Twenty seasons into the Orange County fossil record, and the dinosaurs are discovering that friendship, parenting, and romantic relationships are all considerably more complicated than finding a suitable place to lay your eggs. This week, Vicki attempts to resurrect the Tres Amigas, Jenn discovers that her son is struggling with considerably more than a speeding ticket, Gina starts thinking about protecting her assets, and Carmella’s household continues to operate like a small, unsupervised dinosaur preserve.
Meanwhile, Tamra visits Teddi, Emily gets an unexpected gift that requires a little more explanation than a typical Dior purchase, and Shannon once again finds herself in the middle of a conversation that technically has nothing to do with her.
Let’s begin with Jenn, who is having some trouble understanding why her son Greyson has been withdrawing and spending so much time in his room. She initially connects his behavior to a speeding ticket, but Ryan suggests there’s something much bigger going on: Greyson’s relationship with his father.
Jenn isn’t convinced that everything goes back to the divorce, but Ryan thinks the absence of his father has had a significant impact. It’s an uncomfortable conversation, particularly because Jenn seems to be struggling to recognize just how much the family upheaval has affected the children.
When Emily comes over to help Jenn clean out her closet, the conversation turns to the kids again. Jenn reveals that her daughter has also been having a difficult time, even expressing that she wants to leave school because she thinks she’s ugly. It’s a reminder that while the adults are busy sorting out their romantic relationships and friendship disputes, the children are dealing with the consequences of all the changes around them.
Jenn eventually sits down with Greyson for a heart-to-heart. He explains that his parents’ divorce affects him every day and that not seeing his father has been difficult. He also reveals that kids at school have been unkind to him.
Jenn is devastated. She tells him she loves him and is doing the best she can, while Greyson, in a moment that is genuinely heartbreaking, ends up comforting her.
It’s a rare moment when the cameras capture something more meaningful than another argument about who said what at a dinner party. Greyson is clearly struggling, and Jenn is finally getting a better understanding of what he’s been carrying around. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a much-needed conversation rather than another storyline that disappears when the next group trip begins.
Over at Carmella’s house, parenting is apparently a somewhat more relaxed operation. Her teenage daughters admit that they’ve been skipping school to get tans and watch television. Carmella tells them they shouldn’t do it, but her disciplinary approach consists largely of a drawn-out “Dooooonnnnn’t.”
Well, that’s certainly one way to run a household. Somewhere, a school attendance officer just felt a disturbance in the force.
The girls also have questions about the seven vibrators their mother ordered from Amazon. Apparently, Carmella needed to find one that would fit inside the Dior clutch she bought Emily for her birthday, so she ordered seven different options. This is an extraordinary amount of research for a gift that the recipient never actually asked for.
Carmella explains that the vibrator is a gag gift. Pun intended.
The problem is that Emily hasn’t even opened the present yet, and Carmella has been practically begging her to do so. Emily eventually tells Heather about the gift and admits that she thinks Carmella was trying to create a moment with the expensive handbag. The vibrator is an unexpected bonus, although perhaps not one that needed to be revealed in front of the entire family.
Carmella has certainly made an impression on the herd. She’s barely been in Orange County for five minutes, and she’s already distributing luxury handbags and adult novelty products like she’s running a very unusual department store.
Elsewhere, Gina meets with Vicki and Jenn, and the conversation turns to her engagement to Travis. Gina explains that she wants a prenuptial agreement, not because she believes Travis is after her money, but because she’s worked hard to build financial security for herself and her children. She’s adamant that a prenup is non-negotiable.
Vicki is impressed with Gina’s willingness to talk openly about finances. Naturally, Vicki has plenty of experience with money, relationships, and the general business of protecting one’s assets. She is, after all, the woman who has turned Coto Insurance into a Housewives talking point for approximately two decades.
The conversation also turns to Vicki’s own engagement situation. When Gina asks whether she and Michael are engaged, Vicki explains that Michael supposedly has a ring, but it’s been sitting in a safe for over a year. Apparently, he has decided that Vicki needs to shape up before she gets to wear it.
Jenn finds the arrangement rather ridiculous. Frankly, dangling a ring in front of a woman for a year while waiting for her to behave herself sounds less like a romantic proposal and more like a very expensive obedience school.
Vicki also admits that she finds Tamra intimidating. She doesn’t like the way Tamra feeds off conflict and says that it makes her scared of her. That’s quite a statement coming from Vicki Gunvalson, a woman who has spent twenty seasons navigating the Orange County wilderness without a particularly strong instinct for avoiding drama.
Speaking of Tamra, she visits Teddi Mellencamp, who is continuing to recover from her cancer treatment. Teddi talks about how difficult the experience has been and admits that she doesn’t always feel grateful, even when people tell her how lucky she is to have survived and be doing as well as she is.
It’s a vulnerable conversation. Teddi is still dealing with the physical and emotional aftermath of her illness, and Tamra explains how frightening it was to watch her friend go through treatment. She says that hearing Teddi might only have six to nine months to live changed her perspective on life.
Tamra tells her that life is too short to spend time on petty disagreements and friendships that aren’t working. Which is an interesting philosophy coming from someone who has spent a considerable portion of this season arguing with nearly everyone in Orange County.
But perhaps Teddi’s illness has given Tamra a little perspective. Or perhaps she’s just saving the next argument for another episode. The dinosaurs are cautiously optimistic.
And now, Vicki has decided that it’s time to reunite the Tres Amigas.
She invites Shannon and Tamra to lunch at the Quiet Woman, returning to the very booth where Shannon once threw a plate during a previous confrontation. Because if you’re going to attempt a friendship reconciliation, why not revisit the scene of the crime? It’s practically a pilgrimage for Orange County’s most emotionally unstable dinosaurs.
The atmosphere is awkward from the beginning. Tamra says she wants to move forward and get back to a place where she and Shannon can have fun together. Shannon, however, has a few things she’d like addressed first.
She brings up the things Tamra said about her during their previous confrontation, including calling her a drunk, suggesting she would never find a man, and making comments about her financial situation.
Tamra starts apologizing, but Vicki tells her to answer Shannon’s question. Tamra offers an apology that includes the word “but,” which Shannon immediately catches. Apparently, the word “but” is now an endangered species in the Orange County apology ecosystem.
Shannon also brings up Tamra’s comment to Emily about controlling whether she gets invited to iHeart events. Tamra insists she was joking, but Shannon isn’t interested in letting the subject disappear.
Tamra eventually gives a more straightforward apology, telling Shannon that she’s sorry for hurting her and that she’s happy Shannon is in a good place. Shannon agrees to move forward, and the Tres Amigas are officially back together.
For now, anyway.
Vicki has accomplished what she set out to do. The group chat can presumably be reactivated, the matching outfits can come out of storage, and the three dinosaurs can once again roam the Orange County wilderness together. Whether this peace lasts longer than the next group dinner remains to be seen.
The episode ends with a familiar collection of Orange County complications: Jenn trying to understand her children’s struggles, Carmella raising teenagers who appear to have mistaken school attendance for an optional subscription service, Gina protecting her financial future, Vicki waiting for a ring that may or may not exist, and Tamra attempting to convince everyone that she’s entering a new era of emotional maturity.
Emily is still processing her very unusual birthday gift, and Shannon has once again managed to insert herself into a conversation that began with someone else’s problem.
The Tres Amigas are reunited, but the prehistoric peace treaty is fragile. Twenty seasons in, these women have learned many things about friendship, love, money, and family. Unfortunately, none of those lessons appear to include staying out of each other’s business.
And that’s why we keep watching. The dinosaurs may be extinct, but the Orange County herd is still very much alive and fighting over the same old bones.
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