If you’ve ever had any kind of career you’ve run across people who are exactly like Jeff Lewis’ clients.  You know what I mean.  They’re the people who know just enough about your job to be dangerous, and can be serious pains in the ass.  These are the folks who have asked for your help or advice, or hired you to do a job for them – it doesn’t matter what the job is – and then commence to oversee and micromanage every detail.  Either they’ve read a book or seen something on television or asked a friend of a friend about the job you’re doing, and believe that they can do it, too, maybe even better than you can.  They want to test you, to see if you know what you’re doing, then give you a grade on your performance, even if their only knowledge on the subject came from a magazine article or a Google search.   If you were getting paid to do the work, you might just pad their bill a little, as compensation for your aggravation.

This is what Jeff and his team have been dealing with during these episodes of “Interior Therapy”.  He has had clients from Hell, most of whom have personalities meant to clash with Jeff’s.  Add in a little bit of Bravo’s notoriously over the top drama, and you end up with a war of wills.  The Lewis design team was dispatched to the home of Rob and Gretchen, a couple who were once at war, but have reached an uneasy peace accord as Rob has already waved the white flag and surrendered.  Gretchen has appointed herself Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and is decidedly in command.   All her husband can do now is nod in agreement after Gretchen tells him how things are going to be and what her decisions are.

Her decisions have left much to be desired, not only concerning her husband’s  behavior but in how she has chosen to decorate their home.  Everything in the house is supersized, something which was more than apparent to Jeff.  In fact, he told her that he couldn’t build a house large enough to hold their bed and that it belonged in a castle.  Gretchen is not happy with Jeff, and has decided that he is also an enemy and must be conquered, in the same way she has already done with Rob.   She is another know it all client, like many of the others we have seen, and has failed to understand her own limitations.   I can’t even imagine what she would have been like if she was actually footing the bill.

Jeff and Jenni try to move forward, helping the couple to sort through their clutter, and Rob is eager to help.  Gretchen wants to argue over each and every item before its’ fate is decided.  She then wants to sort through already packed boxes to see if Jeff has pulled a fast one on her, and has put something in a box that she absolutely has to have and can’t live without.  Jeff and Jenni, frustrated by Gretchen’s desire to undermine the project, determine that Jeff should go home for the night before he is booked on murder charges.  Jenni knows that Jeff can be a petulant child at times and we’ve seen her step in between her boss and clients, and even contractors in the past, so this was a wise move.

Jeff and Jenni regroup, after Jeff has recovered whatever patience he is capable of, and the two of them go to shop for furniture with Rob and Gretchen.  Despite her efforts to hijack this, too, The design team lets Rob voice his opinion on what he would like to see in his home, not only for furnishings, but accessories as well.  It turns out that Gretchen might have fared a little better had she listened to her husband in the first place.  Rob has a better eye for aesthetics and for scale.  He picks out things which are tasteful and better suited for their home, and Jeff and Jenni are happy to see him happy.  Gretchen is still pouting a wee bit and still wants her own way, but no one is really paying attention to her.

After the furniture is chosen, Jeff and Jenni return to the house which is filled with workers.  Zoila, who I still think is the brains of the outfit, is on the scene, and is helping Gretchen clean out her closet of old and unused clothing.  She even tries on a blonde wig Gretchen owns, and poses, Charo style, for photos.  Zoila and Jenni are the best parts of Jeff Lewis’ life and business.   They are his family, his advisers, the brunt of his practical jokes and the only people who can get away with exacting revenge on him.  I believe that they are his family – the one he created.  Despite all of his nonsense and tantrums and angry outbursts, they love him and he loves them.  I don’t think that either woman would have stayed with him and put up with him if there wasn’t some measure of respect and affection on all of their parts.  I know that, when they are together, I find myself smiling – something I can’t say the same for most of the Bravo casts.

Jeff and Jenni do manage to engage in some horseplay with hoses, waterguns and Windex which leaves the house, with its’ new paint and flooring, in a bit of a mess.  The contractor is not pleased with them and let’s them know that, telling them that they could show some respect for his work.  He then sends them outside to play while he tries to clean up any damage they caused.

It all ends well, with Rob and Gretchen returning to a home they love.  Again, Jeff has been successful.  He said that he wanted to prove Gretchen wrong about what he was capable of doing.  I don’t think that he has anything to prove.  Next week is the season finale, and I have a feeling that Bravo is saving the best, meaning the worst client, for last.  I know I’ll be watching – never know what I might learn.

Revenge

Last night’s episode of “Revenge” had a little twist to it.  I know that there are little twists every week, but this one took us back to 2002, when Amanda Clarke first returned to the Hamptons and to the house she was forced to leave as a little girl.  We saw how she found out about the plot against her father by the Graysons, much of which was revealed by the journals her father had written in prison.  It was an interesting bit of background that helped to fill in just of few of the puzzle pieces.  There are only two episodes left in the season, and we all know that this story is far from over.  I just have a couple of questions.  Maybe I’m being overly picky here but, how old are these people, and more importantly, how old is Sammy the dog?  By my math, and from the amount of alcohol they all consumed during this episode, Amanda, Jack, Nolan, and Daniel have to be at least 31 by now. Sammy, in dog years, is about 150.  I told you I was over analyzing this.

Empress