RHONJ Recap: Coffee Talk

This week’s RHONJ Recap in the aftermath of Joe and Melissa Gorga‘s blowout with Teresa Giudice and Louie Ruelas.

The Jersey Housewives are back at home, settling back into their every day lives. Dolores Catania is still taking care of Paulie as he recovers from heart surgery. Paulie seems to be less interested in recovering and more interested in Dolores dressing up like naught nurse. Dolores gives Paulie the 411 on the drama at the shore, including Frank Catania having a problem with Dolores not staying at his shore house. This news surprises Paulie, who admits he wouldn’t have been comfortable staying at Frank’s house if he had went to the shore. He adds that Frank needs to “grow up” and get over the changes occurring in his relationship with Dolores. Paulie suggests Frank focus on his relationship with his girlfriend Brittany. Turns out Dolores thinks Paulie’s ex-wife calls him too much but Paulie disagrees, noting that Frank calls Dolores “50x’s a day” and lives with her ex-boyfriend, David.

Dolores then reveals her plans to sit down with Jennifer Aydin to try and work out their issues – one on one. She really wants to make amends with Jennifer especially amid her rumored marital woes with Bill Aydin. Paulie encourages Dolores to “put Jen in her place” and bring out her “Paterson Dolores.” Yeah…that’s not a good idea at all. Talk about WWIII starting.

I totally yawned my way through Rachel Fuda‘s scenes with her family. She’s boring. Ugh. Talking about all her business and success. Blah, blah, blah. Seems that Rachel wants another kid but her husband John Fuda isn’t really that interested – he thinks their family is complete. Also, Rachel wants to adopt her step-son, Jayden, who is about to go off to college. Makes zero sense. Turns out they would need to contact Jayden’s biological mother to make the adoption happen even though John has full custody. Seems John and his son’s mother don’t have a good relationship.

Jennifer A and Dolores finally have their lunch. The mom of five is still upset that Dolores didn’t 100% have her back against Margaret Josephs last season after she revealed past affair on the show. They both agree they want peace with Jennifer A admitting she let anger get the best of her. They decide to call a truce and agree to call each other out when they hurt each others feelings. Jennifer then confides in Dolores that she’s having trouble with Bill “disciplining” her on how to properly raise their kids. She adds that they went to therapy but Bill doesn’t seem interested in continuing with it. On top of that, Jennifer says she wants a real partner to co-parent with. More importantly, she’s over catering to Bill all the time. The two conclude on their lunch by deciding to host a Turkish coffee reading at Paulie’s house for the ladies.

At the Gorgas new Franklin Lakes house, Melissa and Antonia check out the progress Joe is making on their soon-to-home. The three make their way through the home with Melissa gushing that she is so ready to move into their new house – she says it’s classy, sophisticated, and modern. I think not. Melissa tells Joe that she’s doing a pop-up shopping event for Danielle Cabral‘s clothing line for kids at Envy. She notes that she sees a lot of herself in Danielle. Hmm…I don’t see it.

Speaking of Danielle, she’s at home getting ready for her pop-up event where she chats with Teresa on the phone. Teresa reveals she has COVID-19 as they discuss what happened after Danielle left Rachel’s BBQ down the shore. The RHONJ OG explains that Louie tried to get Donna Marco’s number in order to invite her to the wedding but Melissa refused to give it to him. She reveals how Melissa and Joe stormed out of the BBQ with Louie going after them to bring them back to the party. He was unsuccessful and came back to the party crying over the family drama because it reminds him of his own family drama with his sister.

Back at the Gorga’s house, Melissa tells Joe that Louie was sobbing when he came back to the BBQ, according to Margaret. Joe is shocked with neither him or Melissa understanding why Louie was so upset. According to Joe, Louie needs to “fix” himself, adding that Louie is “two-faced” and “fake.”

Then Joe takes things a step further by bringing up the recent gossip that Dina Manzo and Teresa had a falling out after Dina’s husband, Dave Cantin, got into a fight with Louie over a business deal gone bad. He goes on to claim that Dina’s husband “David” called him, because they are friendly, and claimed what went down between Dave and Louie was “Pizza-Gate part 2.” This is entirely NOT true, FYI. None of this is true. All BS.

Joe continues to go on bashing Louie and riles himself up so much that his veins start popping out of his neck. Good grief. Meanwhile, Teresa can’t understand how her only family can be so mean to her future husband. She makes it clear she needs to draw a line in the sand and just end the drama once and for all. Danielle, on the other hand, says she still has things to work out with Margaret, Rachel, and Jackie Goldschneider. She says Rachel really stirred the pot and called unnecessary drama between her and Margaret for no reason. The mom of two says she feels like it’s high school bullying all over again. Danielle is also angry that she let the other women affect her so much.

The day of the Turkish coffee reading is here. Jennifer is the first to arrive after the physic/coffee reader named, Angie. The ladies begin to arrive and everyone can’t get enough of Paulie’s beautiful home. It’s clear things are still as cold as ice between Jennifer A and Margaret as neither greets each other. Melissa questions why Dolores and Jennifer A are throwing a party together which is when Dolores reveals they have come to a true and decided to throw the coffee reader party together. Margaret isn’t buying it at all; insisting that Dolores doesn’t like Jennifer A at all. The group wonders where Danielle is which is when Margaret can’t help but take a swipe at the newbie. Jackie popped up out of nowhere; continuing to claim that Danielle is hiding something about her estrangement from her brother. Jen F agrees, saying you can’t just open up half way however Jennifer A says that they can’t make someone else’s pain about themselves because they need to know more for validation.

Danielle finally arrives to the roof where the rest of the ladies are and they don’t make it at all obvious that they were talking about her. Not at all. The group heads back inside, which is when Dolores and Jennifer announce that Teresa asked them to be bridesmaids in her wedding. They are thrilled but Melissa is shocked and doesn’t get it at all. Melissa notes that Dolores wasn’t even at Teresa and Louie’s engagement party however Dolores says she doesn’t care about that. Jen F then brings up that Teresa lost a bridesmaid after Dina backed out of the event. In her confessional, Dolores makes it clear that she’s not talking about Dina – ever. Despite Jennifer A and Dolores being excited, Melissa can’t believe that they are buying Teresa’s crap and calls BS on the whole thing.

The ladies settle down for some lunch and things are quite awkward between Danielle and Margaret, who wind up sitting right next to each other. Danielle acknowledges the awkwardness with Margaret, who notes how Danielle stormed out of Rachel’s party in a “huff.” Before the two table their discussion, Danielle admits it was a tough situation for her. Dolores interjects, suggesting that the ladies go on a trip Ireland. The ladies all agree to go as Dolores adds that the trip will also serve as a bachelorette getaway for Teresa. I’m sure Melissa is thrilled.

Finally the coffee reading begins! Remember when Carole Radziwill, Dorinda Medley, and Heather Thomson did this on RHONY? I loved it. Dolores is told there’s a ring in future, coming very soon. As for Rachel she gets told that victory is in her very near future. Rachel explains that she’s hoping to adopt her stepson which is when Marge notes how similar they are since she also raised her stepchildren. Marge says it was the happiest time in her life.

Speaking of Marge, it’s her turn next. Angie tells Marge that there’s issues with a friend from her childhood and that her name starts with L. Marge is shocked because she knows Angie is referring to her former best friend Laura Lee Jensen, who she had a falling out with in 2021. Angie tells Margaret she sees a knife in her back – literally. She adds that one minute there was friendship and then there was fighting. Jen F and Jackie aren’t buying this. In fact, they believe that Jennifer A told Angie what to say when it came to Margaret because the details were too specific.

Jennifer A then hands over her coffee cup and asks Angie is she sees anything about her marriage, noting that her marriage is struggling at the moment. Angie says that Jennifer is all about family and that her husband does love her. She adds that Jennifer is in demand and has been offered a lot of endorsements. This comment gets everyones antennas up as Margaret mocked Jennifer’s “endorsements” at Jen F’s brunch a few weeks prior. Marge says it’s too specific of a word to be a coincidence and Melissa adds that she’s embarrassed for Jennifer A because it’s obvious she gave Angie the 411 on what to say about everyone.

As for Danielle, she is skeptical but hands over her coffee cup. Angie tells Danielle she was left out her brother’s wedding and that both she and her brother cry about it. She adds that the anger Danielle’s brother feels will eventually go away and they will make peace. Jackie interjects that she hopes that is the case for Danielle, who is triggered by the comment. Danielle can’t understand why Jackie and some of the other ladies were talking about her family issues; saying that they made her feel like shit. Melissa says the women need to stop digging and leave Danielle alone.

Before concluding on the conversation, Danielle says that she was so enraged by her beef with Rachel, over their conversation about Margaret’s arsenal, that she was already gone when Jackie brought up the conversation about her brother. She then tells Rachel that she twisted their conversation and then ran to Marge in an attempt to sabotage their potential relationship. Rachel denies the accusation however Danielle says she was tossed up the bus.

Jen F asks Danielle if what Rachel said was untrue which is when Danielle explains they were “coffee talking” about the warning they received about Margaret. Rachel says she doesn’t care about this but Danielle screams that she does which shocks everyone at the table. Jennifer A notes that Danielle isn’t a shit-starter like some of the other ladies. Danielle quips that she can’t ever trust Rachel, who doesn’t seem bothered at all.

RHONJ airs on Tuesdays at 9 pm on Bravo.

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