There was round after round of fighting in Episode 12 of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” and not much else as the trip to Las Vegas continues.
And, by the end of the hour, it looks very much like Jen Shah has burned all her bridges.
The prelude
As the episode begins, Whitney Rose is “on cloud nine.” She’s delighted that Lisa Barlow and Meredith Marks accepted her apology for how she behaved at Jen’s recent party.
“Clean slate for me, 100%,” Lisa says, and Meredith agrees.
And then Heather Gay lowers the boom. She tells Whitney that Jen hasn’t actually forgiven her. “It’s been quite the opposite to me, to my face,” Whitney says. “She is so two-faced.”
(Recap: Jen threw an elaborate surprise birthday party for her husband, Sharrieff; Whitney shared hurtful gossip to Jen during the party; Jen freaked out and smashed a glass, more or less ruining the event.
The gossip started with the sixth Housewife, Mary Cosby, who told Whitney that both Lisa and Meredith are afraid of Jen — and that’s why they won’t confront Jen about how she treats Mary. Lisa and Meredith completely deny this.)
(Photo courtesy of Gabe Ginsberg/Bravo) Whitney Rose, Heather Gay and Lisa Barlow are caught up in the drama in Episode 12 of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Round 1
Jen won’t accept that Meredith and Lisa have accepted Whitney’s apology.
Jen accuses them of being on Whitney’s and Mary’s side, vowing, “I’m going to be on [the side of] what’s right.”
“People are allowed to apologize and change their behavior,” Meredith says. She leaves, saying, “This is nonsense. No one tells me who to be friends with.”
“I’m not telling you to be friends with,” Jen says. But she is.
Round 2
Whitney and Heather arrive. Jen goes at Whitney, and then, as she storms off, Jen hits Heather’s forearm with her open hand.
There’s a lot of yelling and cursing — most of it coming from Jen — and her bodyguard escorts her from the room.
“I don’t feel safe right now,” Whitney says. “I just feel, like, Shah shocked,” Heather adds.
“I’m in the freakin’ Twilight Zone,” Whitney continues. “Is an apology and moving forward not enough? Am I supposed to send a flash mob or, like, a singing telegram?”
Lisa tries desperately to calm Jen down, without success. Later, Lisa says, “Jen’s behavior is outrageous, but I don’t think Whitney gets the magnitude or the ramifications of her actions. And it actually was not just trouble at the party, it was actually trouble in their home.”
(That’s true. Sharrieff didn’t speak to Jen for days after the party.)
Round 3
Whitney does her best to stir up the other women against Jen. “Behind all of your backs, she says stuff about you guys,” Whitney tells Lisa. As far as we know, that’s not true. We’ve not seen Jen say anything about Lisa.
But Jen has insinuated that Meredith was seeing other men while separated from her husband. Which isn’t nice, but it is true. Unlike most of the gossip Whitney has been spreading.
“[Jen] called me last night and she was, like, ‘Just so you know, Lisa is, like, running her mouth about you,” Whitney says. (Which Lisa was.)
“I’m not OK with the master manipulation tactics,” Lisa says, adding, “I don’t need that. I hold myself to a high standard. If you don’t want the same thing, go away!”
(Photo courtesy of Gabe Ginsberg/Bravo) Meredith Marks, Lisa Barlow, Heather Gay, and Whitney Rose are not happy with Jen Shah in Episode 12 of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Round 4
The next morning, Meredith, Lisa, Whitney and Heather egg each other on as they get together and talk about Jen.
“She was trying to drop bombs in my lap to get me to say bad things about you and your marriage,” Whitney tells Meredith. “She kept pushing and pushing and pushing.” (If that’s true, we didn’t see it.)
And then Meredith drops her own bomb.
“Since everyone seems to be so interested, I will tell you,” Meredith says. “Seth and I have been separated on and off for a very long time. At times I’ve seen other people.”
Lisa is stunned. “I’m in a room with my best friend, and I know nothing really about her life,” she says. “So my feelings are hurt. The fact that she didn’t tell me — this is like the cherry on the icing on the topping of the cake tonight.”
Meredith assures them that she and her husband “are the happiest we have ever been in our lives together, the closest we have ever been. And we are moving forward. There is nothing else to discuss.”
Round 5
At this point, Lisa has had it with Jen. “It always comes down to loyalty from the one person who’s the least loyal,” Lisa asks. “Like, do you really want to be her friend after all of this?”
Heather says yes. Lisa says, “I’m being honest. I don’t.”
“I think she has redeeming qualities,” Heather says, “I think she has horrible, crazy, toxic qualities, too, but I think there’s a little bit of all of that in all of us. I’m willing to give her the latitude to say when it comes back and when it comes right, I will be her friend. I don’t cut people off.”
“This is the worst. Trip. Ever,” Whitney says.
Round 6
Lisa calls Mary back in Salt Lake City, tells her what’s happened and adds she should “be really glad you weren’t here.”
Mary, however, seems very pleased. “I knew Jen would ruin the trip. I mean … that’s inevitable,” Mary says in a confessional. “I warned these women. I did. I warned these women about Jen. So if you choose not to listen, then whatever happens to you, you deserve it.”
It’s the lack of empathy we’ve come to expect from Mary.
“It’s a vicious cycle. People are trying to understand her,” Mary says. “But how do you understand crazy?”
Round 7
After Jen texted Heather that she was headed home, Heather is surprised to discover Jen is still in Las Vegas.
“She’s being charming and funny,” Heather says. “And I’m thinking this is nothing like the crazed monster I saw last night spitting and yelling and furious. So how did she go from there to this?”
They begin rehashing the night’s fight, and Heather points out, “You were basically mad that they made up with Whitney.”
“I’m not mad at Meredith and Lisa making up with Whitney,” Jen insists unconvincingly, “but I cannot move on until Whitney admits she lied. Or until Lisa and Meredith admit that they did say that they were scared of me. ... I need to know, before I can move forward, who’s lying.”
Heather says that “no one is even going to talk about” what Jen is now saying “because all they’re talking about is the fact that you were aggressive and mean and horrible to me, who’s supposed to be your good friend. And to Whitney and to Lisa.”
Jen is looking for people to “sincerely apologize and own whatever it is. And if it’s just a [expletive]-up, then say, ‘I’m sorry.’”
“Yeah, that’s not the situation you’re in right now,” Heather replies. “Right now, the person that’s [expletive] up is you. You screwed us all.”
And, later, Heather says, “She won’t acknowledge any of it. She’s acting like somehow we have all wronged her and she can do nothing wrong.
(Photo courtesy of Gabe Ginsberg/Bravo) Meredith Marks, left, confronts Jen Shan in Episode 12 of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Round 8
Whitney takes Meredith and Lisa to meet hypnotist Kimberly Friedmutter, the author of “Subconscious Power: Use Your Inner Mind to Create the Life You’ve Always Wanted.”
“Give us the crystals, cleanse our chakras, bring out the sage and sound the gong, because we have a lot of negative energy to clear tonight,” Whitney says.
They start to meditate and the doorbell rings. It’s Heather and Jen — and Lisa, Meredith and Whitney are clearly not happy to see Jen.
“The energy just completely shifted in here,” Meredith says. “I think Kimberly needs a much bigger crystal.”
“I came with Heather today because people are lying and I need to know who are my real friends and who aren’t my real friends,” Jen says in a confessional.
They rehash the earlier fights. Jen denies she was telling Meredith and Lisa to end their friendship with Whitney.
“The reality of it is, I think she’s just not in touch with reality,” Meredith says in a confessional.
It’s tiresome, but Jen still won’t let Whitney’s behavior at the party go and Whitney still won’t admit she set the whole thing off.
Meredith confronts Jen about the “negative innuendos” she made about her marriage. “That’s just a cruel thing to do to somebody … Mind your own business,” Meredith says. “I don’t get angry easily. You don’t want me angry.”
“I would never, ever say anything or get in between anybody’s marriage,” Jen says. And Whitney calls her a liar.
“Jen absolutely was the instigator of all things behind Meredith’s marriage. I would have never known a damn thing,” she says — oblivious to the fact that if she’d just kept her mouth shut, it wouldn’t have been an issue.
At Heather’s urging, Jen apologizes to Meredith. But Kimberly has to guide her away from making excuses and just say she’s sorry.
Then Kimberly suggests a “little game” called “Trust, not trust.” She asks who doesn’t trust Meredith — no one raises their hand.
Who doesn’t trust Whitney? No one raises their hand. Who doesn’t trust Lisa? No one raises their hand.
Who doesn’t trust Jen? The other four women all raise their hands.
In a confessional, Jen says, “It makes me feel attacked. It makes me feel like they’re ganging up on me.
Who doesn’t trust Heather? And Jen raises her hand.
“Last night was a doozy for me,” Heather says. “What happened was aggressive and violent and it came at me. I was horrified that, like, you preach loyalty, but you’ve just been like, a really [expletive] friend. And I felt like I had to defend and defend. And, like, maybe I have been completely blind.”
She’s not alone. All four of the other women seem to indicate they’re no longer interested in being Jen’s friend.
“I flat out said, ‘No, I don’t want to be your friend,’” Lisa says. “And you know what? Maybe I’ll change my mind. I don’t know yet, but last night I felt, like, shook.”
“You’re on the brink of ruining our friendship,” Heather says.
Episode 13 debuts Wednesday on Bravo — 8 p.m. on Dish and DirecTV; 11 p.m. on Comcast.
