While ostensibly the focus of this week’s episode is supposed to be on Tamra trying on wedding dresses, that’s far too sweet an activity to fuel the tears, screaming and bad behavior the show needs. Thus, Lauri tags along on the trip to the bridal store. Yeah, she hasn’t had much to do with Tamra in a few years, but who cares? Heck, even though we are reminded more than once that wedding dress shopping should be an activity for close friends of the bride, “RHoOC” would throw a street bum into the mix if that stirred things up — and Lauri is more than happy to assist.
When Vicki admits she and Brooks have broken up (which I don’t really believe), this gives Lauri an opening to completely mess with her former boss. Granted, Lauri does make a half-hearted effort to tell Vicki she needs to hear this news in private, but Vicki is too impatient and Lauri is too eager to see if she can get Vicki to cry on camera. Brooks, it seems, has been “spending time” with a friend of her kid’s — and that friend is a porn star. For some reason no one tells Lauri to hold up and explain why she isn’t horrified that her adult child is hanging out with porn stars, but no one cares about Lauri and the point is lost. No, this is all about Lauri rubbing Vicki’s nose in the reality that everyone else on the show has been well aware of for over a year — Brooks is a sleazeball.
Vicki gets a little high pitched and screamy about it, but she can’t really defend Brooks. While it’s pretty gross that he’s been hooking up with a porn star, if they’re really broken up (which, again, I’m not buying) it’s none of Vicki’s business. Still, she takes a moment to go cry behind a mannequin. How could he move on? He’s supposed to be in love with Vicki forever!
I think what upsets Vicki isn’t simply that Brooks didn’t wait two minutes before getting some (really really) strange (and it’s unclear whether or not there’s some overlap, too). She’s pissed that Brianna and Ryan were right about her sleazeball boyfriend all along. She’d clearly enjoyed the tragic love aspect of the relationship, the Shakespearean quality of her obligation to family undermining her ability to pursue true passion. Well, it turned out that Brianna and Ryan weren’t idiots after all, but just protective of Vicki. Damn them!
Other problems simmered on the back burner in this episode. Gretchen hates Alexis, Lydia hates Slade, blah blah blah. But the major issue — that Vicki may finally, finally, FINALLY realize that Brooks is not what he seems — may finally be put to bed. I was hoping for a big, nasty blowout on camera, but I guess Brooks may actually be one of the few people to escape from this show without a glass of wine being thrown in his face. But, given that Brooks had a nasty habit of coming back every time we’d thought he was finally gone, we may get that blowout yet.
Do you think Lauri was being cruel? Were you surprised that Brooks may have hooked up with a porn star? Do you think this news should have waited for another day?