Welcome back to Republic and to Season 4 of Southern Hospitality! A lot has happened since that explosive reunion, and despite the time that’s passed, many things are left unresolved. TJ and Brad are still on the outs with Emmy and Will. Maddi is still on the fence about Brad and TJ. And Michols exploded at Molly and threatened to ban her from Republic (even though they aren’t in the “business of banning”). Here’s everything that happened on Southern Hospitality Season 4, Episode 1: “Weiner Wars.”
What Happened on Southern Hospitality Season 4 Episode 1?
The episode starts with an important look back at what went down last season and at the explosive reunion. The catastrophic prom and the aftermath were still on everyone’s mind. Battle lines are drawn in the sand between Emmy and Will, and Brad and TJ. Everyone else appears to be caught in the middle.
Back at the hotel, Emmy and Will were on the phone with her mom, talking about what went down. And apparently, the walls were paper-thin, and Molly, TJ, and Brad could hear her and what she said about Will’s mental health, and she essentially declared f*ck you to Brad and TJ.
Brad even felt compelled to text her to lower her voice because they heard everything. It doesn’t look like there’s a way back from this.
And sure enough, when the episode begins, they are still on the outs. Everyone is coming back to work again, and Emmy admits she hasn’t spoken to Brad or TJ at all. She’s fine with it, but it does make getting ready for work awkward, though.
So the crew’s all assembled, along with a new VIP Host, Justin, who seems to already be making the sales in Joe Bradley’s absence. Joe followed Maddi on tour and has been absent for quite some time, so it looks like Justin is filling in the void. We’ll have to wait and see how that pans out later on.
Welcome back to Republic, Molly!
The night is in full swing at Republic when a familiar face shows up. It’s Molly! Since the end of Season 3 and the start of Season 4, Molly was fired from the club, and it didn’t end well. She claims to know things about Michols that got her fired, but he insists that it was because she wasn’t good at her job. She claims he “cheated on his ex-boyfriend,” Preston.
So her showing up, despite playing nice with owner Leva Bonaparte, was definitely going to cause some drama. Her former friend, Lake, immediately told Michols that Molly was there. He did his best to be cool about it.
But that cool did not last long. Molly tried to talk to Lake, who was mad at her, but instead of apologizing and talking things through, Molly kept interrupting Lake and essentially told her that if she was mad about Molly “ignoring her,” she should go back to kindergarten. She insists she did “absolutely nothing to you.”
Of course, this pushes Michols’ buttons. He comes out in time to see Molly and Lake’s awkward conversation. Lake is visibly upset, so Michols comes out and tells Molly off, saying he would ban her and that she needed to walk away before he grabbed the cops.
It was a lot. Leva had to remind him to watch his temper and that they weren’t in the business of banning guests at Republic.
Hello, Justin!
Justin is new to Republic, but it looks like he fits right in. He’s handsome but in the opposite way from Joe. Justin is more rugged. His hair is devil-may-care disheveled. But he had nice eyes and a nice smile.
It turns out Justin is originally from Charleston. He’s also lived in Boston, LA, and Australia. Ultimately, he had a relationship that didn’t work out, and he decided to go back to Charleston, where he got in touch with an old friend (TJ).
After he got a haircut and some abs, he found himself as the new VIP Host at Republic. Joe’s not feeling threatened as the handsome guy yet, since he still has better hair than Justin. Even Michols said that Justin could go from a Charleston 8 to a Charleston 10 if he groomed his hair a little bit.
Salt soaks and boys’ night on Southern Hospitality
It was a dramatic night, and the next day sees folks trying to decompress. For Brad, that means a cold plunge to wake him up. For Emmy, that means a salt bath with Maddi to help calm all her senses (hmm, it doesn’t seem to be working though).
After the salt bath, Emmy and Maddi went to the sauna for a talk. Maddi admits that things are good between her and Joe, but that the thought of marriage still scares the sh*t out of her (real marriage, not fake fun Vegas nuptials).
Emmy replies that she’s getting married. And yes, she reveals the rock on her finger. She and Will are engaged! Despite everyone and their mothers having an opinion on Will’s faithfulness, Emmy is still sticking by him.
This opens the door for the girls to talk about what happened at the reunion and right after. Maddi took it all really badly and said she dealt with crippling anxiety since it was revealed that the cheating rumors about her ex weren’t true. She’s okay with Will and Emmy since they made an effort, and she feels Brad and TJ did not.
Which brings us to boys’ night with Joe, TJ, Brad, and Justin. The boys have a private poker room and drinks for the night. It’s all going well until Brad asks how Joe and Maddi are doing. Joe reveals that he wishes Brad and TJ would make it right with her. Brad doesn’t know what else to do after his (let’s face it, pretty simplistic) apology.
He and TJ appear pretty shocked that things weren’t as copacetic as they thought. They’re also flabbergasted that they’re in the hotseat while Emmy and Will get a pass. In the end, Joe just said, if they respected their friendship with him, they would make it right with Maddi.
Is Michols extending an olive branch?
On Leva’s advice, Michols realized he needed to get things under control. This meant extending an olive branch to Molly and talking things through. They dove right into the issues with Michol and his ex-boyfriend Preston. Molly saying that she knew Michols was asking guys to “make out and hang out.”
For his part, Michols used the old Ross Geller excuse that there was a time he and Preston were on a break. He was telling himself to live his best single life. And that Preston was doing the same.
In the end, Michols apologized for yelling in Molly’s face at the club (which he did), and she surprised him by apologizing as well for talking “mad sh*t” about him (which she did). She said that the “bigger beast” was her getting fired. Michols said that he doesn’t have hiring or firing authority and only learned about her firing the day of. In a confessional, Molly said that’s not what she heard, but she’s willing to take his word for it, for now.
The growth of TJ’s Sir Weiners
On a positive note for TJ, his revenge business named after his ex’s “weiner” has grown into a legitimate hotdog business with a merch line. He’s thrilled it’s become “a huge empire.”
TJ is setting up a Sir Weiner’s pop-up at Republic, and everyone’s lending a hand, including former VIP concierge Grace Lilly, who is there with her tarot cards and is ready to do some readings.
Unfortunately, despite everything looking great for Sir Weiners, Maddi thinks that TJ’s new weiner is a dig at her and Emmy. It’s called the Cheater Weiner and is served with Flaming Hot Cheetos.
The weiner party is going well until Maddi brings out the Cheater Weiners. She tells guests it’s “not that good” or that they’ll be sick tomorrow if they eat it. Eventually, Maddi loses it when she sees Mia’s cutout and throws it on the ground. To be fair, she did warn Joe she might pop off.
The Sir Weiner event ended well despite Maddi’s outburst. But the night didn’t end there (of course). As TJ thanked Maddi for working the event, things combusted, and Maddi confronted him and Brad about her feelings.
Joe tried to break it up and told them to take it outside, but it was far too late. TJ and Maddi ended up screaming at each other, with TJ eventually telling her to “Go f*ck herself.”
To be continued…
Southern Hospitality airs Thursday nights at 9/8c on Bravo. It streams on Peacock.
TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY PREMIERE? WHO ARE YOU SIDING WITH IN THE WEINER WAR?
