The Real Housewives of Orange County Recap: Limbo

The Real Housewives of Orange County
Lei It on Me
Season 20 Episode 12
Editor’s Rating ★★★
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Another day, another instance of Vicki saying something insane about a woman whose only crime was joining her show. Shannon spills to Gina that the OG of the OC yet again said something disparaging about Carmella’s parenting, suggesting that she’s only able to split time between cities because her boyfriend Danny is the one actually watching the kids. Gina thinks that it’s up to Shannon to give Vicki a talking-to before Carmella has words with her, but Shannon is no dummy and won’t fall for that trap. Besides, Carmella doesn’t even know about this, Shannon naively says, so no harm, no foul. “I’m telling Carmella,” Gina replies without missing a beat. I don’t know when or how, but somewhere along the line, Gina and Emily took it upon themselves to carry this show on their backs. 

We get a big scene with Tamra’s family, which always seems to be on rocky ground. She explains that she and her son Ryan had a massive falling out after she confronted him about the hate rhetoric he was posting online, and that conversation turned into a fight about how Tamra is as a grandmother to his daughter Ava. But now, Tamra tells us, they’ve all made up, which hopefully means the hate rhetoric has stopped? There’s no way of knowing because I love myself too much to go to his Instagram to check. In any case, I’m glad that they’re able to come over to celebrate Ava’s 11th birthday, because Ava seems cool as hell. Tamra pulls her aside to give her a Gucci bag, which might seem extravagant, but it’s a hand-me-down, so I think she gets a pass. And naturally, on the way to grab the bag, they pass a big family portrait from Tamra’s wedding, and she has an emotional moment because Ava doesn’t know who Sydney is. If there’s one thing Tamra is going to do on this show, it’s bring up her estranged daughter, who does not want to be brought up on this show. Nonetheless, I feel for Tamra every time. 

Vicki takes Shannon bra shopping, after being horrified to discover that she routinely cuts out the padding from one cup of her bras because she thinks her breasts are lopsided. I don’t know a better person. I just wish we got to see this craftiness in action. Shannon’s daughter Sophie tags along, and after they tell her about the gift from Carmella heard ‘round the world, Vicki asks if she uses vibrators — a conversation that makes Shannon so lightheaded I genuinely thought they’d need to fan her with a double D. Ultimately, the quote from this episode worthy of being embroidered on a pillow comes from Shannon, who during this shopping trip says, “I have unbra-able breasts.” These women are artists, and the English language is their chosen medium. 

And speaking of Shannon’s breasts, at the luau party she’s planning she immediately recognizes that the chairs are too low, saying that their nips can’t be at table-level. It’s a metric that I’ll forever think of at any high top I sit at. She has them all limbo into the party, which seems like a sick trick to make Vicki injure yet another body part. And speaking of Vicki, the best part of the episode for me, and what I consider to be the thesis of this season, came via a brief shot of her and Tamra. Tamra says that they should go join the group and mingle, and Vicki replies by simply gagging at the thought. 

At the table, Carmella dings her glass à la Britani Bateman to make an announcement, but before she can get out a word, Tamra jumps in and brings up Vicki’s comments for her. Did she think Carmella was gonna chicken out? Did she have somewhere to be after this and needed to speed things up? I don’t know why, but in any case, it worked. Before Carmella even gets to say a word, Vicki is already outright denying that she said that about her parenting, but unfortunately for Vicki, the two people she said it to are sitting right there. Shannon and Heather both confirm that she did in fact say it, and while Vicki still isn’t convinced, she tells Carmella that she meant no ill will. 

I know Vicki has been a bit of a drag this season, but this is where it’s paying off for me. She is visibly bored while she’s under attack. Normally in a Housewives fight like this, the person getting caught would be defensive or fire back twice as hard, but Vicki simply doesn’t care. Because of this, Carmella recognizes that she has to twist the knife even more just to try to get a reaction out of Vicki. When Jenn tells her that Vicki just doesn’t like new girls, Carmella hits her with a nuke by saying that Vicki is new this year too. That of course is what finally gets a reaction out of her, and she quickly corrects Carmella that she was the one who started this franchise 21 years ago. It’s that ownership, warranted or not, that explains why Vicki casts such judgement on the “new girls” encroaching on her territory.

Vicki even says in her confessional that if it were anybody else, her feelings would be hurt, but since she doesn’t care about Carmella — a woman whose name she still barely knows — it’s easy to brush this off. I ultimately do think that that’s the case, because while she’s checked out for this Carmella fight, she’s conversely still upset about Emily and Jenn leaving her house in La Quinta. That topic is the next to be brought up, thanks to the show’s producer, Tamra Judge. After some back and forth about who was in the wrong, the conversation ultimately becomes about Vicki continuing to put herself on an island and keep everybody at a distance. She also ties it all back to her fear of abandonment, which is ultimately the Rosetta Stone needed to crack the code on Vicki and understand everything about where she’s coming from and how she operates. 

That vulnerability somehow turns this attack on Vicki into the whole table (minus Carmella) rallying around her in support. Carmella is left wondering how the hell Vicki became the victim, but ultimately it’s because we like Vicki better. While our new girl bias isn’t as strong as Victoria’s, having those two decades of backstory on her does give a leg up in terms of whose plight is easier to invest in. There’s so far no reason to have any allegiance to Carmella, whose name I have to double-check is correct every time I type it — but who knows, maybe in 20 years I’ll be giving her a free pass to be crazy to those around her too.