Episode Report Card Lady Lola: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Book Undermining
By Lady Lola | Season 3 | Episode 15 | Aired on 08.28.2011
That evening, Teresa arrives an hour late to her own book signing, banging her door into a nearby car on the way in. She is greeted by a host of fans, one of whom proposes to her with a huge fake diamond ring keychain. She jokes that she's going to show it to Juicy and tell him he needs to do better. I wonder how many people in the audience actively cringed in light of her ongoing financial difficulties. As the signing carries on, there's no sign of Joe and Melissa. Teresa says she "would love to see how [it] feels" to have family who supports her. A sentiment I'm sure Melissa and Kathy could echo. Speaking of Kathy, she and Rich arrive just as Teresa's packing up to congratulate Teresa. Kathy pulls her own copy out of her bag and says she wants to buy a copy for her mother. Kathy interviews that she never intended to hurt Teresa and doesn't know how things got as strained as they did. Since Teresa is already decked out in her purple fur (yes, another horrendi-fur), they say they won't keep her and make their way out. Teresa hangs behind and pulls out her phone, presumably to text Joe as to why he and Melissa didn't show up.
Just as she's doing so, Joe and Melissa show up. Sure, it's at 8:30 PM for a five o'clock book signing, but they got an hour free since Teresa couldn't even be asked to make it on time. Melissa struts in, asking, "It's already over?!" And Joe thanks her for inviting him, though he does mention again that it was the first time. Joe makes a big show of buying 10 copies of the book even though Teresa already gave him one. He congratulates Teresa and asks her to sign a copy of the book for him. She struggles over what to write for several minutes, then tears up as she writes, "Joe, I love you more than anything in this world. I miss my brother. Love, Teresa."
Not taking the hint that she's choked up, Joe asks her to read it aloud. She spits it out awkwardly, and he walks around the table and gives her a perfunctory kiss on the cheek. She says she wished it would have been a tight hug because she can tell he still has a wall up. He finally reveals why he's maintaining his distance by aggressively telling her that she needs to tell Juicy to stop threatening him. He hands down an ultimatum that they will have no relationship if Juicy doesn't stop the antics. Teresa sits there, speechless, so Joe piles on some more. Teresa interviews that Juicy thought the Gorgas' first-time appearance at this event was self-promoting. Joe quiets down for a moment, which is when Melissa chimes in. As all their conversations have a habit of doing, things quickly devolve into a petty cluckfest over whether Facebook is a sufficient way to invite family to a book signing. Joe jumps back in to reiterate his original point that if Juicy doesn't get it together, Joe will be out of Teresa's life. He makes a big show of picking up his books and proclaims, "Next time I'm walkin' out with boxes." Well then! With family like this, who needs enemies?