We all know that a trip on the Real Housewives of New York City brings the drama we love and need to keep the momentum going. The women make it back into the city, and Sai hosts a “Brynnsgiving” for her friend who never really got the opportunity to celebrate the holidays as we learn in this episode. Sometimes hearing about a person’s past really puts all the petty stuff in perspective…
The Sag Harbor trip is ending, and Erin awakens to Brynn in her bed. Jenna actually stayed the night (gasp), and Erin begins to whip up her infamous shakshuka after starving her guests the entire weekend. Jenna (and her Tiffany diamonds) starts helping out, and honestly, I think that the group is just thrilled to finally be eating. Ubah shares her Ubah Hot sauce line during breakfast (created to help her steamed veggies taste better during her modeling days), and she is so excited that it was one of Oprah’s favorite things. Side note: Imagine if Erin made the group eat this shakshuka before working out as originally planned?! LOL.
The women discuss their Thanksgiving plans, and Brynn gets uncharacteristically quiet as they share. Brynn lets the group know she never had a real family, and she grew up in Indiana, where her grandma adopted and raised her and her siblings. Brynn talks about her “third ex-fiancé,” and she shares how hard it’s been trying to make a family of her own. After breakfast, they pack up and prep to get back into the city. Jessel can’t wait to “get the f*ck out” of Erin’s place, and Jenna claims the trip was a “C.”
We get to see Erin in her real estate world, and she boasts all of her accolades, including how she joined Frederik Ekland’s real estate team. She has since started Home Girl, her company designing and renovating for the rich, which she made very clear when she talked about her upbringing.
Brynn rolls up to the hair salon, and we see a different side of her in the chair. Brynn explains that her hair is hard to manage. As a biracial girl, she didn’t know what to do with her hair until her grandma’s friend introduced her to a Black hair salon — Brynn’s only exposure to the Black community since her father has been out of the picture essentially her whole life.
Besides knowing she enjoys a good banana, we really don’t know that much about Ubah. When she welcomes her friend and business consultant to her apartment, we get to see a new side of her. Ubah is trying to take her hot sauce line to the next level, but she cannot do that without the help of some investors. She is having a tough time with that because she feels very alone, especially because she is not surrounded by family. This causes Ubah to get emotional despite having so many friends in NYC. She gets upset talking about her mother who passed 10 years earlier, and she explains that she would have given her that motherly push she so badly needs to get this business off the ground.
It’s pizza night at Sai’s, and we get a glimpse into her (seemingly awesome) relationship with her husband, David. She casually brings up to him that since Brynn has no family, Thanksgiving is a particularly tough day for her. Sai has this brainstorm that perhaps she will throw a Friendsgiving at their brownstone but call it a “Brynnsgiving,” and David is on board.
They FaceTime Brynn to tell her the plan, and Brynn is thrilled that someone would do something like that to make her feel so special. She even volunteers to come over early and “help” (aka drink and play with the kids). The ladies agree to mask their feelings about the holidays with booze, and clearly, Sai is softer than she comes across on screen, as she cares about her friend enough to do this for her.
Still on the phone together, the girls ponder why Jessel is always complaining. David says they should take it easy on Jessel, especially after hearing that she could be perhaps sexually frustrated. Sai and Brynn think that maybe they should plan a night for Jessel and her husband, Pavit, to have some alone time, and David coins the term “dirty-giving” for them.
Over in Chelsea, Jessel is (failing but) trying to keep her twins under control. She sneaks away for a bit to discuss her kids’ options for school. Obviously, Jessel believes that the school that provided the charcuterie and wine is the ONLY option for her children’s education, but Pavit, ever the frugal guy, disagrees. Jessel poo-poos her husband’s cheapness, but she decides now would be the time to talk about renting in the Hamptons for the summer.
This parlays into a discussion about her recent Hamptons trip with the ladies. Pavit lets Jessel know that “your tone of voice sometimes has the potential to turn people the wrong way.” LOL at Pavit not siding with his wife, although he technically does not call her a b*tch outright….
Erin has Jenna over, but she is very concerned about Jenna judging her very kid-friendly house. Jenna gifts Erin something as a thank you for hosting in the Hamptons, and she gifts her with some gossip as well. Jenna lets Erin know that Jessel said, “I thought the cackling hags were ganging up on me.” Erin can hardly believe it, but she does admit that she has a hard time connecting with Jessel because she is too different from her. Jenna thinks Jessel is trying too hard, and the ladies agree that perhaps if Jessel would just get f*cked, things would be better for her.
It’s Brynnsgiving, and Sai is prepped to celebrate. She has hired a chef and a bartender, and she is ready to show the ladies a good time, although she does throw a little shade towards Erin when she says she would “never let people starve” at her house. Brynn rolls up with oodles of champagne and begins turning on her charm with the chef of the evening. Once she finds out he is married, she backs off — very typical Brynn behavior.
Ubah enters, and next comes Jenna, who always looks like my toddler does when tasked with buttoning her own blouse. Brynn turns around to show her bare back to every guest that enters the house, and Erin is aghast that she has to remove her shoes, even though Sai was very forthcoming with that info. NYC is dirty AF — I don’t blame Sai!
Erin shares that she was at her grandmother’s memorial earlier in the day, and Jessel responds that she’s glad “it went well,” as if Erin was auditioning for a Broadway musical. Pavit is right, her tone and delivery are all wrong.
When Sai and Jessel run upstairs, Ubah and Brynn learn that Jessel called Sai and Erin cackling hags. Ubah is having a hard time figuring out what that term actually means, and Erin, Brynn, and Jenna try and translate it for her — unsuccessfully, I might add. Jenna believes that Sai did not really MEAN what she said, but perhaps she is backtracking because she is the one who delivered the message to Erin and now realizes that this is becoming rather dramatic. For a lady who claims she doesn’t want to stir the pot, she sure is doing a good job.
Erin is glad to have something happy to celebrate after her long day, and Sai explains why she chose to create a Brynnsgiving. Brynn gets upset and shuts down when it’s time to talk family. She chokes back tears, and after some prodding, Brynn shares that her mom had her and her siblings when she was a teenager. She only lived with her dad for the first six months of her life, and they were very poor. Brynn cryptically says her parents got into some trouble and she has been so hurt by the two people who were supposed to love her the most. She tearfully states that she was abused and neglected for six days and her diaper was not changed… an absolutely heart-wrenching tale. The ladies look on in shock, and the episode concludes with a to be continued…
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