Photo Courtesy of Tommy Garcia, Virginia Sherwood, Jonathan Zizzo & Bravo

It’s time to reveal something about myself. You know, not to make this about me, but I have to come clean. Yes, I, Samuel Maude, am in a book club.You may be wondering (or not), what 23-year-old has a book club? My answer: a nerd. A proud, bonafide nerd. So yes, a group of my friends and I gather once a month to discuss a book, and recently we read a short story collection entitled, “Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory” by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars, and that was probably the average around the group. There were cute love stories, as that’s the theme for the book, but then there were other stories that felt like drawn out Folgers commercials.

Well, this episode of “The Real Housewives of Dallas” made me feel like I was, once again, experiencing a long, drawn out Folgers commercial. Was there drama? Yes. Was it resolved quickly with a heartwarming moment and a dollop of whipped cream? Yes. Did I want one of the women to scream and shout? Maybe, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the drama spikes later in the season. But, after some riveting, edge-of-your-seat episodes, this week’s episode sadly left me wanting more.

Anyway, take a look at this week’s recap below.

Episode Nine: “The Doctor is Out”

Okay, so, we ended last week with Dr. Tiffany Moon asking Brandi Redmond a chilling, “What do you think of me?” This comes after Brandi asked Tiffany (at the dinner table surrounded by the other women) if she felt awkward around her, because Brandi feels awkward around Tiffany. Off of the heels of Brandi’s racist video toward Asian individuals resurfacing, Brandi has repeatedly stated her discomfort around Tiffany, even though they talked through the situation earlier in the season. Tiffany forgave Brandi, however now it’s clear that Brandi is still carrying guilt. 

So, to answer Tiffany’s question, Brandi says, “You know, I think that you’re an amazing person. I just wanted to talk to you about it, just because I’ve been working on myself and my relationships, and I want to grow from the mistakes I’ve made, and I want to thrive in this life that I have. I just feel like I’m holding back a little bit, and I don’t know if you feel that way about me.”

To the camera, Tiffany addresses the situation head on. I cannot change that I am Asian, if that makes you uncomfortable that’s your problem,” she says. The other women agree with Tiffany as well. Stephanie says that it doesn’t have anything to do with Tiffany in a confessional, and D’Andra Simmons later states her confusion at the situation. All around, it’s a baffling moment that makes it clear that Brandi herself is making the situation awkward.

Tiffany says, at the table, that she wants to give Brandi a chance (and she has been!). She can be fun, but not as fun as Kary Brittingham, and that prompts Kary to, of course, take over. The conversation feels somewhat unresolved, with Tiffany clearly aghast, however Kary then asks everyone to hold hands and jump in the lake to promote unity. Tiffany, once again trying to be more fun, says that it’s Kary’s birthday, she should do this, even though she can’t swim (HELLO?). The women all agree, and start stripping various articles of clothing off. I’m getting whiplash as this is happening, wondering how we went from an intense conversation to this, and all of the women jump in the lake. “Anything sounds more fabulous than sitting at that table,” Kameron Westcott says to the camera.

When they jump in and come back up for air, it’s clear that something in Tiffany snapped. She immediately goes inside, showers and starts packing in her room. “I have just reached my tipping point,” she says in a confessional. “The moment my body hit the cold water, I’m like, Tiffany 2.0 has been here all weekend. She has tried to be a good sport. And guess what? It’s still not good enough.”

After Tiffany disappears, Brandi realizes that this is probably her fault. D’Andra tells Brandi that Tiffany was very excited about her friendship with Brandi, so she’s probably feeling blindsided. The women then all go into Tiffany’s room to try to comfort her. Tiffany, who is now breaking down in tears, makes it clear that she doesn’t want to ruin Kary’s birthday. She just wants to go to sleep and for the other women to go have their fun. Eventually, all of the women agree, and besides D’Andra they all leave her room. Stephanie Hollman brings up that it’s scary to go in the water when you cannot swim, and Stephanie is once again my hero.

Outside of Tiffany’s room, the other women discuss what just happened. Kameron says that she knows what it’s like to be new in this group, and Tiffany just needs to put her walls down. Stephanie says that they need to be easier on her, and Brandi said she probably hurt her feelings. Stephanie, once again being the smartest and most empathetic woman in the bunch, points out that over the weekend Tiffany has probably gotten one attack from every woman. It really has seemed like Tiffany was enemy number one, and very little grace was given to her in this recapper’s opinion.

Back in Tiffany’s room, Dr. Moon and D’Andra discuss what’s really going on. Tiffany is upset because she’s away from her family, and she has an important work meeting coming up. She also feels as if she’s trying, but no matter how hard she tries she’s not liked, especially by Brandi. 

“It’s not just her. My whole life is trying to win external validations, because inside I still feel worthless. Did your parents tell you you were worthless?” “Did they tell you that you were only worth as much as your future earning potential or how high your grades were or how high your figure skating marks were? How much things you bought them?” Tiffany says. 

“No, because I wasn’t ever going to achieve as much as you, sorry,” D’Andra responds, causing the two women to break out in laughter. It seems as if D’Andra and Tiffany end on a good note, and D’Andra points out that each woman has lost their marbles at one point. That’s why they’re all friends. Cue the Folgers commercial.

The next morning, the girls are leaving Austin. Stephanie had to leave at 5 a.m. for some reason, and D’Andra announces that Tiffany also left. Tiffany’s departure comes as a shock to all of the women. This ruffles some feathers, as D’Andra explains that Tiffany had a traumatic night, she needed to go home. Kary wishes that Tiffany would have stayed to talk it out. She feels like she and Tiffany are in a good place, and she apologizes about the lake. D’Andra says that she doesn’t think it was that, and then, very pointedly asks Brandi what was going on at dinner. “If I wasn’t honest with her, how are we supposed to have a friendship and move forward?” Brandi says, and D’Andra says that she didn’t understand what Brandi was saying, and Tiffany didn’t understand it either. Only Brandi can fix herself, it’s not Tiffany’s job to fix Brandi. “You have to get okay in your mind and in your body and in your soul about how you feel,” D’Andra says.

Anyway, after what felt like three years the Austin trip is finally over, and we get a beautiful montage of our city as the women arrive back in Dallas. We then start a classic “Real Housewives of Dallas” ping-pong match between Tiffany and Brandi, who are both unpacking their bags and their weekends to their husbands. 

Daniel allowed Tiffany and his children to break all of the rules while she was away, and she tells him that she left Austin and snuck out the back door “like a coward.” Not to put in my personal opinion, but to completely insert my personal opinion, I respect Tiffany for leaving. I think we so often stay in toxic situations, and she removed herself. Yes, she could have stayed to work things out, but I think it says a lot that she knew she couldn’t have those conversations without blowing up. So, she removed herself. I think that takes significant maturity. Yes, she should have told all of the women, but I think she’s being too hard on herself.

Brandi, on the other hand, is REALLY unpacking. Once again placing some blame on Tiffany, she says that she thinks Tiffany struggles to open up and let people in. Brandi thinks that she has something to do with it, saying that she feels uncomfortable around Tiffany. Her husband, Bryan, advises her to invite Tiffany to do something one on one. Brandi, in a very mean moment, says, “Right now, I think she’s boring.” Forget Brandi, I’ll take you out Dr. Moon! Pick me!

Bryan, Brandi’s husband, is asking Brandi to put herself in Tiffany’s shoes. I became a Bryan fan in that moment, and he points out that Tiffany’s kids are young and that it’s hard to be the new girl. Brandi is feeling guilty, like really guilty.

On the other hand, Tiffany feels as if she’s always coming up short. She’s the new kid, and it feels like school. She details how her family moved a lot when she was younger, so she never opened up. The girls want her to open up, but she doesn’t really have that skill. She doesn’t talk about her feelings often. 

Brandi then feels uncomfortable because she’s not forgiving herself. After her insensitive video, she had a rude awakening and had to go into mental health treatment. Towards the end of her treatment, she had to write a letter to her future self. In the letter, she promises to “learn and grow” from her mistakes. “Acceptance is within myself,” the letter says. Brandi is crying, and her husband is proud of her. Bryan encourages Brandi to keep the letter in case she ever feels that way again.

Next, we head over to Stephanie’s house, where Kary and her daughter Olivia are joining Stephanie to have a conversation about mental health.  Stephanie has gone through a lot of things that Olivia is currently going through, and Kary thinks that it would be good to hear from someone who has since overcome their depression and anxiety. Stephanie details her experiences, saying that she has dealt with anxiety and depression as long as she can remember. Stephanie says that so often you don’t feel like people see you, and at 22, it all came to a head with a bad relationship. I’m not going to go into details here, but Stephanie was struggling with her life, and Olivia and Stephanie bond over their similar experiences. It got bad for Olivia, and Stephanie says that she can’t imagine dealing with this as a mom, so Kary is really strong. Olivia promises that if she has these thoughts, she’ll talk to her mom like she did before. Olivia says that it’s comforting to see Stephanie with a healthy family after feeling sad in her life. Kary says that what she’s going through with Olivia has made her softer. She’s learning how to be a better parent. For mental health resources for you or your loved ones, click here.

We then tumble over to D’Andra, who is checking in with her mom, Dee, who gives D’Andra a check. Dee is helping D’Andra out, and Dee makes it clear that she is tired of it, giving D’Andra a new check every week. D’Andra doesn’t understand this however, saying that she’s “not making it rain.” The two women then debrief on Austin. D’Andra says that it was “drama drama!” and Dee says that Tiffany’s job is very stressful, and her position is more stressful than the other women. It’s jealousy, and that’s why everyone is so hard on Tiffany. D’Andra doesn’t think it’s that, saying to the camera her mom believes that everything is jealousy, but in order to have great friends, you have to be vulnerable. Anyway, the conversation then shifts to the next event for the housewives, D’Andra’s “Medicine Monday,” in which her shaman, Darrin, will be walking the women through a guided meditation. Dee clearly believes that this is wacky, but if it helps D’Andra, sure why not? D’Andra reveals that Tiffany is coming, so this will be the first time that all of the women are together after Austin.

Kary, in the meantime, invites Tiffany over. Kary doesn’t agree with Tiffany leaving early, but she hopes that someone would reach out to her if she left. So, she’s trying to be a good friend to Tiffany. We also get to spend some time in Kary’s zoo. She owns a bird, a rabbit and some dogs. I’m allergic to animals, so I will not be spending time with Ms. Brittingham, but kudos to her for putting that many lives in her hands.

Anyway, Kary and Tiffany jump into the problem. Why did Tiffany leave early? Tiffany details that she wanted to bond with the other girls and did, but she realized that she wasn’t being her authentic self. The normal Tiffany wouldn’t have jumped into the lake, and at the dinner where Brandi questioned her, she spun herself in a vicious cycle. Kary says Brandi’s needs to work out her issues with herself (ding ding ding), but Tiffany says that it still hurt. Kary gets this, but she felt disrespected that Tiffany left without saying bye. “It wasn’t meant to be personally insulting to you. It was more about me than you guys,” Tiffany says. Kary says that she should have known that it was not okay. “Why did you do it?” she asks. Tiffany says that she did it because she was embarrassed of her outburst. She was worried that if she stayed, it would be hashed out on the ride home, and they would be trapped in a bus together.. She wanted to avoid it, and just like she does with her mom, she wanted to sweep the problems under the rug. 

To the camera, Tiffany says “I am not good with the feelings. Why do you think I chose a medical specialty where my patients are asleep? They couldn’t tell me their feelings if they wanted to.” Kary says that she’s trying to change herself a bit right now, maybe Tiffany needs to change herself too so that she can open up more. Kary then commits to plan a birthday party for Tiffany, so we can now add that to our list of upcoming events, and once again, we enter Folgers commercial territory. Wow, twice in one episode. I don’t know if I can take any more!

We then arrive to the main event, Medicine Monday at D’Andra’s house. She’s getting her house ready for the event, making sure that everything is in its place for the mediation. On the car ride there, Stephanie reveals to Brandi that Darrin used to be her hairdresser. “He’s touched my hair, I don’t need him to touch my spirit,” Stephanie says. Brandi still feels uncomfortable and embarrassed about her conversation with Tiffany. She hasn’t forgiven herself, and she pulled Tiffany into it. Brandi says that she thinks Tiffany felt attacked (yup), and she doesn’t want Tiffany to think that she attacked her.

Out of the car and back to D’Andra’s house, Darrin is making his final preparations when Tiffany arrives. Tiffany has gift bags for all of the women to apologize for leaving early. Kameron then arrives with friend of the housewives Jen, and Kameron states that she’s concerned that she’s going to get brainwashed by the shaman. Kameron also bought a new monogrammed rug. Then, Brandi and Stephanie show up, and Tiffany is uncomfortable. It’s a disaster, and when she gives everyone their gifts (a candle for relaxation), Brandi says that she wants to talk to Tiffany privately.

And, that private conversation will have to wait, as that’s the end of the episode. Will Brandi and Tiffany finally bury the hatchet? Will Kameron’s house finally see? Will Stephanie save the universe as she always does? Well, we’ll have to wait until next week to (maybe) find out.

“The Real Housewives of Dallas” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Bravo.