Episode Report Card Lady Lola: C- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT A Whirlwind of Stupid
By Lady Lola | Season 3 | Episode 20 | Aired on 10.16.2011
A viewer asks about Melissa's father's death. Still obviously affected by it, Melissa explains that that he was driving on a rainy night and collided with a tree when she was 17. Andy asks what he would think of her singing career. She says he would only be concerned that she's pursuing her dreams, whether she's successful or not. She concedes that the subject of music is particularly touchy for her because her father took endless videos of her singing and dancing when she was a child. Andy wonders what he would think about Real Housewives, and Melissa acknowledges it might be a problem since he was very conservative, but her mother has said he would have been proud.
Continuing on, a viewer asks, "What does Joe do for a living -- print money in that big basement?" That lightens the mood as Melissa says he's a custom home builder and a land developer who converts abandoned warehouses to condos. Andy wonders what Melissa thinks of Teresa's assertion that Melissa is a gold digger. Melissa: "Shame on her." Teresa laughs that it she wasn't the first person to put that perspective forward -- it was Juicy. Then she tells a story, that Kathy confirms, where Melissa made some comments to the effect that she would be stupid not to seize on Joe's hard work and success by marrying him. That iteration is a mid-level version because Teresa's take, which calls Melissa's sisters stupid and includes the words "I would jump on that shit," and Kathy's much more diplomatic explanation. Melissa tells wide-eyed Teresa, "You look like the devil right now." Teresa spits back, "You're the devil. You're wearing red. It matches you." She asks, "Do you like that, bitch?" then claims, "We're in a good place. Why are you going back there?" Melissa can only gasp in disbelief, and Andy deems it a good spot to take a break.
Bonus: Andy and the ladies talk out the finer points of spray tanning at length. Wow, this reunion is a real zinger! Ugh.
Andy brings up the Giudices' bankruptcy and asks Teresa how it feels to be the breadwinner. She says she embraces it and wants to set a good example for her daughters. Andy throws to a package about Teresa's financial struggles this season. Toward the end, we're reminded that the fraud trial vindicated Teresa... but not so much Juicy. At the end of the package, Teresa makes an odd comment about how her "Jewish friends" said they would have left Juicy amid all this drama. Andy asks the obvious question, "What was that about?" As explanation, Teresa just repeats what she said. Andy grimaces because clearly Teresa doesn't get the fact that it wasn't necessary to bring up the fact that the friend who made that comment was "Jewish." By doing so, particularly involving money-related issues, she played into all sorts of demeaning stereotypes. Kathy and Melissa explain this to her, and Teresa's all, "I love the Jews!" Andy tries to make a point by analogizing it to an Italian stereotype, but Teresa is basically like, "La la laaaa! Jews!" Moving on.