My Problem With The ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ Season 3 Reunion

Caroline’s vitriolic crucifixion of Teresa

The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 3 Reunion Part 1 aired this past Sunday night and things were noticeably different and more uncomfortable than reunions in the past.

Andy Cohen acknowledged in the beginning that the cast is knee-deep in filming for season 4 of the series, a first time occurrence for the franchise. (Filming usually begins for the next season several weeks after the taping of the reunion.) The fact that the cast was already filming for the next season led to an extreme amount of confusion throughout the night.

Jacqueline did not show up for the taping and her absence was supposedly due to a “setup” of one of the cast mate’s while filming the night before for the upcoming season. Since giving an in-depth explanation for Jacqueline’s whereabouts would have given away key plot points for the upcoming season, little details were discussed, other than that it was all supposedly Teresa’s fault.

Confusion continues as we see how intensely angry Caroline looks when describing the previous night’s situation. As you can remember, the season finale ended with the gang’s being upset with Teresa’s comments in her cook book. (i.e. referring to Caroline as “1/16th Italian” and “as Italian as the Olive Garden.”) The vitriolic animosity shown by Caroline to Teresa is evident that something more, something sinister happens in the 4th season; something that the viewers are completely unaware of. (The set up may be about Teresa saying that Melisa once worked as a stripper, although neither Melissa nor Kathy seem to look at Teresa with the intense anger of Caroline.)

Teresa is grilled throughout the episode about her financial and legal situations (unaccompanied by a lawyer) by both Andy and Caroline; Melissa and Kathy stay out for the majority of the arguing, respecting Teresa’s privacy as most would. Teresa is seen looking wildly uncomfortable and even though we can all tell that she’s lying while answering some questions—I don’t have a problem with it. I have a problem with the deeply private and dark turn that the ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ has taken this season. While the show has always been darker than the other series in the franchise (remember Danielle?), all of America should not know about how much money Joe Giudice was loaned from his father, how much Teresa is making for SkinnyItalian, and how they can afford to buy Gia an iPod Touch. I don’t want to know if Teresa called Melissa a “gold digger” 6 years ago. The Giudices are going through an insanely difficult situation and even if they caused it for themselves and are still living beyond their means, I feel uncomfortable knowing how much the parents of 4 young girls owe to their debtors.

Caroline splays her former friend Teresa open in front of millions of viewers during Part 1. Caroline makes it clear that Teresa’s “making fun” of her in a cookbook was the last straw in their friendship and her loyalty. What Melisa and Kathie realize that Caroline doesn’t is that maliciously attacking and destroying a person, a person with whom she was once close, on national television for no known reason makes her look like the crazy one, not Teresa.

Caroline’s behavior can only be rooted in jealousy. Caroline wanted a cookbook and the Celebrity Apprentice. Teresa got both. What did Caroline get? A radio show in New Jersey.
Caroline can’t accept that Teresa is on the national platform–she has branded alcohol and New York Times bestselling cookbooks and is about to be on a network television show. The fight is oddly reminiscent of Bethenny Frankel and Jill Zarin’s fight as soon as Frankel skyrocketed into the national spotlight while she left Zarin, her former BFF, in the dust. (It should be noted though that Frankel was never 11 million dollars in debt and is notably a much better person than Giudice. The dynamics between the two are achingly similar though.)

Usually the reunion shows at the end of each ‘Real Housewives’ season are my favorite hours of television. The women are brought back together months after taping has ended, after they have forgiven each other for their wrongdoing caught on camera, and after the majority of the season has aired on national television. The bitter past is brought up once again, after they thought that everything was okay, and the anger released on the second go-around is stronger than ever imaginable. But this episode has been different. Occurrences from years passed were brought up and the viewers are in the crossroads of two different seasons. Drama is brought up that we know nothing about and won’t know about for months. I feel more than anything that I’m watching season 4′s reunion–and I haven’t seen the episodes.

Perhaps next year when the 4th season airs I will think differently. Maybe Teresa does act like a monster and Caroline’s behavior is completely justified—but since I and the rest of America are out of the loop, we’ll have to wait until next season.

Follow Alex Hughes on Twitter! @TheAlexHughes

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