The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 20 finale (Bravo, Thursday, October 29): Vicki hosts a Sky Tops anniversary party in Coto, an uninvited Carmella crashes the peace talks, and Gina and Heather finally have it out over money.
By The Recapper — CelebnMusic247
RECAP — SPOILER WARNING: This is a full-spoiler recap of The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 20 finale, which aired Thursday, October 29 on Bravo. Stop here if you have not watched.
Twenty years of The Real Housewives of Orange County ended its anniversary season the only way it could: behind the gates in Coto de Caza, in Sky Tops. Vicki Gunvalson hosted a 20th-anniversary party at the Coto de Caza Country Club and made the early-seasons blouse mandatory — and the guest list was the first fight of the night, because Carmella Garcia was not on it, per Reality Blurb’s finale recap.
The road to the party did the character work finales are for. Shannon Beador zoomed with a dog psychic about Archie and chose to go ahead with radiation to help him, per Reality Blurb. On a tiki boat, Tamra Judge questioned Carmella about her Adderall use, and Carmella admitted it was something she should wean off; then Tamra and Jenn Pedranti egged Carmella on to attend Vicki’s party uninvited and tell her to stop, per Reality Blurb. Heather Dubrow had a quieter thread: time with her mother, a hope that her mom would make more effort with the grandkids — Ace feels estranged from his grandmother, per Reality Blurb — and a simmering belief that Tamra was icing her out, after feeling left out in Tokyo.
At the party, the OGs rolled in — Jeana Keough, Jo De La Rosa, Peggy Tanous, Lizzie Rovsek and Lynne Curtin among them, per Reality Tea’s finale preview — and then Carmella arrived. Vicki greeted her, in Reality Blurb’s words, in the fakest way possible. The confrontation everyone had been circling finally happened: Carmella, who had taken offense at Vicki’s comments and whom Vicki resented for an “expiration date” dig, told Vicki she did not want to get to know her, and the two agreed to disagree, with Heather and Tamra running in as would-be negotiators, per Reality Blurb.
The finale’s other reckoning belonged to Gina Kirschenheiter and Heather Dubrow. Gina pulled Heather aside over the group’s Tokyo conversation about her spending, told her she has been fiscally responsible for years, and threw in her face that Heather would never understand what it is like to financially support herself, per Reality Blurb. Heather countered that the Tokyo talk was a group discussion Tamra brought up — and after the bickering, the two agreed they were good and moved on, per Reality Blurb. Jenn also asked Tamra outright whether their sudden friendship was genuine or a poke at Heather; Tamra called it stirring, then told Jenn she loved her, per Reality Blurb.
The closing updates kept the season’s loose ends loose: Emily Simpson and Heather have barely spoken since filming ended, Jenn has chosen a wedding date while Gina has yet to pick one, and Vicki closed the night reflecting that the sisterhood matters more than the show — “this is her life,” per Reality Blurb.
The 247 Take — A 20th-season finale that ends with “agree to disagree” and a money fight resolved by exhaustion is peak RHOC: nobody apologized, nobody left, and the Sky Tops did more reconciling than anyone at the party. Carmella crashing uninvited and leaving unbothered is the season in one scene.
Sources: Reality Blurb, Reality Tea, Hollywood Outbreak
