The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Recap: Stubborn as a Donkey

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
My Big Fat Greek Mother’s Day
Season 6 Episode 14
Editor’s Rating ★★★
Previous Next
Previous Episode
Next Episode

It’s the women’s second day in Greece, and the question on everyone’s mind is whether or not Meredith will finally engage. Spoiler alert: she won’t. At least not in the way they hope. Part of the reason her castmates are so hopeful of breaking down her brick wall is that they seem to have the show in mind. They know that, from a production standpoint, they have to fight this out for the cameras before they can move on. But Meredith doesn’t have that same loyalty to the television cameras and discovered that she can do something that few Housewives realize they can: opt out. Luckily for the show, nothing ruffles the other women’s feathers more, so good television still ensues. 

The group is splitting up for that day’s activities: half will take a Greek cooking class, and the other half will ride donkeys through Santorini. But the real excitement comes via who is in which group. Lisa, Bronwyn, Mary, and Angie are riding donkeys, so Meredith is resigned to spending the day with Whitney, Heather, and Britani. Angie (or production) is hilarious for this. Speaking of production, Mary is treating Meredith like she’s her producer this season. In one scene, she stops by her room to ask if she’s okay, saying, “So, what do you wanna do?” The cadence, the way it’s filmed, everything about it reminds me of watching Lisa’s producer try to talk her down during her meltdown after they tried to put her in drag at the Trixie Motel. Meredith ultimately tells her she’s sick of everyone acting like mean girls. 

On the drive to that day’s activities, that same attitude persists. She doesn’t want to engage, saying that everyone is always policing how she speaks. “I’m apparently too educated and speak too eloquently,” she says, which is an incredible takeaway to have when people don’t like what you’re saying. Heather starts to push back at this assertion and say her piece, during which Meredith — drum roll please — takes a phone call. I laughed out loud. It’s her son calling for Mother’s Day, and after she’s pressured off the call, she tells them all that she doesn’t want to be there and wants to be with her family. All the other mothers in the car chose Greece. 

Their traditional sprinter van argument makes for a rough start to their cooking class, which Meredith misses the beginning of after storming off through the streets of Greece. But at least the donkey riding seems to be going more smoothly. There’s a miscommunication over whether they bite. Lisa struggles to get on but says, “I get on horses all the time, usually I can,” which is a phenomenal callback to Angie doubting that she owns horses. At one point, Mary says she feels bad because, “I feel like I‘m on his back,” which she quite literally is. And all the while, Angie is feeling connected to her father’s childhood. 

Back at the cooking lesson, Meredith eventually joins them, but is so in a huff that even their instructor, Giovanni, takes notice and consoles her. “Unfortunately, some of the women haven’t been so kind,” she tells him, and starts crying, saying that that call was her one chance to talk to Brooks on Mother’s Day. 

“Well, I didn’t get to talk to my kids for three years, so,” Britani chimes in, which is such a funny thing to bring up. Not only because she’s trying to one-up, but because it suggests that that was anyone’s fault but her own. God bless her. 

Meanwhile, the other women speculate about the situation … while on donkeys. But they’re done riding, so the donkeys are just all standing around together. It’s like if we were watching Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte have one of their usual conversations … but on donkeys. If it were shot from the waist up, you would never know, but then we get a wide shot, and it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in my life. They’re just on donkeys. I can barely even process the content of what they’re saying because I’m so distracted by the fact that they’re casually on donkeys as they chat. Ultimately, the consensus is that there’s a communication problem. While the women think Lisa should stop fighting Meredith’s fights for her, Lisa says she’s never going to stop defending her friend. And truth be told, I think it’s fine for Lisa to be Meredith’s voice for this since Meredith doesn’t seem too interested in talking herself. Someone’s gotta do it! 

When they all reunite for lunch, Meredith says she’s upset because it’s Mother’s Day, but they all tell her she’s gotta drop that ruse — they all know, and we all know that the real root of this issue is her feud with Whitney. But in a shocking development, Whitney uses this opportunity to apologize for calling her a pill-popping alcoholic. Progress! There’s still clearly a ways to go, but on this show, easy acknowledgements like that seem to make a big difference. 

For example, back at the house where the women decide to have a little pool party, something amazing happens. The storm lets up, and the sun finally peeks out from behind the clouds: Meredith’s bad mood is over. Who’s to say how or why, but out of nowhere, as if a switch went off, she’s ready to have a good time. She walks out wearing what appears to be a Chanel suit, to which Heather playfully tells her that it’s a pool party, not a business meeting. “Well, hello, honey,” she says, with a laugh, dropping the bottoms to reveal a matching bathing suit underneath. Yes, that’s right, with a LAUGH! We’re so back. And to make matters even better, a gorgeous bouquet arrives from Chloe and Brooks for Mother’s Day. Was it really from her kids, or did production forge the card so she’d get over her Mother’s Day woes and finally engage? Who’s to say, but either way, it worked! 

They’re all giggling and having genuine fun around the pool, a phenomenon that always feels miraculous to watch happen on these shows. Heather and Angie try on Meredith’s little suit. Mary takes a bite of her food and says, “I don’t think this shrimp is dewormed.” Bronwyn reveals that she’s kissed (and done more) with a “handful of girls,” a conversation during which she interestingly ushers over Whitney, who adds to the list with a peck on the lips. Their inevitable wedding two seasons from now is going to be one for the books. As for Britani, she says she’s never kissed a girl but mentions that she has kissed 367 men, which she tracks via a spreadsheet — a stat that was completely thrilling to watch Mary hear. 

As they get into the sprinter van to head to dinner, it seems like everybody is having a fun, jovial time — but things come skidding to a halt when Britani casually reveals that she’s trademarked the term, “high body count hair,” despite Angie being the one who first uttered it. “Why would you do that?” a taken-aback Angie asks, and Britani explains that she felt entitled to it since she was the one who not only inspired the insult but also had to take it on the chin. 

I can’t express how thrilling this conflict is to me. So often on these shows, especially the longer they go on, the drama stems from the show itself — but they typically have to dance around that so as not to break the fourth wall, using surrogate incidents in place of what’s really going on. But with this, we’re finally being transparent and acknowledging the real, and fascinating, kinds of fights that can arise from the phenomenon of being on this show together. They’re aware that what they say can become monetizable catchphrases and help define their personal iconography. For example, Angie shades Britani by saying she’s never had a witty line other than, “Ting, ting, ting” — basically calling her a weak cast member since she has no iconic catchphrases. 

The situation, which Angie insists she’s not mad about but thinks is “embarrassing” and “weird,” also raises a fair question. Who owns “high body count hair”? Sure, Angie did say it, but the phrase was about, and wouldn’t exist without, Britani and her ratty updo. We need the Supreme Court to get involved. 

Despite Angie’s insistence that she’s not mad, she seems rocked to have one of her catchphrases (something she clearly holds very dear and is a skill she’s proud of) taken from her like this … but you snooze, you lose! At least it’s an opportunity to reopen the conversation about Britani’s hair, which Angie says looks cheap and is much too long for her age. But she’s not mad! Maybe she’s just jealous, Britani wonders, and Angie cackles at the suggestion. 

A gorgeous bow is put on the conversation by Meredith and Bronwyn, who announce to the group at dinner that they’re launching a line of flasks called “Ting! Ting! Ting! I Don’t Have an Announcement!” Everybody laughs and the tension is released. See, we can all have fun! But then again, there’s still plenty of trip to go.