After a lackluster premiere, the struggle – and drama – was all too real on Keeping Up with the Kardashians Season 13 Episode 2 Sunday.
The installment was aptly titled “Paris.”
Even if you don’t watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians online on a regular basis, you already know (or can likely figure out) why.
We open with amateur footage of Kim rushing into her NYC apartment following her harrowing robbery at gunpoint in Paris last fall.
Shaky, Blair Witch-style scenes of Kim, Kanye and Kris Jenner follow them in, almost as if though in their crew was on Facebook live.
Kim and Ye vowed not to talk about this in front of their children North and Saint, or give them any indication that anything was wrong.
Flashbacks then began to set the terrifying scene.
It was Paris Fashion Week, which Kim was naturally thrilled about, especially since it was Kourtney Kardashian’s first time in attendance.
Both were excited to see Kendall Jenner in a runway show. If only that ended up being the takeaway from their trip to the City of Light.
A few days before the robbery, known provocateur Vitalii Sediuk lunged at Kim in public, and was denied by bodyguard Pascal Duvier.
“I just think it’s crazy that this guy thinks it’s OK to do these pranks on people,” Kim said of his attempt to invade her “personal space.”
Foreshadowing of far worse things to come, sadly.
We were shown footage of Kanye learning about the robbery in the middle of a concert, rushing off the stage pretty much that instant.
Kourtney found out when stylist Simone Harouche texted her, “Who’s here with Kim? I just heard her say, ‘Take whatever you want.’”
Seconds later, Kim called her from Simone’s phone.
“I remember bodying people,” Kendall said of learning the news while she was out at the club with Kourtney, Jen Atkin and Pascal.
“Just, like, pushing people to the side and running out.”
More of the blurry, cellphone footage of Kim and Kanye in their NYC elevator came back, followed shortly by the return of E! reenactments.
From flashbacks to flash forwards, this special Kardashians episode had the feel of a documentary, one still playing out in real time.
Now post-robbery, the reality star admitted that she had gone radio silent since the incident but only recently logged on to the Internet.
Fans were calling for her arrest if she’d made this up.
Obviously, she didn’t and wouldn’t do any such thing.
Moral issues aside, as Kim notes, she would have to stage ALL of that and not wear her engagement ring again, ever, to sell the lie.
Still, the family’s shamelessness, coupled with rumors of Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ cancelation, made a lot of fans wonder.
The most chilling moments of the night came as Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian sat around together and went over the incident.
Kimberly said she saw her assailants enter with a handcuffed hotel concierge, who ended up interpreting the French robbers’ demands.
Through the concierge, Kim begged for her life because of her kids, and said she considered fleeing but feared being shot in the back.
“There’s no way out,” Kim recalled, tears flowing.
Robbers duct-taped her mouth, and one pulled her toward him. She wasn’t wearing clothes under her gown, and feared she’d be raped.
Thankfully, she wasn’t. But when the things duct-taped her legs shut, she said, her mind shifted to another, even more terrible scenario.
All Kim hoped was that Kourtney could someday have a normal life after finding her little sister’s body lifeless on the bed in the hotel.
Fortunately, we will never have to know the answer.
Kim felt she would die then and there, but the criminals peaced out and left her unharmed, albeit millions in plundered valuables poorer.
The trauma continued, however. The robbers were dressed as as police, so when the real cops showed up, Kim was scared. Confused:
“Who do I believe? What’s real? What’s going on?”
Kim admitted it was her fault to a degree because of being so public, and said that it was all ultimately “whatever” because she lived.
Everything that was taken from her on that horrible night was replaceable, and Khloe told her big sister that she was not replaceable.
That is all there is to it, right?
