By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Meredith hasn’t done a lot for me this season. Actually, she hasn’t done a lot, period. We know she and Seth are having marital problems once again, but outside of briefly mentioning these issues in Palm Springs, we don’t know much else. When this season began, we knew her big moment would be about her Bat Mitzvah. While this episode sincerely revered Meredith’s journey, which I am sure is highly relatable to anyone who craves a connection to their ancestry and faith, this was still not Meredith’s week or even her party.
It has been interesting to see Meredith’s role as an OG housewife this season. If the reunion seating chart showing Meredith at the far end of the couch beside Britani tells us anything, it’s that she is more of a conduit for everyone else’s drama than a main character. This season’s big event, according to the trailers, seems to be whatever goes down at Lisa’s Puerto Vallarta girl’s trip. I’ve wondered how this would have some semblance of unity, but I guess this season has less of a “main story line” and is more about how these women are growing apart even if they won’t acknowledge it.
This worries me because as much as I love to see them have petty fights, I want them to move on so there’s space for a greater purpose in this season. The chunk of this episode that focused on Meredith’s Bat Mitzvah sincerely was far too long and felt like filler, even with Mary’s comedic late appearance. Don’t get me wrong, getting glimpses into their own personal tragedies has been great to see what’s going on in their lives. However, because these women have changed who they’ve been closest with so many times this season, they haven’t been able to bond and spend time getting into light hijinks between all the fights.
I’m glad to see Mary and Meredith move on from their blowup at the Audrey Hepburn brunch. Mary truly does not need to focus on anyone else’s pain but Robert Jr.’s right now, and I’m curious as to whether or not she will feel the need to tell her friends about the situation while on camera. Her conversation with Angie before the Bat Mitzvah seemed more like a produced conversation to frame Mary’s state of mind — and I’d understand Robert Jr.’s problems are too personal to have a real sit-down conversation about as a true plotline.
There’s a moment where, while speaking with Britani, Bronwyn clocks Angie as someone who feels a need to perform to get attention. This feels like a fairly accurate read. Angie does love to perform, as do all these women. They all have their signature moves they know will be incredible to watch, and outside of the scroll prop from the premiere, Angie just knows how to clock in for this job and WORK (which is why she is center snowflake and also beside Andy at the reunion). We also see how good Angie has become at playing to her strengths with her confrontation with Bronwyn. Nobody was innocent during that campfire brawl, but Bronwyn took it upon herself to feel especially victimized by Angie, who told her to shut the fuck up a few times. But the question remains: Why did Bronwyn get involved in the first place? I think she regretted getting involved, but had to double down on being upset with Angie.
I believed Angie had to apologize, and funny enough, she provided Bronwyn the exact type of apology Bronwyn had provided Heather many weeks before when Heather walked out of her home. I get Bronwyn not wanting to be warm toward her, but continuing this fight despite getting the apology she wanted doesn’t make much sense according to her rules. And not only does she lose this fight with Angie, she suffers further humiliation when Todd tries and fails to come to her rescue. This man cannot do anything right, and their marriage stays extremely confusing.
Bronwyn is showing levels of true exhaustion this episode. Remember, she is still new to this world of fighting over everything and nothing. I love that Bronwyn stops strategizing so hard to align with Britani and Meili (who barely exists in this world) out of desperation because everyone else is annoying her. Britani’s delight at this, even though Bronwyn clearly said, “Who knew I’d be friends with you two,” gives us more insight into her golden retriever brain. Britani’s here for the love of being acknowledged at all, which is why this Angie fight is the best thing to have ever happened to her. She is RELISHING in this experience, and she has just got to be so happy that Angie was kicked out of this party because of something to do with her.
Bronwyn did her best work during this fight. In her exhaustion, she once again lets loose and finally acts out of pure instinct rather than an orchestrated strategy. I love her interjection during Britani and Angie’s fight when she tells Angie that Britani suggests it is Angie who is the slutty one, just moments after reluctantly calling Britani her friend. This is what I think will make her great if she sticks it out on this show, leaning into the messiness of starting shit for no reason. It was seemingly the most fun she had all season!
Of course, because nobody takes Britani seriously as a person, I don’t think Angie expected her comments about Britani’s entire vibe to mean she was suggesting Britani had a high body count. I don’t even think Angie was truly slut shaming. I mean, come on! Look at how all of these women dress. I think she was crueler than that by pointing more toward the fact that Britani is unrefined and doesn’t fit into the standards of chicness these women believe they uphold. But I don’t think it really mattered to Meredith whether Angie was slut shaming or not. I think Angie has been on thin ice, and any disturbance that seemed Angie-related would have sent Meredith to her breaking point. Was she wrong to kick Angie out the way she did? It doesn’t matter — she hates Angie! But if her beef was that Angie was causing a disturbance, Meredith’s shouting and calling security to escort Angie was far more disturbing than the fighting all of them were participating in.
Once again, I have no idea how these women will go on a trip together. But there’s some comfort in knowing that none of these issues are that deep. Sadly, that also means we might have to spend the episodes dedicated to Puerto Vallarta with Lisa finding ways to tell Whitney she is a liar. I also fear Mary may not be on this trip, which would be understandable considering the situation with Robert Jr., but it is still a loss for some classic Mary on a trip neuroses. I hope to god these women can find a way to have some fun and remind us why they are on a trip, to begin with.
• Lisa wasn’t really that important this episode, but she is a star for providing two iconic lines. Telling Britani, “You do need Kérastase Thermique,” while comforting her. They also call nail gems “bridge and tunnel.” I stan my classist queen.
• Mary may be sad, but she is herself enough to make weight digs at Heather.
• Meredith having an eldest son was not something I knew? And he says that Seth needs to be the star of the show? Ummm, does anyone really like Seth at all?
• Britani gets comforted by Brooks and Chloe should be a low point for her, but I think she needs to get love where she can.
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