Carole introduces the new season of The Real Housewives of New York City with a very Sex and the City intro. It’s a time of change for the ladies: Sai shares marital troubles and there are some newcomers to the group. When Jessel hosts a Lunar New Year party in hopes of starting a fresh chapter, Erin gets confronted for running a smear campaign.
We first get introduced to Daisy, the “make-up artist to the stars.” Daisy’s friend Martha Stewart makes a cameo, which is quite a flex. Daisy explains that she learned how to do makeup working at Scores, the gentlemen’s club…and interestingly enough, that’s where she also met Sai. Although they were serious party girls, they deny ever being strippers…
Martha talks about her connection to JFK, jr as Daisy beautifies her. Daisy is a working mom who has been married for ten years, but still manages to travel around with her bestie, Martha. Even though Daisy only has a little two bedroom apartment with popcorn ceilings, Martha uses it as her changing room, despite there being “so much to do in” the place. LOL.
Jessel heads over to Sai’s new apartment in the city. In the last year, Sai has moved to Manhattan …and she has become besties with Jessel. Sai is ready for a new chapter and admits that she does not really care how her husband, David, feels about the move. Sai goes on to say they have completely drifted apart and all she does is work, on top of taking care of the kids. She says she is financially supporting the family and even though David just got a job (no, he did not “retire”), it’s just not enough.
Jessel picked up that Sai was going through a rough patch with her husband. Sai admits that she is “kind of living a lie” and breaks down to Jessel, crying that she is so embarrassed. Sai shares that she asked her husband for a separation. She claims to be at her breaking point, but this comes as a surprise to Jessel, since she did not see just how broken this relationship is.
Sai apologizes to Jessel for making jabs about her marriage and regrets not making it a safe place for Jessel. Daisy and Erin also know what has been going on with Sai. We learn that Jessel and Erin are not on the best of terms, considering Erin called Jessel untrustworthy and fake during an Ultimate Girls’ Trip.
Later, Erin heads over to Hailey‘s apartment…well one of her two apartments. Hailey recommends a pied-à-terre because she gets to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants, leaving her husband of 15 years behind in their other place. Erin enjoys Hailey’s company, despite her being a bit…kooky.
Erin opens up before they even open the bottle of wine and shares that her daughter has been acting out. It is clear that she is trying to get Erin’s attention and Hailey reminds Erin that all mother-daughter relationships are complicated. Hailey explains that she always wanted to appease her mom, so she went ahead and dated her mom’s friend Jon…yes, THAT Jon, from “Jon and Kate Plus 8.” This is the Hailey who allegedly ruined the family.
Hailey goes on to explain that she dates women, but she can’t date other men, and shares a story about how a ladies fake boob broke her nose. The stories this one has!
Jessel preps for her year of the horse party for Lunar New Year. Last year was a lousy year for Jessel, since her father passed, and so she is ready to ring in some new changes.
Daisy meets up with Sai for some shopping and they hunt for things to wear to Jessel’s party. They leave empty-handed, despite wanting to make a few expensive purchases.
Jessel’s New Year Lunar Party is underway and her friend Erika makes her entrance. Erika is married to a tech billionaire, but girlfriend still rents her dresses. Hailey brings along her date for the night, her hookup friend, which totally confuses Sai. Now that Sai is getting to know Hailey, she is learning that she is “charmingly eccentric.”
Jessel is not excited to see Erin, but invited her anyway just to play nice. Perhaps they can even hash things out? Erika chats with Erin and looks for some intel on the group. Erika shares that Jessel is the sweetest person she knows, but senses tension with Erin after that comment.
The party continues and Hailey outs herself. She mentions that Erin relates to Jessel and said something about IVF. This is a very personal thing to be sharing and Hailey backpedals, claiming that she was “as high as a jet blue flight when Erin came over” so she does not quite remember all the details. Jessel shares that Erin likes to offer information that isn’t hers. Hailey points out that they are all going through a lot as women…even Sai. Okay, so now Hailey stuck her foot in her mouth once again. Erin is blabbing a whole lot of personal stuff and Hailey is just letting it rip.
Jessel makes a toast discussing the Chinese zodiac and points out that the horse is strong and doesn’t care who talks about her—dramatic pause and Jessel stares at Erin, stating, “I don’t like being called a b*tch snake,” a shady nod at what happened with Erin.
Erin confronts her as soon as the speech wraps up and Jessel explains that she does not appreciate Erin’s “smear campaign.” Erin denies ever talking about Jessel, but Jessel knows the truth. At the finale of the Ultimate Girls’ Trip Jessel got voice notes from several people where Erin called Jessel fake, thirsty, and a snake. Erin does not deny saying those things, but claims she did not tell a lot of people.
Welp, Jessel goes to the video tapes. Chanel warned her to pay attention to Erin. Erin wonders why Jessel did not call her to question what happened and, in her confessional, continues to call Jessel thirsty. When Sai comes over, she reminds Erin that she told Hailey that she was having a hard time. Erin goes on to say that Sai does not trust Jessel and Jessel tells Erin that she knows more about Sai. Things have taken a turn.
Erin thinks that Jessel is a PR girl who likes to twist a story. She claims that Jessel is the fakest person she knows. Jessel dismisses Erin from her party and asks her to leave. Erin is mad at Sai for being Jessel’s new best friend…considering Sai has always been the one to deliver these little nuggets about Jessel. As Erin bickers with Sai, the manager of the restaurant asks Erin to leave. Upon Erin’s exit, Jessel says, “Ding dong, the b*tch is gone…” so I guess they are not hashing anything out…
TELL US – THOUGHTS ON THIS PREMIERE EPISODE OF RHONY?