The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is back and so is WEALTH!
The season premiere reactivated my love for the franchise. Especially with last week’s RHONY prank (read fail) heard round the world.
The supersized season premiere was an hour and fifteen minutes of everything except moderation. Parties, diamonds, and drama, oh my! And Dorit. An activated, chain smoking Dorit. Thank you, Bravo.
Introducing Jennifer Tilly
Horror fans and housewives’ fans, this one is for you! Bravo finally integrated the fan-favorite friend into the series. Jennifer’s house was everything I expected it to be, and I loved that. I love looking at wealthy homes, which is another thing HW have lacked in recent years. The homes are not as interesting and grand as I would like them to be.
While at Jennifer’s, Sutton decides to throw a “Surrealism” party. If you’re like me and only slightly recall the term from school days, allow me to shed some light on the theme.
Surrealism is a style that tries to challenge reality by depicting a warped, irrational universe filled with surprising, bizarre features. So, essentially a Housewife themed party.
Jennifer is actually best friends with Sutton, which means a built-in ally. When production casts actual friends, it only elevates the dynamic in the group.
Erika is still Erika
It’s still expensive to be EJ.
She still resides in her humble abode after divorcing Tom Girardi. Because of Erika’s stoic reaction and cold demeanor toward the entire situation, it was difficult to empathize with her. However, for the first time, I finally found some. After two decades of marriage, she has absolutely nothing to show for it. She is starting over in her 50s and I imagine that’s difficult. There’s a saying that it’s better to have never had money, than to have it and lose it.
In the process of redoing her home and life, she enlists the help of Dorit Kemsley to decorate her space.
“What did I leave behind? Well, you can look at auction for that.” It helps to laugh because the alternative is crying.
Dorit and PK
While out shopping for Erika’s casita, Dorit effortlessly and nonchalantly announces her separation from PK. What makes this quite layered is Erika was the one who predicted Dorit and PK would be the first couple to split while at BravoCon.
Erika is noticeably affected by the dropped bomb. It was funny to see Dorit console Erika about HER separation. We also learned that PK turned to alcohol, which exacerbated the problems they already had. PK is an alcoholic and Dorit made sure everyone knew it. Even newbie, Boz.
Dorit V. Kyle
Dorit and Kyle’s friendship fallout was a long time coming. They each have done, to me, small things throughout the years that have become seemingly insurmountable.
Dorit is mad at Kyle because Kyle said on an Amazon Live that she and Dorit were never that close. She only took one couples’ trip with the Kemsleys and Dorit embellished their closeness.
Kyle is mad that Dorit read the text she sent her prior to the reunion. Kyle feels like this was an invasion of privacy. In addition to reunion drama, Kyle feels Dorit did not have her back against her sister Kathy Hilton. You can essentially chalk the drama up to miscommunication.
Speaking of BravoCon, Kyle was also hurt that Dorit ranked Kathy over her during a game.
Kyle Sans Mauricio
The Richards’ house looks different these days. Two weeks before the season began, Mauricio Umansky moved out of their shared home. Alexia, their second eldest moved out before Mau.
Now it’s just Kyle, Sophia, and Portia in the home.
Kyle opens up about her evolving sexuality. It’s no one’s place to tell a person what their sexual preferences are, certainly. However, I look forward to the day when Kyle can be comfortable enough to put words to how she feels with Morgan. Who shall not be named this season.
Kyle and Mauricio have raised beautiful daughters, both inside and out. Kyle revealed she sat her daughters down and talked about her sexuality because of the headlines. They received it well and even encouraged her to be herself.
Producer Garcelle
Now, I love Garcelle. She is beautiful, smart, classy –everything you could hope to be. But she sometimes gives me nothing. We picked up with her in Atlanta where she is producing and starring in two movies. That is HUGE. Especially as a woman of color in her 50s. Garcelle is thriving and in her era. I absolutely take immense joy in seeing her win. Outside of that, not much to report on the Haitian beauty.
Although, one thing about Garcelle, she will always clock tea. When Kyle mentioned at Sutton’s party that the headlines put pressure on her and Morgan Wade’s relationship, Garcelle said what we were all thinking. The music video probably does not help your platonic case. Just saying.
Kathy Hilton is Back
After posting her and PK’s joint separation announcement, Dorit lights up a cig and drives to Kathy Hilton’s house. Another person she talked about her marital problems with before Kyle. Pretty ironic given Kathy is one of the issues in their friendship.
The scene of Dorit in her car smoking, while the women read the announcement is peak theater.
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Surreal Life
No one throws a party like the Beverly Hills ladies and last night was no exception. Bravo editors ate with the slowmo, larger than life edit when each of the ladies arrived. Like I mentioned earlier, production played into the glitz and the glamour of the franchise. The season 14 trailer played into the Hollywood of it all, and I can tell that theme is weaved throughout the editing.
The women brought all the looks, even if they did not make sense. Cut to Dorit and her disk hat. Come to think of it, nothing about the party made sense. Alpacas?
The party introduced us to Bozoma Saint John, former chief operating officer of Netflix. Boz, as the ladies affectionately refer to her as, is a widower. She commiserated with Dorit’s separation plight as she and her husband were separated prior to his death.
Finally, Kyle and Dorit come face to face. After a super bizarre performance that EJ loved, Kyle pulled Dorit for a chat.
Dorit met Kyle’s demure demeanor with the ferocity of a thousand housewives. I was shocked at Dorit’s aggression toward Kyle, but like Erika said at the top of the episode, it was a long time coming. Dorit called Kyle a master manipulator.
I couldn’t help but wonder, is Kyle the new LVP?
Final Thoughts
While I am missing my girl Crystal King Minkoff, what an action-packed premiere! I can only hope this means an incredible season is upon us.
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend for a reason, and RHOBH is that GIRL.
