We’re about halfway through Season 13 of Real Housewives of New Jersey and somehow, it feels like we’re just getting to the good stuff. Unfortunately, a lot of the “good” drama involves the same old fight between Teresa Giudice and her brother Joe Gorga. Tre’s wedding to Luis Ruelas has raised the stakes in their years-long feud, so it is at least juicy to watch. Anything is more dramatic when you add Tre’s crown of weave wedding hairdo into the equation.
Speaking of Luis, he’s starting to show his true colors on RHONJ. And in the latest episode called “Pizza Gate,” the color is red. Luis loses his cool more than once trying to meddle between Tre, Joey G., and Melissa Gorga. It’s a sight to behold, to say the least. Here are five of the biggest takeaways from the latest RHONJ episode.
Joe Gorga Needs A New Business Model
It feels like the pace of RHONJ Season 13 picked up significantly in this episode. Before the first commercial break, we learn about an additional layer to the Gorgas’ beef with Luis. As expected, Tre and her brother have two very different sides to the story. It comes down to a pizza oven. Tre claimed her brother wanted Luis to invest in a pizza oven idea. Luis wanted to initially give a small percentage but ended up losing $250,000 in the deal. This was all going down while Luis was still trying to acclimate to Tre’s family, which made it all that more awkward. Tre claimed Joe didn’t put his half of the money in so Luis took the loss. Shady shady.
Joe Gorga’s story is different and similar to Swiss cheese — there are a lot of holes. Joe claimed he wanted to do a family pizza oven idea with Tre in honor of their father. He tried to say he wanted Tre to have 50% and Luis to have 50%, but he also claimed he was obviously going to put his own money into it too. Tarzan, that’s not what your sister is saying. Anyway, Joe claims Tre hijacked his pizza oven idea. He alleged that Tre and her four dorters did a photo shoot for a “skinny pizza oven” or something similar, which made him upset. Luis allegedly clapped back at Joe and MelGo mustered up some fake tears about having her family reunion “stolen” from her.
I’m not picking sides, but I do agree with Tre’s assertion that family and business aren’t always the best mix, especially if you have ever had the last name “Gorga.” Joe backfires by saying you can do business with anyone if there’s “trust” and no one is “looking to cheat somebody.” Now seems like a good time to point out all of the Gorgas’ ALLEGED shady business dealings in the past, so maybe Joe shouldn’t be so flippant with his words. And maybe STOP trying to come up with hair-brained business ideas whenever he’s bored.
The Newbies Turn On Each Other
Rachel Fuda and Danielle Cabral were two newbies that, up until this episode, were getting along great. That is until Margaret Josephs got plopped in the middle to create some tension. Danielle felt upset after she believed Rachel threw her under the bus for talking about Marge’s “arsenal” of damaging tea. She wanted to keep her distance from Rachel who, according to Tre, is developing a track record for starting messes.
Rachel hosted a brunch at her shore house and Danielle was still hot from the previous night’s party. Danielle and Margaret talked about their half-baked issues that, in all honesty, are pretty boring to watch. Danielle chalked it up to “coffee talk” rather than her trying to spread damaging gossip about Marge, but Margaret was relishing making the new girls squirm. “I can’t even f–king spell arsenal,” Danielle screamed at Marge. The entire situation made Danielle even angrier and sure about her decision to keep Rachel at an arm’s length. I spy a feud coming and it’s only making me warm up quickly to the latest RHONJ additions.
RELATED: Teresa Guidice Shares Why She Didn’t Invite Melissa Gorga’s Mom To Her Wedding
The Gorga Sibling Rivalry Is A Hamster Wheel Of Chaos
The issue of Teresa not inviting MelGo’s mom to her and Luis‘ wedding boils over into Rachel’s brunch. Tre spends the entire event getting angrier and angrier that Joe Gorga didn’t just call her up to ask her to invite his in-laws to the big day. Her wedding is merely weeks away so the tensions are high. Once Tre gets wind of the Gorgas talking to her castmates, particularly Jackie Goldschneider, about their family problems, it’s over.
It’s literally too much and simultaneously pointless to rehash everything Joe and Tre fight about during this episode. Joe brings up Melissa not being a bridesmaid, and then Tre brings up the Margaret drama that she spent the entirety of Season 12 screaming about. Tre throws around that Melissa has “daddy issues,” which rubs Jackie the wrong way. The old Tre is back almost in full force, except she proclaims that “therapy” is the only reason she didn’t throw a drink at Jackie and merely screamed in her face. The episode ends with the Gorgas storming off after Luis stops preaching and moves his car. Unfortunately, we only know this is going to get worse as the wedding gets closer. I can agree with Luis on one thing — Joe and Tre are more alike than they’d like to believe. It’s why it’s insufferable to watch them have the same fight over and over again.
Margaret Might Be Adding To Her Arsenal
Margaret is trying to play it quiet this season among the Gorga explosion, but it’s only right to point out her subtle pot stirring so far. She’s dogged her co-stars at every corner. And, whether or not she wants to believe it, collected daggers for her arsenal that no one can spell. Marge called Jennifer Aydin a drug addict every chance she gets and jumped on Jackie’s train of attacking Danielle about the issues with her brother. Marge inserted herself back in the middle of the Gorgas vs. Tre, which never ends well. I’m starting to believe that the Marge lives for chaos.
Danielle ended up storming away from Rachel’s brunch after the issues with her brother are brought up. She’s livid that the ladies can’t believe her side of the story, and Marge was ready to play dirty. She said during one confessional that if Danielle wants to gather information on her from Jennifer Aydin and Teresa, maybe Marge should do some digging. She has the balls to say she should call Danielle’s brother and sister-in-law to get the real side of the story. “Maybe they would like to tell me some stories about you ’cause I could put that in my arsenal,” Marge said. She’s clearly joking, but like, is she? I wouldn’t put it past Pigtails to do some digging. Doth protest too much.
Luis Is A Literal Walking Red Flag
It’s only right to take a moment to examine the wild behavior Luis was displaying the entire episode. He tries to play peacemaker, but the Gorgas believe he cares more about looking like the good guy on camera. During the brunch, he took Melissa aside to hold her hands and apologize for not inviting her mom to the wedding. It’s only the first of many odd gestures. Tre tried to enter into the conversation, and she’s fired up, and it’s like a trigger for Luis. He told Tre she was “ruining” his moment with Melissa and that she needs to respect their space, but he didn’t say it calmly. It doesn’t seem abnormal in their relationship for him to snap at Tre at a moment’s notice, which could be concerning.
Luis exhibited an entirely separate set of weird behaviors when interacting with Joe Gorga. We have to acknowledge when he and Joe have a rare moment of peace and Luis tried to get deep with him. “I live with your four nieces. I wear your father’s pajamas at night to make them feel safe and loving,” he told Joe. Tarzan is all of us with a look of bewilderment on his face but doesn’t have a chance to question his future brother-in-law before they start fighting again. It escalated to the point where Luis tells Joe to stop touching him or he’ll punch him in the face. “Because I’ve got nothing to f–king lose,” Luis shouted. It’s as frightening as it sounds. Luis goes from being the preacher to channeling Table-Flip Teresa. It seems like Melissa might be onto something when she theorizes Luis struggles with who he wants to be and who he actually is.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE LATEST EPISODE? ARE YOU SIDING WITH TERESA AND LUIS OR THE GORGAS SO FAR IN THEIR FIGHT? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF LUIS’ BEHAVIOR?
[Photo Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo]