Several times in this week’s episode of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” castmates comment that Mary Cosby doesn’t seem like herself — and, in the final scene, we learn exactly why, and it’s heartbreaking.
Before getting there, this week’s episode focuses on a disastrous “girls camp” event — one where nearly every one of the cast members argues with another one, and sometimes one turns on a dime to pick up an argument with someone else.
Bronwyn Newport, this season’s rookie Housewife, suggests that a bulletin board and a skein of red yarn — like in that meme from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” — would explain the situation. “I don’t know where I stand with all the ladies,” Bronwyn says in confessional. “I don’t even know where they all stand with each other.”
A three-fingered salute
The episode’s central “girls camp” is organized by Heather Gay and Whitney Rose. It’s their way to come together after the contentious events of last week’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”-themed brunch at Mary’s house — which ended with Meredith Marks walking out, taking offense at Angie Katsanevas and Mary yelling at her.
“A little gathering around the campfire is exactly what this group needs,” Heather says in confessional. “There’s no one better at Camp Kumbaya than me and Whitney.”
Setting up camp activities at Deer Creek State Park, south of Midway in Wasatch County, Heather starts second-guessing the plan. Whitney asks if the castmates will love the “Troop Beverly Hills”-themed camp, and Heather answers, “I think they’re going to love/hate it.”
(Natalie Cass | Bravo) Whitney Rose, left, and Heather Gay talk during an outdoor outing of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
In confessional, Heather holds up three fingers, which she thinks is the Girl Scout salute. (Fact check: It is the Girl Scout salute. It’s also the Boy Scout salute, and the sign for rebellion Katniss Everdeen flashes in “The Hunger Games.”)
The camp activities include: Heather teaching Meredith how to start a campfire, and a sack race that Heather’s team wins handily over Whitney’s team. In confessional, Heather makes the untrue claim that her ancestor brought potatoes to Utah from England, all so he could have potato sacks for his kids.
Before the sack race, Britani Bateman informs the castmates that she’s again dating Jared Osmond — and that they went to Las Vegas, where Britani met Jared’s famous uncle, singer Donny Osmond. This prompts Britani to mention how in her younger years, as a Latter-day Saint, she practiced “dating BYU-style.” And for those not sure exactly what that means, Heather explains in confessional, using a crude metaphor involving hot dogs.
The eight-way argument
(Natalie Cass | Bravo) Cast members of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" — from left: Britani Bateman, Meili Workman, Lisa Barlow, Angie Katsanevas and Mary Cosby — on an outdoor outing.
After the sack race, the castmates sit in a circle and eat their potluck meal. What follows is an argument so intricate in its plotting, so detailed in its transitions, that it’s breathtaking. Film scholars who talk about the overlapping dialogue of Robert Altman’s movies, like “Nashville” and “The Player,” could study this argument. The highlights:
• Britani again complains about Angie bringing wine as a hostess gift to a fireside — which was mildly embarrassing to receive in front of Britani’s relatives, who are Latter-day Saints and may not know that Britani sometimes drinks. When Angie reveals that Britani texted a thank-you for the wine, Mary calls Britani “two-faced.”
• This gives Mary an opening to mention etiquette, and again complain about how Meredith stormed out of Mary’s brunch last week. Whitney joins in, calling Meredith “a grudge-holder,” and compares Meredith to Lisa.
• Lisa starts yelling at Whitney, and reels in Bronwyn — who commented on the drive up to the park that she was surprised Heather and Whitney were on speaking terms at the moment. Bronwyn recalls Whitney’s comment from a few weeks back that Heather was sucking up to Lisa as Whitney was arguing with Lisa. Heather waves that off as a minor dispute, one that is already reconciled. In confessional, Whitney gives Bronwyn a warning: “If you’re going to throw us under the bus, we’re going to back it up and run you over.”
(Natalie Cass | Bravo) Lisa Barlow, left, and Angie Katsanevas talk during an outdoor outing of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
• Angie — who, before the camp, had the conversation and hug with Lisa that viewers have been anticipating for weeks — calls out Bronwyn over comments she made about Lisa, and when Bronwyn recalls events differently, Angie suggests Bronwyn put on Meredith’s hearing aids so she can hear Angie’s comments. This offends Meredith greatly.
• Bronwyn recalls what Whitney said about Lisa weeks earlier, that “Lisa, unfortunately, is the type of person that hurts other people to make herself feel better.” (A video flashback verifies this quote.) When Lisa denies it, and accuses Whitney of lying about her, Mary lashes out at Lisa, saying “it’s true.”
The back-and-forth between Mary and Lisa is enough to end the argument, because the animosity between the two is too strong to be overcome. Whitney briefly gets everyone to calm down, and take a moment to reflect.
It doesn’t last, though, and within moments, Bronwyn and Meredith are walking away from the campfire circle.
“This is terrible,” Heather says in confessional. “I wanted to bring everyone together, and now I feel like everyone’s driven further apart.”
(Natalie Cass | Bravo) Cast members of "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" — from left: Bronwyn Newport, Whitney Rose, Lisa Barlow, Heather Gay, Meili Workman and Meredith Marks — on an outdoor outing.
A Shabbat dinner to clear the air
The next day, Meredith and her husband Seth hold a Shabbat dinner — marking one week until Meredith’s bat mitzvah — and invite some of the castmates and their husbands.
The guest list is: Heather; Lisa and her husband, John Barlow; Bronwyn and her husband, Todd Bradley; and Britani and Jared. Meredith and Seth’s 20-something children, Brooks and Chloe, are also there. Absent are Whitney, Angie and Mary.
The most interesting revelation during the Shabbat conversation comes when Lisa describes how she dug into John’s genealogy through Ancestry.com — and Todd one-ups that, by saying he had the National Security Agency run a background check on Bronwyn.
Bronwyn puts the previous day’s multi-pronged arguments into perspective. While passing the beef platter, she tells the others, “at some point, everybody talks about everybody. When you’re in a good place with them, it’s funny and it’s cheeky and snarky. And when you’re not in a good place, it’s offensive and hurtful.”
When Meredith mentions Mary, she sounds more charitable than the day before, and asks, “is there some bigger problem going on here?”
There’s something wrong with Mary
The first sign that Mary is out of sorts comes early, before the girls camp, when Meredith invites Mary to meet at Park City’s Relévant Galleries. Meredith waits 40 minutes for Mary to arrive at the agreed-on time. After Meredith’s departure from Mary’s house last week, Meredith reads Mary’s tardiness as “a very strong message she’s sending me.”
Mary is getting a late start from her Salt Lake City home, in part because she’s knocking on the bedroom door of her son, Robert Cosby Jr., who’s not answering. “Right now, his energy’s very absent,” Mary says in confessional.
When Mary eventually arrives at the gallery, the tension is palpable, and neither Mary nor Meredith seems in a mood to reconcile. Meredith tells Mary that “I no longer feel welcome in your home.” Mary counters that Meredith’s walking out has “severed our friendship.”
“I’m carrying a big cross with Robert,” Mary says in confessional. “The fact that Meredith has no idea what I’m going through speaks volumes of where our friendship is.” A viewer may observe that Meredith doesn’t know what’s happening with Robert because Mary hasn’t told her — but there are things Mary doesn’t know yet, either.
Mary learns the truth in the episode’s final scene. She enters Robert’s room and asks, “What are you doing?” Robert replies that he took some Xanax, and then took some Adderall to balance it out.
Robert then tells Mary that he’s been getting high since he was 16. (He was 21 at the time of filming.) He started with what he calls “natural stuff,” then tried Xanax at a party. This led to more Xanax, sometimes paired with LSD, molly, even cocaine, he said.
“Life is like chicken unseasoned,” Robert tells Mary. “But when I get high, it’s like adding seasoning to it.”
Robert tells Mary that he has had thoughts of suicide, and that thinking of his mother is “the only reason I didn’t kill myself.”
Mary is in tears, but vows to try to help Robert, “but you have to help yourself.” The scene ends with mother and son hugging each other and crying — as reality TV becomes as real as it gets.
Editor’s note • If you or people you know are at risk of self-harm, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for 24-hour support.
Next week’s episode is scheduled to air on Bravo on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at a new time, 8 p.m. Eastern time — and airs at 6 p.m. Mountain time on DirecTV and Dish, and at 9 p.m. Mountain time on Xfinity. (The show streams the next day on Peacock.)
Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
