If this were any other season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — or at least any of the last, say, seven seasons of RHOBH — this hour would have been your typical group trip episode wherein some of the gals go shopping, some do a weird sport, and they meet back up for a dinner that goes a little sideways.
Last week, over lasagna and rock-hard rolls, we heard about how the fender bender that Tom got into a few years ago was actually a near-death experience wherein Tom drove off a cliff, was thrown from the car, and found unconscious by Erika.
It was her hosting gig on The Real that made Garcelle need to arrive at La Quinta later than the other women, but I think it’s also Garcelle’s gig at The Real that has prepared her for this very moment.
If Garcelle had been listening to that car story, she would have asked how Erika could have found Tom unconscious outside of the car but also been called by Tom for the first time 12 hours after he drove off a cliff — I know she would have.
The women wake up the morning after Erika’s emotional reveal still reeling a little bit , but since she didn’t sleep well last night, she stays behind while the others go on a bike ride.
Kathy says she could simply tell the security people that she has so many houses, she forgot where this one was, and they’ll let her in.
She says in these kinds of high-yielding divorces, a forensic team finds the deepest, darkest money: “Like the Turks and Caicos money.” But Sutton missed the conversation during biking earlier where the others hypothesized that there may not really be any money to be uncovered.
Crystal filled Garcelle in on what she missed the night before — that Tom has been losing cognitive function for years, and also cheating on Erika for years — and Garcelle is a little confused.
But when Garcelle, Crystal, and Erika go on a hike together while the others go shopping, she has a lot more questions for Erika about the ins and outs of what’s happening with her legally.
Garcelle knows she’s being a lot, but she says in her testimonial that it’s “killing me inside not to ask her” about this stuff.
You know, the one thing that Erika has been adamant about defending.
In the scene we saw all over the season 11 trailer, Erika slowly nods her head “yes” to Garcelle’s question about whether she knew about the lawsuits, but she says, “No I did not.” Erika seems annoyed with Garcelle asking, so I’m surprised at how much she actually opens up… but maybe she feels like the table really has been cleared for an honest conversation.
Garcelle asks, “So if all those things truly happened that they’re saying happened, do you think it’s because, mentally, things were in decline?” And Erika says yes; she doesn’t think he was doing any of it intentionally, which is certainly the most directly she’s addressed Tom’s alleged misdeeds yet.
Erika has told everyone over and over that she hasn’t spoken to Tom since the day she left their house, and early on, she referenced how angry he must be at her, and that she anticipated he would be vengeful.
Perhaps that can explain what happens next.
But to be fair to Erika — an instinct I rarely feel these days — it’s not Garcelle’s story to share.
I wonder if Garcelle would have just apologized had Erika merely said she felt betrayed, and not added on that Garcelle “got it out of me once, and now you want to do it again.” This idea that Garcelle “got” that information out of Erika is inaccurate, but it’s clearly something she feels because she says it over and over again.
Garcelle doesn’t like that accusation, but says that she’ll “own it.” She says in her testimonial that she genuinely thought Erika wanted to share that with the group: “I didn’t think me asking Erika about Tom calling her to the friends she’s known longest would be a big deal.” Crystal seems very upset about what’s happening because she knew the information was private, but also knows that Garcelle didn’t know that, and therefore sees this clearly as the misunderstanding it is.
Erika excuses herself to the bathroom to absolutely sob, and everyone else sort of stares around in stunned silence at the chill that’s gone over the room.