Smile because it’s over, and cry because it happened. In The Real Housewives of Potomac Season 10 Episode 16, “Driving on Empty,” the nightmare cast trip to Colorado finally came to an end. Praise the lord.
When we last left off, the ladies were in Aspen, luxuriating at Kemo Sabe and thirsting after Mauricio Umansky. However, tensions were still lingering from the botched Airbnb booking, and Gizelle was ready to seize control of the trip. Little did she know, things were about to go from bad to worse.
What happened on The Real Housewives of Potomac Season 10 Episode 16?
This week, the trip to Colorado came to a screeching halt after another series of unfortunate screw-ups. Can Angel come back from this one? Probably not.
After spending most of the episode in a car, the drama all came to a head in a gas station parking lot. However, the biggest part of this week’s RHOP happened in the final minutes of the episode. Right before the credits rolled, we got our first glimpse of Karen stepping out of jail. She’s back!
New day, new problems
When we last left off, Gizelle and Angel were in a stalemate over how the rest of the trip should play out. Gizelle was ready to spend the night at the Four Seasons and then go home. Angel wanted to take them fly fishing before hosting an open fire dinner. She really, really, really wanted them to have the full Wanderland experience.
Ultimately, they compromised. They’d stay at the Four Seasons and go fly fishing the next day, all before wrapping things up and heading to the airport. It’s a long day with a lot of driving, and the concept of going fishing and then to the airport right afterwards is insane. Still, Angel felt confident that they could make it work. Slowly but surely, that all started to unravel.
The ladies woke up at the Four Seasons, ready to embark on their fly fishing adventure, only to discover that Angel, Kei, and Tia slipped away in the night. They went back to Angel’s house! She was like, “We’ll just meet you at the fishing spot!”
When the ladies were about to leave the hotel, they found that this super-exclusive fishing spot Angel told them about would be almost a two-hour drive. Immediate vibe killer. At this point, they’ve spent more time driving around Colorado than actually experiencing it.
The long car ride to nowhere
With nothing but time on their hands, the ladies wound up having some messy conversations during their commutes. Wendy, Jassi, and Stacey rode in one car. Monique, Gizelle, and Ashley took the other.
In the first car, Jassi clashed with Stacey. Jassi finally called out Stacey after learning from Ashley earlier this season that she didn’t plan on going to her wedding until she found out the other Housewives were attending. Stacey accused Jassi of recording one of their phone conversations. It was a lot.
Stacey was a topic of conversation in the other car, too, because what else would anyone have to talk about this season if it weren’t for her? In that car, Ashley revealed how she bumped into Monique’s ex-husband and flat-out asked him if he was sleeping with Stacey. At this point, Ashley’s fixation on this is starting to seem unhealthy.
According to Ashley, Chris wouldn’t confirm or deny his connection with Stacey, but he made a face and intentionally left it ambiguous. It’s messy, but what was even messier was the fact that Ashley said this interaction with Chris happened months ago. Why did she randomly decide to bring it up while they’re driving through the mountains of Colorado? Unhealthy.
In between all of these Stacey conversations, the ladies were nervously watching the GPS. The two-hour car ride was slowly evolving into three hours. They hit traffic, and the likelihood of being able to fish, eat dinner, and get back to the airport started to seem impossible.
Angel drove herself in circles
The RHOP producers had cameras at the fishing hole, capturing Angel’s “chief of staff” and a private chef prepping this fabulous afternoon for the ladies. Meanwhile, Angel was inadvertently driving her truck in the opposite direction.
She entered the coordinates for her exclusive fishing spot, but somehow, her navigation sent them up and around the wrong side of the mountain. Tia sat in the backseat looking terrified, and the unexpected detour added hours to their trip. They’re just wasting gas.
As time slipped away, Angel finally broke the news to the rest of the group that they had gotten lost. Everyone got mad at her all over again. How do you fumble a trip this badly?
Ultimately, the ladies made the decision to back out of the fishing expedition. Rather than continue driving around Colorado looking for a fishing hole, they just went to the airport. Angel was crushed that things didn’t pan out the way she imagined. She cried her eyes out while flying down the highway.
A gas station finale
Season 10, a milestone for the RHOP franchise, came to an unfortunate ending in the middle of a gas station parking lot. While Angel, Kei, and Tia drove around the entire state of Colorado, the other ladies pulled over for a break.
They wound up ordering pizza from a nearby food truck. Wendy bought a tallboy from the gas station. They sat around and accepted their fate. This is what happens when you let Angel make the plans.
While they were sitting there, Jassi seemed to realize that it was her last chance to get some screen time and decided to call out Stacey again, this time in front of the whole group. Wendy joined in on it, and it turned into a huge screaming match — right there in front of the food truck.
Stacey stormed back over to the gas station and grabbed her luggage. Already exhausted from a full season of getting ganged up on, she felt betrayed that Wendy finally joined in on it.
Of course, Wendy chased after her. They eventually hugged it out, but it felt impossible to focus on anything they were saying. The absurdity of this unfolding in a gas station parking lot was just too much.
As the ladies wrapped up their gas station party and headed to the airport, their season finale “where are they now” updates started flashing on the screen. It turns out this wasn’t just the end of the road on the Colorado trip. It’s also the end of the road for Season 10. Kind of!
Welcome home, Karen
Fortunately for the RHOP Season 10 cast, the artist formally known as the Grande Dame came in and reclaimed their gas station finale. Two months after the ill-fated Colorado trip, the cameras picked up again outside of Montgomery County Detention Center. Now, we’ve got a real finale coming up.
In the final moments of Episode 16, we saw Karen’s release from jail. She stepped outside and took in her first taste of freedom before jumping into an SUV rigged with Bravo cameras.
Karen didn’t speak, but her face said a thousand words. She looked relieved to be free but mortified to have been there in the first place. Regardless of how you feel about her future on the show, this felt like an iconic Housewives moment.
Next week, we’ll see Karen reunite with her family. Plus, she’ll sit down with Andy Cohen for an intimate discussion of her time in prison and the behavior that landed her there.
The Real Housewives of Potomac airs on Sundays at 8/7c. It streams on Peacock.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF POTOMAC SEASON 10 EPISODE 16? WERE YOU SURPRISED BY WHERE THINGS ENDED WITH THE GROUP? WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO SEEING KAREN AT THE END OF THE EPISODE?
