Ali TrachtaWe love it when the Housewives take trips, usually. They always pack fabulous, fur-lined clothes, order the lobster and flirt with the houseboys. The five-star fun is always peppered with petty bickering, which tends to lead to at least one member of the crew having a meltdown of some sort.
The ladies' trip from Beverly Hills to Beaver Creek, Colorado appears no different, though this time there's an eerie cloud hanging over the whole thing. First, some background:
Camille Grammer will soon be losing her ski house in the divorce from Kelsey, so she decided to invite the girls up for one last hurrah weekend on the slopes.
Lisa, Taylor, Adrienne, Kim and Kyle flew to Denver (commercial, gasp! but first class, of course) then were picked up by a limo, only to be informed by the driver that a four-hour ride up the mountains to the Grammer compound awaited them. See terrified faces in photo above.
Of course, no housewives can get through that much together time without fighting, and this time it was Kyle — queen of yelling at others for stirring the pot last year — who got her spoon out. “Was Ken mad at me the other night?” she asked Lisa. Oh, you mean when you mentioned he'd offended Taylor by saying that going to marriage counseling is a sign of weakness? Yeah, that was uncomfortable.
Taylor, who claims to have found her voice this season, piped up, saying to Lisa that no one had asked for Ken's opinion. Lisa continued to take her husband's side, leading to a few more awkward digs between the two. Perhaps they only felt awkward because the audience can't help but rally around Taylor. She's in pain already, yet the woman on the screen has no idea the world of hurt she's in for with her husband's impending suicide. Just like last week, Lisa looks like a bully yet again.
What's happened to Lisa this season? She used to be number one in our pecking order. She was the level-headed peacemaker. Now she's just kicking a woman when she's down.
If we had to pick a grande dame for season two so far it would have to be Kyle, and not because of her hot husband, gorgeous daughters and oodles of money, but because, as she indicates early in this episode, she's actually grateful for all those things. You don't hear that out of a housewife every day. But secondly, she's the anti-Lisa of the moment, giving Taylor a shoulder to cry on as she debates whether to stay in her marriage. The two have a tender moment over wine in the jacuzzi, and we can see Taylor is carrying a huge weight.
A portrait of Kyle Richards, and her eyebrows, circa 1985.; Credit: bravotv.com
Of course, the Beaver Creek trip is not over, and the previews for next week's episode indicate the inevitable meltdown is coming. In what can only be an end-of-her-rope moment, Taylor tearfully packs herself in a suitcase and says she wants to go home. We just hope Lisa's on a snowshoe hike or something when this all goes down.
Best line of the night: “Alright Beaver Creek, are you ready to take these creaky beavers up the mountain?” –Lisa, to the ski instructors.
Random fact: Camille Grammer used to have to “manscape” Kelsey's back with hair clippers. That alone sounds like grounds for divorce.
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