Anguilla’s just a memory as Jessel Taank enters a cute New York coffee shop and requests a table for two. Shortly after sitting down, her husband, Pavit Randhawa, joins her. She tells Pavit about taking their twin toddlers to music class. The boys wouldn’t settle down and just wanted to run around and explore. Typical toddler behavior.
Pavit says it will be a shock when they start school and have to sit still. That’s what preschool is for: to teach them social skills and how to get along with others in the classroom. I do object to expecting small children to sit down and “be still.” For some, it’s near impossible, especially for little boys.
Pavit also isn’t happy that his wife went to Anguilla and left him alone with those two toddlers. Why don’t they have a nanny? They seem to be able to afford one, and two small boys can be very difficult for one person to manage.
“I need a vacation after this vacation,” Jessel says. When she tells Pavit that Erin Lichy was needling her about the “privilege” thing again, he asks, “What’s wrong with her?”
Jessel just wants to make peace and “squash the beef.”
“I’m all about squashing beef,” she says. Somebody has to do it.
Jenna and Brynn have a girls’ night out
New besties Brynn Whitfield and Jenna Lyons meet up in a bar. Jenna asks if this is Brynn’s first time in a gay bar. “No, get out of here,” Brynn responds. “That’s why I wear my pajamas,” she jokes. “I’m ready to go home … with anybody.”
Apparently, Brynn is there to be Jenna’s wing-woman, since Jenna admits she has “no game whatsoever.”
Brynn doesn’t discriminate and says she goes to gay bars all the time. “If there’s good-looking people, I’m gonna be there, and I’m gonna be drinking. And flirting.” ‘Cause Brynn flirts with everyone. It’s like breathing for her.
“I wanna make out with a girl,” she tells Jenna. “Love is love. I’ll take it wherever I can get it.”
When Brynn gets a hot lady to come to their table just by smiling at her, Jenna admits, “Brynn’s an amazing wing-woman. She’s so vivacious, and she’s clearly straight. She’s not a threat, she’s charming.”
Brynn acts as Jenna’s agent in procuring the lovely young lady’s phone number for Jenna. She’s also very tall, as she and Jenna are practically the same height.
“Jenna needs to be a typical New York love story,” Brynn interviews, “and date someone younger. You’re successful, you’re established, you have this thing going. Find a young hottie.”
Said young hottie, whose name is Katie, then uses the Sharpie Brynn gave her to write her number on Jenna’s arm, kisses her hand and walks away, just as Brynn told her to. Cute.
Couples date night
Erin and her husband Abraham are meeting Sai De Silva and her husband David for dinner. “I’m looking forward to getting Erin’s feedback on the trip,” David says.
“It’s hard to have couple friends,” Sai interviews. “It’s very hard for couples to like each spouse.” I agree. You usually end up gossiping to your partner about how one or the other spouse annoyed you. Been there, done that.
Sai wants to talk about “the boat game” and Jessel and Pavit’s intimacy issues (is this really anybody’s business?). Apparently, when the ladies were in Anguilla, they had Brynn pretend to be Jessel and text Pavit (on Jessel’s phone) in an attempt to “spice it up for them.”
So Brynn texts, “I’m wet,” to Pavit (as Jessel). Omg, my husband would shoot me. He would not think this is funny at all.
Pavit’s response, “You should really get a towel and dry off,” sends the women into squeals of laughter.
Back in New York, Erin asks Abe and David, “If your wife did not have sex with you for a year and a half, what would happen?”
Abe blurts out, “I would f*ck other women. I’m just saying.”
Erin acts all shocked, “Oh, my God! What kind of person are you?”
“I don’t appreciate his candor right now,” she interviews. You asked the question, Erin. “He’s such a little sh*t.”
“Good to know,” she tells him. “What if I’m, like, going through something?”
“He’ll be f*cking other women,” Sai responds.
When she asks David, “What would you do?”
He admits, “The relationship would probably be over.”
Commemorating Mimi
Brynn’s in a rare bookstore when her brother Daris calls. “Your birthday’s coming up,” he says. “Are you doing anything?”
“I’m gonna go meet with an arborist from the Central Park Conservancy,” she tells him. Their Mimi (grandma who raised them) died a year and a half ago, and they’re going to plant a tree in her honor. That’s so sweet.
“The tree should be [planted near] some ducks,” Daris says. “Grandma loved ducks. Remember, all she ever talked about was going down to the river with a bag of McDonald’s and feeding the ducks.”
“It’s been a year and a half since Mimi died,” Brynn says in a confessional. “For some time now I’ve wanted to commemorate [her] memory in Central Park … It’s supposed to be celebratory.”
“She taught me that no one is better than you,” Brynn continues. “You’re not better than anybody else. She wasn’t perfect, but she did her best. And her best was more than good enough.” That’s all anybody can ask for.
Ubah hosts a healing session
Ubah Hassan is hosting a healing session for the ladies. She hopes, “All of us can let [go of] what happened in Anguilla.”
As the ladies gather, they get a FaceTime call from Brynn, who says she’s tested positive for Covid. “I thought it was just a hangover,” she tells them. “I don’t feel that bad.”
Erin says she’s so glad Ubah planned this event. “I could use a healing experience,” she interviews, “after the craziness of Anguilla. I’m all about it.”
The spiritual leader of the session starts by asking each of the women to “connect to your heart” and to individually state their intentions for being there. Their intentions are “to be more present” (Sai), “to be more open and less guarded” (Jenna), “to stay grounded” (Jessel), “to be more patient and present with my kids” (Erin) and “to bring all the love that I give outside to myself” (Ubah). I was hoping Erin’s intention would be something about having forgiveness for others, but not so much.
Jenna finds the drumming and ululating of the leader to be “so calming.” Ubah actually sheds a silent tear while everyone gets in touch with their “inner child,” but Sai doesn’t care for it that much. “I don’t like it,” she confesses. “It’s not for me. I don’t want to go on a journey anywhere unless … they’re stamping my passport.”
Ubah has an emotional moment when the leader tells her, “Your cup overflows with joy, but at the same time, it’s mixed with sadness that your mom is not a physical presence. But she’s here in spirit.” Ubah covers her face with the blanket, as Jessel sweetly reaches over and takes her hand.
Jessel and Pavit’s staycation
Jessel’s packing for their overnight staycation at the Ritz Carlton. Pavit brings out a bottle of “the good stuff” to get the party started. “I’m so getting liquored up tonight,” Jessel jokes. Don’t drink too much, honey. You don’t want to pass out before you can get your sexy on. They’re both hoping to end the “drought” tonight.
Pavit pours her a glass of bubbly, and Jessel cheers, “Happy sex-iverysary!” Pavit pauses, rolls his eyes and asks, “Is that a thing?” Sometimes I think he’s just not that into her.
Hoping to pique his interest, Jessel shows him a skimpy outfit she picked out when she went shopping with Brynn. “This, my friend, is dessert,” she teases.
“Can we have real dessert, too?” he asks. See what I mean? Not the reaction you’d expect if he was looking forward to having sex with his wife. Maybe he’s just self-conscious because of the cameras, but even when she jumps in his lap and tries to nibble his neck, he doesn’t seem that into it. “I need more champagne,” he says.
He does, however, make a confessional remark, “I’ve been paying my married with children tax for a couple of years now. It’s about time I get my refund.” Maybe he’s just waiting for a little more privacy. I hope so, for her sake.
When Jessel goes into the closet to try on one of her sexy new outfits, she comes out wearing a see-through body suit with high heels and a leopard coat. He laughs nervously, but says, “I think that’s a great outfit. Wear that to dinner.”
Sai and Jessel meet for lunch
Sai arrives at the restaurant where she and Jessel are meeting. The graphic indicates that even though she’s 20 minutes late, Jessel is still not there. Sai looks annoyed.
When Jessel still hasn’t arrived 10 minutes later, Sai goes ahead and orders her meal. You can’t keep Sai waiting for her food. She’s always starving.
Now Jessel’s nearly 40 minutes late and Sai’s really ticked off. “[You] don’t even have the decency to call me and tell me that you’re late to a lunch that you invited me to that I never wanted to come to in the first place,” Sai says. “I’m a little pissed off.” I can’t really blame her. If Jessel’s intention is to have a heart-to-heart with Sai about something, she’s not doing a very good job setting the mood.
Finally, Jessel walks through the door, 41 minutes late. She’d better have an awesome apology ready. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” she gushes. But that’s not enough for Sai, who’s steaming.
“I had my date night last night,” she tells Sai. “It went well. I’m no longer a born-again virgin, let’s put it that way.” Good for her. Now maybe the other women can stop obsessing about her sex life.
At last, Jessel gets to the point. “Look, after Anguilla,” she begins, “when we were at dinner and you were asking me questions about my uncle … It felt to me like you thought I was comparing myself to how you grew up. I wanted to make sure that you understand that that’s not what I was trying to do … I just wanted to apologize if that’s how it came across.”
Sai wants Jessel to just “own it”
“Jessel, to be honest with you, I really don’t care,” Sai responds. I’m sorry, but sometimes Sai is a real bitch. When someone’s offering you a genuine apology, just accept it and move on. No need to be rude.
When Jessel says she just wanted to be sure Sai wasn’t offended, Sai responds, “I’m not offended.”
“Okay, that’s it,” Jessel answers. “I just wanted to be sure that we were good.” Okay, ladies, put a pin in this conversation before it gets ugly. We’re already treading on thin ice.
“You could have phoned me for that one,” Sai says. “I think the one thing about this group is that we all know when someone is not being straightforward. We’re offended when someone tells us a story and we know that there’s sh*t missing from the story … I know I can come off as very abrasive and I apologize, but I just am genuinely curious.”
Jessel says that even though she wants to open up and share with the group, she’s nervous and even scared to share because everyone’s kind of judgmental.
“It’s not that,” Sai continues. “We want straightforward. We don’t want the circle story. Just gotta own it. Own this sh*t. If you’re just straightforward, no one will mess with you. That’s the key.”
“We’re just not seeing eye to eye,” Jessel says in a confessional. “Did I expect the cold reception? No.”
So Jessel tries again to connect with Sai by telling her about the uncle she stayed with when she first came to New York. “He was an alcoholic,” Jessel says, getting a little teary. “I blame myself every day because I don’t think I helped him. So he passed away.”
Sai’s done
“It’s a little dramatic,” Sai says in a confessional. “You just apologized for trying to compare, and then you turn around and you have this story about your uncle, and it came out because of my mom. What’s happening? … Let’s not do this. Please make it stop.”
“Your story’s your story,” Sai tells Jessel. “Our stories are completely different. I love you, but I gotta go.”
Sai’s still pissed. “I waited for you for 45 minutes for you to tell me you’re not comparing yourself,” she interviews. “And now you drop this story. I just want to leave.”
I think Jessel means well, but she and Sai are just not on the same page.
Real Housewives of New York airs Sundays at 9/8c on Bravo.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK SAI WAS A LITTLE HARSH WITH JESSEL? DO YOU THINK JESSEL IS JUST ATTEMPTING TO CONNECT?
