RHONJ Reunion Part Two Recap/Review

Article from NJ.com.


By:Vicki Hyman/The Star-Ledger
Did the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" reunion leave you, like me, feeling a little verklempt? Did you also start to tear up when Jacqueline Laurita tells Danielle Staub that she wants to let go off all her anger, and Danielle tells her she's sorry and that she loves her, and they share an interminable hug, and we realize that we won't have to sit through any more pointless luncheons where the ladies discuss Danielle even though they hate hate hate talking about Danielle, or watch footage from incredibly inappropriate mother-daughter outings, like that trip to the gynecologist, or hear Teresa Giudice deny that her house is in foreclosure as the bankruptcy rolls on (the schadenfreude has long since worn off), or stop ourselves from hurling our highballs at the screen every time Ashley Holmes sneers "Whatever" ... for at least nine more months? Yes, the second season of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" is finally over. Whispers: Please no lost footage special. Please no lost footage special. Please no lost footage special.

Photo: Bravo

The second half of the reunion show was a lot like the first part -- Teresa snarling epithets at Danielle, Danielle deny, deny, denying any and all accusations lodged against her, then stalking off the set, Jacqueline jumping off the couch to follow her and being restrained by Andy Cohen -- hey, has he been working out during the breaks? Okay, the head in the high-end purse was a bit of a curve ball -- that was Danielle attempting to illustrate how yanking out hair extensions also pulls out actual hair -- and we enjoyed Kim Granatell's surprise visit and even more surprising hissy fit at Teresa. Kim G. wants on this show bad. But nothing was as shocking as Jacqueline's change of heart in the last few minutes.

"The more you would say, the more angry I would get, and the more I wanted to lash out at you," she tells Danielle. "I hated the person I was becoming, and it's gotten so ugly and out of control now. I just don't want to be in that place anymore, and I really don’t want to be this person that’s angry and attacking you all the time."
Danielle tells her she's truly sorry for everything that's happened -- Teresa rolls her eyes -- and promises that Jacqueline won't hear another word from her on the subject. When Andy asks her if that means she'll drop any (as far as we know, just rumored) litigation, Danielle says, "I will contact my attorney and make sure there is peace for everybody."

Photo: Bravo

Teresa then tells Danielle that she's never tried to spread rumors about her, which Danielle takes as an apology of sorts (we didn't), and Danielle gets up and hugs a flabbergasted Teresa. Then she turns to Jacqueline and envelops her in a hug and whispers, "You have my word, no more ... I'm moving on and I'm happy. I'm in a happy place ... I love you and I don't care who else believes it." The hug lasts for 43 excruciating seconds. Then she reaches out a hand to Caroline Manzo and tells her she's sorry for anything she did to her.

Caroline shakes her hand. Then she says, "This is the biggest crock of s--- I've seen in my life." "I have to be honest. If I'm a bitch, I will own it. I am not a coward. I am not a phony. This was phony." Oh, Caroline, I think I'll miss you most of all.

Danielle Staub produces a mannequin head to demonstrate the damage done when Ashley Holmes yanked out her hair extensions.
Other highlights:

-- Vis a vis the baby cancer benefit and Danny Provenzano calling Chris Manzo a gay slur, Danielle maintains that she can’t take responsibility for other people’s actions but says she did talk to Danny about that afterward, and that exchange was left on the cutting room floor. No one believes this. “I no longer speak to him as a result of that,” Danielle says. She must mean off-camera, because Danny made several appearances after the benefit episode. But then we established during the first part of the reunion show that Danielle is not friends with Danny; she just tapes with him. She also claims that she didn’t know about the entourage at the benefit until she was on her way there. “I’m not responsible for that.” Caroline: “You blame everybody else … Own up to one thing.”

-- Caroline says her neighbor told her that he often sees a white Range Rover outside her house, which just so happens to be the car Danielle drives. Teresa asks, stalk much? “Do you not think I have better things to do with my time than to drive down the street in Franklin Lakes?,” Danielle says. Last we checked, she’s unemployed and her two children are in school, so, um, no, we don’t think she has better things to do.

-- Jacqueline defends her parenting techniques and says that she and Chris took away the car they gave Ashley at the end of last season. Meanwhile, Jacqueline manages to score a point when she shows Danielle a Twitter exchange in which one of Danielle’s followers told her he wants to see Ashley commit suicide for his birthday, and she responded, “I hope your birthday wishes come true.” Danielle admits she does correspond with that particular follower, but she says her reply could have been in response to another tweet entirely. Danielle apologizes, sorta. “I’m sorry. I would never do such a thing, ever.” Denying you did something kind of negates the apology, doesn't it? Danielle also admits “it wasn’t right” to call Ashley a coke whore, which stemmed from a rumor she heard from Kim G. and her daughter. Kim G. flatly denies saying anything about Ashley using drugs.

-- Speaking of denials, Teresa is still saying she didn't start the fight at the North Jersey Country Club. “I was genuinely trying to say hi to her," she insists. And we genuinely do not buy that.
-- Jodi from Lodi asks Caroline if she’s willing to go to lunch with Kim G. now that she’s no longer friends with Danielle. Kim G. smiles beatifically at Caroline, who, after a pause, says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That was perhaps my favorite moment until …

-- Andy brings up Teresa’s blog entry in which she bemoans the lasting damage done to her psyche by seeing Danielle and Kim G.’s “old lady butt cracks” during the visit to Squeeze Lounge and some impromptu stripper pole lessons. “Sorry,” Teresa laughs to Kim G. “How old are you?” And Kim G. rips into her: “Let’s not go there and start with me. Because you know what? You’re going to go down if you start s--- with me right now.” “Don’t ever speak to me like that again,” Teresa tells her. Danielle tells Kim G. that playing both sides “made you look pathetic, and I hope you get everything you want from this. Be careful what you wish for.” Probably the wisest thing she's ever said.