Roxanne 
It’s the end of season eight for the Real Housewives of Orange County, and things are starting to come full circle. Back in the season premiere, Vicki had just renovated her face and was renovating her house to match. Now, she is having Alexis and Lydia over to check out the upgraded digs.
Vicki gushes about her new home, which looks gorgeous. She’s happy that it’s all her, her, her and no traces of Donn are left. Whistler inspired Vicki to throw a Winter Wonderland bash to reveal the home to her friends. Speaking of friends, Vicki has heard that Slade keeps bashing her on his radio show.
The three girls listen to a clip of his show and he calls Vicki “Tupperware face” much to their dismay. Lydia and Alexis gasp! Vicki says that this is the devil, and now she’s talking Lydia and Alexis’s language. Vicki plans to still invite Gretchen and Slade to the party, so she can confront him about his immature and not funny nicknames! Not on the guest list is Lauri, of course.
Over at the Dubrow manor, Heather and Terry have rounded up the troops. All four kids are attentive to the big announcement mommy and daddy are about to make. Heather and Terry tell the kids that they have sold their house and are making a new one! Can I just add that Heather’s kids are disgustingly precious? Nicky had the best reaction, saying “we were just starting a life in this house!”
Side note: Kids in Orange County make me sick. I’m convinced I was born into the wrong family. A 15 seat movie theater in your house? Ugh.
On to Slade, he’s working at his radio show. Scripted. His on-air co-host plays him a song and it’s that proposal song Gretchen recorded last episode. He doesn’t recognize the voice and is confused why this song is playing. Hilarious, considering Gretchen recorded this for him because Slade “loved” when she sang. Yeah. Okay.
He finally realizes it’s his girlfriend and he tears up. Between that, plus the awful vocals even with auto tune, this scene is just cringe-worthy. The song ends and the co-host asks Slade to put on a suit, get in the limo waiting outside, and go give Gretchen his answer. WHY AM I BEING SUBJECTED TO THIS?
Gretchen is already at the venue for her joint proposal and engagement party. She has flowers and lavish decorations set up, and she gushes about how perfect it all is. Someone tweeted that this was all Gretchen wanted Slade to do for her, but didn’t, so she’s just doing it for herself. I agree with that person.
While getting her hair fixed, Gretchen tells her hairstylist that none of her cast mates are present because she’s had some kind of recent issue with all of them. She just wants her closest friends and family there, which includes her high school and college girls, Slade’s and her parents, Slade’s brother and his oldest son.
Right before Slade arrives via helicopter at the roof top, Gretchen sits her mom one last time. She talks about her rough love life in the past, and asks for her mom’s final approval of Slade. The mom is literally like, ‘Um. Yes. Of course! I mean…yeah! He’s great.’ Gretchen then heads to the roof to “get her man!” Also, I am in the minority but I actually like her dress here. The hair, not so much.
On the roof, Gretchen gets teary eyed as Slade’s helicopter descends. When he lands, she starts off by apologizing for turning him down last year. This is getting off to a weird start… Gretchen pulls the “it wasn’t you, it was me” card and then she pops the question after some sappy declaration of love. Slade gets on his knee to say yes.
I’m all for progressiveness, but her proposal to him was just kind of odd. Either way, the softness got to me and I caught myself smiling. If Gretchen is happy with Slade then so be it and more power to her. They go inside the building to the party and celebrate with everyone. He said ‘yes!’
Can we discuss Slade’s brother and how polar opposite he is to Slade? A mullet, gross buck teeth, and nerdy glasses. Like… what the hell kind of unfair gene distribution is that? I wasn’t going to comment on his appearance because I felt it was mean, but when they all did it, it was kind of a green light, right? Hehe.
Meanwhile, Tamra and Eddie have opened CUT Fitness Studio! It’s not entirely finished yet, but it’s good enough to have a pre-sale event for memberships. Alexis is the first cast mate to show up and she is looking smoking HOT, let me just say. Funny enough, she is in CUT’s official colors, red and black. It’s ironic that she’s first to visit the studio when earlier this season Tamra was yelling at her to “get the f*ck out!”
Back at Vicki’s we are now ready for the Winter Wonderland party. On their way, everyone seems to be irritated by Gretchen and/or Slade. We already know how Vicki feels, but Heather is still annoyed by the whole ‘Malibu Country’ lying crap, and she is still bitter about how uninterested she was at the ‘Hot in Cleveland’ taping.
Gretchen and Slade are also on Lydia’s sh*t list over the cheeseburger comment, and Alexis is also coming off of her failed attempt to mend things with Gretchen. Tamra is also having iffy feelings about her friendship with Tamra after lying to her and trying to manipulate her out of moving forward with Alexis. This will be an unpleasant finale for Gretchen, clearly.
Gretchen reveals in her interview that she won’t tell the women of her engagement because they’ve never really been supportive of her and Slade. The truth actually is that this proposal was on April 14, 2013, and the Winter Wonderland filmed towards the end of December 2012. Fabellini launch party 2.0. Hey Bravo, we ain’t stupid.
Tamra arrives at Vicki’s and is glad that she is finally rekindled her friendship with Vicki. She had yet to meet Briana’s baby boy Troy because she was on the outs with Vicki, but now she gets to see him! She also brought Vicki a nice picture frame with a photo of them, and I am having flashbacks to last season’s finale when she gave Gretchen a friendship bracelet.
The Dubrows, McLaughlins, and Bellinos arrive and the only ones missing are Gretchen and Slade. Vicki tells the women that she and Brooks are back on, but has yet to share with Briana because she fears that drama will ensue yet again. She just wants everyone to respect her decision to date her “best friend.” The girls discuss their unhappiness with Gretchen and she walks right in.
We are left on a cliff hanger in true Bravo fashion, and next week on the finale, it seems that all hell will break loose! Ryan, Briana’s husband, goes off on Lydia’s mom Judy. Vicki confronts Slade about the Tupperware-face-gate, which Lydia seems to jump on and calls someone dirty. Make sure you repent, Lydia! Surprisingly, Tamra is not in any of the fighting and no bows seem to have been harmed in the filming of this finale.
Let’s discuss this week’s show! Do you think Gretchen and Slade will live happily ever after? Should Vicki tell Slade off over his continued comments about her appearance?
