Katie’s blowup with Shannon may have made her storm out of Heather’s party, but fear not: The drama isn’t walking out the door with her. Because just as she leaves, Tamra is arriving with a special guest in tow. Jo De La Rosa, not to be confused with Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti, is by her side. Jo, of course, was one of the five original Real Housewives (ever) and at the time was dating Gretchen’s boyfriend/fiancé, Slade. We’re reminded of this via a flashback of the pair’s breakup, which is from so long ago that the clip is in a totally different aspect ratio. In fact, this is likely the most distant flashback in Housewives history. It’s like looking at cave paintings.
As this pair is en route, they say a prayer to God for healing and for mending relationships. Imagine being God and getting a prayer from Jo and Tamra … together! God was probably starstruck. That’s probably why he forgot to answer said prayer, because as they’re walking in, they run into Katie just in time for a drive-by fight. Essentially, Tamra “checking on her” doesn’t go over well, given that she’s the one who told Shannon about the recording and thus started this whole mess.
So Tamra and Jo head into the party, where things should definitely go much smoother. “That’s so her, to bring Jo,” Gretchen says upon seeing their arrival, while the rest of the women grab their popcorn. Gretchen doesn’t think this little scene, which is a masterful display of Housewifery, means Tamra wants to move forward like she said she did. Luckily, Gretchen and Jo are actually fine and perfectly friendly, but that’s not the point, Gretchen says.
This also helps support everything Jenn has been saying about Tamra. Tamra keeps saying she’s changing, but Jenn says she always ends up back to her old tricks. Heather (whose birthday it was 53 days prior to this birthday party, by the way) tries to convince her to keep giving Tamra grace because of what she’s going through with Teddi. Even though Jenn feels as though Tamra has never extended that same grace, she goes up to her at the party and they make a plan to talk things out.
Somehow, a key part of this fight between the two of them has become this battle over which of them is trying to become the other. Tamra keeps saying that Jenn is trying to steal her whole life, even referencing a time when Jenn apparently had Tamra’s old hair extensions put in her head. Now, to be fair, I don’t think there’s a single blonde hair extension in the state of California that hasn’t been on Tamra Judge’s head at one time or another. In turn, Jenn is bringing up the fact that Tamra asked her for photos to use as a reference for her tummy tuck. Can’t we just all share with one another? Each of their respective looks isn’t particularly unique in Orange County.
As all of this festering is happening, Heather is off doing what Heather loves doing: roaming around a massive mansion that she’s in the process of renovating, talking to two real-estate agents about numbers I haven’t even heard of. She has decided to ditch the project altogether after realizing it doesn’t make sense for her family to ever live there, since everyone’s leaving the nest, so she tells the Joshes (Altman and Flagg of Million Dollar Listing) that she simply wants to break even. Everybody, pray for Heather.
Speaking of leaving the nest, Tamra is encouraging her daughter Sophia to do just that, even though the thought of it makes Sophia anxious. It’s not that she wants Sophia to move out — in fact, she hates the thought of it because she’s terrified that, like Sidney, she’ll never come back. But Tamra is actively trying to override that fear to encourage Sophia to do what she knows is best for her. As this conversation is happening, Sophia pierces her mother’s ears with next to no explanation. It’s like piercing each other’s ears with an at-home kit is just a regular thing that happens in the Judge household.
With all this talk about empty nesters, we need something to lighten things up, so naturally the show sends Shannon to an aerial-silk studio with Emily and Gretchen. Whenever my mood is low, all I need to fix things is to see Shannon Beador airborne. Send the woman parasailing, set her loose on a ropes course, or anything else of the sort — and I’m laughing. She’s like a modern-day Lucille Ball. Sure, they’re catching us all up on where they stand with Katie and Tamra, but all I care about is watching Shannon struggle on these silks like a P!nk concert gone wrong.
As that’s all going on, Katie is getting brunch with Heather and Gina, where (per usual) she finds herself on trial. She has to clarify what that encounter with Tamra outside the party actually looked like, denying Tamra’s claim that her husband, Matt, yelled at her. On top of that, Heather asks her if she met up with the radio host and influencer Kiki Monique, who hosts a show on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy. She had, but Katie denies Tamra’s claim that she had been asking Kiki to put out stories about the women. For what it’s worth, if Kiki’s boss is the show’s producer (Andy Cohen), I don’t really think she’s the one to go to with whatever this diabolical gossip is supposed to be.
Here’s the thing: Getting so chummy with all of these bloggers and podcasters isn’t a great look for Katie. But maybe if the women actually tried to be friends with her, she wouldn’t have to look to the fans in order to find a connection on her Housewives journey. She’s going out seeking something that her castmates aren’t giving her, but she does have to chill out with all of that because it’s just giving these women more and more ammunition.
Finally, it’s time for Tamra and Jenn’s sit-down. “I have that belt,” Tamra says as Jenn approaches, in what could otherwise be taken as an innocuous compliment. But lest we forget that so much of this feud is now about them Single White Female–ing each other, so this was actually a nuanced dig that she knew wouldn’t play in the moment but could be picked up by us at home. That’s an artist at work right there.
Their conversation is wide-ranging, trying to encompass everything about what went wrong in their friendship. Yes, Tamra went after Ryan, and Jenn went after Eddie, but ultimately this tit-for-tat largely comes down to just how similar they are, right down to their dirty laundry. Jenn doesn’t understand where Tamra’s superiority complex comes from given this. How can Tamra come after her for cheating when Tamra did the same thing, she wonders? This is when Tamra suggests that Jenn didn’t cheat just once, explaining in her confessional that there are also rumors of a previous tryst at a yoga studio. It seems as though she knows that the rumor doesn’t hold any water, and that’s why she’s saying it via confessional and not directly to Jenn, who has no idea what she’s talking about.
So rather than linger on that, Tamra brings up the Single White Female stuff, beginning with the hair extensions. Jenn can hardly believe her ears. Her stylist clipped those extensions in as a joke, and they were in for only a minute, she explains. She didn’t even leave the salon with them! Plus Jenn was the one who told Tamra about that as a funny story. If it were creepy, she surely wouldn’t have shared that herself. Nonetheless, in her confessional, Tamra solemnly warns us, “If I die in the middle of the night of stab wounds, it’s her. She’s gonna stand over my bed … It’s gonna happen one day.” She is so ridiculous … and thank God!
After Tamra storms out, Jenn goes to leave — stopping to pet a dog and mingle with her constituents. As she does so, the puppy starts to nibble at her hair, and she says, “You like my hair? And it’s not Tamra’s hair, either.” Perfect.