Palm Beach may be the land of sunshine, charity luncheons, and expensive hats, but apparently nobody told this group of women that a peaceful afternoon was an option. On this episode of The Golden Life, Dorinda Medley sets out to host an elegant hat luncheon, Sonja Morgan arrives late enough to make punctuality a subject of national debate, and the old RHONY friendship wounds are still very much alive and well.
Dorinda wants a beautiful afternoon. Sonja wants to do things on Sonja time. Ramona is presumably somewhere nearby preparing to issue a citation for improper luncheon etiquette. And Luann is once again attempting to make sense of a friendship that seems to require more maintenance than a Palm Beach estate.
Dorinda has been dealing with the fallout from the previous spa outing, where Sonja brought up old grievances and managed to turn what should have been a relaxing bonding experience into another round of unresolved friendship business.
Dorinda’s position is that she and Sonja have been over this material before. In fact, Dorinda has indicated that the two have revisited these issues repeatedly, to the point that she doesn’t even remember all the original details anymore. For Dorinda, the past is the past. She has apparently filed the paperwork, closed the case, and moved on to the next event.
Sonja, however, has not necessarily received the memo.
And so Dorinda decides to do what Dorinda does: host an event. A proper event. A Palm Beach hat luncheon, complete with the expectation that everyone will behave like civilized adults for approximately the length of a meal.
This is a bold plan considering the guest list.
Dorinda’s hosting ambitions have always come with a certain intensity. She doesn’t simply invite people over; she creates an occasion. There are expectations, there is a vision, and there is an unspoken understanding that everyone should appreciate the effort. The problem is that her guests are not always interested in following the script.
The luncheon gets underway, but one guest is missing: Sonja.
Not five minutes late. Not running slightly behind. Sonja arrives 25 minutes after the event has begun.
Twenty-five minutes.
In Palm Beach, where the hats are presumably larger than the margin for error, that is practically a declaration of war.
Dorinda is already dealing with the tension from their previous encounter, and Sonja’s tardiness is hardly going to improve the atmosphere. The afternoon that was supposed to be a polished, pleasant gathering now has another issue to add to the growing collection.
Sonja has a remarkable ability to make an entrance, even when the entrance is technically late. She has spent years treating time as a flexible suggestion, and Dorinda has spent years being irritated by it. This is not exactly a new dynamic, but apparently moving to Florida has not changed the operating system.
The larger issue is not simply that Sonja is late. It’s that Dorinda is trying to move forward while Sonja continues to bring the past into the present. The two women seem to have entirely different ideas about what it means to resolve a disagreement. Dorinda believes they’ve already discussed it enough. Sonja appears to believe that if something still bothers her, it deserves another conversation.
And just like that, the hat luncheon becomes a hat-astrophe.
Meanwhile, Luann and Sonja are considering what has happened to their friendship.
These two have a long history, and their relationship has survived more than a few questionable men, questionable decisions, and questionable nights out. But the recent tension has left a noticeable distance between them.
The women acknowledge that they miss each other and miss the friendship they used to have. They want to strengthen that connection while they’re both in Palm Beach.
It’s an interesting development because Luann and Sonja have always had a relationship that operates somewhere between genuine affection and mutual exasperation. They can be incredibly close, but they can also get under each other’s skin with impressive efficiency.
The boyfriend situation has certainly not helped. Sonja’s interaction with Luann’s boyfriend Michael created tension, and the friendship has been trying to recover ever since. Now the two women are acknowledging that the relationship itself matters and that they don’t necessarily want to spend this new chapter fighting over old misunderstandings.
Whether they can actually accomplish that is another question. These women have spent decades together. They know precisely which buttons to push, and neither one is particularly short on opinions.
Still, the willingness to admit that they miss one another is a promising start.
Dorinda and Kelly also get some attention in the episode’s surrounding conversation, particularly when they sit down together in the sauna for Hot Goss.
Kelly has apologized for referring to Dorinda’s late husband Richard as her ex-husband, a mistake that understandably caused offense. The two also discuss how they first met through a hookup in Kelly’s building, which is a rather unexpected origin story for a friendship.
They describe different approaches to conflict and friendship. Kelly tends to be quieter and more inclined to take her time, while Dorinda and Ramona are more comfortable confronting an issue and moving on.
Dorinda also discusses her connection to nature and her reputation as a “White Witch.” Which, frankly, is a much more interesting title than most of the titles handed out in Palm Beach society.
Kelly clearly values her relationship with Dorinda, even if she sometimes finds herself wondering what exactly Dorinda is talking about. That confusion is apparently part of the experience.
The interesting thing about this group is that moving to Palm Beach has not erased the history they brought with them. They may have traded New York apartments and winter coats for sunshine and elaborate hats, but the old dynamics are still right there.
Dorinda wants to make a fresh start, but she also wants people to acknowledge her efforts and respect her expectations. Sonja wants to be understood and seems unwilling to let certain grievances disappear simply because someone else considers them resolved. Luann wants to rebuild a friendship that has become strained. Kelly is trying to navigate the personalities around her while maintaining her own pace.
And Ramona? Ramona is still Ramona, which means there is always the possibility that a perfectly ordinary social gathering could become an etiquette emergency.
The hat luncheon was supposed to be an elegant afternoon. Instead, it became another reminder that these women may be living their golden years, but they have not retired from the business of holding grudges, misunderstanding one another, and turning a social occasion into a full-scale production.
Dorinda came to make it nice. Sonja came when she got there. And the rest of us are left wondering whether Palm Beach has enough room for five women who have known one another this long.
The hats may be fabulous, but the baggage is still very much in season.
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