"The Real Housewives of D.C." Get Suspicious

It was a pretty low-key episode of "The Real Housewives of D.C.," though it is becoming increasingly clear the tide is turning but fast against Barbie and Not Ken. And now comes word they've been fired by Bravo. More trouble than they're worth - look at what happened to Desperate Danielle.

Mary and Cat get together to nosh over wine, cheese and motherhood. Cat declares she's good cop bad cop with her kids and laments her husband's frequent absences, which makes her feel like a single parent. Mary reveals she has problems with boundaries between her and her daughter, Lolly, hence the biometric lock on her closet - which as it turns out was her therapist's idea. Except Mary can't remember to keep the damn door closed, so she's not really keeping Lolly from shopping at the "free mall" known as Mom's closet. As her husband Rich said, you have a lock, use it.

Michaele and Tareq are house hunting and they call on real estate agent, Stacie for help. Stacie is highly skeptical about how they plan to fund this endeavor, given the sorry state their winery is in, along with rampant rumors that the pair doesn't pay their bills. She asks Tareq to pony up some financial statements (which he doesn't) before she will show them any houses. Later, the Salahis show up in the prom limo and Stacie takes them on a ride through a few neighborhoods. She stresses that before she'll show them anything, they have to pre-qualify. Stacie also grills them about the lawsuit Tareq's mother brought against him and whether or not their finances are up to snuff. The only thing Michaele offers up are blank, smiling stares and Stacie ultimately decides she can't waste her time on them and moves on.

Lynda began to move on into her new house in the 'burbs by first getting a German Sheppard guard dog (turns out she went through a home invasion years ago in another suburban house) and having new neighbor, Mary to come over and smudge the house with sage. Lynda also reveals she doesn't want to marry again. In other domestic issues, Stacie and Jason discuss the situation with her birth parents. He's ready to blow the whole thing up online, via her birth mother's biological son, who's on Facebook. Stacie isn't comfortable, but eventually allows Jason to proceed with reaching out to the guy.

We got to see another side to the frosty and inappropriate Cat tonight as she received word that a good friend of hers had committed suicide. Charles was MIA again and Cat reiterated how alone she feels. She called Mary to cry on her shoulder and later decides not to attend his funeral because it's too much to handle emotionally. Later, at a Men's Fashion Show, Lynda breaks out her F-me shoes and Cat and Mary mistake the whole affair for a Chippendales club. Paul Wharton (welcome back!) strutted his stuff on the runway alongside a whole bunch of eye candy. Lynda's ex boyfriend, another young buck, stops by the table and his resemblance to Cat's friend causes her to unleash a torrent of tears. Mary, meanwhile, growls at Lolly, who's attired in one her outfits, because yet again, she left the closet door open.

In the wake of last week's vineyard attack, Mary and Rich (resplendent in his Simon Van Kempen orange pants) invite Stacie and Jason over to thank Jason for taking up the case against Tareq for his attacks against Lolly. Stacie's still stunned by the whole vineyard episode and Mary lets it drop that she knows people who've known Tareq for a long time and claims there's a reason he was sent to military school. Much like Lynda, Mary's main problem with the Salahis is Tareq and believes Michaele's heart is in the right place, but that her hubby is the one controlling the strings. She also doesn't think Michaele is happy in her marriage.

Mary's observation seems to have some merit as the Salahis continue to deal with the fallout from the lawsuit. The couple plan to have a grand reopening for the winery and muse about Tareq's mom and her dislike of Michaele. The po-po shows up in the midst of all this reflection and Micheale tearfully admits it's been a hard situation to deal with. She claims the reason she stayed was because she loved Tareq.

Next week, three cheers for Michaele, Cat gets taken down and what makes a marriage?

Sources:

Rob Shuter, Bravo Has Had It With Michaele and Tareq Salahi, www.popeater.com