I feel like I keep saying this week after week but… Can this season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City get any crazier? Every week I think we’ve reached the apex of insanity. And then the following week somehow manages to top it. Like, we’re way past a Housewife getting arrested minutes before a cast trip. And I’m not even talking about everything that’s gone down in the news this week regarding Jennie Nguyen and her racist Facebook posts. No, I’m only referring to things we’ve seen play out in front of Bravo’s cameras. It truly felt like we had entered some other parallel universe this week. But maybe that’s just the magic of Zion.
At the top of the hour, drama is at an all-time high. Meredith Marks has just stormed away from dinner and delivered her iconic “Who’s calling who a fraud? Love you baby, bye!” line. And I wouldn’t fault you for thinking that would be the end of the argument. But, no! That’s just the end of round one. Because almost as quickly as she slammed the door, Meredith’s reopened it, ready to take on Jen Shah again.Which provides the perfect opening for Whitney Rose to drop another bomb on the group: that everyone’s starting to think Meredith might have had something to do with Jen getting indicted.
At this accusation, Meredith lets out a laugh so chilling it borders on the maniacal. To be clear, though, she finds the entire idea preposterous. It’s crazy to think she would’ve called the FBI on Jen, she informs Whitney, who’s now frantically chasing her through the house for answers. (Never mind that less than five minutes ago, she was threatening Jen with just how much she knows that she’s kept secret…) But Meredith’s pretty sure the FBI is capable of tracking down and arresting Jen without any assistance from her. And you can’t really say she’s wrong there…
The big question always comes back to one thing: why weren’t Mary Cosby and Meredith on the bus? Not only on the day Jen was arrested but also on this trip to Zion. And it seems like anything that’s not insidious won’t be a good enough answer to quell the women’s suspicions. Meanwhile, back at the table, Jen is questioning whether Lisa Barlow has felt supported by Meredith…when Meredith decides to come back for a third go-round. This time to confront the entire table. Meredith demands to know who’s telling everyone she’s the FBI’s informant, but all the ‘Wives are quick to deny, deny, deny.
Here’s the thing that’s bothering me: Whitney and Heather Gay are the ones who’ve put that idea into the universe. And they seem to be getting away with it with no accountability. Heather was the one that put the idea in Jen‘s head that Mary and Meredith may have had something to do with her arrest. And Whitney’s been co-signing it this whole time. But neither of them is getting called out on it. By anyone. Hopefully that gets addressed at the reunion once all the ‘Wives can see the full picture. Jen doesn’t appreciate the backtracking. And even though, I’m definitely not on her side in all this, neither do I.
Meredith storms away…again. But the night’s not over yet. Jen goes on the attack, blaming Jennie for starting this whole mess and inexplicably calling Lisa a “f–king liar” as she, too, storms through the house in a rage. Though not before chucking a first aid kit at the place Jennie was sitting just minutes prior. Upstairs, Meredith turns to Brooks Marks for solace, but creeping around the corner, Jen interrupts the phone call. And suddenly, the two nemeses find themselves alone for the first time since Jen’s arrest. A tearful Jen asks Meredith point blank if she knew what was going to happen that day in the parking lot of Beauty Lab. Meredith vociferously denies knowing anything, and it becomes clear that Jen just has no idea who to trust or what to believe anymore.
Next thing you know, the moment has turned on its head and Meredith‘s the one comforting Jen! Now this is certainly something I never thought we would see, this season or any other. As Mary looks on, Meredith brings Jen into a hug, and the latter simply bursts into tears. She’s at the end of her rope and somehow, some way, Meredith is the only person whose compassion she needs in the moment. Jen hugs it out with Mary too, and suddenly the trio of enemies are laughing and acting like the insanity of dinner never even happened.
So everything’s good now, right? The next morning, the ‘Wives are all feeling refreshed and relieved. That is, until they’re awoken by the sound of Meredith screaming. Surprise! She’s mad again. In fact, mad might be an understatement. She’s on a rampage. And it’s not even breakfast time yet. Turns out, Lisa crept into her room in the middle of the night and let slip that some of the other women (i.e. Whitney and Heather) are questioning whether Meredith really went to Aspen early for her dad’s memorial service. Or whether the memorial even really happened.
So now Meredith is fuming. At Lisa. At the other women. At the air around her. Heather, Whitney and Jen cower under a blanket together as they listen to Meredith’s shouting reverberate throughout the house. She (jokingly?) threatens to call the CIA while the other women gossip about her behind her back. And suddenly Jen can’t decide whether she dreamed up her conversation with Meredith from just hours before. Lisa takes the brunt of Meredith’s aggression as she tries to calm down her friend to no avail. Not even an omelette and awkward interruption from Mary can diffuse the situation.
Meredith finally puts her issues with Lisa out in the open. The tension has been building between the two all season, and Meredith’s blaming her bestie for bringing on the hostility. Never mind that Bravo rolls footage of Meredith losing it on Lisa at shabbat dinner in the premiere. The ice fishing trip. The disastrous pho luncheon. And that’s not even every example. Meanwhile, more jabs are happening in the kitchen as Mary tells Heather that Jennie doesn’t matter to her and she couldn’t care less.
Eventually, Heather is somehow the one to magically calm everything down. She rallies all the women to spend the day exploring Zion’s gorgeous slot canyons. Even Meredith joins! And between the hiking, off-roading and repelling, everyone actually has a great time! No one’s rope even gets cut. During dinner that night, the miracles continue with Mary apologizing to Jennie for the disdain she’s treated her with basically all season. What is happening?? (Also Jennie admits via confessional that she spent a year in anger management after breaking her husband’s ribs, so…)
Following dinner, the women get the party started by creating “Club Zion” in the basement of the villa. And everyone is still having a great time! Mary and Jen are dancing together. Lisa‘s doing the splits. Jennie and Meredith are taking turns on the pole. It’s like the all-out war of the last 24 hours never even happened. The party eventually moves out to the hot tub, and the ladies wake up the next morning blearily unsure of what exactly happened. All they know is Whitney, Jen and Meredith all woke up in Lisa’s room. And for once, no one’s fighting! At least not until next week…
TELL US – WERE YOU SHOCKED TO SEE MEREDITH AND JEN HUG IT OUT? ARE YOU TEAM LISA OR TEAM MEREDITH? SHOULD WHITNEY AND HEATHER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY OF THE MEREDITH GOSSIP? DID CLUB ZION REALLY FIX THINGS BETWEEN THE LADIES?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
