The concept of empathy was mentioned twice on last night’s episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Once by Taylor, who told Dana that she liked Brandi at first because she could empathize with her marriage struggles, and then again by Camille, who said roughly the same thing. This is important, because none of these women are capable of an emotion that does not originate from self-regard. There is no sympathizing on this show. Only empathizing. And even that, they get wrong.
Well, Kyle goes where the wind blows, and she thinks she makes the wind. She thinks she is the Earth that the sun revolves around, when, in fact, that’s not the way it works. And she is wrong, and maybe one day she’ll find that out, and maybe she won’t. But whether or not you find Kyle Richards repellent, her qualities of benign charm, lukewarm wit, middle-of-the-road mischievousness, and mainstream visual appeal make her who she is, which is no one. And what I’ve just described — what makes Kyle Kyle, is also, in grade school, what makes a popular girl popular: knowing how to make casual, peer-induced sadism look like the good times of a fun-loving girl with shiny, long hair; looking concerned with perfect eyebrows when in fact you’re just waiting to turn the conversation around to yourself; disguising bullying as loyalty. So many other things. So, congratulations, everybody. I wish I could say it gets better. Sometimes it doesn’t. But I’ll see you here next week for more of the same.