Previously on The Real World, Ruthie threw a glass and Teck yelled at her. Then she talked about suicide and her sister yelled at her. Then Wonder Bread told Ruthie about the planned secret intervention, and lied about it to Annoying and Colin, and finally Ruthie called a house meeting. So this week, we'll find out why. Maybe.
Ruthie speaks at the house meeting. In attendance are all of the cast members, Ruthie's two sisters (Rachel and Sara) and Ruthie's friends visiting from Rutgers. Ruthie says, "I want to get straight," and I think she means sober so I'm like, "Wow, I can't believe she said that. What are they going to do with the rest of this episode?" But she continues, "I've been treated like an alcoholic and when you're told something enough or treated like it enough, you become it." That's funny. Admittedly, no one has repeatedly called me or treated me like an alcoholic, but even if they did, I don't think I would become one. So if I were to meet, say, Scott Speedman, and tell him he was my boyfriend and treated him like my boyfriend, he would become my boyfriend? Cool! I'll see you guys later. I hear Scott Speedman needs me.
Just kidding. Back to the show, Ruthie says that she's not saying everyone should forget what happened just because she blacked it out (okay, except the blackout part), but instead they should forgive her and move on. Then she says that she's not quitting drinking, but she wants to change and not let alcohol and partying take over her life. She says she is willing to talk to each of them one-on-one, and hopes they will be willing to support her, but that she can't talk about it right now and hopes they will respect her wishes.
So let me get straight, Ruthie-style. When I do something that bothers people, all I have to do is tell them to forget about it and forgive me, and then tell them that I'm not going to stop doing what bothered them in the first place, and then refuse to discuss it further. And if they don't go along, they are disrespecting me. How I would love to live in Ruthie's world!
Colin pipes right up saying that he doesn't think it's fair that they don't get to respond in a group setting, since they have group issues, not individual issues. Ruthie says now is not the right time, since she has friends and family over and wants to spend time with them (and yet, before you go thinking Ruthie is Ms Hospitality, this did not stop her from inviting said friends and family to the house meeting). Justin says that a group meeting still needs to happen and Ruthie says "fine," and leaves, and her friends file out after her while the roommates just look at one another confusedly.
Teck and Justin are in the van and Teck says he doesn't think it was right that Ruthie's friends were there. It scares me how much I find myself agreeing with Teck lately. Teck says it was cool for her sisters to be there, but not her friends. The house members are a semi-family, and you don't discuss family business in front of company, especially when you don't have glasses for them. (Remember, last week Teck was mad about Ruthie smashing the glass because now he won't have glasses when company comes over? Get it?)
Ruthie and friends are out drinking. In a confessional, Ruthie says that she got good grades and never missed classes in college, even though she was drinking. At the bar, her friend says, "Jamie got a 4.0, finished college in three years and went out EVERY NIGHT!" I'm thinking Rutgers is WAAAY too easy a school. I'm also wondering whether she went out every night and got drunk to the point of getting kicked out of bars, breaking things, driving drunk, and getting her stomach pumped, to cite a few examples à la Ruthie. Ruthie says that if they make her see a counsellor, maybe everyone at Rutgers should too.The Rutgers administration must be so proud.
Colin confronts WB about ratting them out to Ruthie (hooray!). Colin says he doesn't like to be lied to, and that WB telling Ruthie about the meeting let Ruthie behave as if the meeting was on her own terms. In a voice-over, Colin says, "Anyone with half a brain realized Matt told her about our plans," which explains how Colin and Annoying figured it out. Colin goes on, "You undermined us and I don't like being lied to," and Annoying chimes in with, "She's been sitting on this for two days and that has made her feel more threatened and now it's all screwed up." I have to say, Annoying is not so annoying when she is standing up for herself. Too bad she doesn't do it more often. Why was she holding a bowl of food? I'm guessing Colin took WB outside to have a talk and Annoying ran out there once she realized what was going on.
In a confessional, WB says, "I know what I did was correct. Hiding the truth to get to a deeper truth is more important." Asshole. In a different confessional, Annoying says, "We are all Ruthie's ally [sic] and we want her to be helped. But Matt needs to work with us too."
Back at the bar, Ruthie's friend says Ruthie's not an alcoholic -- she's just bored. Didn't these people have mandatory alcohol-awareness training at college? I know my college did. Obviously they weren't paying attention. Then the friend says exactly what Ruthie does NOT need to hear: "YOU don't have an alcohol problem."
Rachel (Ruthie's older sister) is at the house, and says, "Two days ago, my little sister tried to commit suicide." Okay, unless something happened off-camera, no, she didn't. I realize that you should take it seriously when someone even TALKS about suicide, especially someone as unstable as Ruthie is, but let's not be melodramatic. She stood on a balcony and talked about jumping. She did not threaten to jump, or get on the railing, or anything like that.
Anyway, Rachel says she is scared, and that Ruthie needs to get out of the house, but that the house also means everything to her, and Rachel doesn't know what to do. Colin tells her to do what is safest, and Tet Girl urges her to get medical treatment for Ruthie. Colin also points out that it will be hard in the short term because Ruthie will blame Rachel for taking action, but in the long run it's the right thing. WB totally reverses what he said before, when he says, "She needs to be in a place she can't check herself out of." What happened to letting her make her own decisions? What happened to getting her to admit she needs help? Whatever, Wonder Bread.
Colin says they can call one of those twenty-four-hour help lines at a clinic and try to get Ruthie admitted against her will. He calls a few places and finds out that even her sister can't get her admitted for longer than forty-eight hours. What's funny is that the captioning says, "moody, mid-tempo pop music playing." That cracked me up. Rachel goes outside and cries some more.
Colin says that they need to decide what they're doing right now, with a house meeting, and that they can't let this linger. Justin says that they have to find a way to get Ruthie to commit herself, and that the only leverage they have is the house.
WB says, "The other five roommates don't want Ruthie in the house anymore," which is so not true. They want Ruthie to get help, and they realize that the only way they can convince her to get treatment is by threatening to kick her out. But WB needs to believe that he is the only one who truly cares. He goes on, "I'm slowly cracking. I feel tears in my gut that are about to jump out my eyes." What? Tears in his gut? In case we don't get that WB is in turmoil, the music says, "What are we to do with her?" Jesus, they're going to crank up, "How do you solve a problem like Maria" from The Sound of Music.
WB says he feels like he is slowly breaking down. Tet Girl prints out a notice of a mandatory house meeting and puts one on everyone's bed. She says, "A lot of who Matt is depends on people needing his help. I think he has the potential to snap." Suddenly, WB is sobbing on the floor.
Tet Girl walks in and shows no emotion. No arm around the shoulder, no pat on the back. She just says, "Matt, what is going on?" He cries some more, she tells him to be strong, and I think about changing the channel.
The morning, WB dons his shades inside the house and calls an Intervention Specialist one episode too late. He tells her that one of his roommates is an alcoholic, and that he's only known her two months but she puts her life in danger three times per week. The specialist says, "Have you done anything like this before?" and I was hoping she would go on to say, "Because you really shouldn't without training. A lot of people think the alcoholic will just ask for help, but that rarely happens." No such luck. Anyway, WB tells us in a confessional, "I jump on the phone to an intervention specialist and she conveys to me..." Wait, I have to interrupt. Why can't he say, "I called an intervention specialist who told me..." These are the things that annoy me.
Anyway, apparently the person who delivers the speech has to have a great rapport with Ruthie. Oh, so they're going to let her SISTER do it? Oh, no. WB continues, "I get along great with Ruthie. Ruthie, in this moment, trusts me." Only because she has not yet learned what a conniving liar you are, and that you'd throw anyone under a bus to make yourself look better.
Ruthie is at her sisters' hotel, and complaining that she has to go to this mandatory meeting, and that she hopes they will talk with her, not at her (kind of like she did in her meeting, right?), and support her.
WB and Tet Girl are standing outside the house. WB says that he is going to do the talking. It's going to be concise and specific to the terms of what they all want. I'm not convinced that WB can BE concise, but he's certainly better than Tet Girl. Inside, Colin tells Annoying that only WB will speak. Annoying asks if he's gonna crack and Colin says he thinks WB will do a fine job. Annoying does that sing-song thing: "I hooooope soooo, he broke down last night." Hey, way to listen to your friend sob openly and just ignore it, Annoying. Outside, WB kisses Tet Girl on the cheek and says, "Love you." and she looks a bit startled and says, "Yeah, me too" as they head inside.
The meeting begins with WB telling Ruthie that they are all concerned for her safety and want her to get some outside help at a women's treatment facility. She will stay there for thirty days. After that, she can choose to come back to the house, but she will still have to get support. Her other choice is to move out in twenty-four hours.
Ruthie says that's not a choice. The definition of choice is "the voluntary act of selecting or separating from two or more things that which is preferred." Ruthie says it is an ultimatum, which is "a final proposition, concession, or condition." I say it is both, and I don't understand why it has to be one or the other. Ruthie goes on to say, "I'm not putting my life on hold for thirty days. I'm strong enough to do this on my own."
Her sister Rachel says, "It's not just the roommates. I love you, unconditionally, but you scared the hell out of me. You need outside help." Ruthie replies that an ultimatum doesn't matter, and won't work, unless she gives it to herself. WB asks what ultimatum she is willing to give herself. Ruthie says she doesn't need to share her personal ultimatum, because talk is cheap. WB says that won't work. Ruthie says, "I don't care. I'll get back to you after I talk to my counsellor. Are we done?" Then she stands up and just kind of stares at them all with this weird half smile on her face, and I lose any remnants of sympathy I had for her because I realize that Ruthie is enjoying all this attention and drama.
Ruthie is talking to her counsellor with her sister. As my friend Molly pointed out, Ruthie and Sara are a walking advertisement for eyebrow waxing. Ruthie doesn't, Sara does, and it makes a world of difference.
Anyway, Ruthie is telling the counsellor that she feels whatever decision she makes, she loses. If she goes into the treatment center, she has to give up her job and school. Okay, MTV got her the job so it's not like they won't make concessions for her, and I'm sure she could get some sort of dispensation from her professors if she did an extra paper or something. Her other choice is leaving the house, which would mean giving up her opportunity. Ruthie keeps describing being on the show as "an opportunity," which I do not get. What kind of opportunity is it? One that allows her to make a fool of herself in front of millions of people? My friend Molly thinks she is referring to her music career, but why doesn't Ruthie just say that?
The counsellor says that treatment has to be Ruthie's decision or it won't work. But the thirty days could be helpful, because "it's thirty days with you being with you in a very deep way [I hate psychobabble] without distractions, without alcohol."
In a confessional, Ruthie says she knows she wants to stay and take advantage of the opportunities -- see, there it is again -- and she's not going to let anyone take that away. To her counsellor, she says that she's not going to let them take it away. Do you think she's not going to let them take it away? Throughout her impassioned speech, her counsellor just keeps going "Yeeeaaah," and it really bugs me.
In case we weren't sure what was going on, the producers put a shot of a sign that says, "Danger: do not go beyond this point." Ooh, deep.
In a confessional, Ruthie says she is about to go into a meeting and announce her decision, and she thinks it's fair and positive.
They all convene, except Teck who couldn't make it for some reason. Ruthie says she has no animosity, and she knows their decision was made out of concern. She's willing to compromise. She won't drink for the rest of their time there (two months). She won't go to the clinic for thirty days, but she will go to the clinic and talk to the people there and see if she belongs there. She wants to compromise because she thinks the decision is too extreme.
At first, I kind of think that sounds reasonable. Then Tet Girl points out, "We want to have normal lives. We don't want to be worrying or wondering or thinking constantly. We want to go about our daily lives," and I realize she's right. Ruthie's solution would mean that the roommates would have to continue to walk on eggshells and constantly be policing Ruthie to see if she is drinking. And what happens the time she screws up? They've kind of shot their wad on ultimatums.
Ruthie says, like a two-year-old, "It's selfish," when she means, "How dare you think about anyone but me?". Annoying shoots back, "It's NOT selfish" (and have I mentioned I like her with a backbone?). Justin plays bad cop and says, "We're not negotiating. We've come to this decision as a house."
Then we see the clip they've been showing all season, where Ruthie says, "You guys are making a decision about my life which is going to affect my life without even asking me. That's not fair." Since Ruthie is acting like a child, Justin plays dad and says, "Ruthie, we said 'no.' We're asking for your decision."
Ruthie kind of loses it and just starts shouting, "It's not fair!" and I keep expecting someone to say, "Life's not fair. Deal with it." Ruthie stands up and starts pacing while mumbling, "This is not reality. This is not real. I'll be outside. I can't believe you guys." For a minute, I thought she was having an Irene-style breakdown, because art shouldn't hurt.
Ruthie's sister Sara comes outside and takes Ruthie aside. Ruthie says that she is trying to turn her life around and they kick her out. Sara speaks for like the first time ever, and says, "You want to do it, just not on their terms," and Ruthie babbles on about "this opportunity" again, and how she'll make it without the opportunity, and still I don't get what she is talking about. Anyway, that night her Rutgers friends leave.
The day Rachel asks if Ruthie is going to the clinic or what. Ruthie refuses to tell her what she is doing, because that's mature. Instead she just packs everything up and talks about how she hopes her roommates don't know what's going on. She throws all her stuff in the car and leaves with her sisters, and in her final (?) confessional, says, "Hasta Pasta."
week: Teck says he doesn't know if Ruthie is coming back. WB takes Ruthie out for dinner and asks if she's coming back. WB says "Not knowing where she is and what she's decided is gut-wrenching," and what's with him and his gut, anyway? At dinner, Ruthie says, "You kicked me out. Miss me," and is totally loving the attention. WB wears that damn green shirt again.