SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 Episode 5 of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City"
FOX 13 web team members Melanie Porter and David Wells are watching "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" and giving you their real reactions. Melanie is a real "Real Housewives" fan, and Dave deliberately steered clear of it until now. Melanie and Dave are "Keeping it Real in Salt Lake City."
MELANIE'S REVIEW
We've officially passed the one-month mark since the premiere of this series!! I expected us to be a little further along as far as character development but I think we've still come a long way!
Okay so we started off this episode by picking back up at Mary's lunch where she wanted everyone to open up about their emotions and what-not. Meh. Jen and Mary got into it and most of the ladies quickly jumped on Jen's side because Mary's reaction was a little over the top. (Let's be honest, both reactions were over the top.) There was no food fight which I was disappointed about haha.
Going through twitter from last night, it seems there is a pretty even split between team Jen and team Mary - to be honest I'm team neither because this drama just isn't that great. Time to move on ladies.
Mary did take back the gifts she originally laid out for Jen, including the Louis Vuitton earbuds, valued at just under $1,000 - Mary you can just mail those right on over to me I'll take great care of them.
We saw more of Heather's girls and Lisa's son this episode hanging out at home and at a birthday party. I always love the interactions with the women and their children. In some ways, that's when they seem the most normal and genuine to me.
We also got more of a narrative on Whitney's dad and his experience with addiction. I think most people can agree that opening up on such a public platform about personal struggle with drugs is a very difficult thing to do. Whitney and her dad seem to have a strong relationship and I think their story is bringing a lot of awareness to struggles people can have with addiction.
Meredith and her husband seem to be having a rough time. The emotionally intimate conversation where he admitted he didn't want to be separated made my heart break a little bit. I don't blame Meredith for not wanting to move and I hope the two of them can resolve things.
Okay last thing, when Lisa mentioned she threw her husband's rolex out of the window when she was mad and they somehow worked through it in their marriage - what an iconic real housewives moment. The subtle flex of money that throwing a Rolex out the window is not a big deal is classic.
My favorite is still Heather, Lisa is climbing the ladder to be my favorite and Whitney is the type of girl I would turn to for emotional support.
Next week it looks like things heat up at Sundance - but I've been saying that the next week looks better for the past three weeks so I'm not about to be fooled again.
DAVE'S REVIEW
OK, we're five episodes into RHOSLC and I still do not like the program, thanks for asking. It doesn't help that this episode, titled "Ladies Who Lunch," was a big downer!
It seems any chance of a reconciliation between Jen and Mary is null. Can we move on now, please? A dead horse can only take so much abuse.
Whitney continues to set a great example of being supportive in the storyline with her father, Steve, who is recovering from an addiction to prescription drugs. She accompanies him to a Cold Creek sober living facility in Kaysville, where Steve has agreed to enter a three-month treatment program.
I think it takes courage to share a story like Steve's on television. It's a relatively compelling storyline in an otherwise dull show.
This episode introduces us to Whitney's brother, Will, who helps her train at Unified Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in South Jordan. Whitney never struck me as the combative type, but she seems to be pretty skilled. It would be great to see her put her takedown skills to use outside of a practice setting.
Meredith and her husband, Seth, appear to be on the brink of divorce. It felt wrong to be a fly on the wall for their painful conversation toward the end of the episode.
Fortunately, not every part of this episode was sad and/or cringeworthy. Mary's housekeeper, Charlinda, demonstrated some pretty good beatboxing. (Although Mary did leave us hanging when she said she was ready to start rapping.)
Lisa threw a fun birthday party for her 8-year-old son Henry at Pins & Ales. (Was it the Draper location?) Henry was ecstatic when he bowled a strike, which was a cute moment.
No one made me laugh this week. :( But at least Whitney and the love she shows her family made me smile.
