This week’s episode of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” sees two of the cast members’ husbands at the center of one of the season’s main narratives — the ongoing argument between Whitney Rose and Lisa Barlow.
Beyond the rare conflict between Justin Rose and John Barlow, the episode — titled “The Huzzbands” — also gives us a deeper moment with newest husband Todd Bradley, as he and his wife, new cast member Bronwyn Newport, talk about family matters.
The episode also shows Heather Gay delivering some brutal honesty to friend Britani Bateman, then receiving some of that same honesty from Angie Katsanevas — and having a conversation with Bronwyn that quickly goes off the rails.
Justin vs. John
The episode picks up where last week’s left off, at Angie and husband Shawn Trujillo’s 25th anniversary party. Whitney had accused Lisa of spreading rumors about her jewelry business, and Lisa loudly denied them before calling in a cyber-security expert to help refute the claims.
During that argument, Lisa starts yelling at Justin, who replies angrily, “Don’t call my wife a f---ing liar.” John inserts himself between Lisa and Justin — not once but twice. That’s where last week’s episode ended.
This week, we see Angie and Mary Cosby finally get everyone to quiet down. Angie gathers the partygoers to hear Mary give a blessing. Mary takes charge, tells everyone to hold hands — making a point of getting Whitney and Lisa to hold each other’s hand — and delivers the blessing. Then Whitney and Justin leave the party.
Cut to the next morning at the Barlow house. Over chicken from Harmons, Lisa and John talk over what happened. John says he jumped into the situation because he feared for his wife’s safety.
“He went from a smile to ‘I’m going to kill you’ face within a blink,” John says of Justin. “My protector alarm, or whatever you want to call it, went off.”
Over at the Rose house, Justin starts the morning by pouring the Barlows’ products, cans of Blue Sky hard seltzer and a bottle of Vida tequila, down the kitchen drain.
Later, John texts Justin, suggesting they meet and talk about what happened, and Whitney says she hopes it’s so John will apologize. When they meet, over old fashioned cocktails and a plate of “smashed” potatoes at Copper Common in downtown Salt Lake City, John asks a question that catches Justin off guard: “Are you in a position where you think you should apologize to Lisa?”
In confessional, Justin says, “I don’t feel like an apology is what I want to do right now.” To Justin, he only says that he’ll “play it by ear.”
Todd speaks up
(Bravo) Todd Bradley, left, and his wife, Bronwyn Newport, have lunch in an alpenglobe at Cafe Galleria in Midway, in an episode of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
We haven’t heard a lot from Todd, Bronwyn’s husband, who’s 26 years older than her (as the show often reminds us). He’s usually in New York on business, Bronwyn says — which prompts a montage of occasions when Bronwyn picks Todd up at Salt Lake City International Airport, always in wacky inflatable costumes.
The couple enjoys a lunch in an alpenglobe on the porch at Cafe Galleria, an Italian restaurant on Midway’s Main Street, and Todd gives his opinion on the news from a couple weeks ago, about how Bronwyn’s daughter, Gwen, is weighing whether to make contact with the parents of her deceased biological father.
Todd loves Gwen, and has a low opinion of her grandparents. “They’ve never done anything nice for Gwendolyn,” he tells Bronwyn. “These people are kind of despicable human beings.”
Bronwyn talks about how she’s conflicted, as the issue has raised old feelings about her ex. Still, she says, she wants Gwen to make her own choice. “I don’t want to tell her to be angry just because I am,” Bronwyn says.
Todd has little patience for the whole conversation. “We’ve talked about this enough,” Todd declares between bites of seared salmon. “You know how I feel about all of it, so I’m done.”
Heather on Britani, Angie and Bronwyn
Britani visits Heather at her work — the Riverton location of medical spa Beauty Lab + Laser — and talks about the other bombshell at Angie’s anniversary party: The unexpected arrival of Britani’s ex, Jared Osmond, when Britani had brought a date, named Aaron.
When Britani talks about still being in love with Jared, Heather stops her short. “You’re talking crazy,” Heather says, adding that she thinks Britani has to finally cut herself loose from Jared.
Later, Angie, Bronwyn and Whitney go walking in a local park, and Bronwyn drops news that she’s planning a trip for the Housewives and their husbands to Palm Springs, Calif., to see an Indy car race. Bronwyn says she doesn’t plan to invite Britani — to avoid all the Jared-related drama — and that she’s “on the fence” about inviting Heather.
(Bravo) Whitney Rose, Angie Katsanevas and Bronwyn Newport, from left, talk after a walk, in an episode of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
The issue between Bronwyn and Heather involves conversations at the anniversary party — a telephone game involving Bronwyn telling Angie about what Heather told Lisa regarding a conversation Heather had with Angie back in Milwaukee a couple weeks earlier.
That Milwaukee conversation started the whole dust-up between Angie and Lisa, who is upset that, in her interpretation, Angie thinks Lisa is a bad mom. Lisa is still bothered, as she tells her sister, Denise, visiting from Austin, as they pick at a charcuterie board at Eight Settlers Distillery in Cottonwood Heights.
On their walk, Bronwyn comments that she hasn’t seen the animosity from Lisa that others have. Whitney says she knows why: “[Lisa is] going to treat you differently because you have everything that she wants.”
Later on, Britani invites Heather and Angie to a fireside — a family gathering and tradition among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Angie is not in the faith, and Heather (as she wrote in her book, “Bad Mormon”) grew up in the faith, went to Brigham Young University and served a mission in Marseille, France.
Angie brings a bottle of wine as a hostess gift, which Britani greets with some disbelief. Angie, in a confessional, counters, “I know Mormons don’t drink, but I know Britani does.”
After hymns and prayers, the fireside moves to a potluck. Over snacks, Angie tells Heather that she doesn’t feel Heather is being supportive of her when it comes to Lisa.
(Bravo) Heather Gay, Britani Bateman and Angie Katsanevas, from left, talk at a fireside at Britani's house, in an episode of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Angie says something that’s particularly damning: “I’ve seen you support people whether they were right or wrong.” Heather knows exactly who Angie is talking about: Jen Shah, the former cast member and convicted felon who gave Heather a black eye in season 3 — though Heather didn’t admit Jen’s involvement until the end of season 4.
Heather, in a confessional, admits that “I have a history of being blindly loyal — to my church, to my friends.” This current situation with Lisa, she says, doesn’t fall in that category.
Angie says she and Lisa can fix their friendship, but she’s still angry at Heather for interfering. “You’re not holding [Lisa] to the same standard that you’re holding me to,” Angie says — and Heather says she’ll sit with those words for a while.
At the end of the episode, Bronwyn invites Heather to her home in Federal Heights, to try to smooth over their bad feelings. “Heather has not seen a well-rounded version of me,” Bronwyn says in a confessional.
(Bravo) Bronwyn Newport, left, and Heather Gay have an uncomfortable conversation in Bronwyn's Federal Heights home, in an episode of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Bronwyn tries to make her point that she sometimes talks off the cuff, as Heather does, and says, “I can apologize that it comes across as messy.” Heather becomes defensive when it becomes clear that Bronwyn is hoping for Heather to make some concessions about messiness on her end.
When Bronwyn mentions the Palm Springs trip, and her hope that she and Heather can patch things up, Heather is not happy. “So I’m here to sing for my supper and earn an invite?,” Heather asks, before getting up to leave.
As Heather walks out the door, Bronwyn says, “To not be able to say [that there’s] anything that you’ve done in this is truly lacking in self-awareness,” Bronwyn says. Heather replies, sarcastically, “I’ll work on my self-awareness. I appreciate the tip.”
‘Sold on SLC’ sets a date
In “Housewives”-adjacent news, Bravo’s new Utah-based reality show, “Sold on SLC,” has a premiere date: Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 9 p.m. Eastern time. That’s 7 p.m. Mountain time for those with DirecTV or Dish, and 10 p.m. Mountain for Xfinity customers.
“The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” will move up an hour — 8 p.m. Eastern, 6 or 9 p.m. Mountain — that night, and for the rest of the season.
The show centers on Presidio Real Estate, a Utah-based real estate agency, and its founder/owner/CEO, Jennifer Yeo. The show features Yeo’s team of agents — including Sarah Martindale, who made a cameo appearance at Lisa’s “Besos” party on “Real Housewives’” Sept. 18 season premiere, the same night Bravo announced the new show.
Meet Whitney … and another Whitney
Want to see one of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” in person? You can Saturday, at 7 p.m., at one of a pair of preview screenings of the psychological thriller “Heretic” scheduled at the Cinemark Century 16, 125 E. 3300 South, South Salt Lake.
The movie’s distributor, A24, announced Tuesday that Whitney Rose will host one of the screenings. The other will be hosted by Whitney Leavitt from Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
Next week’s episode is scheduled to air on Bravo on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 9 p.m. Eastern time — and airs at 7 p.m. Mountain time on DirecTV and Dish, as well as at 10 p.m. Mountain time on Xfinity. (The show streams the next day on Peacock.)
