It’s a holiday episode on the Real Housewives of New York City, but not everyone is in good spirits. Jessel is struggling with a secret she has kept from her mother, and poor Ubah is absent from the show again due to COVID. Erin is ready to pounce on Brynn once she hears Brynn blatantly hit on her husband, Abe the Babe, during their 10-year anniversary party. Plus, Sai is on Erin’s list for leaving early without even saying goodbye. A recipe for disaster in the best possible way.
Jenna has created a line of fake eyelashes called Loveseen. She explains that she has a genetic disorder where she has no eyelashes, and so Loveseen came to life. Jenna is casting for the company’s branding, and she has invited Sai to help out (since Jenna is an older white woman and it is important for the models to see someone who looks like them).
Jenna does a fabulous job making the models comfortable by opening up to them about her name origin. This is fascinating to Sai because she finds it hard to really get to know Jenna, and yet, here she is telling complete strangers that her real name is JUDITH! On her first day of college, when a professor asked if anyone had a name they’d want to be called, Jenna blurted out JENNA… because when she was younger, her brother used to call her “Jenna-Jenna-Genatalia.” OMG. I feel like she briefly mentioned this in few episodes back, but I am grateful we are circling back to it in more detail…
Sai takes this moment of Jenna’s vulnerability and jumps on it. She tries to learn more about Jenna’s recent breakup, but before Jenna can get upset over it, she does what Jenna does best: she changes the subject. They discuss Erin’s anniversary party and Sai’s Irish exit — the girl needed to eat! Sai feels no regret, but Jenna’s face says Sai should be afraid of Erin…
Erin sits down with her glass of red wine (and ice cubes, which offends me more than Sai leaving the party early TBH), and she chats with Abe about the party. Erin claims she has “reservations” about her girlfriends… for one thing, the ladies were talking during the speeches, AND on top of that, Sai did not even say goodbye to her before leaving.
Abe fills Erin in on Brynn’s comments about “no vows, technically you’re not married.” Erin takes this to heart, and Abe states he felt weird (could have fooled me… as he laughed along with Brynn). Erin believes that Brynn’s behavior was unacceptable, especially when Brynn suggested when Abe and Erin get divorced, she would be available. I am more curious why Erin’s son is wearing his winter coat in the house… does the NYC apartment also not have heat like her “out East” place?!
Jessel and Pavit are out together, but Jessel is just b*tching about how her live-in mother hardly helps in the morning with her children. Jessel feels like she is doing EVERYTHING… um, honey, you ain’t the only working mom. Jessel, throughout her complaining, mentions that she would like to have a baby girl because why not put another thing on her plate? Jessel admits that she has never even told her mom that she had to do IVF because, in Indian culture, it is taboo. Pavit reminds Jessel that her mom deserves the truth.
Brynn’s out car shopping with Gideon, her ex-fiancé. They were together for five years, and Gideon STILL acts like an absolute gentleman, so it’s a bit perplexing why they broke off their engagement. Brynn talks about how they met on Tinder and Gideon was so wholesome. She explains that the four or five-carat ring made Brynn nervous, and she claims she wasn’t ready to be someone’s wife. Now suddenly, Brynn wants to create a family for herself and is looking into freezing her eggs to help her future. All news she shares with her ex. Normal.
Jessel and her mom head out for an early lunch and Jessel’s mom is ordering margs — probably because she is stuck with Jessel, who she refers to as a chihuahua. Jessel is ready, and so she talks to her mother about doing IVF to get pregnant with the twins, and TBH, her mom didn’t look shocked. Jessel explains that she kept the burden of this to herself because she did not want to worry her mother. Her mom is upset because Jessel did not let her in because she could have been a support system for Jessel. Now that her mom knows about her IVF, Jessel shares she wants baby number three, to which her mother scoffs because Jessel cannot even control two kids!
Brynn chooses to focus on the fun parts of the holidays, and so she is getting the girls together for some wreath making because that’s just what these ladies like to do — craft! Jenna’s brought her own “Santa pack” of things (aka a collection of presents that are all conveniently sponsored by Jenna), and surprise, surprise, Sai is complaining about the unhealthy breakfast options Brynn has provided. What’s with this lady? No food = mad. Food = mad. Can’t make her happy…
Much to Jenna’s dismay, Sai tells the group Jenna’s real name, to which they all gasp *JUDITH,* and Jenna looks like she wants to crawl under a rock. At least she is “Jenna F*cking Lyons” now… which sounds SO bada*s.
When Erin enters, the energy shifts. Erin is clearly miffed about the behaviors at her anniversary party, and she is set on righting these wrongs. Erin wastes no time and uses any excuse to let Sai know she has bad manners because she left the party. Sai makes it crystal clear she does not care, and Erin wonders if Sai has a worm in her stomach or something because she is evidently always hungry.
Once Erin is done ripping Sai apart, she goes in on Brynn for hitting on Abe at their anniversary party. The Bravo editors grace us with a flashback of the exact scene and remind us of what was said word for word by Brynn. Brynn claims she was making jokes with Abe, and Jessel jumps in to defend Brynn. Brynn denies throwing around the word divorce (but she did), and Brynn becomes defensive when Erin accuses her of flirting with married men. In anger, Brynn blurts out that Erin’s party was boring, and so, Erin leaves wreath-making in a huff.
The women sit around the crafty mess and call Erin “The Grinch,” and in the meantime, Erin calls her sister to commiserate over Brynn’s inappropriate behavior. In the end, it’s Erin who really screwed herself because she left before she could receive Jenna’s gifts. Sai does point out that Jenna gave gifts sponsored by her brand partnerships to promote her products, but I guess a gift is a gift. The remaining ladies FaceTime a still sick Ubah, and the only thing Ubah cares about is the food! LOL.
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