The New Normal

Hello my little onion rings. We’re back with our Orange County ladies and ready to make amends or toss the evil eye at those who wronged us. Let’s see if we’re living in a Vicki/Tamra BFF world again?

The New Normal
We open at Heather's shindig. Vicki has arrived and Tamra is struggling with how to deal. And not just how to deal with the emotional weight of seeing her -- but how to deal with what she looks like now as well. Also, Tamra throws out the phrase, "Dudley Do-Right," which is a resemblance I didn't exactly see, but perhaps I was just looking for that hat.

Vicki is having her own hard time dealing with Tamra. She can't see past all the bad blood that's built up since they've seen each other last. But Vicki is in a good place. She's post-Brooks drama, she's down 12 pounds (woo hoo to that), and this dinner is going to be a breeze. The gang's plan is to ignore each other, which sounds like the most fun clambake ever.. Focus on the lack of onion rings.

Aside: I have to point out Cardinals superstar Jim Edmonds showing up to Heather's party. So let's toss out a "Rally Squirrel" for all my Cards fans.

Things manage to stay calmish until Gretchen asks where Brooks is. Surprisingly, Gretchen has plenty of advice for Vicki in this situation since she's gone through the same "people don't love my man" drama with Slade (often at Vicki's hand). And so the gals find a tiny bit of common ground, which leads Vicki to accuse Tamra of giving their buddy buddy moment the evil eye. Why is it always about the Evil Eye?

And so all the ignoring (or "ig" as I like to say) goes right out the window. Tamra mentions that perhaps she wasn't there for Vicki and Vicki says that was so. At that point Tamra bolts, with Heather following her to the living room. Vicki wonders to Gretchen if Tamra is just a mean person when she gets mad, while Heather tells her she can react however she wants and dispenses her Jewish Mary Poppins wisdom to make her feel better. This begs the question, what is Jewish Mary Poppins giving out spoons of? Kugel? Are you hiding the medicine in matzo ball soup?

Let's Dance
Meanwhile in Alexis land, Jim and Alexis are taking a romantic dance class. Alexis shares that the last year was rather hard on dear Jim, and that now that things are better he's seeming more like himself. Plus she's feeling free and supported. She's got Vicki to rely on, and her handsome man friend to dance with. Things are looking up.

I do have to say Jim's got some moves. I bet he was a killer "lambada" dancer. And, Alexis is right about his lightness being back, because he's light enough on his feet to wear women's flip flops. Nice tootsies Bellino.

In the Vault
After a small Costco kerfuffle and a pretty serious pinch (I don't recall Mary Poppins having quite such a violent grip), Tamra finds out that her and Eddie's gym is city council approved! And Vicki takes this good feeling moment to approach Tamra.

In a new twist for them, the gals actually try to talk out their issues by locking themselves in a wine cellar (there are worse places to be trapped). Vicki confesses that she's not happy and that she feels like she's not allowed to be with who she wants. Tamra shares that she doesn't hate Brooks, she just wants to be sure that Vicki isn't going to get hurt. And then in vino veritas literally happens. Vicki sees a bottle of wine that reminds her of a trip they took years ago with their respective exes. It's a serious reminder of how far they come and how much they truly mean to each other. And so things end on a semi-positive note. The ladies are both leery of what is yet to come, but they want things to work out.

Jump for Their Love
The Bellinos are a family of many business ventures. They see a business opportunity and they take it. And so when someone says foam and trampolines are the future they take it. And thank god, because that results in Alexis jumping, ever so gracefully, into a foam pit.

Seriously, though Sky Zone looks pretty rad. Who doesn't want to jump around on loads of indoor trampolines? And so Alexis, as spokesperson, doesn't haven't to put on a hard sell --- even though she could. She wants to reiterate that she didn't get fired from Fox 5, but she just wanted to focus on supporting him and his dreams. Again, I would follow anyone who tells me their dream is trampolines. Nice work, Alexis. 

In other job having news, Slade continuing to radio host it up. And since he's a man that covers breaking news, he doesn't waste any time addressing a certain "muppet" who has a had some work done. (His words! Personally I call all my friends muppets so that is a term of endearment.) Hmm, I can't imagine this will go over well with Vicki. Bunco Party Redux?

Arts and Crafts
Meanwhile, Vicki's tweaking her home as well -- with some seriously beautiful murals. I can't get over how fine those birds were. And speaking of fine, the little nugget Troy is looking as precious as ever. He's such a cute little baby, I can barely deal. Especially when he's rocking his glitter look. Don't blame Vicki, Briana. Maybe Troy is just a big Lady Gaga fan. Some kids love glitter.

Meanwhile in another arty neck of the O.C., Tamra and Eddie were making some paintings. Dogs are especially arty, so I'm not surprised that Bronx made quite a masterpiece. But while Eddie is doing great with the blended family business, he's not great with bringing Vicki into the fold again. Eddie wants Tamra to protect herself, but who is giving her the right advice: Gretchen, Eddie or Heather?

Find out next week, when those crazy kids try to make amends again, when new gal Lydia shows up, and perhaps, most excitingly, Gretchen running in a weird baby holster. But what did you guys think? Will Tamra and Vicki every reunite? Leave your thoughts in the comments.