Real Housewives of New Jersey Recap: An Anniversary, a Sweet Sixteen and a Court Summons

This week’s episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey started off on a rare positive note, but, like Kim G, made a 180-degree turnaround and ended with tears being shed.

The episode started with Teresa Giudice and Joe playing Monopoly with their daughters and discussing what Joe is going to buy her for their tenth anniversary. After talk of romance and diamonds, Teresa bluntly stated that if the gift is not good enough, there would be “no hanky-panky for a month.” Shifting gears, we get a glimpse of Danielle in party planning mode with her daughter Christine. After saying that she wanted to donate money to charity at her Sweet Sixteen, Danielle made it very clear that Christine was, in fact, her daughter and that Danielle did, in fact, give birth to her.

In our first scene with Jacqueline this week, she and Caroline talk about Kim G. Jacqueline says that she is not exactly playing both sides, but that she is “a people-pleaser.” Caroline said that Kim G needed to figure out where she belongs, and then began to delve into Danielle’s case against Ashley. Caroline, like many sane people watching the show, wanted to know how a woman who has allegedly been arrested for prostitution and selling drugs could be suing a teenage girl who pulled her hair extensions out in, what seemed to be, defense of her mother.

Back at Danielle Staub’s house, the party planning hits a snag when her youngest daughter, Jillian, gets nervous about singing a song she wrote for Christine. Danielle is very forceful in getting Jillian to perform at the party, but was still surprisingly nurturing in a completely un-Danielle-like way.

For their anniversary, Joe surprises Teresa with a helicopter ride around Manhattan (even though, as he put it earlier, their money isn’t “flowing” anymore, it’s “trickling”) and then ends the evening at a Jersey City hotel, where he surprises her again with a yellow diamond ring hidden in her dessert. The camera crew doesn’t leave their hotel room until they are already trying for baby number five, and causing many to wonder if, in fact, Teresa would have kept her hanky-panky promise if his gift was sub-par.

Before heading to Christine’s Sweet Sixteen, we are treated to Albie lifting weights for his new role with the Police Academy. Then, unfortunately, we are forced, much like her daughters, to hear Danielle talk about wearing her former husband’s engagement ring, and the irrelevance of the piece of jewelry. At the party, we see Danielle’s ex-husband and younger wife, and hear Danielle talk about moving on with her life (while she is, still, wearing her former husband’s engagement ring). In a rare cheerful moment for Danielle, Jillian’s performance is a success, and afterwards, she calls her dad being in the audience and able to have heard her “perfect.”

At the end of the episode, Jacqueline, Ashley (who has already picked up her summons from the post office) and Chris have an intense conversation, again, about the consequences of Ashley’s actions. After demonstrating her carelessness of the situation (she said she was “excited” about her charges), Jacqueline reached her breaking point with Ashley, saying that her daughter needs “tough love,” and, after starting to cry, reasoning that going to court could cause a much needed attitude adjustment. Next week’s episode features what looks like a massive fight (verbal, not physical) between Danielle and Kim G, and, sadly (after this week’s delightful Danny-less hour), more Danny.