrated when Zoila complains about her duties. Which are very limited these days. Zoila just grunts.
Jeff confesses the deeper emotional rift here: “I’m working very hard to make her happy in this relationship, and it doesn’t seem to be good enough.” He’s the son who can’t buy his mother’s love; she’s the mother who will never be happy with what she’s given. It’s entrenched familial manipulation at its finest, even though they’re not technically family. At least, that’s my view. Jeff’s buttons have been pushed like this each time he lavishes a gift on Zoila (car, plastic surgery, etc…), then finds himself in a position of still listening to her complain. A storm is brewing.
Well, the Matt mystery is solved. Jeff was right: Matt is quitting. As Jeff signs Matt’s 2-week notice, he gloats about being right all along. Gage is distraught – he cried more over Matt than he ever would over Jeff! Zoila is verklempt. Vanina is inconsolable, crying that “we pushed him out!” Jeff is playing it all off as no biggie, but deep down he’s hurt. He also knows how overwhelmed the team will be without Matt, who was a clutch player. Matt won’t tell anyone where he’s going but of course we all now know he went back to former employer, Kris Jenner. Ugh. So, what does that say about Jeff?
After finishing up final touches at Lana’s home – which is spectacular – Jeff and the gang leave to visit the crapfest of Hania’s renovation. No work has been done since they’ve visited last. Hania is at the end of her rope, admitting that yes, she needs to find new contractors. She fronted them too much money and now they have no incentive to keep working. She also needs a project manager up in this b*tch! But Jeff is still not being hired for the role. He agrees to consult with her though, and my prediction is that he will assume most management duties anyway despite not getting paid. She needs serious help.
It’s the night of Matt’s going away dinner. Going away dinner??? Yes, a first for Jeff Lewis. He admits most employees leave in a hail of resentment and hatred. But not so with Silent Matt! Jeff claims there’s no animosity between them, and even tells Matt at dinner that they’ll be there for him in the future, no matter what.
Gage is teary, Vanina is teary, Matt is about to literally start sobbing. He can hardly get words of thanks out, so they all just drink to numb their feelings instead. Gage will miss his Mini Gage. He alone knows how much Matt was actually doing at JLD, and he (on some level) might agree that they played a role in pushing him out the door. Poor Gage. Oh, the humanity!
All of this Matt and Zoila mayhem has thrown Jeff into an epic tizzy. His biggest trigger is disloyalty (remember Ryan?), so what happens next seems to be more about Jeff’s insecurities than it does about lunch. Yet it all begins with lunch, which Zoila botches yet again then tries to blame on the restaurant.
Jeff goes ballistic, screaming at her in a vicious tirade about her ineptitude over the simplest tasks! He’s got to leave for a trip, so he’s stressed about getting out the door on time too. Zoila is nearly crying as Jeff yells, “It’s not their fault, it’s YOUR FAULT!” She races out the door to pick up the missing lunch order, leaving Jeff to fume by himself.
As the team sit down to eat later, Jeff wonders where Zoila is? She dropped off the missing order, then took off again it seems. Jeff is incensed. He wants loyalty from her no matter what. Housekeeper Laura asks if she should call Zoila. No! Jeff instructs. He wants to handle this. So he does, by calling Zoila repeatedly, issuing threats that she better come home THIS MINUTE or she’s fired!
Laura is desperately texting Zoila under the table: Come home! Calm down! She’s also probably offering up a prayer of gratitude that she’s erected healthy boundaries between her employer and herself. She does not want to become Zoila 2.0
Zoila refuses to come home while Jeff is still there. He says he will not leave for his trip unless she is in this house! And if he has to cancel this trip because of her shenanigans, this is the end. He is NOT playing.
To Be Continued flashes across the screen next and we’re left to wonder: Is this the end of an era?
TELL US: IS JEFF’S OUTBURST OVER THE TOP? WOULD HE EVER ACTUALLY FIRE ZOILA?
Photo Credit: Bravo
