Last week, we pretended it was Mardi Gras, but unlike New Orleans, nothing is easy on Little Women: New York Episode 5, because after last week’s temptations, Lila is struggling to maintain her sobriety.
In the revolving door of special visits from Little Women: LA cast members, Christy McGinty has contacted Dawn and Jazmin for a secret meeting. Lila’s texts to her have revealed that she’s drinking. Jazmin and Dawn are a little wishy-washy about if Lila is drinking or not, because they don’t want to throw their friend under the bus, but they finally admit that they’ve gone for drinks with their allegedly “sober” friend. I think they just realized that they’re enablers. Dawn wonders, “Can’t alcoholics just drink a little or use rock bottom to propel themselves to recovery?”
The clearly haven’t read my interview with Christy where she spoke about the seriousness of addiction. She equates alcohol with a life-threatening food allergy; one drink can mean death. She tells them, “Some people’s rock bottom is death.” Christy may be light-hearted most of the time, but she’s dead-serious about sobriety.
Jordanna and Jason think they need to make a change for Lila too. “Nobody hates me more than I hate me.” It’s a line that’s been repeated in several promos of the show and it’s still gutting every time I hear it. Her self-hatred and low self-esteem is heartbreaking.
Kristin is 38 and she hears her biological clock a-ticking. So she makes like the cast of Little Women: LA, and heads to a fertility specialist. He tells her that if she wants to have a family, she should consider getting pregnant sooner rather than later and if she wants to freeze her eggs, she should do it before age 40. And the process could cost $10,000 not-covered-by-insurance dollars. On the plus side, this is half as much as Christy and Todd were told IVF could cost, so perhaps Kristin and Christy could use a BOGO coupon and both freeze their eggs while Christy is in NYC!
Jazmin and Dawn bring Christy to Lila’s. Lila is thrilled to see her west-coast friend but when the subject quickly moves to her feelings of isolation and her struggle with sobriety. Soon Lila knows that this is an intervention. She freaks out, but I think an intervention is supposed to catch the addict off-guard so they don’t have time to make excuses. Being faced with reality is embarrassing and humbling … and terrifying for Lila. But she realizes that her friends are there just in time.
But Lila also points the stabby finger at Dawn and asks that she may have a drinking problem too, and asks her to join her at AA meetings. But Lila is just deflecting. After almost a year of sobriety, she’s starting off one day sober. Dawn and Jazmin promise to not drink around Lila.
Jordanna has voice rehearsal. She’s appearing on Broadway as a dancer in Sideshow but she’d like to work on her voice. Werk it! Her breathing needs work. Her pitch needs work. She needs a lot of work. But she’s ready to work.
Christy and Lila meet with Lila’s lifecoach, whom we’ve met before. They’re at a restaurant but not actually eating anything, so maybe don’t eat there. Lila recommits herself to her sobriety and wants to kick off this new chapter in her life with a grand gesture.
Jordanna and Kristin and Misty have lucked out: they’re at a restaurant where they actually serve food! The process of harvesting eggs and undergoing IVF is extra-involved and does not seem like something to approach lightly. Kristin hasn’t told her long-distance boyfriend that she’s considering a future family. She doesn’t want to freak him out and hopefully they chat before he sees this episode.
Misty shares that when her parents were told by their initial OBGYN that their child your be a littler person, they were advised to abort their daughter. Thankfully, Misty’s parents dropped that Quack and the women all realize how luck they are to have the parents they do. Aww, call you Moms people!!
Jordanna and Jason meet at a bar and she shares the news that Side Show is closing. Now she’s back in the auditioning process. Jason reminds her that she needs to have a backup plan. He’s a student because he knows that acting is a young person’s game and he can’t perform forever. Flatiron Hall
It’s extra-blustery in this episode and everyone looks chilly in every scene. Brrr! It’s cold where I live too. When the heck is spring going to arrive?!?
Jazmin tells Jason and Kristin about the intervention, and they pledge to support their friend’s sobriety and do whatever the “Big thing” is that she’s planning which is a Polar Plunge! I’ve always wanted to freeze my fanny off and do one, so I’m really jealous.
Everyone but Dawn agrees to do it and Lila hypothesizes, “I think Dawn has the kind of dwarfism where if salt water touches her, she’ll melt.” So everyone scampers, essentially fully clothes into the icy Atlantic Ocean and gets kind wet. It’s pretty balls-out, but next year, to celebrate her one-year of sobriety, I want to see Lila chipping through ice and getting fully wet!
While I’m sad for Lila that she had a setback in her sobriety, at the end of the day, each day of sobriety is a gift and no day should be more important than any other. I think that 1 day of sobriety is as difficult as 10,000 days. But this is a fresh start for Lila, a new chance to embrace who she is, warts and all. (but if you have warts, Lila, head to the doctor, that can be taken care of.)