The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season 3 served up a lot of confusing drama, which made the season difficult to follow. Usually, a housewife's struggle to stay out of prison amidst the everyday drama among the wives would be a reality TV success. However, the various elements in the season driving the storylines have been quite confusing to follow.
In September 2022, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season 3 was back and ready to give fans an inside look at Jen Shah's ongoing legal woes. Jen had recently pleaded guilty to her role in a country-wide telemarketing scheme, which is why many people tuned in. However, with Heather Gay's mysterious black eye and Jen continuing to plead her innocence, the season became difficult to want to follow.
RHOSLC Dynamics & Storylines Confused The Fans
The reasons for the confusion was due to the newer cast and the storylines that didn't make sense to the audience. RHOSLC had three friends of cast members, Angie Katsanevas, Angie Harrington, and Danna Bui-Negrete. The main cast members included Lisa Barlow, Heather, Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, and Jen. All of the friend of's also appeared to be there to instigate drama with Jen, who didn't have an Andy Cohen interview. According to u/another_feminist on Reddit, "[...] all the fights and alliances and screaming are all muddled together. I have lost track of what everyone is fighting about. I have no clue, 90% of the time, what's really going on." First, Angie H. had a conflict with Jen over the social media account started by Angie's husband, then Angie K. fought with Jen over hostess duties, while Danna didn't like Jen's attitude. None of this drama looked organic, and their relationships, beyond fighting with Jen, seemed nonexistent.
Everyone On RHOSLC Wanted To Fight With Jen
It's hard to get too invested in this petty drama with Jen when real-life drama loomed before her. It was difficult knowing who to side with in these on-air conflicts. Jen, who should've been fired after RHOSLC season 2, is unsympathetic in real life while having taken a plea bargain for defrauding people, but the piling on of Jen appears to be designed to get the audience behind her. With Jen's main storyline being so up in the air, the other cast has to take over in providing drama or try to draw her into their conflicts. Jen appears to be less capable of defending herself amid her offscreen conflict. The elephant in the room throughout RHOSLC season 3 is how the government has requested for Jen a 10-year prison sentence, which went down to six and a half years.
Heather Gay's Infamous Black Eye
The other storyline that was confusing is Heather's black eye. So far, the question of how Heather got it has only been raised, with no definite answers. She has so far said that she won't tell who or what caused it. One reason Heather gave was to avoid getting anyone in trouble. When asked in an interview on RHOSLC who she was trying to protect, she said herself. Reality Blurb reports that Heather may reveal the details involving how she got the black eye in her new memoir, Bad Mormon. Since no other information came out during RHOSLC season 3, this could be why. There was speculation about Heather's shocking black eye that Jen may have done it, causing possible further legal trouble for her due to her plea bargain. However, Heather could have simply done it to herself by accident.
The several different storylines that lead nowhere to Heather's mysterious black eye are what may RHOSLC season 3 so confusing. The season seemed choppy and, overall, didn't make much sense from start to finish. Hopefully, RHOSLC season 4 has a little more cohesion.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST on Bravo.
Sources: another_feminist/Reddit, Reality Blurb