Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Real Housewives of New Jersey Recap: A United Front?

The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Episode 15: "Zen Things I Hate About You"


This trip to Arizona has not been your typical New Jersey Housewife vacation.  There has been nary a fight in sight.  Everyone seems to be getting along, relationships are being mended and bridges were being rebuilt.  All in all, it's been a little boring.  While this episode continued this trend, it wasn't long before subtle shade was being thrown and glasses were being thrown at the wall.  So, what led back to these familiar scenes?  Hit the jump to find out.
The first half of this episode was more of the same.  It started out with Joey giving Melissa her birthday present, thrusting Tarzan in her face, until they were interrupted by Teresa.  Teresa gave Melissa peace panties.  Is this a normal sister-in-law gift?  It feels a little inappropriate, but I could be wrong.  Sisters-in-law, enlighten me.  Please.

The episode lived up to it's title, at first.  There was a lot of zen.  A lot of talking about zen.  There were more zen exercises.  I kept wondering if this is what we had to look forward to, a kinder, gentler RHONJ?  I mean, there is Joe Gorga toasting Joe Giudice.  Al being a  human being and talking about the possible emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.  The women minus Caroline playing zen tennis aka zennis.  There was no racket throwing or balls being hit towards people on purpose. They even allowed the cast to do an extreme trust exercise, where two of them tried to walk across two ropes suspended in the air, so you had to rely on the other person to make it across.  It was all so touchy-feely that I was tempted to change the channel.  Thank God for alcohol and Melissa Gorga's passive aggression.

Things started to go downhill and feel a little more familiar at Melissa's birthday dinner.  During a toast, Melissa singled out everyone there except Teresa, causing more than a few eyebrow raisings.  Was this just Melissa being forgetful or was it a deliberate snub.  Based on all the talk of Penny and cheating rumors and Teresa's behavior, I'm going with deliberate snub.  

The tension continues after dinner, with Joe Gorga freaking out.  He is convinced that Teresa is behind the cheating rumors and is using Penny as her mouthpiece.  Teresa counters that  it is probably Jan.  Joe gets really heated, really quickly and the next thing you know a champagne glass is smashing against the wall.  Melissa has the good sense to scorn Joe for acting like a child.  I will say it is hard to know who is telling the truth here, but color me shocked when Juicy Joe ends up being the level headed one, agreeing to confront Penny and get to the bottom of it, despite Teresa's protests.  I'm not sure why Teresa is so against confronting Penny.  She was all about Melissa getting up in Jan's face a few weeks ago.  It doesn't look good for her to be so adamantly against getting right to the source.

By this point, everyone is over this family drama.  Caroline tells the siblings that they need to present a united front, which is good advice.  Everything seems to calm down as quickly as it got heated, but the fractures are becoming visible again.

So, what did you guys think?  Are you happy that this zen business is over?  Do you think Teresa had anything to do with the rumor spreading?  Should Joe and Teresa be united?  Let me know in the comments.

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