So far, the battle of “Does Brooks Actually Have Cancer?” has mainly been waged by the cast members of The Real Housewives of Orange County (and Brooks). But now, Tamra’s about to cross a line by getting Vicki’s daughter, Briana, involved. Is she crossing a line or does Briana have a right to know? Let’s see how it all plays out.

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Bad Brooks Vibe

Briana and Ryan are visiting Vicki, and even though Brooks is “away on business,” Briana feels a different vibe in the house. She says it’s heavy and uncomfortable, and she doesn’t appreciate how her mom can invite someone who hurt her daughter so bad to live in her childhood home. Vicki says she feels like she’s living two different lives, one with Brooks and one without him for the sake of Briana. But she’s not going to break up with him for her.

Things are going a little bit more smoothly for Meghan and Hayley now that Meghan’s decided to act more like a friend instead of a replacement parent to Hayley. Tamra invites Meghan to her baptism, and because Jim’s out of town, Hayley agrees to go with her instead.

Shannon and David meet with their marriage counselor, Tina, at their home. Of course, it’s awkward because that’s how these two do things. But Tina thinks that Shannon is getting better because she’s showing less signs of anger. She still has her dark moments, but it’s easier for her to dig herself out of those moments now.

Heather, Shannon and Tamra meet for lunch. They fill in Heather about how Vicki and Brooks showed Tamra the CT scan while she was gone, and Heather’s first question is, “Why did they show Tamra, of all people?” It’s just another thing to add to the laundry list of shady behavior from Vicki and Brooks.

Tamra feels extra weird now because Vicki had previously asked Tamra to talk to Briana about accepting Brooks. At the time she agreed to it, she felt fine about Brooks. But now, she’s in a crazy situation of having to talk up the man she thinks is faking cancer.

At least something good has come of this mess. Shannon tells Tamra and Heather that she feels closer to them now and she tells them about David’s affair. Both women say in their confessionals that they’d heard rumors about the affair, but they never repeated them nor did they confront Shannon about them. Heather appreciates Shannon’s honesty and is glad she feels like she can confide in her.

Meanwhile, Vicki’s at the zoo with her family. She says she’s good with animals, even though she confuses a guinea pig with a bunny. She’s sad to be a long-distance grandmother. Briana says in her confessional she’s hurt that her mom chooses Brooks over her. She thinks her mom is fighting for something that isn’t working simply because she doesn’t want to be alone.

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A History of Lying

The next day, Tamra keeps her promise to Vicki and meets Briana for lunch. Besides the fact that they’ve always had a good relationship, their original reservations about Brooks have made them even closer. Tamra tells Briana that she finally got to the point where she just let things go with Brooks so she could still be friends with Vicki. Briana says she tried that, but there’s nothing he could ever do or say that would make things okay between them. Briana says that Brooks has shown his true character and there’s no going back for her. He’s not allowed around her kids and she definitely doesn’t ever want to see him again. What’s more is that Briana says Vicki’s family is not okay with Brooks, even though she led the ladies to believe that her late mom approved of him.

Tamra tries to drop the fact that he might be lying about having cancer as tactfully as she can. But it makes sense to Briana, who says he has a history of lying about being sick. She also says that as an ER nurse, some of the treatments he says he’s getting don’t make sense. She thinks that either her mom will find out he’s lying or he’ll be miraculously “cured.” Either way, she hopes her mom doesn’t lose everyone in her life over a lie.

The next day, Vicki and Tamra meet to shop for dresses to wear to Tamra’s baptism, where there’s a white dress code. Tamra tells her that Briana’s not budging on her opinion of Brooks, and Vicki isn’t surprised to hear it. But she says she’s done talking about Brooks’ cancer (or lack thereof). She says if anyone engages her about it at Tamra’s baptism, she’s leaving.

Getting Baptized

On the day of Tamra’s baptism, Shannon calls Tamra and says she’s doing an at-home colonic. Gross, Shannon. Then, to David’s horror, she gets a piece of the plastic stuck up her rear. She has him dig around for it until they realize that it came out in the toilet. Gross, gross, gross, Shannon.

Meghan is disappointed that she’ll be going to the baptism alone because Hayley’s being bratty and decided that she doesn’t want to go. Meghan didn’t realize how much time she’d be spending alone when they moved to Orange County and it’s really hard for her.

Vicki’s brother, Billy, is her date to the baptism because Brooks doesn’t want to see any of the women again. She says she’s tired of talking about Brooks’ health and she knows the truth. But she doesn’t think there will be any conflict at a Jesus party.

Shannon hasn’t spoken to Vicki since their lunch, so she’s worried about seeing her tonight. She says the possibility that she’s being duped by Vicki is absolutely crushing to her. Maybe Vicki isn’t as good of a friend as she thought.

Next time: It’s finally the season finale. Come for Tamra’s baptism, stay for Vicki’s meltdown.

The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays at 9pm on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

Gina Pusateri

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV