The third episode of season 11 of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills brings us back to the Bear Den of Lake Tahoe, midfight between Sutton Stracke and Crystal Minkoff. Crystal is talking about the deep hurt of racial stereotyping and Sutton is crying for some reason over it. Also Sutton is trying to equate racial stereotypes to her experience of negative stereotypes about the south. Kyle Richards begins to mediate the situation between the two. Crystal says that Sutton's generation was taught to be color blind but that it's offensive to strip people of their identiy. She says Sutton is 20 years her senior, which is shady and mean. And the produers, also shady and mean, point out that Sutton is only 12 years older than Crystal.
The next morning all of the ladies minus Kathy Hilton (née Richards) are having breakfat in their pajama sets. We learn Kathy came into Sutton's room last night with 8 pillows and a fan, before ending up in Kyle's bed to eat chips, drink a Red Bull at 1 AM, and read the newspaper. The ladies breifly touch on the upcoming 2020 election and Lisa Rinna shares both a weak Donald Trump impression and about her time on the apprentice.
Sutton comes into Crystal's room to make peace from the night before. Sutton called Crystal out for coming for her with the “tell me your that girl” line. Both ladies left eachother with a hug and a temporary ceasefire.
The ladies leave Kathy behind to sleep, while they pile into two vans. Garcelle Beauvais, Sutton and Crystal head into one van. Crystal shares that she is named after 70's country singer Crystal Gayle and Krystle Carrington, wife of the oil tycoon in Dynasty. In her confessional, Garcelle says that if she were Crystal, she would never share where her namesake comes from. Fox Force Four (Lisa, Kyle, Erika Jayne, and Dorit Kemsley) are in the other van and Erika shares while passing through Gardnerville, that Gardnerville is home to the most fugitives in North America. (I really appreciate the forshadowing by producers.)
The women arrive at the railway tracks to peddle carts around on a track. Sutton asks the woman in charge how fit you need to be to be abe to move the cart and the woman answers that a group of 20 senior citizens had just come through. Crystal, Dorit, Rinna, and Erika are in the cart in front, and refer to themsleves at the fast cart. Garcelle, Kyle, and Sutton are in the slow cart. Crystal brags that she is very competive; she’s in the rail car ahead of the other women. They’re all on one track. It would not even matter if they went slow, they would always get back first…
On the ride back, Sutton and Crystal bond over their deceased fathers while Garcelle naps in the row of seats behind them. The ladies come home to find that Kathy put ear drops in her eyes. Sutton, Kyle, Kathy and Garcelle relax on the deck before dinner. The women find out Sutton’s slippers cost $1k a shoe. Garcelle starts talking about Paris Hilton, Kathy's daughter, in front of Kathy and Kyle and it’s not so nice.
Before dinner, we get to sit through more awkward small talk between Garcelle and Rinna because once again both women are the only two on time to leave for dinner.
The ladies arrive at the restaraunt and due to COVID restricitons have to sit at 3 small tables, slightly separate from one another. They're just far enough apart that no one can hear what someone is saying but they can understand generally what they're talking about. Kathy Hilton gives a toast to the group, despite not partaking in any group activities outside of meals for the duration of this trip. Erika Jayne shares that her (soon to be ex) husband Tom Girardi brought home Morton’s (The Steakhouse) every night during the start of the COVID lockdown. Rinna talks about her upcoming lip line, due to launch around Black Friday, and pretends like she doesn't know why she didn't think about doing a lip line product sooner. (I think we all know that if the lip makeup bandwagon had taken off early then Rinna wouldv'e been launching her own line earlier.) Sutton shares with fellow southerner Erika Jayne about her fight with Crystal the night before and asks if she feels the need to combat negative southern stereotypes in her life. Erika says no. Dorit, after referring to herself as a "child of the world", tries to defend Sutton's point, but Sutton takes offense to Dorit implying that Erika moved to a very cultured place early on in life that might have changed her perspective. It was at this moment that Sutton's feelings were more than fragile. (And making for bad TV.) Dorit begins talking about Sutton openly in front of Sutton, laying the groundwork for Sutton's paranoia to spiral out of control. Garcelle, defeding her friend, says that if someone (Sutton) is being overly sensitive and you can recognize that, you should just lay off.
Kathy sets up a fake martini prank with Dorit, trying to trick the ladies into thinking that Dorit downed a martini in one go. Dorit decides to get Rinna and Erika involved to prank Kathy back, and do so by coordinating over text. So Kathy, Dorit, Erika, and Rinna all drink olive water, and the prank is on us for sitting through it. Sutton picks up that she is being excluded from something going on during dinner. In the van, Crystal explains that Kathy was the butt of the joke because she thought she had got Rinna and Erika to down real martinis when they were just drinking water. Sutton is now still hurt, but can't say anything because she is infront of Kathy and doesn't want to ruin the joke. Garcelle confronts the ladies in the other van because she's under the impression Sutton is upset because she thinks they were texting about Sutton. Sutton breaks down and tries to retreat back to her room. (Probably because when your friend is trying to stand up for you against other women who they think are talking about you during dinner, even if they weren't talking about you, proves that you are on the outs and it's more than plausible you would be purposefully excluded from the group.) Sutton puts Crystal on the spot to ruin the joke on Kathy and Garcelle reminds her that she has to let some things go. Sutton says “I’m a grown woman” and Kyle grabs her by the arm and says thru gritted teeth, "Then act like one." (And I got chills. Where has this OG housewife been for the last 8 years?)
The ladies all sit down and explain the faux martinis and the "pranks" and Sutton points out that in fact she was the only person who did not know any type of joke was going on. Sutton and Crystal continue to butt heads with Crystal leaving. We find out that 45 min later, Crystal is taking to a friend on the phone about Sutton and calls her crazy. Kathy, Kyle and Sutton are in pajamas talking about the dinner on the couch. A tipsy Sutton finds Crystal's coat left in the sitting room and tells the Richard sisters that this is what real gifriends do for one another and goes to bring her coat to her room, interrupting Crystal while she’s on the phone with her friend complaining about Sutton.
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