The levy has finally broken around Vanderpump Rules’ worst-kept secret: the crumbling relationship of Kristen Doute and Brian Carter. Last week’s “Return Of Crazy Kristen” saw its titular character quickly descend into a drunken spiral over a text from Carter. Monday night’s “PJs On The PJ” picks up hours after Kristen falls over a table and runs away from her friends, prompting everyone to actually talk about all the damning details of Kristen and Carter’s coupling. The real talk continues into “PJs,” as Kristen is forced to have tough conversations with Stassi Schroeder about Carter, and eventually with Carter himself.
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The results of “PJs” confirm Stassi’s insightful “Crazy Kristen” theory. All evidences points to the likelihood that Kristen’s season-long war against DJ James Kennedy isn’t about her ex at all — it’s just a worthy outlet for her anxieties and sadness around Carter.
Towards the end of the episode, Kristen sits Carter down to relay her grievances. It’s a mature decision held at a friend’s very public BBQ, the least mature venue possible. “My issues are that you bark at me, and your raise your voice and me, and you cuss,” Kristen explains, sounding calmer than she has in seven seasons of television. Kristen, who fronts most of the couple’s expenses when her boyfriend doesn’t have a gig (he's a photography assistant), then continues to explain all the ways she wishes Carter would support her. The possibility of him listening to her grumble about her “bad days” is a paramount request. “You have a lot of bad days. A lot… A lot,” Carter shoots back after complaining about her “bitching” at him.
The tension here speaks to one of Stassi’s points from “Crazy Kristen.” When the women of Vanderpump convene to figure out how a text from Carter could so aggressively set Kristen off, Stassi says, “It would be one thing if she was paying for everything and he was nice to her.” The implication, is that best case scenario is not what's going on.
From what we see, Carter only seems to resent Kristen and her many emotions. That’s why, towards the end of the duo's “PJ” discussion, Carter announces their couple’s therapist “always seemed to be on [his] side.” The fact that Carter is apparently more focused on his “side” winning therapy than anything else seems to devastate Kristen. Carter then pushes the matter even further by denying he sees therapy in such black and white terms before adding, “But, she always has a little bit more to say to you.”
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Kristen can do nothing but get up and leave with her rosé, muttering, “I love you. I’m gonna go outside.” After keeping the intricacies of Kristen and Carter’s relationship mostly off screen, Vanderpump finally reveals why Kristen was so close to tears during her earlier-in-the-episode heart-to-heart with Stassi in Solvang. There, Kristen complained about Carter yelling at her, as she would later to his face at the West Side BBQ. She also bemoaned Carter calling her a bitch; at the later get-together, as previously mentioned, he criticizes her for “bitching” at him. Eventually, Kristen is brought to tears when Stassi says she deserves to be in a relationship “where somebody just loves you, and wants to be around you.”
Kristen agrees that’s not where she is currently, adding, “It’s hard, it’s sad, it’s shitty,” while clutching a glass of white wine. Her later conversation with Carter stands as her attempt to undo some of the darkness dragging down her relationship. Yet, as Vanderpump Rules fans now know, that objective obviously goes awry.
We would say there’s hope for Kristen and Carter moving forward, but VPR doesn’t want you to believe that. Instead, the end-of-episode trailer shows the infighting pair at dinner. Editing alleges Kristen will tell Carter, “I am nice to you,” and he will laugh directly in her face. The Vanderpump Rules season 7 reunion can’t get here fast enough.