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

Recently, a mentor of mine told me that I should frontload my life. Frontloading can be interpreted in a variety of ways. One meaning is that you really focus on your career early on, so that you can retire early (could be me). Another is that you frontload the family life, focusing on your significant other and having children (could NOT be me, but kudos to those who do this). 

Well, during this episode of “The Real Housewives of Dallas,” I think I found another possible meaning for the term. It’s when you put all of the drama at the beginning of a reality TV show’s season, and the last few episodes of the season feel somewhat stale. Tonight felt stale, as the drama basically subsided and storylines were put to rest. While the RHOD reunion is already stirring up quite a storm, it seems like the drama will be a tame twister until then.

Anyway, here’s a short and sweet recap of last night’s episode.

Episode 14: “A Doggone Mess”

Well, the shenanigans in Broken Bow, Oklahoma continue in this week’s episode, starting right where we left off, with Kary Brittingham and Stephanie Hollman having a heart to heart. Basically, Kary offended Stephanie after she refused to apologize to the bigfoot hunter for being rude. We open with a tearful apology, and basically all of that drama is solved lickety split. Stephanie forgives Kary immediately, and the show goes on. So, yeah, it’s now time to party, I guess?

It’s time for the redneck relay, which will be full of messy food and weird tasks. Dr. Tiffany Moon, being the culturally sensitive queen that she is, asks if redneck is an offensive term. She thought it was a derogatory term for someone who’s not so smart and backwards. Stephanie basically confirms this, saying that she’s backwards but she loves it. Anyway, the women are divided into two teams for the relay race. The “Pink Posse” is Kameron Westcott, Brandi Redmond and Tiffany, and “Jim Bob’s Pigs” is D’Andra Simmons, Stephanie and Kary. 

Then suddenly, there’s a knocking on the door, and Stephanie goes to grab the guest. It turns out to be bigfoot hunter Charles, who Stephanie invited to dinner to “trap” Kary. Kary, who is caught off guard, offers a weak apology, much to the dismay of D’Andra and Tiffany. “First, I wanted to say I’m sorry for you know, for saying things about your pee pee and things like that. I was hurt and a little judged by you when you didn’t want to give me the sword,” Kary says. Firstly, it was a machete, not a sword. Secondly, that’s not the best apology I’ve ever seen, and Stephanie calls her, saying that when you apologize, there should be no “buts.”

Kary then gives a real apology, saying that she never meant to hurt Charles or Stephanie, and Charles accepts this apology. He apologizes to Kary too, but Stephanie, rightfully, points out that Charles did not owe Kary an apology. Oh well! All is okay again. Yay?

Onto the relay race, where there are three games called swing your ding-a-ling, the plunger toilet paper game and tug of war. Two of these games are incredibly sexual, and as the women begin to compete, it becomes clear that Kameron did not listen to directions. She treats the tug of war mat (which was covered in whip cream and other surprises) like a slip-n-slide, clearly not hearing Stephanie’s directions. I got a good chuckle out of that, and as was expected, the Pink Posse loses. How sad.

Dinner is next, and Brandi and Stephanie have decided that they want to scare Kameron. Kameron scared all of the women with a chainsaw prank earlier in the season, so they want payback. They dress up in bigfoot costumes and go around the house to sneak up on the women. But, long story short, Kameron isn’t scared at all, no one really.

The women then continue to party, and Tiffany and D’Andra hatch another prank to really heighten the hijinks. At a pit stop on the way to Oklahoma, Tiffany and D’Andra found “fart bombs,” which Tiffany decides to unleash in Kary’s room. When Kary heads to her bedroom at some ungodly hour, the stench hits her and she immediately gets angry, vowing to get revenge on Tiffany.

So, she goes to the fridge, pulls out the salsa, and no joke, slathers Tiffany and Kameron’s shared bed with the taco topping. There’s salsa everywhere, and Kameron snaps and cusses Kary out, telling Kary that she has to fix the problem. Kary quickly realizes that she took it too far, and she then stays up the rest of the night doing laundry. Oops.

The next morning, the squad has to pick up their mess, and WOOF it’s a mess. Stephanie says, “This is a situation.” They band together to clean up, and Kameron is still a tad upset about the Kary situation, saying that Kary has been crossing a line on this trip. While cleaning, D’Andra and Tiffany also have a conversation about Tiffany’s issues with her mom, as Tiffany’s mom struggles with affection. “Focus on the good,” is what Tiffany says at the end of their conversation, where D’Andra gives her some tips to a better relationship.

Suddenly, it’s all cleaned (I’m left wondering if they had some help), and we’re heading out of Oklahoma. Stephanie makes it clear that now, they’re all Oklahomies. Yee-haw.

Back in Dallas, D’Andra is reunited with Jeremy, who was on his own bare bones camping trip. They fill one another in on their trip details, but the big news is that D’Andra finally received a response from her stepmother. A few weeks ago, D’Andra left a note in her brother’s mailbox, hoping to rekindle their relationships after some estrangement due to her father’s fraught will. Well, her brother Ross wants D’Andra to rebuild her relationship with her stepmother first, so her stepmother sent her quite the email, reading:

“Dear D’Andra. Your sweet letters were appreciated by both Ross and me. Truly you and I have much to process in order to clear the air before we can start over. Ross feels he and his family would want to be included in a family dinner after you and I meet privately. Is there a time in your schedule for you and me to meet. I look forward to getting to know Jeremy at another time. Peace.” 

D’Andra is upset by this email, whereas Jeremy (and me) are wondering what’s wrong with the message. Apparently, D’Andra doesn’t want to have conversations about the past, she only wants to look towards the future, but to me, it seems like this relationship won’t get better unless they address the past. Jeremy says that D’Andra should go, but it’s also revealed that D’Andra offered her brother the opportunity to split the inheritance down the middle, but her stepmother said no. This could be an interesting meeting, as her stepmother thought that all of the dough was hers.

Meanwhile, Kameron and Court are in full move mode. They’re packing up all of their things, and because Court waited awhile to reveal the move to Kameron, they only have a few days to move it all. Kameron is still mourning previous pooch Louie, and she’s worried that his spirit won’t come with them to the new house. So, she brings in a dog communicator, who is basically a medium, and the communicator says that Louie is going with them. It’s good news for the family, and it allows Kameron to finally move on. She hopes that she can bring the memories of Louie with her.

Then, we jet over to Preston Hollow to hang out with Tiffany, who invited her mom, Grace, over to celebrate Grace’s birthday. Normally, they’d go to a nice restaurant, but because of COVID-19, they’re making dumplings together. Tiffany had planned to eat the dumplings with Grace, however Grace suddenly has to leave. Tiffany gets upset, and she convinces Grace to stay for one or two dumplings. 

At the meal, Tiffany and Grace have a serious conversation about their relationship. Tiffany wishes she and Grace could slow down and spend more time with her, and she laments that she feels like she’s always letting Grace down. Grace quickly points out that this isn’t true, but Tiffany feels like her mom is never happy, feeling like her mom is always picking on her. Grace says Tiffany never disappoints her, she’s her love and her pride, and she’s very proud of Tiffany. “She’s never said that before,” Tiffany says. The waterworks begin, and Grace and Tiffany decide to have weekly mother-daughter time. “COVID has made me think a lot, life is short, you only live once,” Grace says.

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