We did have one hour of respite from that news cycle, though, in the form of a game-changing episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, wherein Erika finally reunited with her friends and shared the story of how she left Tom, whose presence hung heavy over the whole episode.
The event does include more than one awkward confrontation, the most tiresome of which is the return of the Sutton-Crystal drama, but it still felt looser and more intimate than, for example, the brunch that started the episode – probably because everyone had made it through that brunch together, and were bonded by what they now knew.
In one confessional, Erika remembered going to a dinner where, after apologizing for her lateness due to traffic, one of Tom’s associates said, “Well, if you were married to a better man, traffic would be no problem.” That’s a weird thing to say, but even darker was Tom’s reply: “Well, if you think you can afford her, you can have her.” Her story of how she left him – carefully, over the course of one day after a month of planning, then filing for divorce the next morning – sounded like a grim escape, and she paints a vivid picture of a scary situation.
And I mean, I live in Los Angeles, okay? I am familiar with the SoCal custom of screaming with glee and open-mouthed laughing every time you see someone you vaguely know in a casual setting.