These lags in time between when “Real Housewives” films and when the episodes air can cause such confusion.
After it came to light, in June 2010, that Teresa and Joe Giudice had quietly filed for bankruptcy in October, 2009, we watched almost a whole season of Teresa pretending that nothing was wrong, throwing big parties and shopping. And now, six months after Teresa reportedly withdrew her bankruptcy petition and promised to pay off her debts, we saw an episode that was almost entirely about her bankruptcy proceedings.
At any rate, let’s pretend that it’s Summer/Fall of 2011 again and Teresa still “did bankruptcy,” as she puts it…
The episode opens with Joe excavating their Montville property for what we’re told will be a garage and a carport (with a chandelier). It’s gonna be nice, Teresa says, “but right now, it’s my house and it looks like a junkyard.” This is not entirely a do-it-yourself project. The Giudices have an architect.
Naturally, this causes some buzz among the other housewives and their families. They’re building a carport? We thought they were broke.
Soon, we’re at a meeting that Teresa and Juicy have with their attorney, James Kridel. It’s not a good sign that Juicy lets out a big yawn.
“What can I do to get out of my bankruptcy?” Teresa asks.
Kridel’s explanation of some complicated financial issues seems to elude the Giudices.
“I don’t even want to think about the past,” Joe says. “To me, it’s over.”
But it’s not over, Kridel points out.
Teresa, meanwhile, tells the camera, “I guess God puts you through tests in life….you learn who your friends are.”
Did God make T and Juicy run up nearly $11 million in debt? I saw a lot of credit cards, but no church bills in that petition’s list of creditors.
Jacqueline seems particularly upset by Teresa’s denial and denials, and about the fact that her friend may be participating in tabloid stories about her own plight, for money.
“Is she profiting from people’s pity?” Jac asks.
Her husband Chris reminds her that when they’d read (the previous summer) that there was going to be a bankruptcy auction of the Giudices’ possession, he’d said, “If there is anything, let’s go and buy everything and give it back to them.”
Melissa Gorga, meanwhile, has other concerns. “I don’t know how to hula hoop,” she tells her sisters.
As if on cue, Kathy Wakile arrives.
“So, I was in the store and picked up one of those magazines,” Kathy says. “It says she risks going to prison, too.”
Says Melissa, “Nobody knows the real truth.” She also ventures that “it’s clear as day” that Teresa is being paid for these magazine cover stories. Then, Melissa doesn’t want to talk about Teresa and her problems anymore. Enough, already.
The big showdown comes at Jacqueline’s Franklin Lakes home. Teresa arrives all cheery and says, “I like your dress. You look like you should be in South Africa…You look very Aztec.”
Jacqueline ignores (or maybe doesn’t recognize) the gaffe and cuts to the chase. She feels as if Teresa is not coming clean with her. “Are you going to jail, are you not going to jail? she asks.
Teresa laughs it off, saying, “If I was going to jail, I’m sure you’d know about it.” (Especially if you’re reading the tabloids).
“Are you worried about any of this?” Jac asks.
“When you do bankruptcy, it doesn’t mean your life is over,” Teresa says.
Then, Jacqueline confronts her about being paid for some of these stories that appear.
“Jacqueline, I don’t sell articles to the press.”
Jacqueline: “I thought you had two more covers in your contract.”
Teresa: “What contract?”
Oops.
Deny, deny, deny.
Chris Laurita, who’s observing this scene on the patio from a window, says that the phone rings every morning a 8 — Teresa calling Jacqueline.
“Teresa never asks how Ashlee is. It’s always about her,” he says. (More on darling Ashlee later.)
The showdown continues, with Jacqueline saying, “I saw on Twitter last night, she was tweeting Danielle.”
That’s, of course, Danielle Staub, former “RHONJ” cast mate, who had accused Jacqueline’s daughter, Ashlee Holmes, of assaulting her at the North Jersey Country Club back in 2010. Why would Teresa be tweeting Danielle — the enemy?
“Clearly, she’s using Danielle to expose Melissa,” Jacqueline says.
Teresa calls Jacqueline a “Hekyll and Jyde.”
Things escalate to a shouting match, with Teresa ultimately screaming the reason why she thinks sister-in-law Melissa is trying to “maliciously” hurt her: “Friggin’ jealousy!”
Teresa later says of Jacqueline, “I’m not a therapist, but I think she’s crazy.”
Enter Caroline Manzo.
“Why are you screaming?” Caroline asks. We hear her voice before she appears on camera, glass of wine in hand. It was a strange entrance — a little “scary,” as Andy Cohen pointed out later on “Watch What Happens Live.”
There’s more talk about the tabloid stories and whether Teresa gets paid for them, and a rehash of the insults in Teresa’s cookbook.
“I have been a friend to you. You have never been a friend to me,” says Caroline, who delivers the line as if she’s in a 1940 Joan Crawford movie.
“I had a feeling Caroline was going to turn on me,” Teresa tells the camera. “She turned on her own sister.”
Caroline, who tells Teresa that she “can’t look in the face of a liar,” says that Teresa was never her friend. And Jacqueline tells Teresa, “I’m going to distance myself from you and your family.”
Says Teresa, “I feel like I’m going through a friendship divorce.”
To quickly recap the other, less gripping story lines in the episode:
Jacqueline and her ex-husband in Texas have a video chat. Their daughter Ashlee, who’s been staying with him, is up to her old tricks, staying up all night and sleeping all day. He’s fed up.
And Lauren Manzo is still struggling with her weight issues.
“I know my daughter. I know she’s a food addict,” Caroline says.
Lauren once again says that she thinks people think her brothers are cute, and “there’s Lauren. It’s a shame. She’s so chubby.”
Says Mama, “You need to lose a couple of pounds. It doesn’t make you a failure. It makes you a little chunkamunk.” Gee, thanks Mom.
Later, at Chris and Albie Manzo’s Hoboken apartment, Lauren eats a salad while the boys dig into a big pizza.
Several promos for “Summer by Bravo” aired during this episode. They featured stars from different Bravo shows, and Teresa was the representative of “RHONJ.” In one promo, she and others were flipping tables. Like it or not, folks, Teresa is the show’s star.
When she and Juicy appeared on last night’s “Watch What Happens Live,” Cohen tried his best to get to the bottom of the “does she get paid for tabloid articles” issue. Teresa denied everything, as usual.
Cohen asked Joe if he regrets anything he did or said on the show, and to his credit, Joe said yes — “when I yell at my wife.”
Cohen also confronted Juicy with the remarks he has made about gays. The couple reiterated how they have lots of gay friends and thought that Jaime Laurita’s wedding was just beautiful. And after all that, Joe said, “I just want to apologize for all the gay slurs.”
Cohen showed a montage of Joe calling other people on the show names, and asked if he regrets any of them.
“Butchie boy,” Joe said, of the way he described Kathy Wakile’s sister Rosie on camera.
Also noteworthy: Despite rumors to the contrary, Teresa said that she’s still “very close” to Dina Manzo.
Cohen had put up a poll asking viewers to vote on “whose side” they were on — Jacqueline or Teresa?
Jacqueline won, with 67 percent of the vote.
But Teresa is still star of the show.