RECAP: Real Housewives of Potomac “Whiskey Tasting Goes Sour” [Episode 3]

I do not understand Katie Rost. Is her confidence simply a cover for low self-esteem? Please tell me this Andrew thing is scripted. She seems to spend more time trying to figure out how to force the man to want her and in fending off “the competition” rather than finding a man who won’t leave her begging. She would have been a great character on “Desperate Housewives.” On “Real Housewives,” she is just a walking life lesson. She is giving an interview about her work, an interview she thinks will ruin Andrew’s reputation as an eligible bachelor and make him her known property in Potomac circles. You know what else would do that? Andrew telling everyone who will listen how much he loves her and only her.  A week ago I said she should get on the clue bus when it arrives. I don’t think she even knows where the stop is.  Thank goodness we have Lady Eloise Huger for levity.

Dressed in her best TLC–inspired video shoot camouflage outfit, she is (somewhat) making things right with Gizelle over tea. She is serving a much softer face as she enlightens Gizelle about where she went wrong with her apology- like having her and Charisse meet together. They should have been invited to separate events. Karen wants Gizelle to reach out to Charrisse, again, and Gizelle refuses, stating that she has apologized – she is done. The ball is in Charrisse’s court. Karen and Gizelle hug it out at the end. 

Ashley and Michael have dinner with Katie and Martin at what looks like an upscale food court. Ashley is open about wanting to move up the social ladder in philanthropy and hopes the women can help her. Katie is just thrilled to have dinner with another “interracial couple.” Marriage comes up and Katie is envious of Ashley’s ability to lock down a husband so quickly after meeting him.

Andrew asks for another drink when Katie brings up the fact that he is the last single man in his group of friends. The conversation transitions to the first meeting with the other wives and Ashley is still upset about Gizelle’s “THOT” comment (rightly so). When asking about the other women, Andrew refers to Karen as older and more haggard. Katie makes it clear that Andrew says the things she can’t. He goes full-bore by telling Ashley to imagine Gizelle on performance enhancing bad drugs and that’s Karen. I get it that Andrew does not seem to respect Katie, but I am shocked at how little he seems to respect any of the women Katie calls “friends.”

Robyn’s children are getting ready for bed with both parents helping them. This is an adorable family, and a far cry from where her husband started out – dealing with parents who were in and out of jail with both having died of AIDS by the time he was 16-years old. The couple wants their relationship to work for everyone’s sake but Robyn fears being let down by her ex. He is currently an assistant coach at the University of Maryland (Men’s), but wants to be a head coach. His dreams may take him away from the family.

Robyn is open about their financial issues – prompted by Juan leaving the NBA, and the stock and housing markets crashing. The family  is working its way out of hard times. HOW REFRESHING! I am so tired of wives in The Real Housewives franchise faking it. They are owning up to their issues. If he gets a head coaching job, will the family stay together? Neither knows. They laugh together about Juan finding her in the wedding dress and then reminisce about their wedding day. Whatever happened between them, they are giving me the feels, right now, and I cannot believe that they didn’t make it as a couple.

At Karen “Haggard” Huger’s home, daughter, Rayvin is getting ready for prom and is excited to sit in mom’s prized white hair and makeup chair. Karen’s sad bathroom looks to be as outdated as her kitchen and much of the house. Karen vows not to fade away from the social spotlight as most Potomac mothers do when their children graduate — you have been warned, Potomac, you have been warned. When Rayvin’s date, Henry, arrives, Karen tells us how normal interracial dating is in Potomac. I feel like the scene was meant to be treated like lost footage from “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” It is 2016, dating should be that simple. Still, the comment is odd because Katie and Andrew talked about not knowing many others who date interracially, when at dinner with the Darbys. Karen says that they have taught Rayvin to look beyond race to find someone who has the milk of human kindness and a great set of rules of etiquette (HA! just joking on that last part). Calling herself one of the better helicopter moms, I am shocked when the teens get into the limo without Karen. I thought for sure she would climb in and spend the evening at the prom.

 

Bravo keeps breaking my heart as Robyn and her mother talk about the beautiful wedding (with flashback video) and about the help her family gave Juan as they dated. Her mother tutored him and her father taught him manners. Her family embraced him even though his background was so different from their own. I am almost resentful of watching Karen, Charrisse, Katie, and Ashley shopping in the next segment. Robyn’s story is so real and compelling. I wanted more.

While shopping, we start with Karen talking about the tea date with Gizelle. Charrisse plays hard and thinks she has been nothing but kind to Gizelle. Ok. Sure.  Ashley finds out that she likes Karen a lot more than she expected, and then Karen explains that women have to earn their way into the circle but she likes Ashley, so she’s in. Ashley invites all of the women to a whiskey tasting. Yup, sounds like a good idea.. alcohol and a vat of burning oil. Katie and Ashley agree to model swimsuits so Karen can pick one out for her daughter. It all feels a little exploitative. Katie reminds us that Charrisse and Karen have a lot of money and she needs it for her foundation  but apparently not enough to tell Martin to not trash the women? Charrisse gets a swipe in during a Talking Head, referring to herself as the grandmother and Karen as the great-grandmother watching their granddaughters/great-granddaughters try on swimsuits. Um, no. If they were all dating the scenes would make sense. 

 

Gizelle’s girls are picking out her outfit for the whiskey tasting (because they are close to Ashley’s age – she says. Ow.  Low blow). She has a great relationship with her girls, who are horrified when she jokingly dances in front of them. Katie and Andrew are strategizing their “Rost Foundation” talking points for another social event they have to attend. They will miss the whiskey tasting. Andrew prefers to be introduced as Katie’s boytoy rather than her fiancé, but agrees, when she jokes, that he is the guy sucked into taking care of her three kids, her, and the au pair.

Ashley admits that she is impressed by the women – who are highly successful, African-American women in an affluent community. Karen, in her best vintage wide leg white pants and jacket, casts aspersions on the setting, as does Gizelle. Robyn thinks holding a whiskey tasting is a manly thing to do and is surprised that Ashley is doing it. Charrisse reminds us that she is annoyed with Gizelle. Someone break that damned violin that plays every time she whines about it. Ashley toasts that she wants to get to know them better, but in a Talking Head she hopes that Robyn and Gizelle remove the sticks from their asses. Gizelle tells Karen she appreciates having an adult conversation with her and laments that she couldn’t have the same with Charrisse, which gives Charrisse license to talk about how annoyed she is by Gizelle. She doesn’t need to revisit the conversation, the issue is done. Gizelle says that she thought they were better friends.  Robyn tries to keep the peace and asks that they move on.

Katie definitely chose well. She and Andrew are at their event and are working the crowd. She is anxious as the new director of the Rost foundation and wants to make big money. Andrew tells her to think big. She successfully earns support from Washingtonian Magazine. That is clearly not enough so she puts Andrew on the spot when a woman asks how long they have been together (1.5 years) and if they are engaged (no). He gives Katie the stiff arm and eventually says, not yet. The woman asking the question gets it before Katie does, and apologizes. Katie claims they are too old to be “shacked up.” I think she is too desperate to be married, especially since she was so recently divorced when she met Andrew. As I recall, she left her husband when she was four months pregnant and met Andrew a year to the day after that.

 

The brown liquor has been flowing, nerves are cracked, and although in a Talking Head, Ashley laughs because she thinks Gizelle and Charrisse were incredibly childlike, she sees her chance to confront Gizelle about the THOT comment from earlier. The humping behavior was used as the reason the word was used. Ashley reminds them that HOs have sex for money and she didn’t. Gizelle apologizes and Ashley accepts. Ashley’s adult behavior prompts Charrisse to behave like an adult and hug Gizelle. The fighting is done. Ashley thinks it is the magic of the brown liquor. Gizelle jokes about missing the chance to hump her friend’s leg. Karen warns Ashley that she will pull her off if she catches her humping anyone else’s leg. They all laugh.

We end the night with bullsh*t so high, so deep, and so rank, that Bravo had to end with this segment in order to stop the full episode from being buried in it. While asking Andrew to get romantic and braid her hair like in a film she watched, Katie follows up by asking him about having more children to run around the house – knocking her up and proposing. (In that order?) She thinks he deserves the pleasure of seeing her pregnant. He tells her that if she hadn’t continued to ask and ask, they would have been engaged and married by now. My four-year old nephew is more clever.  

If he really wanted her, wouldn’t he be happy that she wanted him just as much? He is not too put off by her behavior to live with her, but he is too put off by her behavior to marry her? Let’s see where this goes next week, but I think it’s safe to say that they won’t be heading to a jeweler’s showroom.

 

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