Hurricane Irene Does Not Stop 'Housewives' Drama

A storm hit "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" on this week's episode, but even Hurricane Irene could stop the drama between the castmates.

Jacqueline Laurita’s husband, Chris, invited the entire cast out to California for a business trip he and his nephews, Albie and Chris Manzo, were going on. Even the Giudices, of Towaco, attended the trip, despite getting along with literally none of the other families going on a consistent basis. On last week's episode, even the men in which Joe Giudice managed to insult every single one of them.

The trip began just as Hurricane Irene stormed into town, making Melissa Gorga, also of Montville, and Teresa Giudice nervous about leaving their young children behind.

“When they say a hurricane is coming…mostly what that means is a lot of rain and windy, right?” Giudice asked.

After a whirlwind trip through a camping store, where the castmates bought everything from animal print placemats to “decorative accents,” the crew headed toward Half Moon Bay. Evidently no one told them that the route would take them right to the edge of a cliff, difficult and scary in vehicles half the size of their RVs.

“I think it was a really good idea that I brought my rosary with me,” Kathy Wakile said. “My life is just going to end here. I’ll just make my peace with God.”

Read more Montville Patch coverage of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" here.

When they arrived at the “campground,” they were confused as to why it appeared to be a parking lot. Melissa Gorga was mortified that Giudice complained loudly about it to their neighbors, but everyone seemed to take it in relatively good fun. The traditional short segment of the show involved Joe Giudice and Joe Gorga struggling to pitch a tent.

“[The Joes] build houses for a living,” Chris Manzo said. “A tent should be no problem for them.”

This was not the case.

“We are Italian,” Caroline Manzo said. “To us, camping is dried sausage and provolone.”

The real highlight of the trip was Teresa Giudice’s antics. She was cordial to Laurita and Manzo without being pushy, had a genuine moment with Rich Wakile (who has previously threatened to burn a house down with her in it), cuddled and mutually groped sister-in-law Melissa Gorga (although she claimed she’s “not a toucher”), and even had an adult conversation about something that was bothering her.

When Wakile attended Giudice’s cookbook signing, she made a few comments about some of Giudice’s recipes being originally Wakile’s mothers’. While Wakile’s mother and Giudice’s father are sister and brother, Giudice was adamant that the recipes belonged to her mother alone.

“I just want her to acknowledge what she did. Well, she probably knows what she did, so I want her to know I know what she was trying to do,” Giudice said.

They seemed to discuss it maturely and move on. Wakile later told Laurita and Manzo that she was “overall” satisfied with the outcome of the conversation. She even tried to intervene on behalf of her cousin to the non-related housewives.

“I’m not going to get involved with whatever your fight is, but I would ask you to keep an open mind because you do have such a history,” she said

Giudice may not have let her tiff with Wakile go completely, however, as she tried to tell Gorga about it on the beach later. Gorga asked Giudice to evaluate her own actions.

“Between me and you, me and you had our little tiff, our little problem. Then you and Kathy had your little problem. You had a little thing with Jacqueline, you had a little thing with Caroline. You need to sit back from it and say, 'What am I doing wrong? Because why am I having an issue with everyone?'” she said.

Giudice got defensive, but did not raise her voice. She repeated that she never did anything to deserve what was happening and that she does not hold grudges, a well-documented untruth. Still, Gorga seemed pleased.

“I feel like we hit, like, a break-through moment,” she said. “We’re able to have these really serious conversations and be fine. And all I can think about is my husband. And how happy he’s going to be.”

While their Bravo blogs seem to indicate that all is not well between any of housewives and Giudice, it is always nice to hope. And this episode definitely ended hopefully.

The show airs Sundays on Bravo at 10.