Previously on The Real World, Ruthie drinks and falls over, Ruthie goes to the hospital, Ruthie drinks and drives, Ruthie gets an ultimatum from the producers. So this week's episode is about Ruthie drinking some more.
Ruthie's sisters arrive at the airport. Sara is her twin sister; Rachel is older. Ruthie says she is the loud one, Sara is the weird one, and Rachel is the mom. Ruthie also says she doesn't tell her sisters everything. They pick up their rental car and drive to the house. Meeting the sisters, Annoying is amazed (because they're twins?). Wonder Bread is in the middle of brushing his teeth, but he runs out to say hi anyway, and hugs Sara with foam in his mouth like a rabid dog (which is appropriate, since he's usually foaming at the mouth over women). WB has also gotten a new hair style that makes him look like Michael Douglas in Falling Down. The whole gang goes out to (where else?) a bar.
At the bar, WB and Rachel talk about Ruthie. Rachel says Ruthie has no self-esteem and always has to be the life of the party, and that Ruthie is going to crash soon, while we see shots of Ruthie lolling about drunkenly. So, articles in People not withstanding, Ruthie's behavior on the show was not an anomaly if her sister knew about it from before.
They all grab a cab home, and Ruthie is complaining loudly that her camera is missing. She continues to yell all the way home, and Teck tells us she even hit the cab driver; I hope they tipped him well. At home, Ruthie tries to pick up some decoration and throw it, but it's too heavy and Justin stops her. Instead, she goes in the house and throws a glass on the floor, breaking it. This is the last straw for Teck, and he goes off. He tells Ruthie that she's got to stop "acting like a fool," and adds, "You're beautiful, but just act right." Furthermore, he tells her she's a grown-up and needs to stop acting like a child. I'd like to point out that I think this is the first honest display of emotion we've seen from Teck all season. Annoying confides that they all agree with what Teck is saying, but don't have the guts to say it to Ruthie. Justin and Matt sweep up the glass and Colin pokes his head out of his room. Finally, Teck stops and Ruthie goes out to the balcony (which I've never seen before; where did it come from?). They kind of set the broken glass on top of the garbage can. That looks safe.
Now begins a series of ridiculous, melodramatic, starkly-lit interviews with the King of All Wonder Bread. When I tell you the words he spoke, you must imagine them in a monotone, with lots of dramatic pauses after each word, and the occasional cracking of his voice to indicate emotion. I never knew it was possible for one person to take himself so seriously. At first, I think he is reading a poem at Local Motion like Tetanus Girl did last week. Then they show him, all backlit, and I realize he is speaking to the camera. He says, "I sense the torture in Ruthie's soul. I see a person who's desperate. I see a person who's so low, I'm afraid of the consequences of leaving her alone." Please note that all of those sentences started with the word "I"; as we will learn, WB is a lot more concerned with himself than he is with Ruthie.
Ruthie has run out of the house after Teck's dressing-down, and is hiding in some alley behind the pool, crying. Wonder Bread runs after her, and Colin follows. They find her and WB hugs her. This must gross her out because she runs away again, and the boys follow. Thus begins the most hilarious, surreal scene of this ridiculous season so far. Ruthie is walking down the street and WB, Colin and Justin are following -- and Colin and Justin are in their underwear. In the middle of the sidewalk. The whole time, Ruthie is telling them to leave her alone so they are kind of walking a few paces behind her. What would you do if you drove by and saw a girl being chased down the street by three guys -- two of whom are in their underwear -- being filmed? They walk Ruthie all the way to her sister's apartment without getting arrested for indecent exposure.
Ruthie tells Rachel that Teck called her "ignorant" (conveniently forgetting that he called her "beautiful" as well). Rachel says maybe he just doesn't like her, and Ruthie says that if people don't like her, she should know why. She heads out to the balcony again, and asks Sara if she would die if she jumped off. The producers would have you believe that she was seconds away from plunging to her death, but I kind of thought she was just curious.
Rachel has arrived on the balcony and tells Ruthie that killing herself would be selfish, and that she has two sisters who love her. In a confessional, Ruthie says she was speculating about how easy it would be to go "splat," and that she wouldn't have to feel anything anymore. Rachel says that despite their upbringing, they can't give up, and that before Ruthie jumps she should remember that her sisters love her no matter what. Rachel says, "Sara's probably wanted to jump millions of times," and Sara says, "Not really." They all crack up at that one. At this point, I'm wishing they would scrap the whole cast and just do a show about these three sisters. They're far more interesting that Tetanus Girl and Annoying!
Teck and Colin are in the van discussing the night's events. Colin says he would have handled it the same way that Teck did. Then he starts laughing because Teck said he was mad that Ruthie broke the glass because, "what if we have company?" (which isn't exactly what he said, but whatever). This whole van ride is pointless, until finally they reveal that they are planning a house meeting whenever Ruthie leaves.
That night, Ruthie is with a huge group of her friends. While we see them all enjoying the show at Local Motion, WB tells us that Rachel wanted to come to Hawaii and make things better, but that she didn't anticipate Ruthie's serious problems. I'm glad WB is such a mind-reader, since at this point we haven't seen him even speak to Rachel. Colin slyly asks Ruthie and company if they are all going out (which they are) and WB tells Teck that this is their opportunity to have a house meeting.
Ruthie tells her friends that she promised her counsellor she would "be good" this weekend. Her kind, supportive friends say, "Ruthie, if you are seeking counselling for this problem, it must be serious. What do you say we go hang out on the beach and talk, or go grab a bite to eat at a diner." Well, actually they laugh and scoff at Ruthie's counsellor and say, "Yeah, right!"
The rest of the housemates have their meeting outside even though it appears to be quite chilly; Annoying is wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood up and pulled tight. WB says that he wanted to have a meeting to figure out how to help Ruthie, but that everyone else was like, "You shape up or you're gone." Tet Girl (wearing a bindi, of course) asks WB how he sees helping Ruthie working out on a daily basis. His reply: "If the six of us can somehow break down her walls, and somehow she recognizes she has a problem, somehow she says, 'You're right. I need help.'". I'm thinking he should just take her out to dinner again. I'm also thinking that's a lot of "somehows" for a workable plan, and that if WB had come up with something a little more concrete instead of living in this fantasy world where Ruthie admits she has a problem, the disaster that happens in Act III could have been prevented. Tet Girl says, "You envision her saying 'I want help'?" How sad is it when she has a better grasp on reality than Wonder Bread?
Ruthie and friends go to a club where Billy Blanks is the bouncer. He threatens to roundhouse kick her ass out because apparently she had caused trouble with him before. The manager of the place pulls her aside and says that she can't go into the club because of her prior behavior, and that this is the second time he's spoken to her. Ruthie obviously doesn't remember what she did that was so bad, and she says to her friends, "I can't believe he did that!" as they walk off in search of another club. One of Ruthie's friends is some sort of Amazon woman.
Back at the meeting, Annoying says they need to let Ruthie know that she is harming herself and that they want her to get help. Teck says he's with WB 100% on helping Ruthie and not pushing her out in the cold, but if Ruthie screws up, she's got to go. Justin says that part of him agrees with Teck (this gets a little smile from Teck) -- that they need the carrot and the stick, and he thinks their help won't make a shred of difference unless they have some force behind it. He goes on: "If we're going to have an ultimatum coupled with assistance, we've got to be clear on the terms." Colin says: "My terms: You put anybody in danger, you put yourself in danger, you put another person in danger, you're gone. That would be the ultimatum." I'm thinking perhaps they should define "danger" a little more clearly. Is throwing a glass putting someone in danger? Is getting kicked out of every club in town a danger? It just seems like it would be too easy for Ruthie to agree to the terms, and then later say that no one was in danger.
In a confessional, Justin says that the benefit of approaching her as a group is that she can't wiggle out of it. Back to WB's scary monotone confessional: "Everyone else wanted to have a meeting about how Ruthie's behavior is affecting the house. I wanted to have a meeting about how Ruthie's behavior is affecting Ruthie's life. That misunderstanding makes the meeting turn into an ineffective disaster."
I need to have a mild rant here on how big a dick Matt is. First, could he be any more sanctimonious? Hey, Matt: Colin and Justin walked in their damn underwear with Ruthie. Justin held her up in the shower while she was puking. Don't pretend you're the only one in the house who cares. The rest of them just realize that you can't help people until they admit they need help. By trying to protect her, you're just enabling her bad behavior, and that is not helping. Second, if you were so concerned with the effectiveness of this meeting, you could have stopped it right there and said, "I disagree. I think we need to be together on this, and I'm not with you guys. Can we talk about this more? Maybe we should consult with Ruthie's counsellor." No one was forcing you to go along with the crowd, nor to be a maverick and go behind everyone's back. Dick.
Anyway, apparently there some consensus is reached, and they all disperse. Colin says they should call a Saturday house meeting. WB reveals that he is planning on going it alone, and says, "We cannot spring an ultimatum on Ruthie and I came to the felt understanding that if no one else is going to stop this ship, I will." First, what ship? Second, what the hell is a "felt understanding"? This is the second time this season that he has used that expression and I still don't know what it means. Third, you go dude. Matt,:champion martyr.
Annoying is cutting carrots in the kitchen and she's obviously watched and Party of Five because she tells WB that interventions are supposed to be a surprise. In a voice-over, WB says, "There's no way that I'm going to let Ruthie be surprised by a 6:00 meeting," and they show him walking outside with Ruthie.
R: A meeting tonight, huh? Do they want to kick me out?
M: They want to give you an ultimatum.
R: What did each roommate say? [i.e. Matt, everyone knows you're a big narc who will spill the beans.]
M: Kaia says she doesn't feel comfortable in the house.
R [in confessional]: When stuff happens, you find out who your true friends are [substitute "enablers" for "true friends" and that sentence might be true], and Kaia went away when I needed her most.
Meanwhile, inside, Colin and Annoying can see WB talking to Ruthie, and they start to suspect that he may be telling her everything. There's no putting one over on those two, I tell ya.
M: We had a meeting last night. I thought it was going to be concern for Ruthie but it was a meeting of "Let's tell her if something awful happens again, that will be the last straw."
Okay, I'd like to point out that (a) Matt has a strong self-preservation instinct -- note the way he's separating himself from the herd -- and (b) what was actually said at the meeting was, "We really want Ruthie to get help, but just telling her that isn't going to work because we've tried that before. Maybe we should threaten her with getting kicked out. Maybe that's what it will take for her to get help." Except maybe Teck. He kind of said what Matt relayed above.
While Matt is talking to Ruthie, Colin comes outside and looks at them, except that they insert this shot in the wrong place so that one second Matt is sitting down, the he is standing, and then he's sitting again. Good editing, guys.
Ruthie babbles something about taking advantage of all the opportunities, and that she doesn't know what's wrong with her, but having everyone gang up on her isn't going to help, and that she doesn't know what to do but she wants to do something. If WB truly wanted to help, this would be his cue to say, "What you should do is stop drinking. Everyone will leave you alone if you stop." But that would require him to relinquish his role as rebel martyr, so he angrily says, "[The housemates] are too selfish to realize that help is what's necessary. That being supportive is what's necessary." WB gets his big reward when Ruthie says, "You're so right, Matt. You understand," and hugs him. I'm thinking: When the one with the problem is the only one who agrees with you, you know you're in trouble.
WB goes inside and Colin asks if he told Ruthie about the meeting, and he says yes. Annoying groans and Colin gives the "What the...?" look. Annoying bugs me with the whispering to Colin, but she makes a good point in a confessional: "I have a feeling Matt is trying to look like the only person who wants to help Ruthie." WB comes back into the room and Colin asks if they're ever going to have the meeting; Annoying adds that Ruthie really shouldn't know about it in advance. WB puts the final nail in his coffin as far as I'm concerned right here: he says that he did not tell Ruthie what the meeting was about. In yet another scary voice-over, he says, "I consciously choose to mask the whole truth from Colin because if I break Ruthie's trust, she will never reach out for help to me. If Ruthie doesn't reach out for help to me, I don't know who she'll reach out to." Quite revealing, that. She might reach out to her sister? Or her other sister? Or her counsellor? Or the producers? Or her brother? Or anyone but Wonder Bread? He needs to stop acting like he's the only one in her world that understands her. And it was really wrong to lie to Colin like that. When he said that, I turned into one of those women in the audience on Jerry Springer and jumped off the couch crying, "No, he didn't!"
There is a note posted that says: "Listen guys (and girls): I want to have a house meeting Monday night @ 7 PM. If you can make it, cool. If not, come anyway. Thankx! [sic] Ruthie." Apparently it's Monday night and Ruthie has a bunch of friends on her bed taking pictures. Annoying, WB and Justin are in the living room. Annoying asks WB if all the friends are staying for the meeting. WB is wearing sunglasses, when it's dark out, inside the house. Have I mentioned that he's a dick? Annoying asks if Ruthie knows what's going on, and WB replies that she called the meeting. Annoying says, "But does she know..." and then gets drowned out. From the look on Justin's face, you can tell he knows something is up. WB says that Ruthie wanted to have a meeting on her terms to say something to her friends and everyone, and then asks Justin if he can talk to him outside -- you know, because that's not going to arouse any suspicion. Annoying asks (again!) if all the friends will be there and WB says "Yes." While he and Justin are walking outside, we are treated to yet another WB voice-over: "I realized that this intervention can't happen. The word 'ultimatum' cannot be put to Ruthie because she will feel as though she's being attacked and that will be the straw that breaks her back." Did he just call Ruthie a camel? I think he did. If I were there, I'd definitely ask him who died and made him king, but you know what? I'm just going to let Justin handle it.
Once outside, WB says very self-importantly, "I don't know how to say this lightly. There's an awful lot that y'all don't know. [Isn't Matt from SoCal? Why is he saying "y'all"?] You have to trust my judgment. What you want to say, if it has anything to do with an ultimatum, or anything to do with intervention, it's not the right time to say it." In a confessional, Justin says something about how WB is mixed up, but the really true part is when he says that WB's motives taint the good things he does. Back outside, Justin says, "I'm tired of one person dictating how this process works." You and me both, brother! This exchange was so great, I'm just going to transcribe it.
M: I understand that and I promise -- I will make this promise to you....
J: I don't want any more promises.
M: I don't give a crap what you want.
J: That's pretty clear for all of us.
M: Y'all [there it is again!] are in the dark. There is so much that's gone on these last 3 days...
J: I've heard that [starts to leave]
M: I'm just talking about the best thing for Ruthie.
J: It's all mixed up and it's dirty now, Matt. It's just dirty. [walks back inside].
I literally cheered when Justin said that and walked away. Finally, someone tells Matt off! I am going to play that sequence over and over. I'd also like to point out that this looks like the same setting as the confrontation clip between these two they showed early on this year, where WB says, "You're going to come off as really insensitive," and Justin says, "Are you finished?" but that didn't happen tonight. WB says in a voice-over, "I know there's animosity toward me and I don't care because I know what I'm doing is right." It must be nice to be so in love with yourself that you can't even entertain the idea that you might not be right. I'm just saying. In a confessional, Justin says that WB wants to be involved -- wants to save, help and fix -- but that he's in over his head.
Rachel talks to Sara (who is dressed like Tetanus Girl, but looks so much like Ruthie that I did a double-take). WB walks up while Rachel is saying that she is going to say what she came to say to Ruthie tonight. WB totally worms in on their conversation (as usual) and says, "If you go in there and end up intervening, please, FOR ME, do so calmly. If you yell, she's going to react in the biggest rage you've ever seen and if you're afraid for her survival..." and suddenly it hits me that WB is also a huge control freak and he wants to manipulate the rest of them like puppets, so he goes around telling all of them just enough to allow him to control them. He controls how close Colin and Annoying get. And he's trying to control Ruthie, but Ruthie is out of control. Note the phrase "for me" in his last sentence. Why should Rachel do him any favors?
Anyway, revelation time is over. Rachel says, "Exactly, Matt. Exactly. What if time I'm called, it's to pick up her body..." and WB says, "If you approach her with this tone, then that time will be tonight," and he's all pointing in Rachel's face and I would've slapped him if he said that to me. Sara yells, "Stop! Stop it!" and Rachel says, "I'm going to say what I have to say whether she wants to hear it or not. I need you guys there because you care about her and you live with her. I have to live with her for the rest of her life. Me, Matt. Not you." Woo hoo! You go, Rachel! I swear, Rachel and Justin should have a spin-off. I would totally watch it. They are fierce.
Cut to the meeting, with everyone sitting around. Ruthie babbles on about how she has something to say, and she wants them all to listen and then they flash "To Be Continued..." on the screen.
Instead of previews, they show a suicide prevention hotline PSA. Over the credits, we get Ruthie in a confessional saying that she wants to be treated like a person, not a problem, and that no one puts themselves in her shoes, so they don't understand. I'd like to think that if I were in Ruthie's shoes, and pretty much everyone I know was telling me I had a problem, I would be strong enough to admit it. But that's just me.