Heather Dubrow is everything Orange County needed, and I am shockingly glad she is back! It’s no secret that Orange County went downhill after last season, so Bravo made sure to shake things up and brought Heather Dubrow back after five years. At this point Heather has very little contact with the current housewives and a rocky relationship with Shannon Beador so it’s always awkward to see them all reunite. But we did meet a new friend of the housewives that Heather introduces us too and that is Nicole James.

Heather tells Shannon about her new friend Nicole and Shannon instantly knows who she is talking about although she is confused about the last name change. Once it is confirmed that Nicole is the Nicole Shannon knew from when their children were in preschool – Shannon admits in her confessional she was hoping it wasn’t. Shannon, Gina, and Emily get together off-camera when it is revealed that Heather’s friend Nicole actually sued her husband Terry Dubrow years prior. Gina says in her confessional, “OK, I’ll spill the tea. I’m going to spill the tea. It’s piping hot. Just last night, Shannon told Emily and I that she had this secret about Nicole, that Nicole sued Terry Dubrow.”

Shannon tells the ladies this off camera and Gina and Shannon meet the next day with Heather for some lunch. Heather confirms that Nicole is who Shannon is thinking and even verifies one more time. This makes Gina uncomfortable because Gina feels as though Shannon should tell Heather about the lawsuit. Heather goes to the bathroom and Gina tries to push Shannon into telling Heather this secret. Shannon tells Gina to stop and lets her know she is not messing around. She says Gina promised not to say anything and while Shannon can be all over the place, I think it’s pretty shitty of Gina to push Shannon to say something when it was revealed off camera. But they are on a reality show so Shannon might just know what shes doing. Shannon says nothing and the ladies seem to have a good lunch. Heather takes them back to see her house and she is very proud of it. It basically looks like a hotel and Shannon looks as if she is having a hard time because she is thinking about the life she used to have.

Gina is eating up every moment and loving the tour. Heather invites them over to a dinner party later on where they will see Heather’s friend Nicole.

As Gina is on her way to Heather’s dinner party she gets a call from Emily and Emily says that Shannon called her last night saying, “‘Emily, you’re an attorney! You need to find this information about this Nicole. What am I supposed to do with this information? Bring it up at a dinner party?” Emily says in her interview confessional that this is typical Shannon stirring up drama on the down-low so it doesn’t get pinned on her.

Everyone arrives at the dinner party and Gina says in her confessional that she has no problem telling Heather what’s going on. And I don’t know if I agree with that. I think Gina should tell Shannon she is going to tell Heather if she isn’t OR do it one on one not at a dinner party that Heather spent a lot of time/money on planning. Gina’s reasoning for wanting to tell Heather is that she thinks Shannon isn’t self-aware. She explains, “She was very eager to share her juicy gossip about this girl Nicole. And the right thing to do is to tell Heather because I don’t think I’m capable of pretending that this is OK.”

This episode gets dramatic with a ‘to be continued,’ for good reason. Things get crazy as you can see Gina does tell Heather and Heather wants cameras to stop rolling. This seems like it’s actually going to be a really good season.

Thoughts on the season premiere? Are you team Gina or team Shannon?