Unbe"weave"able

-Per Kristin’s request, I am doing a summary of my thoughts on season 2 of Real Housewives of New Jersey. Before I start, I have to correct some things that I have said in the past. On my first reality TV post, I did a small paragraph on my thoughts of the characters on this show. These were my thoughts based solely on watching season 1. Boy have I changed my mind in the wake of season 2. In season 1, I really felt sorry for Danielle and thought that the Manzo family had really victimized her. I am now realizing that Danielle is paranoid and plain crazy, and the Manzo’s seem to actually be pretty sane. With that said, I apologize to Dina and Caroline for being so hard on them the first time. Now I can talk about season 2 with a clear conscience.

As you may remember, season 1 ended with “the table flip heard round the world.” That was one crazy night that seemed to set the tone for this entire 2nd season. Here’s a photo to remind you of the madness.

Season 2 opens up with the birth of Jacqueline’s son Nicholas. (Side note: Teresa also has baby number 4, Audriana, in this season) After this, we learn that her husband, Chris, has requested that she no longer have Danielle in her life. Jacqueline seems to be a little reluctant to just write a friend off, but seems to understand where her husband is coming from. She concludes that she needs to set some boundaries with Danielle. At which point enters a scene that convinces me this may not be a bad idea. If you follow my blog, you know that I love The Real Housewives of New York. Well, most of my posts this year centered on the craziness that is Kelly “Petron” Bensimon. Crazy Kelly really made that show worth watching. Now enter the New Jersey version of Kelly, Danielle. Here is a picture of the two side by side.

I start to see Danielle’s extreme paranoia and craziness when Caroline decides to have a benefit dinner at her house, but doesn’t invite Danielle. Now, Caroline has made it perfectly clear in the past that she doesn’t care for Danielle. She’s even let Danielle know this by calling her “garbage.” I think after hearing this, it would be perfectly logical of Danielle to assume that she was not invited to any events at Caroline’s house. Obviously not, because Danielle is so shocked and offended that she decides to drive by the house on the night of the party to check out what’s going on. The worst part of this drive by is that her daughters are in the car and she is spewing out all sorts of crazy, angry remarks. It’s really sad that she doesn’t have a little discretion over what to share with her kids. On a nicer note and speaking of her daughters, we got to see one of her daughters, Christine, make the cover Daily Magazine and be presented with the opportunity to walk in Fashion Week. Christine is a beautiful girl as you can see from the picture below.

Danielle seems to think that Christine’s modeling is going to be her big ticket. All that she talks about is how Christine is going to make lots of money and have her mother with her in all of her travels. She even decided to have a celebration luncheon for Christine, but the only catch was that Christine wasn’t even invited. It was just an opportunity for Danielle to brag and show a little more of her craziness. She invited Dina and Jacqueline to the event. Both let her know that they would not be able to come, yet she felt the need to leave two empty seats at the table and announce that they didn’t show up. This was just weird. Afterwards, Jacqueline sent Christine some roses to congratulate her. Danielle decided to call Jacqueline to thank her. Jacqueline didn’t answer the call, so Danielle left her a voicemail showing her appreciation. Upon hanging up though, Danielle decided that she was no longer thankful but angry. She called back again and left her a message going off on her about not being a good friend and being scared of her husband. This just made her look like a psycho ex-girlfriend. It wasn’t a flattering moment for her at all.
The craziness that is Danielle continues as she learns that there will be an event at the Brownstone benefiting a local family with a sick child. Although she seems genuinely concerned about the baby, Danielle takes this opportunity to make this all about her. She decided to go to the event with an entourage including Kim G. (We’ll get to her in a minute), ex-con Danny and some other members of the Hell’s Angels. She said she needed these others for protection, yet another example of her paranoia. They show up late to the event already expecting to be shunned; which I don’t think, anyone was planning on doing. They take a comment that Christopher made outside as a threat and head in guns blazing and ready for the drama. Obviously considering the fact that they are late and none of them have actually paid to attend the event, seating was an issue. As the Brownstone staff tries to accommodate them with a table, they decide that they are being mistreated and leave the event. They make a scene leaving, and Danielle ends up looking crazy again. She’s not helping her case too much here.

I would like to take a second to talk about Kim G. I think that she is a complete instigator. Every scene she sings a different tune depending on who she is with. I really can’t read if she’s just two faced or trying really hard to be dramatic so she can be added to the cast. Either way, I’m not a fan. Here’s a picture.

After hearing about the drama at the Brownstone, Dina decides to meet with Danielle to let her know that she no longer wants her in her life. I am with Caroline and Jacqueline on this one and think this is an awful idea. Danielle is not one to take rejection gracefully, and we all know that she will go insane. Not deterred, Dina calls Danielle to ask if she will meet with her. Danielle, as expected, overreacts by assuming that she will be attacked and asking Danny to be around as a body guard. One thing that I found strange is that as she is expecting to be attacked, she is also expecting Dina to apologize. Which is it? I was confused by that one. When they meet, Dina lets her know that she is just there to set some boundaries with Danielle. Danielle, of course, flies off the handle and starts pointing and yelling at Dina. Dina calls her crazy and the situation escalates to a new level. Dina ends up just walking off and emailing Danielle later with her thoughts. I think this is what she should have done in the first place. Danielle gives her friends a completely skewed version of how it all went down during lunch the next day. We also learn at this time that Dina has decided to leave the show and completely rid herself of Danielle. I was kind of sad to see her go, since I was really just starting to give her a chance. Bye, Dina. You will be missed.

We now learn about the battle that has been going on between Danielle and Jacqueline’s daughter, Ashley. Apparently Ashley has started some hate pages about Danielle on Facebook. I agree that this is completely inappropriate behavior, but Danielle has to take it to a whole new level of drama by saying that Ashley is threatening to kill her. My thoughts on Ashley are that she is very spoiled and has a sense of entitlement. If I was that rude to my mom and moved out to do whatever I wanted, I know I certainly wouldn’t still be driving the Range Rover that she bought for me. I think she may need a slight reality check. I know that her parents are trying to tell her to avoid Danielle drama, but they might want to try to lead by example.

We get another crazy moment courtesy of Danielle when she decides to confront Kim D. about inviting Jacqueline and Teresa to her store’s fashion show. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. Her store is a business, and she decided to invite customers. Danielle shows up at the store and is apparently insulted that she is not given a grand greeting by the girl working the counter. I understand being a little annoyed by this, but she takes it to a whole new level by going off on Kim D. for it. I honestly think that she is a just plain paranoid lady. She tries to tell Kim that she can no longer shop at her store to protect their friendship. Kim asks her to leave, and that’s exactly what I would have done. Regardless of this irrational behavior, Kim decides to apologize and make sure that she will still be coming to the fashion show, thus striking the match to the biggest explosive of the season.
At the fashion show, I think it’s safe to say that everyone was looking for drama. Each of the ladies says that drama is what she hates most. Well, you probably shouldn’t have gone on a reality TV show. The viewers don’t tune in every week to see you all chatting and getting along. Sorry, but we don’t. It starts with Jacqueline, Teresa and Kim D. sitting around talking about how Danielle is late. Danielle arrives; trying to make a grand entrance I’m sure. What I’m not sure about is the whole cell phone trick that Danielle says she got from Paris Hilton. That’s just plain weird, Danielle. At this point, you should probably stick to only comments that don’t make you look more insane. Let’s cut to when Teresa “just wanted to be nice and say hello.” She claimed that this was because she is the sweetest person in the world. I like you, Teresa, but I’ve got your number. You were looking for drama by trying to instigate Danielle. She sure got what she wanted, an all out brawl! Yes, I think that Danielle took the whole “honey” thing a little too personal, but did Teresa really have to say what she said. In a split second, this turned from a verbal confrontation to a one way trip to crazy town. Honestly, I had to rewind it and watch it several times to really grasp what happened. All I could gather was that Danielle decided to take off running after the yelling started. I’m not too sure why she felt so threatened that she had to flee the scene, but she did. I’m also not sure why Jacqueline and Teresa decided to run after her yelling all sorts of insults. Danielle begins whaling and breathing really hard, which is not a very attractive look on her. Also not an attractive look; Kim G. (or Grandma as Kristin calls her) yelling for her driver and fanning Danielle. At this point it just seems like Danielle is over dramatic and looking for some attention over a little argument. Then, Ashley comes out of nowhere and pulls her hair. This was completely trashy and absurd, but I would like to point out some inconsistencies in Danielle’s version of the events. She claimed that Ashley was yelling that she was going to kill her. She claimed that Ashley was holding up chunks of her hair. She claimed that her hair was pulled with such force that is caused facial numbing and loss of vision. I never saw any of this in all of my rewinds. I’m not saying it wasn’t awful or traumatic even. I’m just saying that Danielle took full advantage of this opportunity.

Ok, I can officially no longer talk about this season. It’s mentally exhausting. I hope you all enjoyed the little recap and have an “unbeweavable” week.