The ancient land of Orange County is ruled by a powerful cabal of suburbanites whose one and only objective is to serve the imperial Bravo nation at any cost.
For 19 years, The Real Housewives of Orange County have proven that gated melodrama has no expiration date, each season introducing mysterious perils and feuds for our heroines to contend with, a la a modern day Desperate Housewives.
Two decades after their debut, the oranges are as alluring as ever. There’s always a twist just around the corner, introduced by a new Housewife with devious secrets. That’s where sophomore Housewife Katie Ginella comes in, entering her second season with an entirely evolved, off-beat villain persona (for DH fans, think: Season 6 Katherine Mayfair).
Secrets and lies are brewing all over Orange County, and the ladies don’t waste a single moment getting into it (well, we do have to get the court-mandated updates on Gina and Travis’ relationship, but we can’t have it all, now can we?).
The Housewives have once again found a common enemy, this time moving from cancer scammers and lesbian liars to the most sinister gnats in the Bravo universe: bloggers. They’re everywhere, spreading AI slop drama to gullible Facebook moms while spinning conspiratorial webs on half-baked podcasts.
The premiere is all about Katie, who allegedly committed the cardinal sin of Housewifing by giving Emily’s former nanny the contact info of some podcast to spread slanderous claims about Emily and her kids to an audience of 11. Catching the ire of almost all her castmates, Katie’s learning the tough way how unforgiving a sophomore season can be.
As Gina puts it, “So it’s like this girl is basically like, ‘Hi Katie! I want to ruin Emily’s life, and I want to s--t talk her children.’ And Katie’s like, ‘Oh! Here’s the phone number to go do it.’”
Obviously, that’s super funny. But it’s not exactly winning Katie points in the court of Orange opinion. Even Katie’s allies—the rag-tag team of Jenn and Shannon—can only defend her in ways like, “Well, when she lies it’s kinda fun!” and nodding unconvincingly to her explanations at the car dealership.
Pissed beyond belief, Gina invites Emily to a secret ambush of Katie, which is simultaneously scummy and her best producer work yet. It only took eight seasons for the tortoise to find her way to the track.
Emily, still struggling with the general conceit of this 20-year franchise, retorts: “Okay, I want to go, but I have like mom things going on that are really hard. But I have to take time out of my day to deal with this b---h? That’s so f---ed up! I shouldn’t have to do that.”
No, you shouldn’t. And The Real Housewives of Miami shouldn’t have to wait in a sprinter van for two hours for Lisa Hochstein, but that’s reality TV.
Snark aside, Emily’s solo storyline deals with her son’s disordered eating and a possible autism diagnosis, so it is completely understandable she’s unexcited about performing her Housewife duties on top of dealing with such legitimate issues. Though, is this footage that should be aired of a child before they’re old enough to truly consent? That’s an age-old question, dating all the way back to the original, unsettling OC angels. And here we are, complicitly watching it, again and again… so, who’s to say?
Thankfully, we have Tamra’s decidedly campier journey on the spectrum to dig into. Those of the chronically online ilk may remember that Ms. Judge revealed she’s autistic after exactly one therapy session last October, only to learn you can’t be diagnosed that fast and apologizing for speaking “too soon” amid an onslaught of backlash. This is why she’s the longest running Housewife of all time.
RHOC is such a treat because even these absurd online moments translate so digestibly on screen. Tamra sitting with her new therapist (the incomparable Sheryl Crow) to backtrack her podcast claims, fully straight-faced, is perfect TV, no slapstick editing distracting from the absurdity of it all.
And the OC Housewives are nothing if not steadfast in their delusions, as seen by the people’s princess Jenn Pedranti, who has risen into a true power player, even if she’s walking directly into traffic in her personal life. Yes, she’s clocked Tamra for exactly who she is and easily usurped the Gina/Emily alliance in terms of hierarchy, but she’s also shopping for bikini bridal gowns. The Housewives dichotomy is you can either be well-adjusted or good TV, rarely both.
Speaking of, Shannon Beador has proven triumphant in her feud with ex John Janssen and the fallen Alexis Bellino, who has been ousted from RHOC to make way for a fellow nostalgia return in the form of “MAGA Barbie” Gretchen Rossi. That return is teased ever so slightly in the premiere—a furious Gretchen having called B.S. on Tamra’s autism announcement—and she’ll reenter the fray for real next week.
But first, the ladies have to deal with the Katie of it all. Emily and Tamra meet with their supreme ruler, Heather “Other Mother” Dubrow, to talk all about their tensions with the newest Housewife, revealing that Katie’s caught in a scuffle with Tamra, too. Our veteran Housewife was pissed that a redacted Bravo page baselessly claimed she’s a leak, so naturally, Katie called said blogger up—only to deny it to Tamra’s face.
Caught in a lie in a Quiet Woman scene tragically only seen in flashback form, Katie seems as blindsided by her own actions as Tamra, leading the woman to question why she’s such a liarface.
Fresh off 60 nonconsecutive minutes of therapy, Tamra shares this fresh insight: “One thing I’ve learned in therapy is, when you do have trauma, it comes out in different ways. Maybe she reaches out to people like the bloggers because they’re giving her love and she didn’t have love.”
Evidently, Tamra’s arc this season is becoming that girl you know who goes to therapy once and then uses every single buzz word to diagnose and over-explain every mundane issue. Arriving late to lunch? Covert narcissism. Missing your call? Grey rocking.
What, then, is ambushing Katie with an Emily and Gina two-on-one so she can’t rehearse a lie beforehand? Funny. It’s funny.
Both Emily and Katie get some lashes in at this brutalist coffee shop patio, Katie rightfully pointing out that Emily went to the gutter first at the reunion. They both come out of the conversation soiled in guilt and hypocrisy, which is a recipe for a good, even-keeled feud that’s sure to kill it as the D-plot of the season. Supporting actresses matter.
So do great ensembles, something RHOC has in spades. There are so many rich dynamics that the Housewives simply let the real feuds rest to give the premiere an easier lay-up. After this quick aperitif, we’ll get into Jenn and Ryan alleging Tamra’s just her husband’s beard while Tamra retaliates with slanderous fraud claims.
In the name of peace, serenity, and trust-building, the women nail Katie to the stake… as a team! That’s sisterhood.
First, Gina accuses Katie of actively trying to hurt the entire group. Next, Katie’s closest ally, Jenn, comes in to say she may have called her a con artist, but in her defense, she just thinks Katie’s not smart enough to understand her own actions.
“If you say to Katie, you probably shouldn’t talk to bloggers, Katie will say, I don’t, because she doesn’t view these people as bloggers. She views them to be friends,” Jenn says. “When I ask Katie questions, she gives me answers. And I leave it at that.”
That may be the most damning claim of all… Oh, Jenn. Keep being a star.
Meanwhile, Katie tries to exonerate herself from these Reality Von Sleaze allegations by proving she never sent the DM, but alas, she has no service. And she’s simply been unable to check her phone log and message history for weeks, because of reasons unbeknownst to us all.
It’s almost hard to watch Katie get so viciously pummeled, but it’s also quite salacious. Canoodling with Bravo blogs isn’t morally negligible, nor is it truly nefarious: it’s just plain loser behavior. And it’s so satisfying to see these professionals treat it as such.
Ultimately, Katie’s a totally accidental and largely harmless villain. And sometimes, that’s the best kind. There’s something so beautiful about her inability to tell the truth, sprinkling a little white lie in every conversation as a garnish, sometimes two for good measure. Her strategy is so painfully inept that it could almost be genius, as long as she maintains what thin ties she has to the group.
RHOC is relatively leak-free—despite Katie’s alleged alliance with these bloggers—but we know Katie missed the final cast trip of the season, plus she filmed the promotional material all by herself. So, it’s safe to say it’s not all cupcakes and rainbows in her future, but there is hot pot!
Katie has invited all the ladies to dinner in an effort to smooth things over—and she’s summoned Gretchen to this meeting of the minds. If you’re worried we’re in for a one-note season ganging up on the same women week after week, rest easy. Tamra’s biggest enemy is about to give our longest-running Housewife some great content to discuss in therapy, as the long-dormant, first-ever Housewives feud returns from the dead.
Until then, rest easy and do not DM Katie. She doesn’t need the temptation!
