Based on the way season two of Real Housewives of New York City ended, you’d never believe that Jill, LuAnn, and Kelly would be in a clique pitted against the other women, but that’s exactly how this young cycle has been turning out. Tension is still thick between the feuding parties of Ramona and LuAnn as well as Bethenny and Jill, and as such, when Labor Day rolled around, the ladies splintered into groups to celebrate this last day of summer. Of course, Kelly wasn’t about to hang with Bethenny; so she headed to LuAnn’s place, and Ramona, knowing that she needed reinforcements, nabbed Alex and Simon with a last minute invite to her party. Yes, this had the makings of a classic feud with each side gathering allies and armaments. All these women needed was a spark — a metaphorical assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand — and that came in the form of Alex and Simon attempting to maintain amicable relations with both sides. The perennially awkward (but oddly lovable) couple attempted to extricate themselves from Ramona’s home to go do a pop-in at LuAnn’s, but things went awry when Alex alerted their hostess of their plans. The thought was that Alex didn’t want her actions to come off as sneaky or two-faced, but in reality, she didn’t owe it to anyone to explain where she was headed later that afternoon. As expected, Ramona went nuts, arguing (somewhat justifiably) that it was rude — nay, TACKY — of LuAnn to try to poach HER guests. She’s right to an extent, but of course we don’t know the context of LuAnn’s invitation (was it a casual “Stop by on your way back?” or something more formal?). We also don’t know the timing. As far as we could tell, Alex and Simon were intentional last second invites to the BBQ. Ramona admitted so much in an interview as we watched her pretend like she had totally forgotten to invite “Silex” all along. Perhaps LuAnn had invited them first.
Ultimately though, it really doesn’t matter. They’re all adults, and supposedly they should be able to figure these things out. But alas, Ramona badgered the McCord-Van Kempens into staying, and so Alex had to place a call to Jill to inform her that there really was no graceful way for her to exit the party (actually, the graceful way would be to say “Thanks for having us! We have to leave.”) Jill was totally warm and accommodating and told Alex not to worry about it… until she hung up the phone and then pooh-poohed Alex’s choice. She noted that if Alex really wanted to come to LuAnn’s, she would have found a way, which was true, but also… who cares? It’s just a casual BBQ. And if Alex’s primary social obligation was indeed Ramona’s funhouse, she most certainly did not owe it to LuAnn to drop by. Alas.
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