The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Erika goes snowmobiling with her non-friends Sutton, Garcelle, and Sheree.
Theyre all in these insane designer duds and never looked more out of place.
Garcelle is in a hoop skirt.
Erika is in a slinky lilac Andrews Sisters gown.
There are grates in front of the restaurant doors so people can wear their ski boots in.
Real rich people dont care.
You know what rich people certainly dont wear?
Fendi helmets with matching goggles.
(Sidenote: Does Andy Cohen own a stake in Reality Blurb?
How did they become the go-to news outlet of choice when this story was circling everywhere?
IsUs Weeklynot good enough for you?)
(Sidenote, the sequel: The Los AngelesTimesdida whole investigationinto the earrings.)
Erika tells Garcelle that if the judge tells her to give the earrings back, she will.
Im not guilty, she snarls.
How dare you say that shit about me?
(Who has an extra hotel room, like its a leftover donut just sitting on your counter?)
What makes this situation difficult is that they are both right, one emotionally and the other intellectually.
This makes total sense.
I wouldnt want what are literally blood diamonds in my jewelry box.
(2) Erika, however, is also right, if only on a technicality.
She will do whatever the judge tells her.
They have not been found to be victims.
We dont know what money bought those earrings or when.
We dont even know, at least in a definitive legal way, if Tom stole the money.
But also, come on!
It sure looks like he did.
I think that compassion is what fans have wanted to see from Erika.
To Erikas point, who would she even give the earrings to?
Should she pawn them off and write a check to the families of the Lion Air crash?
What if the judge tells her that the money should have gone elsewhere?
Erika points out shes had the earrings for more than 15 years.
Who decides how to best make everyone whole?
Its not Crystal and Garcelle.
Its not the fans (though maybe it is Kathy Hiltons box fan).
Its not even the people who tweet about it the most.
This shit is complicated, multifaceted, and deeply entrenched.
But reality television isnt made to deal with these issues adequately.
Constructing these nuanced conversations into an entertaining structure is hard.
Also, we want things that are morally black-and-white.
We want heroes to love, villains to hate, and for those sides to switch every season.
We want an issue dismissed for good as soon as it has been discussed at the reunion.
Never heard of it.
Lucy Lucy Apple Juicy?
That is not what is going to happen here.
That is the smart and measured response, and I think something that everyone could agree would be suitable.
Thats not the response Erika gives, though.
Instead, she says, I dont give a fuck about anyone else but me.
She gives us swagger and bluster when she should be giving us more sympathy.
Even Kyle, her staunchest defender, says that when Erika says these things, she cant defend her.
She only says, Ive been a wife who is left in ruins.
This is the wake-up call, I think, that Erika needed.
But it doesnt end well for anyone.
Still, nothing is finished, nothing is done.
