In the aftermath of Shannon Beador flipping out and then apologizing to her fellow Housewives, the show needs some levity.
In this The Real Housewives of Orange County sneak peek, Shannon and Vicki have both undergone surgery.
When they come to, however, their experiences are very different. One of them is deeply hilarious.
"In a perfect world, would I like to have my partner waiting for me when I get out of surgery?" Shannon asks.
She asks if she would love to have such a partner "putting his arm around me, saying ‘I’m going to take care of you and everything’s going to be OK?’"
She answers her own questions: "Absolutely."
Obviously, anyone wants emotional support, especially when they"re just coming out of surgery.
Since Shannon is currently single, however, she doesn"t have that.
Fortunately, Shannon knows how to keep things in perspective.
"But you know what?" Shannon asks rhetorically.
"I have a driver," Shannon says. "And Sophie and the kids are waiting for me when I get home."
That"s more than a lot of people have.
Shannon concludes: "And that’s all I can ask for."
It"s always good to focus on the positives in your life, rather than simply on what you don"t have.
We promised that there would be some levity in this clip, and there absolutely is.
Vicki Gunvalson also went into the hospital to have some face-fillers removed.
Her boyfriend, Steve Lodge, arrived to show her moral support — you know, the kind that Shannon would have liked.
Vicki was still a little loopy, however, and immediately asks Steve some awkward questions.
"Do you love me?" Vicki asks. "Am I pretty?"
It sounds like Shannon might be better off. People aren"t always at their best when they"re under the influence.
Vicki then tells Steve that she has "no panties on right now."
Earlier this year, Vicki explained why she intended to have her face fillers removed.
"I had a lot of fillers in my face and I didn’t feel like it was me anymore," Vicki said.
"I had too many doctors, too many different times say ‘let’s do this, let’s do that, let’s fill here, let’s do Voluma, let’s do Sculptra,’" Vicki continues.
You know, on the very first episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County that I ever saw, she was having a botox party.
It seems that she"s changed her tune.
"And," Vicki says. "By the time I was done I looked in the mirror and was like COMMA ‘I don’t even look like myself.’"
Apparently, part of that has been Steve"s supportive influence.
"I said to him the other day, ‘My boobies are a little bit lower. I want them higher up here,’" Vicki shares.
Vicki says that Steve didn"t agree: "He goes, ‘You promised me you wouldn’t do anything else,’"
"No," Vicki decides. "For right now I’m at peace."
Good for her!
It"s always easy to poke fun at women who undergo multiple cosmetic procedures on their faces and breasts.
Of course, it starts to get considerably less funny once you think about the powerful social forces that demand that women look a certain way.
These cultural pressures are compounded for women who are on television, for older women, and for women who are trying to date.
Some would say that Vicki and Shannon almost had no choice but to go under the knife a time or two if they wanted to remain on television.
That is a grim thought.