At this point, none of the ladies on The Real Housewives of Orange County believe that Vicki’s boyfriend, Brooks, is telling the truth about having cancer. All of them have tried to convince Vicki to have Brooks show a lab report to put all the rumors to rest, but Vicki insists that he has nothing to hide. That’s truly spoken like someone with something to hide. Let’s see where this drama goes next in this episode, “Broken Records.”
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Healing the Body and Spirit
Let’s start things off as awkwardly as possible and join Shannon and David on their date night. After ordering the low-fat meatballs, Shannon tells David how surprised she is that she seems to be getting along better with Heather and Tamra these days than she is with Vicki. Apparently, Vicki texted Shannon after their lunch and she wasn’t happy with how things went. Shannon knows that she’s been a good friend to Vicki, and if she doesn’t see that, then that’s a shame. But she’s not going to be Vicki’s punching bag anymore.
Tamra has a visit from Pastor Mike. She tells him she’s ready to be baptized, and she’s inviting her friends and family to witness her baptism to celebrate. She talks to Pastor Mike about how worried she is about Ryan. She doesn’t think he’s ready for all of his new responsibilities and she just wants to provide him with the tools he needs to cope.
Brooks and Vicki make a visit to the doctor, which doesn’t look particularly legit. It’s almost like he’s trying too hard to prove that he has cancer by bringing the cameras to the doctor’s office. But this is the first time he’s seeing this doctor, so he has no personal history with Brooks, which is a little strange. But he does get a janky looking fax with his “medical records” that verifies his cancer.
Anyway, Brooks says in his confessional that he gets angry when these stupid women question his illness. The reality is they don’t know anything about his disease or his situation.
Heather and Terry are in Minneapolis shooting their spot for the shopping channel for their skincare line. Heather is a natural in front of the live cameras, but Terry is rattled. He says it takes a lot to intimidate a surgeon, but this is doing the trick. Heather doesn’t understand why he’s not better, since he’s familiar with the products and with being in front of cameras. She assures Terry that a bad rehearsal makes for a good show.
Tamra helps Ryan and his family move into their new home. She wants to be able to help Ryan, but she also wants him to help himself. He needs to be able to hold a job and they’re strapped for cash since Sarah lost her business. And with all the stress, Ryan and Sarah have been fighting more. Tamra suggests that they see Pastor Mike for counseling — and Sarah agrees, but Ryan still seems skeptical.
Showing the Proof
Tamra goes to visit Vicki and Brooks after they summon her, which is bizarre. She says it feels like she’s being called into the principal’s office. Brooks shows her the same piece of paper we saw at the doctor’s office, which is supposedly a copy of the results of his CT scan. Vicki tearfully begs Tamra to tell the ladies what she’s seen if it gets brought up again. Tamra says she’d love to make that promise to Vicki, but she doesn’t even really know what she just read. She also tells Brooks to just show it to everyone, but for some reason he’s still refusing. It’s probably because he knows that if it’s fake, there’d be no fooling Heather specifically, but he can probably pull one over on Tamra.
It’s the day of Heather and Terry’s live shoot. Heather isn’t nervous, but Terry is still uncomfortable after their shaky rehearsal. Heather also tells him that all the ladies back home will be watching, so he’s worried they’re going to snark on them.
Meghan’s hosting the viewing party back in the OC. She doesn’t invite Vicki because today is about having fun and watching Heather. And Terry was right. The ladies make fun of Terry for going overboard by wearing scrubs on TV and having an orange spray tan. Tamra calls in as “Cinnamon” to taunt them, but they handle it with grace.
Then the ladies hear Terry use the word “resveratrol,” which Brooks is claiming he’s using to treat his cancer. As if they needed any more fuel on that fire.
After their shoot, Terry and Heather celebrate their success in their dressing room. Terry says he’s living his dream and it’s all thanks to Heather. Heather’s happy that he appreciates all the work she does for their family, and his acknowledgment is all she needed.
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F is for Fake
Back at Meghan’s, Shannon, Tamra and Megan discuss the group message they got from Vicki. It was basically an announcement stating that Brooks had a PET and a CT scan from Newport Imaging and now he has a mass on his pancreas. But Meghan did her research. She tells the ladies she called Newport Imaging and they don’t do those procedures for cancer scans anymore, but they offered to refer her to a hospital.
Tamra doesn’t even want to hear it because she’s supposed to be “advocating” for Vicki. That’s really difficult, though, when it seems like he’s lying yet again. To add another layer to this mess, Shannon is resentful that Vicki chose Tamra to be her advocate instead of her.
Tamra outright asks Meghan if she thinks Brooks and Vicki are lying, and Meghan finally just says yes. She thinks he’s lying and it’s not right to the people who are really out there suffering and in pain. She finds it highly questionable that Brooks chose to show Tamra his medical records when he could have shown them to Shannon, Heather or Meghan, all of whom have a better understanding of how to read them. She thinks that what Tamra saw was a forgery. Tamra feels like Brooks and Vicki are trying to dupe her, and that makes her angry and confused.
So Tamra wonders what they do now. Shannon says there’s nothing they can do. If he lied about being sick, he’s sick in a different way and only God can judge him.
Next time: come one, come all, to the baptism of Tamra Judge!
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays at 9pm on Bravo.
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
