RHONJ Recap: Family Drama

Tuesday’s episode of the Real Housewives of New Jersey picks up where it left off: in the middle of Dolores Catania, and Jennifer Aydin’s fight at the sexy calendar shoot charity event.

The episode didn’t need the “to be continued” since Jennifer and Dolores’ fight was pretty much over when Jennifer stormed out of Margaret Josephs’ house.

The aftermath of the argument results in Jen bitching to Bill Aydin in their Bentley as Dolores debriefs the rest of the ladies inside Marge’s house. Dolores explains that Jen talked about her to all the ladies all night, but when she finally approached Jen to talk, she blew up and said they weren’t friends. The mom of two insists she has gone up against everyone in defense of Jen. The ladies tell Dolores that Jen wants Dolores to love her and be friends with her, but Dolo isn’t buying it.

On the other hand, Jen doesn’t think Dolores cares about her and will start mourning the loss of their friendship. She also dubs Dolores a “nasty, lowlife, b—tch.” Yikes.

I’m still unsure whose side I’m on in this fight. Frankly, I’m much more interested in Teresa Giudice’s wedding planning.

Teresa meets with her wedding planner to talk about the invitations. She makes it clear she wants this wedding to be “epic” and “over the top” were talking bigger and better than any Giudice party of the past, and if you’ve been watching RHONJ from the beginning, you know that’s a big fete. Surprisingly, or maybe not, Teresa’s wedding planner lets her know she’s far from a Bridezilla.

At the Gorgas house, Melissa is packing to attend an award show in Los Angeles, where she has to present an award with Teresa. Talk about “awkward.” Melissa and hubby Joe Gorga talk about the charity photoshoot and claim Teresa and Louie ignored them the entire time. Melissa is still annoyed over Louie calling her “insecure.”

Melissa is shocked by Louie’s comment because she feels she was welcoming to him and never brought up anything about his past on the show. The Gorgas question where they “went wrong” regarding their relationship with Teresa and Louie. Hmm…sure, we could think of a few things. “ Joe admits he’s still upset over the engagement party, explaining he felt “weird” being there and sitting at the “friends” table.

Joe wonders “what [Teresa] is doing,” noting that she’s “hurting” him with her actions, especially since she’s his “only sister.” Joe then adds that it would be “nice” if he, Melissa, Teresa, and Louie could have a friendship and hang out together, but instead, he believes they will mostly like go their separate ways as family, which he calls “sad.”

Where was this Joe when Louie and Teresa begged him and Melissa to come to Teresa’s 50th birthday trip away from the cameras? Oh, yeah, this Joe only shows up when the cameras are rolling.

In Paramus, Danielle Cabral brings her two kids to Jennifer’s house for a play date. As the kids play, Danielle and Jennifer discuss the drama at the photoshoot. Danielle thinks Jennifer has a weird dynamic with the ladies and thinks she’s a little “crazy” like her. They discuss Teresa’s past drama with Margaret and their recent meeting to clear the air. Naturally, they Facetime Teresa, who tells them she’s pleased about her talk with Margaret. While Margaret didn’t apologize, Teresa says they talked it out and that the conversation was a “breathe of fresh air.”

Jennifer then brings up Margaret’s ex-best friend Laura Lee Jensen. According to Teresa, Margaret didn’t ask about Laura during the sit-down. Jennifer explains to Danielle that Margaret and Laura had “some kind of falling out and that Laura was trying to get in touch with [her] and Teresa to tell us stuff.”

The mom of five admits she was suspicious of Laura wanting to spill the tea on her and Teresa. Jen notes that she met Laura and multiple parties over the last few years and said Laura insists she has “stuff that [Teresa and Jen] would want to hear.” So, Jen agreed to meet with Laura because she feels that Margaret “would absolutely” take any opportunity to get dirt on her or Teresa if the roles were reversed.

Teresa and Jennifer informed Danielle that Laura confirmed that Margaret had tried to dig up dirt on everyone on the show. Danielle asks if Laura told them tea about anyone else in the group or just Marge. That’s when Teresa and Jennifer get quiet.

“We’re both silent,” Teresa quips, which makes Danielle feel there’s much more they aren’t saying, adding that it’s something “serious” as both women are being “silent.”

Jennifer says mentioning this tea would “make them just as dirty as Margaret” and notes that she “doesn’t think” she will have to reveal this information unless “Margaret pisses me off.”

A bunch of ladies, Jackie, Dolores, Jennifer Fessler, and Melissa, then meet up at Margaret’s house to play an NSFW game to get to know each other better. They then talk about Melissa’s recent trip to LA with Teresa. Melissa says it was “weird” but admits she’s glad Teresa no longer wants to fake getting.

Marge then tells the ladies that she found out that Teresa and Jennifer met up with her ex-best friend to get dirt on her and admits she feels “played” by it all. The ladies are shocked by this news. Marge found out via “mole” in Jennifer’s camp. She then calls Jennifer an “inauthentic b—ch” while Melissa adds that Jennifer can’t be trusted.

The ladies then receive their invites for Teresa and Louie’s wedding. While everyone gushes over how “beautiful” the invites are, the same can’t be said for Joe and Melissa.

Joe thinks the wedding will be “awkward,” like the trip to Los Angeles. Joe says it was “disgraceful” they couldn’t appear on the red carpet together for a picture before noting that his and Teresa’s parents “are heartbroken” in heaven. He’s still pissed Teresa didn’t ask Melissa to be in the wedding and insists their relationship has gone backward. On top of that, Joe claims that Louie doesn’t calm Teresa and instead adds fuel to the fire before dubbing Louie the new “bad seed” of the family while comparing him to Joe Giudice.

“I’m done,” Joe declares.

The ladies then head over to Danielle’s house, which isn’t a McMansion. Nice to see. Teresa arrives at the party and tells Dolores and Danielle how RHONY’ Ramona Singer leaked her wedding invite and website password to the whole world, putting a major snafu in plans to keep the details “private.”

As more of the ladies arrive, they discuss Jennifer and Dolores’ drama. Teresa makes it clear she’s not picking sides or getting in the middle but makes it clear she wants them to sit down and talk it out; however, Dolores isn’t interested in that option.

Oddly enough, Teresa tells the group she had a “great” time with Joe and Melissa in LA. She notes that Joe is still upset about their drama at the reunion, but Teresa’s not sure what else she can do after apologizing to him. Teresa reveals she’s working on how to handle it in therapy and admits she loves working out her issues, which surprises her. The group then discusses the stigma Italians have around therapy.

Danielle admits that she didn’t invite Jackie Goldschenider to the party, saying she didn’t get good vibes from Jackie and that Jackie was “eyeing her up.”

Jennifer calls Jackie a “snob,” while Rachel Fuda adds that Jackie was “rude” at the photo shoot. This sets Jennifer off, who asks Rachel, “Is that why you snapped at me” to which Rachel replies, “Did I snap at you? Or did you snap at me?”

Yikes. Marge and Jennifer then begin to rehash their drama from last year when Jennifer says Rachel calling her “hypocritical” set her off.

Marge tells Jennifer to get over being “hung up” on the word “hypocritical” and to “stop going back. It’s about moving forward.”

The ladies are supposed to be making mozzarella, but instead, they seem to be cooking up some drama. While finally making mozzarella, the ladies have about five minutes of fun before Marge approaches Jennifer, saying, “We have to chat eventually.”

Marge says she believed their reconciliation at the season 12 reunion was real, and Jennifer agrees. She then peppers Jennifer about why she and Teresa met with Laura. Jennifer claims Laura kept reaching out, so she decided to “hear her out” because she “was curious.”

Jennifer adds that she’s not bringing anything Laura said to the table, but it seems Marge isn’t buying it. Jennifer then says she’s the “most genuine” because she “owns everything” when she’s called out for it.

The two keep bickering, and eventually, Margaret calls Jennifer “paranoid” and says that she “needs therapy.”

The fighting continues but intensifies as Dolores gets brought into the drama. Dolores and Jennifer discuss how they could have resolved their beef but instead talk smacked about each other. Teresa gets dragged into the middle of Dolores and Jennifer’s drama, but her attempts at playing peacemaker don’t go over well.

Dolores drawls a line in the sand and says they aren’t friends, and that’s fine.

However, the drama doesn’t end there. Teresa asks the ladies what they think of her having an open seating plan at her wedding. Marge quips: “Good because last time you had seating arrangements, you had issues.”

Teresa fired back that Melissa and Joe were sitting at her “family” table, but Melissa asked to sit at the other table, which shocked Melissa.

“Are you kidding me right now? Teresa!” Melissa snaps, to which Teresa says, “I swear. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Melissa then accuses Teresa of looking her in the eye and lying, but she denies she’s lying and asks why she wouldn’t want her only brother sitting with her at her engagement party.

Teresa then swears on her parents, her four daughters, that she isn’t lying and that Melissa and Joe were supposed to be sitting at her table. Jennifer backs Teresa up and notes that Teresa felt horrible over the slip-up.

As Melissa says, she “doesn’t give a shit” Teresa questions why she brought it up at the reunion. Melissa says she did it because they were fighting, and Teresa called Joe a “piece of s—t.” She adds that Teresa was “horrible” to them at the reunion, especially about the engagement party and bridesmaid snub.

Finally, Teresa lays it out on the table. She reveals she didn’t ask Melissa to be a bridesmaid because of Margaret digging into Louie and Melissa remaining friends wit Margaret during it all. Melissa says she told Margaret to “shut up” about Louie a million times, which Marge backs up. The mom of two then declares herself “the bad guy.” Teresa remains calm and says she doesn’t see it that way.

Melissa says she’s done with all the blame being put on her all the time and is over Teresa’s claim that family is everything.

The episode ends, but the family drama intensifies next Tuesday!

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST.

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