By Jessica Blackwell

The sad state of Teresa's marriage was highlighted during this episode. The episode should have been entitled "Teresa's denial". For whatever reason, she seems to be the only person left who believes in her marriage. From Joe refusing her sexual advances, to refusing to give her a kiss in the morning, and then the kicker - calling her his b**** wife and lying about who he was talking to on the phone - the signs were very clear. But Teresa just keeps on putting on a show, propositioning him in the vineyards, saying that he gets cranky if he doesn't get hanky panky at least once a day, and saying that the trip has been a great bonding experience for them. 

Albie wisely commented that everyone getting along was too good to be true. And it was. After their talk, Jacqueline and Teresa seemed to have reached an understanding - "ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies". Jacqueline just has to learn to accept that her friendship with Teresa will be limited, as it usually is with selfish, denying people. Jacqueline seemed to be ok with that, but Caroline on the other hand was not. Upon discovering that Teresa admitted no wrongdoing, Caroline was disgusted! Jacqueline tried to justify her desperate need to Teresa's friendship by saying that Caroline wasn't as invested in her friendship with Teresa, so it was easy for her to let go. Uh yea, cause she's smart! 

Meanwhile, Teresa discusses the truce with Melissa, who was also appalled that Teresa still didn't understand why Jacqueline was upset at the tabloids. Their own truce seemed to be holding up well as Melissa told Teresa the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I mean she held nothing back - telling her that when she decided to write in the tabloids, her private life is no longer between her and her husband, and that she needs to stop bashing other people in the magazines. Teresa said that what she said in the magazines was how she felt at the time, which is as close to an admission to wrongdoing as I've ever seen the woman come. She went from denying that she even said those things, to basically owning up to it. I don't know what Melissa did to that woman, but Teresa didn't even get angry. She's getting soft in her old age, she used to flip tables at anyone who tried to say she was wrong. I guess I can muster a bit of a applause for that. 

Teresa didn't however, extend her kindness to Kathy on this trip, avoiding her like the plague. Kathy tried to extend an olive branch by sitting next to her at dinner, but true to form, Teresa just muddies it all up with a heartfelt toast about family - that excludes mention of Kathy who is an elbow away from her. FYI Teresa, cousins are family too! 

Then came the moment everyone was waiting for, when Joe Giudice makes the infamous phone call! He steps away from dinner mumbling something about having to call his work, (um, what work?) and proceeds to have a very flirty conversation with his "worker". Then Teresa, (whom I actually feel bad for at this point) stalks over to Joe demanding to know who he is speaking to. Right before she got up to where he was standing, he calls her a "b*** wife" and a "c***" to whoever is on the phone. He puts on the performance of the year and begins speaking to his "worker" in a foreign language, claiming that he suddenly doesn't speak English. Teresa has since publicly made a statement about the name calling, but refuses to address the bigger picture here - her husband is clearly cheating on her. 

Despite the drama on the trip, there were a few nice moments like when they celebrated Caroline's birthday and her children spoke very highly of their mother. There was the time when they toured the vineyard that Chris was considering doing work for - oh no not that time, everyone acted like immature children. Then there was umm.. nope that was it! 

Maybe Teresa is still pretending to hold onto her marriage so that she can milk it when he goes to jail or they split up and get her own reality show. I mean I understand she has to support her family, but is it worth her self-respect? When your criminal husband is making fake work phone calls and calling you a whore for wanting to have sex with him, the party's over.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey airs Sundays at 10/9c on Bravo.

(Image courtesy of Bravo)