Celebrities
Freefalls, fights & one Lisa Rinna freakout: The ‘Housewives’ roundup
Do you love Bravo, but have a hard time keeping up with drama of the Real Housewives and the denizens of “Summer House”? We watch them all — so you don’t have to. Here are this week’s Bravo highlights.
Real Housewives of Atlanta
The “Real Housewives of Atlanta” (and several of their closest friends) are allegedly glamping this week — though it seems awfully light on the “glam” part (Marlo Hampton’s hand-bedazzled can of bug spray notwithstanding). Which is fine — because it starts out by giving us everything we love from the Atlanta women, and never stops: The testimonials are hilarious and over-the-top. Phaedra Parks’ got an endless supply of single entendres about pitching tents, and constant reasons to reference Marlo’s omnipresent cameltoe… And of course, nonstop fighting, between everyone, about everything.
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But there are also real moments of kindness and solidarity, like when all the women sincerely comfort Cynthia Bailey when she reveals her divorce is nearly finalized. Kenya Moore also continues on her impressive journey this season: On night one of the trip, Marlo said some next-level inappropriate stuff about Kenya’s mom not wanting her (she was essentially abandoned to be raised by her grandparents as a baby) — and Kenya brings it up calmly at the final dinner, saying that it deeply hurt her… But that she knows Marlo was coming from a place of hurt when she said it, and apologizes to Marlo for hurting her in the past. It’s breathtakingly generous.
The highs and lows of the trip are perfectly encapsulated in a segment where Kenya takes them to do a bungee-jump freefall in the woods. Though some of the women are genuinely terrified, they receive support from the rest of the group, and it’s all in all pretty inspiring.
Porsha Williams’ giddy, adrenaline-fueled mix of laughter and tears when she completes the jump is everything about this episode distilled into one awesome moment.
Summer House
The main problem with “Summer House,” other than the fact that everyone on it is boring and kind of terrible, is that the desperation to get drama on the screen is so severe, and the skillset so limited, that very little actually makes any sense at any time.
Dysfunctional couple Everett Weston and Lindsay Hubbard sneak away from a pre-party at the “Nontauk” house for Kyle Cooke’s birthday to canoodle, but then quickly begin arguing about — …well, we’re not sure what they’re arguing about, but we’re sure they are absolutely not clear on what they’re arguing about — and when Ashley Wirkus goes in to check on Lindsay, within fifteen seconds she’s also yelling at Lindsay for no real reason, so it spills out into the hallway, where everybody chills just yelling at each other for a while, before Everett leaves the house like a sulky, disconsolate toddler.
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We don’t mind watching a good fight play out on TV, but it has to actually be about something — we could just pop down the road and hang out with our drunkenly quarreling neighbors and have a better time. But the worst part is when Kyle realizes that no one’s going out for his birthday anymore — somehow, we actually feel kind of sad for him. Stop making us have feelings about Kyle!
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
This week on the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” it’s the Lisa Rinna show! Watch as Rinna, confronted by rumors of her being the one to feed Eden Sassoon’s obsession with Kim Richards’ sobriety, unconvincingly deny saying Kim was close to death — and that sister Kyle was the enabler, despite ample video evidence! Marvel as she whips herself into a frenzy of tears, as she asks someone to remove the imaginary knife from her back! Scratch your head and say, “Who in the what now?” as she emulates Erika Jayne, in a cathartic table dance set to EJ’s song “Painkillr”! It’s all about Rinna this week — so hold onto your wigs and prepare for emotional whiplash like you’ve never experienced before.
“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, “Summer House” airs Mondays at 10 p.m., and the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m — all on Bravo.