Y’all it’s been a really busy and emotionally draining day for most of us today. I had two or three other recaps I was going to do before this one but I am going to have to get to those tomorrow. In the interest of having one post today that hopefully isn’t two depressing, I’m going to try to get this recap up. I mean it’s Christmas. I love Christmas!
Jeff and Gage never take Monroe anywhere, but they have decided to take Monroe with them on a business trip to NYC. Along with the usual suspects, they are taking nannies and grandparents and a billion suitcases of baby essentials.
Valley View
With Jeff and Gage out of the way, Tyler is left to deal with Valley View and Patrick and Paul’s “project management.” All these two guys do is argue. Absolutely nothing is getting done.
Frankie texts Jeff to tell him that he cannot work with Paul anymore. He’s walked off the Valley Vista site because Paul says he’s the boss. Jeff is displeased. He wants to fire Paul because Frankie is Heather’s friend.
Tyler is busy picking out trees for Jeff and Gage’s place. Tyler was much happier decorating for Christmas than dealing with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Are we still allowed to say Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum?
NYC/Hamptons
Monroe is thrilled to be out of the house for the first time. She seems to think everyone’s first day out in public happens on a private plane. And then, the air pressure got to her and she screamed like she wash being eaten alive for twenty minutes straight.
When they get to NYC it is snowing and the windows on Fifth Avenue are all decked out with Christmas decorations and Monroe is loving it all. She literally went from house sequester to the most wonderful time of the year in NYC. Talk about a stimulus shock!
The guys and Heather and Jenni head to their first showing in the Hamptons. It’s a long, long, car ride. Jenni tells divorce stories the whole way. Meagan is terrified of small planes and helicopters. But with all of this jabbering has her begging for a helicopter. Jeff, already planned to take one and just wasn’t telling her. So now she is freaking out a bit. Did I mention the weather was bad? I have been in a helicopter once in Panama City. There were no doors and I was on the outside. I wasn’t happy about it and I think there may have been some drugs involved. And not anti-anxiety meds. But they lived.
Heather picked them up at the airport and took them to her house. I love The Hamptons. We are getting so much real estate porn and I could not be more pleased. The deer in The Hamptons are different from Georgia deer. I mean, even the deer are fancy.
Heather wants Jeff to do a refresh on the house. Nothing too major. Let’s see if Jeff can restrain himself. You could eat off the floor in he mechanical room in the basement. Jeff and Gage are giddy over the extreme cleanliness and the fact every wire and switch is neatly labeled. It’s literally their favorite room in the entire gorgeous place. I expect his refresh will be the guest bedrooms. They could use new curtains and bed linens and way fewer bed pillows. I don’t see how he plans to do this on a short trip. Curtains and such need to be custom made for a house like that.
Heather says Main Beach in East Hampton was voted number one beach in the country last year. That can’t possibly be true. Was it voted that by a bunch of people from Long Island or something?
After surviving another helicopter trip back to the city, the gang of four head out for dinner and drinks. The Christmas spirit is upon them all Jenni and Jeff are getting along, Gage and Jeff are being kind to each other. It’s a Christmas miracle.
Ugh, the Chaz Dean and his bitchy assistants arrive to dinner. Why are they in NYC ruining my Christmas? Everything was going along so nicely! Jeff wants Monroe to model for Wen Kids. She only uses the product and her godfather is the company owner. Monroe is already obsessed with American Girl and the Sax jewelry counter.
Jeff’s partner on one of the Hollywood Hills houses lives in NYC and she is looking for an apartment. Jeff and the clan are going with her to weigh in on the potential properties. She isn’t even sure what neighborhood she wants.
First up is 15 Central Park West. Two beds two and a half baths, 2200 square feet for seven million dollars. It overlooks central park. I don’t care if it is a Robert Stern building, it looks like where old people go to die. There are like stick on flowers on the wall. I can’t stand this tour. I want to move on.
The realtor doesn’t know the stats on any of the properties. Where is Fredrik? How are they not using Fredrik? Or Ryan? Or the hot one? Jeff blows off the real estate agent.
The second day the get two new male agents, but not from MDLNY as I had hoped. The check out 15 Renwick St. It’s 4 bed/ 5ba and 3500 square feet with a listing price of $8,495,000. It a two-story townhouse and they love it. I don’t. But I don’t like modern and I don’t like the layout.
They look at another apartment in the same building that is 3bd/3.5 ba 1700 square feet and just under $4 million. I like it better already. The guys were dumb to show her this when she liked the bigger, uglier, more expensive one.
Then they go to 93 Worth in Tribeca. 4bd/4.5ba 3300 square feet for $8, 755,000. There is a stunning window that overlooks the city. There is a great outdoor space. The owners are motivated. It’s really nice if you need four bedrooms. For the money I’d go for the 3 bedroom one for half the price.
In the end, Heather doesn’t even know what neighborhood she wants to live in so this was just a made up trip to justify a trip to NYC with the baby. And I’m okay with that. I enjoyed the episode.
Jeff and Gage really had time to bond with Monroe and focus on her and it seemed to make the entire family closer.
Next week: It’s back to bitching about Valley View, And Lea Black turns up.
Great episode. Great recap. Love this show but with all that’s been said & done recently I think this will be the last season. Monroe is adorable & my new favorite reality television personality! So expressive & sweet!
Monroe might be the cutest baby I’ve ever seen. And I’ve had a baby haha.
Sorry, here I go on one of my long rants. Can’t seem to help myself. I enjoyed this episode so much – not too much negativity, some humor, great apartments to view, beautiful little Monroe, Gage and Jeff getting along, ditto Jenni, Heather and Meghan were fun and New York at Christmastime was amazing.
First of all though, I’d like to say one thing, when Frankie and Paul (is that the right name?) were doing their usual bickering and making sarcastic remarks to each other, Frankie reached out and grabbed a handful of Paul’s back fat, and then made a comment about him having boobs on his back. That was so embarrassing and wrong, and if he had done it to a woman he probably would have been arrested. Jeff needs to rein those two in before there’s some kind of hostile work environment/sexual harassment suit filed. It looks as though Paul gets fired next week, but Frankie is lucky Paul didn’t do what a lot of people would do these days and file a complaint.
I get a big kick out of Heather and loved the Hamptons – those homes, the scenery, wow! I think I’d be quite willing to subject myself to some serious and pathetic groveling to live somewhere like that. Also enjoyed seeing the fabulously expensive New York apartments. The first one – a place “where old people go to die”? Perfect! My favorite was the last one with the unbelievable view of the NY skyline. I’d like four bedrooms, and a huge place, if I didn’t have to clean it myself. I guess if you’re that rich, you automatically get plenty of help. That realtor was useless and should be embarrassed when she sees herself on TV. We’re so used to Ryan, Fredrik and the cute one knowing everything about the places they show – she wasn’t sure of price, square footage, price per square foot, or anything else relevant.
Tyler and Meghan are good side kicks to Jeff, Gage and Jenni. Tyler is growing on me slowly, but love Meghan’s sense of humor.
Could have done completely without Chaz Dean and his crew – nothing personal, well ,I guess it is – he is probably a very nice man, but always looks like he’s smelling something nasty to me. Jeff! Don’t try to get Monroe into modeling – hope that was just a joke. Plus, was that really her first time out? Do they mean out of L.A., or literally just out of the house? Either way, she’s gorgeous and has two daddies who adore her – not a bad start in life.
Things seem fine so far between Jenni and Jeff. I’m really dreading when things go wrong. I don’t much like unpleasantness and tonight was fun.
If cheapskate Jeff would hire some bonafide project managers instead of these two wannabe’s, he would be doing himself a huge favor, But NO, he has a couple of dummies working on a million dollar house so he can stay in control. Jeff, we see right through you, and you’re not that smart.
This was a great episode, but I could do without Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumb Ass. I hope that the Tyler got a nice bonus for having to babysit those two meatheads.
Awe. I was close to firing this show. This episode warmed my cold heart. It was fun to see Christmas NYC and the real estate porn. And Monroe!!
My favorite show on Bravo, I’m getting tired of the Housewives franchise. Love seeing Jeff, Gage and the baby. Now that I know Jenni was only hired by Bravo to “work” during filming it is very obvious that she sticks out like a sore thumb. She holds her clipboard but she serves no purpose. It doesn’t seem like there is the connection that there once was.
Loved this episode too. It was nice to see Jeff and Gage happy. And Monroe is so cute. (I do believe they kept her in the house up until then — I couldn’t believe my ears!)
Agree with PattiD that Jenni seems as if she doesn’t really work, but just goes along with the others on their work trips. The blonde (forget her name) seems to be the one actually working.
I can’t wait to see Jeff’s house decorated for Christmas.
I would hope they get it now, that Monroe needs activity. Interaction with other children. Trips to zoo, aquariums etc. It’s one thing to protect your child .& another to deprive them of life experiences. I think she would be a happier, calmer & quieter child. My daughter & I flew at her age . She screamed for an hour and a half. The plane flew at a certain altitude & she was in pain until we were landing. So, very understanding at that crying. But her other “fits ?” Kind of questionable. Boy the car rides yikes. It’s hard not to spoil a child but wow, she has them wrapped. She is such a cutie ! Enjoyed this episode
Didn’t Jenny just go through ALL that trouble to have a second baby last season and now DIVORCED???? JEEEZUS, LORD HAMMERCY (in my Phaedra voice)!
I believe she was talking about the butthole she was married to when the show first started, can’t remember his name, but they both worked for Jeff at the time.
Yes, they were talking about her divorce from her first husband for some reason that was awkward and unclear.
Yes it is!!! I wonder why she’s talking about that now? Seems very unsolicited.
Jeff was joking about Monroe never leaving the house. Both of them have been anxious about flying and taking her to restaurants. I imagine they take her to many places. Jeff mentioned on his show that a park they go to they see Dorit’s kids with the nanny, but never see Dorit. It was a really cute episode but the house reno part was boring.
You imagination is in direct conflict with their social media during her first year or so and their direct statements that they didn’t want to take her out into the germy public with all the scary people.
Makes sense. Forget this is filmed way in advance. Monroe is such a cutie.
Andy says Jeff always look at things as “the glass is always half empty” with this woe is me “I might get fired” is just Jeff. I get the impression from listening to Andy that the radio show might be ok however, expanding the days to 3 days a week as was being considered wasn’t mentioned. Andy did not mention anything about the tv show’s future. I can relate to Jeff as.. I always “expect the worse, that way, I am never disappointed.” Andy says he is a ” glass half full” kind of guy so he thinks Gage should come be with him. Andy is offering to send for Gage since he will fly him to him on business class.
* worst. .can we get an edit button?
Oh course not. This is a site that embraces typos and misspellings. It’s fun to make the OCD folks angry! 🙂
Ohhhhhhhhhh the letters I get! lol.
A photojournalist friend once wrote a very compelling letter to a pissy copy editor about getting crap for typos in his captions. The facts, names, etc, were always CQ’d, it was just words such as “the” typed as “teh” and such. Captions often were typed in the field before WiFi as we know it existed. But every time he typed “typo,” in his letter it said “typio,” (by accident) which became a thing at multiple photo departments. To the dismay of the copy editor.
?. Lol
I’m wondering if the pre-season info on Jeff and Jenni’s blow up was more or less for publicity. Maybe we’re building up to it, maybe not. In any case this does seem to be a more cray and bazaar season of Flip and hope not all goes to hell soon.
Monroe is adorable and THE HIT of this season. YouGoGirl!
Perfect ending to a hectic day. I really hope Bravo keeps this show on. It’s a shiny gem in a mostly HW drama world. So nice to see everyone getting along (except for the 2 5yrs old left at home that needed a babysitter) and all the beautiful properties. (Hope Tyler was paid well!) As well as, the NYC Christmas scenery, you would have thought it would’ve turned into a Bing Crosby Christmas special. Princess Monroe finally got to be a regular American girl. Her reaction to snow was too precious. And speaking of AG, grew up on them myself and then passed it down to my niece when I was helping raise her, Every now & again she tells me how she misses those magazines in the mail. So, I had some lovely flash backs, versus the other triggering cases going on.
The hot one – ha!
I love seeing the babies wave and smile at the camera. Monroe and Milla both do it (Probably Freddy too, but I haven’t noticed it.) I suspect Monroe is an intelligent kid and she will do much better with more stimulation. Being able to talk will probably help a lot with her temper too. Both were true of my son anyway. He was really difficult before he could talk, before he went to preschool and before kindergarten. Outside of those times, he’s been fantastic and fun. You can see Monroe starting to grow into that.
Now that we know about Jenni, I see so much in their comments. For example, they said she was the most likely to never leave, and then they all laughed. What we would have taken previously as due to her being with him forever, I can now see that it was funny because she’s already left. I saw a bunch of other examples last night as the 3 episodes aired, but now I can’t remember the specifics. I always thought it was weird that she and Jeff could work at desks so close together. But, if it’s just for filming…
Like others, I’m enjoying this show much more than the housewives lately. I like seeing them work. I used to like seeing Caroline Manzo make meatballs and soap. I can’t follow the group dinners and trips where everyone is screeching. Just give me my real estate porn.
The great half empty half full: someone hands me a glass , half full . I’ve been drinking from it , half empty. Question on psychology test. Instructor shook her head & moved on. Dont think she understood my answer . But makes sense to me, course used to drink then. So there ya go . Solved