Ladies of London

[Cheap21]

Juliet was so rude and out of line. I can get her feelings but how out of line for her to expect Marissa to just change her plans literally days before Thanksgiving. She has the restaurant booked and invitations have been sent out. Its too late and shame on Juliet for being so thick about that. I never liked her and she is just as bad this year

 

I hate when shows have two people with the same first name. I hope this Caroline brings it.

[Taoboi]

Okay, I'll bit just to have a second opinion because I suspect you will put it into words better than I can, DF...explain Annabelle as the real deal. 

And yes, I love Julie so far, too. I don't remember her from last year but it seems she was a 'friend of'

So...given what I found out about Caroline's real life last night connecting to what she said in the trailer, how much of it do you think they caught on film?

[DaytimeFan]

I say Annabelle is the real deal because she's lived a big London life and has the connections to prove it. Her parents were interesting in their own right. Her father was in investment banking, her mother was a marquessa and interior decorator. But Annabelle's really interesting feature is she was married to a Rothschild - as in the billionaire banking family. When they got divorced, part of the settlement was that Annabelle had to drop the Rothschild last name. She was a model for Alexander McQueen for years, counts Kate Moss as a close friend and dated the son of the Duke of Marlborough. She's friends with Fergie (the Duchess of York, not Josh Duhamel's wife) and Naomi Campbell and mixed with all the right people at just the right time in the 1990s where a whole generation of fabulous Londoners found themselves. 

 

Really, the false note in this show is Juliet. She is a NOBODY. Marissa's husband owns Boujis (one of the most prominent London nightclubs in the early 2000s that's still a popular place) and Julie Montagu is a Viscountess. Juliet is nothing - she's in PR and has a terrible midwestern accent and allegedly says she's an aspiring actress at 38. In other words, her dumb ass is just what this show needs.

[Taoboi]

Wow. Thus my fascination with her on first sight. I think it shows without showing. If that makes sense.

It also explains why in Season 1 when Annabelle and Juilet clashed, I found myself on her side more. She came across as such an adult and Juilet just was being a brat.

Speaking of which, she is being a social climber. And I can't say that I like her very much this season so far. ANd I hated her last season.

[Cheap21]

Caroline is SOOOO shady. She gives Phaedra a run for her money

 

Julie crying at the party....girl bye. She was too hysterical for no reason. i dont think Caroline's comment required such a breakdown.

 

Juliette vs the Stanburry sisters. LOL....I look forward to them evicerating her next week. I do have to say its a bit hypocritical of Caroline to shade Julie in her talking heads about etiqutte yet she goes and straddles someone else's husband?

[DaytimeFan]

I'm finally caught up, for whatever reason this season is working for me in ways that last season did not. 

 

Caroline Stanbury is an odd one. On one hand, she's bitingly funny in a way only English people can be, on the other hand, she can be really mean and it's an ugly quality to have. On one hand she can deflate Juliet's pomposity with one withering line ("Wherever we go I usually know the owner, Juliet knows the busboy."), on the other hand she is extremely high on herself and deluded about how a lot what she has has been handed to her (she was born into wealth). I really dig her sister in law, she seems to be a total hot mess/riot. 

 

Caroline Fleming bothers me for some reason. She just seems dumb or bitchy or both. Something about her doesn't rub me the right way. 

 

Love Annabelle. She is very calm and seems very fair. 

 

Julie lost me with the crazy tears about Caroline's little yoga dig. That was crazy. I also don't care about her balls. Ploughing that money into the family home is admirable - and it's a damn shame that all those aristocratic families in England didn't plan well enough to afford to keep those homes going forward so their youngest generations have to get really creative and it's a struggle. 

 

Marissa and her husband are really striving to build a big life. And as Annabelle said, that's classic upper middle class for you. 

 

Juliet just annoys the piss outta me. She's such a loud, dumb, obnoxious wretch.

[DaytimeFan]

Julie Montagu is so annoying. It's exhausting how neurotic she is and how fixated she is on Maperton. Just open it up for filming, open a wedding venue and get a gift shop open - problem solved.

 

Juliet is as bad as ever. She's so cloying and tacky. She's exactly what British people make fun of Americans for. She's the stereotypical loud, brash, dumb American.

 

Marissa is likeable. At least, I happen to like her. She's working hard, has her kids, keeps her husband happy and lives a nice life and can have a laugh. It sounds like Top Dog is doing alright and growing. 

 

Caroline Fleming is annoying as hell, humourless and pretentious. And she has a horrible laugh. I don't see how she can be offended at being called a cougar? She IS a cougar. That she thought anyone was implying she likes little boys shows what an idiot she is. What a drama queen whose clearly too high on herself to realize she's suffering from oxygen deprivation. 

 

Annabelle and her books...I don't care, does anyone?

 

It's weird how I'm seeing such a sympathetic side to Caroline Stanbury. Her business is collapsing and she's under a lot of pressure. Her children are adorable and clearly adore her.

 

Sophie is always a riot. She's the Special Guest Star of this show. 

Edited October 18, 2015 by DaytimeFan

[Cheap21]

ITA with your complete assessment. Juliet is the absolute worst and I HATE how she sucks up to Caroline. She has no shame

[DaytimeFan]

Caroline Fleming is a bitch. A nasty bitch. She sees things how she wants to see them. Marissa didn't go to her sister and tell her - her sister asked Marissa! It's a very different thing. 

 

Julie is so goddman neurotic. To quote Ramona Singer: "Taaaaake a Xanax, caaaaalm DOWWWN!"

 

I'm liking Caroline Stanbury more and more. She's stressed, trying to handle it, her business is a disaster, her husband seems like a gem, she seems to have a sense of humour and she has an iciness I dig. So much better than season one. 

 

Marissa never should have apologized to Caroline Fleming. I only wish she'd shot Caroline Fleming on the hunt. 

 

Juliet is a huge kiss ass and is a total fake. I am surprised she would dare to say that Marissa is trying to 'make it' in British society - there is no bigger social climbing Anglophile fake than Juliet.

 

Love Sophie Stanbury. She's the Patsy to Caroline's Edina of Absolutely Fabulous

 

I'm surprised Annabelle was so humourless about the cougar thing. Get a sense of humour. It was crazy to see her walk away with those pheasants dangling off of her!

 

 

[Cat]

Season 2 just started where I am and I have seen the first two episodes! Can I gush about it here?

 

OK this show is The Real Housewives of London in all but name. I have a feeling someone like Caroline Stanbury objected to the RH tag. Housewife sounds très suburban and she obviously feels she is socialite first, businesswoman second, wife third and mother fourth. Without her, the show wouldn't be half as glamorous. She really represents a certain kind of wealthy London It Girl type. Plus her hair is FABU and I have eyebrow envy. Of course she is a selfish cow who sends her assistant to her kid's school plays because she cannot be bothered. And she adores stirring the pot and having other ladies fight over her friendship. Basically every show needs a bitch!

 

Marissa is the typical Alpha Female who has to be the Best Businesswoman, Best Homemaker, etc. She probably stays up at 3am to bake the perfect cupcakes for her kids' school gala. That's not a dig, that's just who she is -- a perfectionist with boundless energy and outgoingness. The way Juliet treated her was shitty, and I'm glad she just cut that frenemyship off, coldly. It is so clear Juliet is jealous of her so-called BFF and cannot stand that Marissa is a Winner at life. Basically, this friendship is the Ronnie-Mary equivalent (from RHoV) and I wonder if it will continue to drive the show.

 

Juliet -- HOT. MESS. And she's a Chicago girl to boot. A Chicago girl I once worked with used to walk around trumpeting "I'm from Chicago! I know everything!" However, she slowly realized that most Brits cannot be bothered to look up Chicago up on a map. For them, only NY and LA exist (possibly Miami). Anyway, then she got loudly defensive and always complained about how much people in London suck. Juliet really reminds me of her. She is a provincial fish out of water and all she ever talks about is Me, Myself and I. Eventually she is going to twig that nobody gives a f*ck. The show obviously needs this messy wreck to power SL, and I for one LOVE to hate her irrelevant-and-she-can't-stand-it ass.

 

Annabelle -- haven't seen much of her but you can tell she is connected and is probably so busy being fabulous and social and rich that she barely has time for filming. Right now she should probably be a Friend Of because she is not really featuring. I do like her friendship with Julie, though. I like Julie, too, who seems worn down by the work of keeping inherited castle and lands going and who needs a little glamour in her life. Julie is like the show narrator, no?

 

Caroline Fleming -- At first I liked her True Danish Royalty connections and the way she prepared dinner for herself. I felt she was cool and down-to-earth. But then she ate like a caveman and did that fake-ass laugh and it felt phony. The way she kicked out her guests so quickly was contrived, too. I wonder if she was high? Watching Juliet brown-nose her was hilarious though. And her kitchen is glorious. Most if not all the homes are stunning on this show.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Cat

[Taoboi]

Gush away, Cat!!!!

I'm so behind due to my work schedules that I love for more commentary on what's been going on. I am just so curious about how Caroline's situation was filmed.

[Cat]

Thanks Taoboi I will!

 

I think it is brave of Caroline to show her business failing, but Brits have a different take on failure than American audiences. They don't look down on it as a character flaw but instead root for the underdog often. I think this will win viewers' sympathy because Caroline will show a more vulnerable self and that she's not always being a bitch and throwing her money and connections in other people's faces. This humanises her.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Cat

[Taoboi]

See? That would be what I am hoping for. And I want her to succeed given how in charge she was last season.

But so far other than the limo ride where she was clearly stressed out...there's not be any sign (that I've seen from the episodes I've been able to catch) that she is being humanized. It seems like she was getting meaner.

[Cat]

I'm only on Ep 2 -- the third episode gets broadcasted here tomorrow. You must be onto Episode 7 or 8 I think. So I'm just going by the season previews I saw in Episode 1.

 

Caroline is mean and bitchy generally. Her default setting is to look down on others, and the Americans are an ideal target because their sense of sarcasm is not as attuned as hers. Maybe Caroline got meaner because the impending doom of her business was creeping up on her behind the scenes. LoL also has much fewer episodes that the average RH season so they tend to pack a lot in, say 10-15 episodes (as opposed to 22). And maybe that's why the business failing seems out of the blue. We haven't had 10 episodes to gradually lay the groundwork for this story.

[Taoboi]

Finally at home with the latest episode.

 

Given Caroline has always been the one who warned the audience of the wrath of Annabelle, I do not think it is a good idea to tick her off.