Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Bravo
The sweet scent of evergreen fir and the warm glow of twinkling lights has come early this year, and I couldn’t be more ecstatic that it has been paired with one of my favorite Christmas traditions: watching Real Housewives of New York. From Season 7 through Season 10, the cast of the original RHONY took a December trip to Dorinda Medley’s Berkshires home for some arguments as hot as their mulled cider. For any reality TV addict who also makes Christmas their entire personality starting on November 1 (read: me), those episodes made for must-rewatch television every holiday season.
I am delighted to report that, though we have lost Bluestone Manor, the RHONY reboot’s first Christmas installment is an instant classic. In just 42 minutes, there is raw emotion, petty digs, a beyond-nutty one-on-one in Tribeca, a couture closet cleanout, and the worst thing you could ever accuse another woman of doing on a Housewives franchise: not supporting other women. This episode is like a holiday gift to us all, a non-stop thrill ride of franchise tropes executed with more vivacity, earnestness, and cackle-worthy drama than we’ve seen in a hot minute. Joy to the world, let earth receive her monogrammed Versace robe!
The episode picks up where last week’s left off, with the cast huddled around the table at Sai’s Brynnsgiving, which is quickly going south, as Brynn breaks down while reflecting on her childhood. Brynn tells the women that, after years of neglect from her birth parents, her father reached out to her when she was a high school senior to reconnect. He was dying of liver cirrhosis and cancer, and the two of them forged a bond in the little time he had left. It’s a truly stirring moment, especially when Brynn says that he finally apologized to her before he passed. “He said there was never a day when he didn’t look in the mirror and [see] a monster.” It’s heartbreaking, and also the reason why this night is so emotional for her, since her father died just a few weeks before Thanksgiving.