Dolores Catania and Frank Catania probably have one of the healthiest relationships on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” despite them being divorced for over 25 years. The two meet up for a family dinner with their two kids Frankie Jr. and Gabrielle Catania.
Frank talks about proposing to his girlfriend Brittany Mattessich. His plan is to take her to Costa Rica and surprise her with a lighted path on the beach with a sign inside a giant heart that says, “Will you marry me?” He totally got that from a rom-com.
He takes out the ring and it’s huge. He makes Dolores pretend to be Brittany and fake-proposes to her at the restaurant. Everyone around them starts laughing as they explain that they’re exes.
Melissa Gorga gives Danielle Cabral sound advice
Melissa Gorga, Danielle Cabral, and Rachel Fuda take their sons go-karting. Danielle tells the ladies she wants to throw a “bougie brunch.” Melissa tells her, “Half of us don’t even look at each other so it could go one way or the other.”
She tells them that when she saw Teresa Giudice at Dolores’ baseball charity event, they didn’t even say hi but she made her son give his aunt a hug and kiss hello. Danielle thinks that’s great because she’s still not talking to her brother and dad. “He didn’t come to my son’s communion. I don’t even talk to my mom,” she admits.
“Long story short, I feel like he always takes my brother’s side and I had enough,” Danielle explains. She starts tearing up.
“I know you’re mad. I get it. But like, I think you need to put your guard down just a little but when it comes to your dad even though you’re pissed,” Melissa advises her. “You’re completely valid but you’re talking about your dad right now and like, I’m thinking about, I wish I had my dad.”
Danielle says in a confessional, “I can understand what Melissa is saying to me. She lost her dad and I think about all the time, what if I get a call and something happens to my dad? Would I be okay with where our relationship is today? I can’t answer that.”
Margaret Josephs vs. Jackie Goldschneider
Teresa meets Jennifer Aydin at her husband Bill Aydin’s practice in Paramus for a facial. They both have on a full face of makeup.
Meanwhile, Margaret Josephs is taking care of her mother, who just had surgery for achalasia, which is a condition that prevents the esophagus from opening correctly. Nobody tell Annemarie Wiley from “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” or she won’t be able to stop talking about it.
Margaret tells her mom about the fight she got into with Jackie Goldschneider in the locker room after she defended Danielle for not inviting the “Weight of Beautiful” author to the Jersey Shore.
While they’re getting facials, Teresa and Jennifer call Jackie to see how she’s feeling. Jackie immediately starts talking about how Margaret never defends her and says, “I just get this sense lately that I’m like the low priority for her.” She adds, “When I sense that energy, I’m going to move away from it, you know?” Teresa nods even though Jackie can’t see her.
Margaret is still griping at her house. “It takes a friend to be a friend. You want to be included, you have to include people. You don’t call, you don’t check in.” She tells her mom that Jackie claimed she didn’t know about the anniversary of her ex-husband Jan Joseph’s death because Margaret didn’t post about it on social media.
“If she was still talking to me on a regular basis, she would know. That’s not real friendship,” Margaret says.
Melissa Gorga and Jennifer Aydin meet up for lunch
Melissa Gorga meets up with Jennifer to try to repair their contentious relationship. “I have my reasons why I’ve been upset and you have your reasons why you’re upset,” Melissa says.
Jennifer respongs, “I know but Melissa, you’re no saint. I mean, you do things too. It’s all about self-reflection here.” Melissa points out that she didn’t try to spread cheating rumors about her and Bill.
Jennifer says, “I didn’t spread a rumor. In fact, I tried every which way to not bring it out. You know, Danielle pressured me and there was no way of me telling her that you already knew without me telling her that Louie already had this conversation with Joe.”
She explains that it wasn’t her place to reveal that Luis Ruelas and Teresa tried to have a secret conversation with Joe Gorga about the Melissa cheating rumor.
Jennifer admits to being messy and that Melissa was “collateral damage” in her attempt to expose that Margaret was the one who started the cheating rumor.
Melissa looks unconvinced and she tells Jennifer to stay out of her marriage. They go back and forth and Melissa realizes that Jennifer is hurt that Joe reached out to Bill and not her. “You’re sensitive with that so we’re going to make sure that Bill is not liked more than you are,” she says. Could this be some resolution between them?
Melissa Gorga talks smack about Jennifer Aydin
Jen Fessler and Melissa visit Margaret at her house. Margaret says she’s been “fragile” since Jan died. “I think it made my marriage better that I had Jan. Everything worked. Everything fit. My kids, if I had an issue with my kids, I’d call Jan. No one’s going to love your kids the way the father of your kids does, right?” Margaret says.
She reveals that Jan’s death has put a strain on her marriage with Joe. “Listen, I’m a little b*tchy. I’m in mourning. I’m not myself.”
Melissa tells them that she had lunch with Jennifer. “Basically she admitted she threw Danielle under the bus. She called me collateral damage. She’s like, ‘You were in the line of fire.’ I was coming for Marge.”
Margaret and Jen’s face don’t move but you can somehow tell that they are livid. Margaret asks, “Where’d you leave things?” She wants Melissa to say that she told Jennifer to choke on a Jersey tomato but she instead hears, “We are going to try and I asked her to please not speak poorly about my husband.”
She then starts throwing her head around and imitating Jennifer during their lunch. So much for their truce!
Bougie blow-up
The day for Danielle’s Bougie Brunch is here and everyone’s getting along and kekeing. Of course, Danielle has to ruin the hunky dory moment when she asks Jennifer if she invited someone to her dog party who talked smack about her. She’s referring to the hairstylist Lina, who did Danielle’s hair for a charity event and got kicked out.
Dolores explains that Lina didn’t like getting asked to leave for being in the VIP section. “Of course she shouldn’t have been in the VIP! Who is she?” Danielle exclaims. She mad that this “insignificant” woman is at Jennifer’s house talking negatively about her and no one defended her.
“I don’t know what you guys did so don’t come at me saying you should have stuck up for me,” Teresa tells Danielle. “I don’t know what you had going on with her.”
She point blank asks Teresa and Jennifer if they set her up to bring up Melissa’s alleged affair on camera last season. Teresa’s finger comes up and she quickly shuts it down.
Because things are not tense enough, Rachel and Teresa start fighting about the drug dealer allegations against John Fuda. Teresa again claims that she wasn’t referring to John currently being a drug dealer, but that he “was” one. Rachel doesn’t care because Teresa’s intentions behind her words were damaging.
Teresa than pokes fun at John being a “parking attendant” to which Rachel responds, “My husband has built a life for himself for him and his family. What the f*ck have you done, you stupid b*tch? You went to f*cking prison as a grown-ass woman.”
Tre leaves and Dolores warns Rachel, “It’s going to take a couple of days to set in and then you’re going to get the wrath the next time you see her. She’s going to come for you.” Rachel says, “I don’t give a f*ck.”
