This week, Sara and Rosalinda get into the first-ever Park City Fashion Week and marvel at what constitutes a fashion line these days (we're looking at you, Brooks...). Then they get to dive into a series of scenes of our shining ladies getting real with highlights of Heather, Jen, and Whitney. Next, they try to breakdown Lisa's new year goals and wonder how one can get triplets from just one kiss. Finally, they get into the gossip machine that is Jen Shah and try to figure out why she's trying to dismantle Meredith's marriage, one piece at a time.
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Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!
This week, Sara and Rosalinda get into the first-ever Park City Fashion Week and marvel at what constitutes a fashion line these days (we're looking at you, Brooks...). Then they get to dive into a series of scenes of our shining ladies getting real with highlights of Heather, Jen, and Whitney. Next, they try to breakdown Lisa's new year goals and wonder how one can get triplets from just one kiss. Finally, they get into the gossip machine that is Jen Shah and try to figure out why she's trying to dismantle Meredith's marriage, one piece at a time.
Follow us on all of our socials:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJZaucK6j4_McwQQkMq3yqg
Twitter: https://twitter.com/metgalaluncheon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metgalaluncheon/
Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!
Hey guys! Welcome back to MET Gala Luncheon. I'm your host, Sara Van Tuerenhout and I'm joined
Rosalinda Mendez:Rosalinda!
Sara Van Tuerenhout:And this is the podcast where we break down our favorite reality TV shows and just dive into the craziness that ensues. This week we're looking at Episode Seven of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, "Fashion Faux Pas."
Rosalinda Mendez:So we start at the very first Park City Fashion Week.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yes. Where, you know, like all Housewives franchises, drama ensues.
Rosalinda Mendez:That's right, and it's really funny. It seems like all the Housewives franchises have figured out some way to have some kind of fashion show, even if it's usually some kind of fashion week if not. Like Atlanta, people are doing their own collections or doing collections that don't exist like SHE for Shere, but this time, there's an actual event, and we get to see Meredith, and her progeny, and his amazing collection.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yes, the Brooks Marks collection, which has been just I guess kind of hyped up until now. We're like seeing the fruits of his labor for the first time. But before we even get to see that we see a little bit of Mary. Again, it's like this show just sprinkles in a little bit of Mary. Which apparently, I'll just bring up a little side gossip here, But apparently she was originally going to be a friend of the Housewives and then due to the production shift, they made her a full fledged housewife. So that's probably why she doesn't show up as much, which I appreciate. She can keep her friend of the housewives roll.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, it seems it seems like she was like she's just always sprinkled in. She's like a little bit Tabasco.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah. But yeah, we see Mary entering into the fashion show where she inevitably runs into Jen, and of course, the Bravo Gods interfered. Or, you know, just fate. Jen and Mary happened to sit next to each other, and this kind of like reminded me of when Bethenny went to a fashion show with Kelly Killoren Bensimon after the incident where Kelly was like, "I'm here, and you're here," and then literally the next day, they had to go sit at a fashion show together, like literally right next to each other. So again, we kinda have a little homage to that with Jen and Mary. But unlike Bethenny and Kelly, Mary tries to like be nice to Jen, and Jen is just not having it. She's just kind of like stonewalling. "I'm just here for the fashion."
Rosalinda Mendez:It's still about her smelling like hospital, apparently.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, I mean, I don't see these two ever reconciling, and you know what, at the end of the day, sometimes you just have to accept some relationships aren't meant to happen.
Rosalinda Mendez:Definitely, and actually, it's one of those things where you're just like, you're kind of waiting for a bunch of drama, and it almost seemed like, oh, cool, there's gonna be a fight, and then there was like, nothing and it was just kind of, it was awkward. It was- I don't think it worked.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, it was more awkward than a fight, and like we see the ladies make or some of the ladies make their walking debut. Whitney is walking in one of the fashion shows along with Meredith showing off her Meredith Marks collection before Brooks does his collection, and overall, Whitney did great. Meredith looked great as well. None of them fell. None of them made any weird faces. So kind of boring.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, it was- it just seemed like we like built everything up for the ladies walking, and things happening, and it was just like,"eh, okay, that was fine." But then we get to Brooks and his collection.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, the Pice de rsistance.
Rosalinda Mendez:And when we mean pice we mean one.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yes, literally one piece in his whole collection. Which I will say Jen made some solid points. Does one piece make a collection? No. It does not.
Rosalinda Mendez:It doesn't like literally.... and then he broke as we were discussing at some point, he broke Project Runway rules, which is never brand yourself if nobody knows who you are.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, I literally have no idea who he is, and he was like boasting so hard like Brooks Marks it's just an obvious choice for a new fashion line.
Rosalinda Mendez:Well, I just love that he was like, he liked the "CK" at the end.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, the"KS."
Rosalinda Mendez:Oh yes, the"KS" was like....
Sara Van Tuerenhout:And like I don't know, my thing about this whole thing is that I love Adidas. You know that like I have some serious brand loyalty to Adidas, but like I have three sweatshirts that look like a Brooks Marks like collection, I guess. But it's made by Adidas. Like, is there not some copyright infringement? What has he been doing this whole time to make one sweatshirt or... and sweatpants, which he's just copied off of somebody else?
Rosalinda Mendez:I know it looks like he like you know, when like, when you used to go off to summer camp and I would have to get name labels for you. It was like if I had sown all the name labels on the outside of your sweats, and that was a Brooks Marks original.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah...
Rosalinda Mendez:I was just like, you know, whatever passes. I mean, I know sometimes people say "oh, I don't know that's fashion." But in this case, I was at the same point, and actually, it became kind of comical after awhile because even Jen was like, I was rockin' that sweat suit, and when he makes another one I'll rock it again!
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, she'll rock that next one, and this, I just have no words, because I was really going hard for him last episode or last week, where, you know, he put in what I thought was a lot of work into this fashion show, and yes, of course, it's still a big deal that it's his first fashion show, his dad should have been there, which again, we'll get into it in a bit, because we do see a FaceTime call with his dad. But anyways, what the heck was he doing? Like, I could have done that.... I- Where is my fashion show? I know, my name is a bit long for fashion label. But you know, we can make it work as Tim Gunn would say.
Rosalinda Mendez:Exactly. So it was just kind of I don't know it sometimes, and it's true with a lot of the children "of" you know, kind of thing. But you know, Brooks is having to come, you know, kind of compete against other franchises like, you know, Bella Hadid, and like...
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, and Gigi, but like, they don't have a fashion line. They're just like supermodels.
Rosalinda Mendez:They don't have a fashion line. But I'm just saying that this is like the children "of" right? Like so, Lisa Rinna's kids have like DNA, I think is the name of their, like sports line, and then there's in Orange County, one of the girls has her own kind of fitness line. Like everybody's doing athleisure, which is great. But I just I don't know, I don't see it, and I was actually really, it was really funny listening to Jen because now that we have found out after much research that she does have her own fashion brand.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yes!
Rosalinda Mendez:And so the fact that I-- she was trying she was actually nice, in not trying to diss him too much. But she's also like a woman who has a very large clientele. She has a really big business in fashion. So I'm sure she was like just biting her lip kind of like say, okay, is this really collection?
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Well, yeah, because her pieces were showcased just before his fashion line came more fashion single, I don't... It's not really a line... A fashion dot maybe. But yeah, so she knows what she's talking about. I thought the shade was warranted.
Rosalinda Mendez:But it was nice shade. I wasjust saying he she could have just kind of gone off on this, but she didn't
Sara Van Tuerenhout:No, and I mean, I'm actually intrigued to see how, um, I don't think Meredith will have like her confessional comments about it. But regardless, I don't think there was anything wrong with her, you know, poking a little fun at the lack of a collection in Brooks collection,
Rosalinda Mendez:Right, but the more important thing about this entire thing was not the collection or not, you know the ladies walking in the show, it was really a lot more to deal with Meredith and Seth's marriage and how it's affecting the kids. So we see Brooks get a FaceTime call from his dad, and his dad doesn't handle it really well. Like it's a very awkward kind of call.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, like the first thing he said, or at least the first thing we see is that he's like, y'all look weird, and we're y'all abducted because, you know, Brooks had his hair slicked back, and Meredith still had her runway outfit on, which is just like, why would you start a FaceTime call with... like, what's up with y'all? Like, he didn't know what was happening that day? Or, you know, just felt very rude.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, I think he thought he was being funny, but it was like, I mean, he should have known that, you know, tensions would have been running high. You know, Meredith had a lot going on, not just with the show, but getting everything together, and then trying to get Brooks together. So you know, he should have said, Hey, how's it going? You know, something very normal, and I- they did call him on that. So that was actually a good thing.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah. But then he was kind of just like, I'm getting anxiety from this conversation, like, y'all need to stop and it is just like, your son is calling you out for being kind of shit dad. I mean, not a shit dad, but you know, like, he should have been there. Regardless of his situation with Meredith, he should have been like, fuck it, I'm going to come see my kid on his big day.
Rosalinda Mendez:Right. So and basically, it just shows how Seth and Meredith aren't really handling this separation very well, because it's really about themselves. They're not thinking about how this is going to affect any of their kids.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Which like, I don't know, I mean, I can't totally fault them for that, because like all of their kids are adults. So I mean, I'm not saying they shouldn't take their kids feelings into account. But like at that point, you know, whatever issues you have with each other, that's that but that doesn't.... shouldn't come in the way of your children's.... your relationship with your children.
Rosalinda Mendez:No, but that's what I mean, I think he was taking Meredith's like, I need more space more seriously than Brooks's why. I mean, are you coming to my fashion show? Because I don't think it was just like he knew it was Brooks's fashion show. I think he and Brooks probably offline had conversations about when his fashion show *was* and he should have been the bigger person and called up Meredith and said I realize this is happening. I'm just gonna bounce in watch the fashion show....
Sara Van Tuerenhout:*interjects* And leave.
Rosalinda Mendez:And leave. Yeah.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah. But besides that little blow up, it was pretty amicable the whole way and Then we kind of move on to, you know, a series of scenes and interactions between the ladies where they kind of like just get very open and raw. Which is usually something saved for like season four and five, where we kind of have been with these ladies for a bit, and then they sometimes sprinkle in a therapy session or two. But no, yeah, we actually get some nice, cool and just down to earth conversations with these ladies, and we start off with Heather, and the conversation is between Heather and Whitney, and it all starts off with Whitney asking about how she started Beauty Lab Cosmetics, and that led to her talking about her previous marriage and subsequent divorce, and she was just pretty much talking about the hypocrisy in the church where her husband could get, you know, divorced 5, 6, 7 times and get remarried and stay in the church and keep his standing. While she's been divorced once and she's pretty much been casted out like a pariah.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, and it was actually really interesting to see her take on all of this and how she had to try to figure out how to start a life of her own because she wanted to be independent. Even when she was in the marriage, it sounded like she said, she had a bunch of side gigs, and so he was setting her up to be someone who needed to be taken care of which, I guess, is basically part of LDS culture. But now she had to figure it out on her own, and she was doing a really good job of figuring out her own. But again, you get this part where she's just like I have somehow failed because I failed in my marriage.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, and she also just feels that she doesn't even deserve to have had a good marriage or have a relationship now that she's been divorced, because she just doesn't really have a lot of self worth or self esteem. I mean, I think she pretty much said point blank, I don't deserve happiness, or love, because she feels that she needs to protect her children, which makes sense, but it's also just kind of sad from a human perspective that she doesn't think that she needs love.
Rosalinda Mendez:I know she's an amazing, self accomplished woman, and she's like, she's got it together. But you can tell it's just there's just so much sadness there in some ways that you're just you want to you want to root for her even more. Go Heather go!
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yes, yes, and then like it was nice to see later in the episode that she actually has a nice heart to heart with her children about it. *Unintelligible* We go from her talking about her feelings, and how her divorce has impacted her view on love and the like, and then you go to see a scene with her children where she's kind of explaining those same things. But like before, she has a heart to heart, you see her talking about her eldest daughter's boyfriend, which is really cute and sad at the same time. I mean, I think that's just Heather in a nutshell, just like, very cute and sad, and she's talking about how in love they are, and was describing pretty much the bare minimum of any human relationship of "oh, well, you know, her boyfriend listens to her, and they like each other, and, you know, they respect each other, and she was like, I like that for them, but not for me."
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, and I think this was a hard conversation for her because this is like, basically where she wanted to tell them that they were going to be.... that she wanted to leave the church.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, no, exactly, and so we see her kind of break down what it was like to be a divorced woman in the LDS church, and all of her daughters were really supportive. They're kind of just like, we love you no matter what you've given us this really strong foundation to be the women we want to be and "stop worrying about us."
Rosalinda Mendez:Right, I know, I think it was great for her to have all this affirmation from her daughters saying, You're the best mom ever, and we're going to be stronger, better women for it, and we're going to have better relationships, and hey, we don't like going to church either. Basically.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, they were like, if you're not going to church, we don't have to go to church, which is a fat mood. But yeah, anyways, I mean, she finally doesn't have to have this kind of excuse of, well, it'll hurt my children if I find love or date someone or see you know, just casually see someone. So her got her daughters have kind of given her some freedom. Now, whether she takes that or not, is to be seen, but here's hoping.
Rosalinda Mendez:And the next scene, we move on to Jen, talking about her mental health and marriage. So this kind of feels like a capstone episode, where we're figuring out everybody's like problems. So you know, Meredith and Seth are not good at relationships. Heather feels really bad about basically, you know, not being a strong woman, and Jen is a hot mess.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, no, I mean, we see her trying... getting ready and we get a little background on kind of, you know, her dad's death and then the subsequent events that happened after that. So apparently she's on antidepressants and anxiety meds and she kind of goes through how that started, and we find out that after her dad's death, she was really depressed and anxious for obvious reasons, because you know, Sharreiff, couldn't even make it to the funeral. So she didn't really have much of a support system back at home. So... where she could lean on in this time of mourning, and so she just kind of in the not clinical terms "lost it," and she apparently she was lashing out a lot, and that almost caused the demise of their marriage between Sharrieff and Jen.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, and we talked about this earlier at some point. But you know, the thing about Sharrieff not going to the funeral upon further looking into what Sharrieff does now we have to admit right up front Sharrieff has like a gajillion jobs.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, he has a lot. He's not just the the assistant coach, because we were like, why, if you're the assistant coach, I mean, obviously, you're important. But are you that important that you...
Rosalinda Mendez:*interjects* Like you could have gone to a family funeral...
Sara Van Tuerenhout:...Yeah...
Rosalinda Mendez:He could have flown and flown back. I don't really understand why that would be. But he's also like a sports agent, and he has several other gigs, which is quite impressive.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:He's like what Lisa Barlow aspires to be.
Rosalinda Mendez:Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So he's... so I mean, I guess he's probably a very busy man. But, you know, it's also one of those things like, why didn't you come back for your wife's, you know, father's funeral? It was a little bit strange, and then, you know, Sharrieff kind of tells her at the beginning that that's not what you do in the Shah house, you know you don't take medication, you just basically, you know, man up and then you know, pray and it'll go away.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, and obviously, that did not work. Surprisingly enough, you can't pray it away, and so she went on meds, which was kind of I guess, a really big deal, and I think he was on board because they had to have an intervention for her pretty much saying that you need help, because you're just lashing out to everyone. So she's on meds right now. But I think it just this whole conversation around mental health and medication is definitely a cultural thing. I mean, we know about it, like we're Hispanic, and like, that's, you know, mental health and depression, like those are like, white people problems.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, it's true people of color tend to think that basically, you're supposed to be stronger, and that mental health is literally a weakness, you can kind of, you know, kind of shake off, and, you know, just if you can pull yourself together, put one foot in front of the other, you know, you shouldn't be law..., you know, kind of wallowing in self pity or being sad. That's like some kind of luxury thing that only white culture has, and so that was a very interesting take. I mean, it was good. It was interesting to see how that was kind of explored in this episode, but it again shows how the fact that Jen is definitely overcompensating her entire life is overcompensation for the fact that she feels so insecure and sad and lonely, which, you know, as much as you know, you'd like to just dislike all of Jen's behaviors, you now have an insight as to why she behaves the way she does, and it makes you not be able to dislike or as much.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:I know, it sucks when people turn out to be complex individuals just like you. SO crazy. I hate when that happens. Why aren't we like everyone else.. just simple and 2D characters?
Rosalinda Mendez:Right? And then from there, we move on to crazy Lisa.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Lisa is like the anti-mom, which is fine. I'm all about like, progressive women being very entrepreneurial. But she was like, I hate board games. Like I could never do monopoly because I don't want to be talking about fake money. I want to be talking about real money. So you know what the Barlow's do on their family game night? I guess. They set New Year goals.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, it's basically like I'm taking you small child who still qualifies for Happy Meals. Like what are your life goals?
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, literally, I think the youngest is seven and the other is like 13 or something. Yes. What are your... What is your five year plan? Where do you see yourself in five years? And it's like uhh, I don't know, fifth grade?
Rosalinda Mendez:Which explains the whole grit above their bed
Sara Van Tuerenhout:*interjects* And hustle. Yeah.
Rosalinda Mendez:Literally, it's like she's trying to, she's trying to somehow raise mini moguls. Like she's fig- trying to figure out how you do that from the crib.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:She's like how to raise mini moguls for Dummies. But ya no, she has them write down their goals like for the year, and they definitely have some interesting goals for such young boys, but i guess it's not that crazy. Their elder... eldest son, jack, he wants to get shredded and become a lady Slayer. To get chicks.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah I know, which is, again, you would think as a very self accomplished businesswoman that she might have said to Jack, you know, maybe you should be thinking about something a little bit deeper than that, and women are not just objects. They have brains and they can be..
Sara Van Tuerenhout:*interjects* Nah..
Rosalinda Mendez:But no, no, she wasn't gonna go there.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Nah, she seemed pretty okay with the plan.
Rosalinda Mendez:And then young Henry, who like, you know, we were as we we visited him the last time he thought a commandment was not to watch porn. Wants his first kiss.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yes, I mean, that's fair. They start young.
Rosalinda Mendez:And so yeah, no porn, but he's gonna fantasize about his first kiss, and, you know, his idea of having three children.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, he wants triplets. I mean, how do you go from first kiss to triplets? I, someone didn't watch the miracle of life when they were seven. Like I did.
Rosalinda Mendez:It was important. I was empowering you with the knowledge.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Fuck the stork. We got to just see it all. No, but yeah, then we see Lisa's goals, which, you know, I've just come to realize that Lisa is, you know, capitalism incarnate like it. She is capitalism's wet dream. Because she's pretty much all of her goals are business oriented. Probably the one non business oriented goal was that she wants to be a better listener. Because as her husband, John said, I believe that 90% of their relationship is business related, which is not really much of a relationship.
Rosalinda Mendez:I know. It sounds like, you know, they're more like business partners....
Sara Van Tuerenhout:*interjects* Who just happened to have slept with each other
Rosalinda Mendez:...than life partners, and literally, she looks at him as someone who's just there to help her get through her day. Like get me a diet coke like... and I'll driv with you, and that'll be our al ne time.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:No, exactly. It just, her idea about a relationship is so one sided. I mean, she's kind of almost like the opposite of a misogynist, she's like, a*misandronist*, where she's just like, my man must serve me and do everything for me. But yeah, so she said she's like she loves... enjoys working, which that's psychotic. She's demented.
Rosalinda Mendez:Well, no, I mean, if you enjoy again, if you enjoy your job, it's not like you're really working, you enjoy what you're doing. But she just seems a little bit like, I don't know, like, it's one thing to enjoy your job and enjoy and being in the moment. She like, enjoys the thought of her work, which I think is a little bit different.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:See, it's... no, but that's the thing. It's weird. Like, if she can't spend five minutes not working, it doesn't seem like she there's like an extended period of time. I don't think she this woman knows how to take a day off, which is concerning, and I'm sure for John he's like"please spend time with me, please talk to me other than, you know, in a business context," because in that scene after they do the their goals for the year, he's like, oh, did you mean what you said by you not wanting to take on new projects and things that don't align with what you want to do? And as he's talking to her, she's like, Oh, wait, can you hold that thought for a minute? I'm on the phone right now. So like, literally five minutes after saying she wanted to be a better listener and be more present. She's already failing. She's failing five minutes in.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, I think the thing is, is he was just asking for a little time where they could be together. Like, basically, he just feels like he's not again being heard. So that's, I mean, that's, that's a little bit of a problem, and then she, she starts musing about how, you know, she wants to be a billion dollar brand, which is fine. I think, you know, you should have those kinds of goals. If you're in the business world, you should be able to lay out that plan. But then she says she sees herself as Warren Buffett, and I'm like, okay, you're just not Warren Buffett.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, I mean, I think her husband's just begging to have some time off, and for them to like, you know, be with each other a crazy concept for a married couple, and she's just like, No, I want to be a billionaire, and I don't think that's a bad thing. So shut up and get into bed.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, I just at the end, he just felt like he was an employee, who like, you know, when people say, you know, when the bosses come out and say, You know what, we're gonna do this. We're a team, everybody, like, put in your ideas, and so he put in his idea, and she was like, Yeah, no, that's not gonna work... next.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:She was like shut up. Do we have somebody else? Anyone want to raise their hand?
Rosalinda Mendez:Poor guy. I mean, I just I think she is just very, very driven, which, again, as a woman, I'm not trying to say that's a bad thing. I think it's really great to see women who are, you know, figuring out what they want to do, going for it getting what they need, but you can't be as bad as a man like you have to be able to, like you have to be able to like, you know, handle if you have a husband or a relationship, or children. It is the thing that's difficult being a woman and being successful because you have all these other roles. But I don't think that you should sacrifice that time that you have with young children, and it's even weirder that she's trying to co-opt them into this little billionaires academy, I think is is the sad thing about this. She's I mean, that's what they're, they're, you know, she she wants to get them you know, aiming towards their ultimate goals, and luckily theirs are just about women.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:And Fortnight. But yeah, no, but I mean, my thing, though, is that I wouldn't even hold the double standard. If this was a man constantly blowing off his wife. I think that's wrong, too. So I think it's just you have a relationship, whether you're a woman or a man, you should put some time into it.
Rosalinda Mendez:Right. Exactly. I mean, I think I just felt like, by the end of that entire sequence, John just seemed like an employee. Anyway, so we move on to our last scene of the episode...
Sara Van Tuerenhout:*interjects* Whitney!
Rosalinda Mendez:...which is Whitney, and she is having to go check in on her dad, because he felt like it was time for him to leave sober living.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, this was such a weird location for this conversation. They were at like the trampoline park, seeing the grandkids, and he was just like, yeah, you know, I talked to my therapist the other day, and she and I agree that I'm ready to leave, and I'm ready to get back out there in the real world, which just seems a little fake to me. The program is 90 days, I highly doubt his therapist was.... be like, yeah, I think you're good to go. Even though you've been here three times and had to come back each time. So yeah, 21 days, and you're fine.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, it's clear that he is actually struggling with this part of his recovery, and I mean, he was very, I mean, I think they had a very honest conversation about the fact that when he was in actual rehab, there was a lot of accountability. He had to do the program, he had to go to the classes, he had to go to therapy, and there were no distractions, no temptations, nothing out there, and his problem just seems to be like reentering society like so having to be in sober living, and living with other individuals and trying to figure out how to make it in the world. But still, having a little bit of accountability is just not where he wants to be, and he literally literally, it's clear that he wants to run before he can walk.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Oh, 100%, and I think he's just like, I don't want any more rules, and look, 21 days, I did it, no hands. But you know, he's still got the training wheels on. So it's pretty easy to do no hands.
Rosalinda Mendez:Exactly.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:And Whitney's right and fully distressed, and she's just not believing his readiness to reenter society.
Rosalinda Mendez:But again, it shows why we love Whitney so much, because she is really there for him. She's struggling a little bit because again, this is a child trying to parent a parent, and that is a difficult position to be in, and she is trying to make him see not so much like she's I mean, it's really great. Because he's not kind of saying, I feel hurt by what you've done, or all the things that you've done is have hurt the family. She's like, I really want you to be there. Because you're a great guy for our kids. You know, you're gonna be a great grandpa, and I'm glad that you're here, and, you know, you just need to keep going on this path so that they can spend a lot more time with you, and they can know how amazing you are because she knew who he was before he got hooked on painkillers.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, and I hope she gets through to him. But moving on. We have a scene with Meredith, Jen, and Heather, they all went out to dinner at some Italian restaurant, and they're all you know, talking, being open and honest with each other, and you know, Jen the.... our oh, so lovable pot stirrer was like, so what's up with you, and uh Seth?
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, it was a little bit weird in terms of I don't know, I mean, obviously, all these Housewives dinners, they kind of the way the editing goes, they probably go they cut right to the chase. So it makes it seem like it's at the beginning. I'm not sure that it was but this time, it just seemed a little bit too abrupt.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:I mean, even Meredith's face looked a little, like, Where's this coming from? Because they were asking about her slut phase, like, oh, like everyone, when they get separated, has a little bit of a hoe, phase, and she just looks so uncomfortable.
Rosalinda Mendez:Well, and to say that is like also one of those things where like, you're kind of projecting who you are, like, it's not like a thing, like it's individual with people. I don't think everybody has, you know, this kind of data around phase, and it's clear that Meredith has been working hard to keep the whole separation under wraps. So I don't think that even if she were doing that she would do it in Salt Lake City, or she would do it anywhere that people would see it. So you know, she wants to put up a front, and she wants to be that woman who's got it all together. But then they start to talk, you know a lot about how you know what the real problem is between she and Seth.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, and she kind of just boils it down to they don't know how to communicate which in my head. They've been together like, what, 21, 22, 23 years, whatever, in the 20s, mid 20s, and if you haven't learned how to communicate in 20 plus years, will you ever learn to communicate? Is it just maybe you should just cut bait.
Rosalinda Mendez:Well, I think when you look back and they're kind of... she's kind of discussing, you know, over the last few episodes, you get these snippets of what their lifestyle was like, and the fact that she has always kind of had to follow him to every place. So she's always been the person making the sacrifice, and once they get to Salt Lake City, she finds kind of a location that works, she finds something that's good for business, she enjoys the people that she's working around, she has a group of friends, and she's like, hey, the kids are gone. Like they're literally they're out out of the nest, and I don't necessarily have to be going from place to place so that we can have this nuclear family unit. So maybe it's time for you, Seth to do this, and in terms of, I think marriages go through lots of as most relationships do, lots of growing and, you know, you have this time when you have kids, and you're raising kids, where your communication really is about who's doing what and what time, you have to be somewhere. So the thing is, I think they've grown from there, and now it's like, She's like, wait a minute, I don't have to follow you around anymore. So I think the thing is, they may have been able to communicate early on, and then they kind of went into Okay, life is happening, kind of thing, and then the fact that they had such a transient life where it was like, basically, you'd get there, you cheat, establish your business, she would, you know, the kids would get friends, and all of a sudden, they'd have to move again, for Seth's work, and I think she's just trying to say that, okay, now I am trying to communicate where I am, and that this is probably I don't have to follow you around anymore. You can make decisions about where we're going to live and what we're going to do so. So I would, I would just want to push back a little bit when you're saying, well, they don't have to communicate yet. I just think they've gotten to a different point in their life, and this is this part of the communication isn't working anymore.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, I guess. I mean, my thing, though, is that she was saying it's always has been their problem. Like since the beginning. It's been their problem.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, I just think, to me, I just think it's a little bit it may have been like, how they communicated, was there a problem. But the fact that now, you know, she's saying things and he's, it sounds more like she's upset because she's saying things, and he's not listening, which I'm not sure. Maybe it was not always the case with them. But now this is the central part of why they're having problems.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah. But Jen was definitely pushing back on Meredith saying, Oh, are you sure you're not seeing anyone? Like, would you hate it if Seth was seeing someone else?
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, it was like, She's like, I know, something in her confessional. It was definitely to the audience. I know, stuff that I'm not going to tell you about....
Sara Van Tuerenhout:*interjects* But I'm going to tell you about it...
Rosalinda Mendez:....yeah, cuz I'm just gonna keep dropping all these, you know, hints and trying to like, imply things we know, and I don't you know, I'm not gonna... but I'm not gonna t ll you what it is. But I want ou to ask me about it. So that, ou know, I can then somehow d op some knowledge on you, nd you'll see Meredith in a totally different way.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yeah, I mean, again, even though they've kind of reconciled and they're obviously having dinner, and, you know, they're not seemingly having problems. It's just so shitty that she is still, you know, talking behind her back and just spilling all of her business, you know, across town, and I mean, it doesn't stop just at that dinner. We see Jen in action again, at Whitney's house on the pole. When Whitney was trying to teach Jen how to pole dance obviously didn't go well. I mean, I couldn't get on a pole either. Whitney made it look perfect. Jen was like the modern woman, and was just like, I don't f*cking know. But anyways, after the two attempts of Jen, she brought up Oh, have you heard about Meredith and Seth? And, you know, I know that she's probably getting it somewhere else, implying that Meredith is seeing someone, but then was like, Oh, well, I can't tell you, you have to ask Meredith.
Rosalinda Mendez:Right, and basically, it's again, one of those things where she's just throwing some chum out there, and she's just trying to like muddy the water so that everybody starts really wondering what's actually going on with Meredith and Seth. Which, again, is not.... friends don't do that to friends. You don't like sit there and, you know, kind of cast aspersions on people's relationships. I mean, they're having their problems, let them have their problems, that's their own personal business, stay out of their business, and quit going around to the girlfriends and trying to like say, hey, maybe you should think about that. Like, you know, if you're not getting it at home. I'm like, anyway, it's not her place and yeah I love that "It's not my place." Well, it's not your place to be talking about Meredith.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Oh, yeah, I know. I mean, Jen was like, yeah, it's not my place to say and but she says it anyway. It's just like, why even with the false platitudes kind of thing, but I don't know as a viewer, I love it because I want to hear the gossip and I want to, you know, have a little bit of the tension and the drama. But like, just from a human perspective, that's just not cool, and Jen should know better.
Rosalinda Mendez:I just think this is her way of setting her up as I'm the pot stirrer. I'm the person who's gonna move the story along and...
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Is that who you want to be?
Rosalinda Mendez:Well, a lot of people do. I mean, literally, you know, you look at most housewives franchises, there's always one of them that's trying to be the pot stirrer...
Sara Van Tuerenhout:*interjects* And they're always like, I'm not the pot stirrer... But let me ask you some very pointed questions.
Rosalinda Mendez:Right. But it's, it's interesting, just to see how it kind of all kind of filters through in terms of, you know, Housewives pot stirrers.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Oh, yeah, I mean, they're in all the franchises really. But ya no, that kind of is where the episode ends. We get a little preview of next week's and I so lovingly call it marriages crumbling. Because we see a scene of Lisa and John at dinner where they're discussing their relationship, and Lisa just kind of rebuffs John at every pass, kind of like, shut up. I don't care about your complaints about this relationship it's going fine. Now let's go home, and then we have Meredith and Seth who has come into town, and it seems like they're trying to work it out. But you know, there's never a happy ending.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah. So it'll be interesting to see how things go, and anyway, we'd like to say thanks to everybody who's been listening. We... I'm really excited about the different folks that are listening. So if you're out there, shout out to Mexico City.
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Yes, and Germany...
Rosalinda Mendez:*interjects* Bienvenidos!
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Bienvenido! Bienvenue! Guten Tag. Hel o! Thank you so much for listen ng this far into our ramblings, we really do appreciate it, nd we're glad that it's not just us getting to hear our lov ly thoughts on reality
Rosalinda Mendez:So if there's a place, wherever you're listening to your podcast, give us a like, send us some comments...
Sara Van Tuerenhout:Or review, and we'd love it if you'd follow us on our socials on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. It's just Met Gala luncheon like you see on your podcast, and we shall see you in the next one. I'm excited.
Rosalinda Mendez:Yeah, don't forget to like and subscribe! See you next time!