"The City," The Truth Hurts

Time for my take on this week's episode of "The City." If I had remembered Kelly Cutrone was featured in this episode, it definitely would have been at the top of my DVR list...Kelly was a huge scene stealer on "The Hills" and I love to see her on my tv.

We start out with Whitney and her girls brunching and gabbing about their jobs. Cut to Erin, who I totally didn't recognize with bobby pinned bangs and bright red lipstick. Poor Erin is tired of being jobless and rearranging her closets (such is the fate of being rich and she is the daughter of AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams). Allie volunteers that her agency (One Model Management)is always looking for people who are cool, know about fashion and are into people...and after seeing enough MTV "reality shows," we all are 100% sure she will ace the interview and get the job. They always do.

Whitney, for some reason, invites Samantha, Erin and Allie to Kelly Cutrone's birthday party. It just seems odd because these youngsters don't seem like the type Kelly would want to be around....birthday or not. I can see inviting a date, but three other girls?

Erin meets with Scott Lipps at One Model Management and I am struck by the outfit she's wearing...jeans tucked into boots and a boxy, ill fitted jacket. I was tickled to hear a new euphemism for unemployed, which is "unofficially styling all the time," because that's how Allie describes her year and a half of not working since graduating NYU, combined with soul searching. In preparation for the big interview, it seems Erin got down to googling the company web site and she's so happy to learn the company is integrating modeling and fashion (uh-huh) and music. No surprise, she gets hired on the spot.

Later at Whit's apt, she and Allie help Erin celebrate Erin's new position with champagne as they get ready to hop over to Kelly's birthday soiree. (They might also want to make a toast to the fact that Erin's bangs are no longer taken hostage by bobby pins.) Whitney feels the need to advise some type of disclaimer about the kind of person Kelly is...according to Whitney, "She's pretty out there... she's really intense and kind of really in your face and she'll say exactly what's on her mind." Allie says she likes people like that--either you love her or hate her. Allie looks forward to asking Kelly what she thinks of her outfit.

At the Southside Nightclub, the girls greet Kelly and Allie immediately asks what Kelly thinks of what she's wearing. Following a long "ummmmmm," Kelly tactfully replies that she gets paid money to talk about things like that. Allie persists so Kelly tells her, "I like you...but I don't like your leggings."

This leads to the "after school special" portion of the show. Kelly asks Allie, "Are you okay?" When Allie says, "What?" Kelly asks again, "Are you okay? You seem so skinny. Are you okay?" Allie insists, "No way. It's not like that," and Kelly answers, "Are you sure? That's a question you should ask yourself." With that, Kelly excuses herself to go and DJ and Whitney is left at the table with a pouting Allie. She has morphed from the girl who loved people who told the truth to telling Whitney, "She said something about me being too skinny. Like what the fuck? Who are you?"

Just as Allie's night is going down the tubes, Erin runs into JR, her ex boyfriend. We find out that he moved up to NYC a year ago and they haven't run into each other in all that time. Classy guy that he is, he offers Erin a shot of tequila and a Bud light. She passes on the beer and heads straight for the tequila. That oughta make for an interesting evening.

As Erin gets reacquainted with her old flame, Whit and Allie run into Kelly at the bar. Kelly asks Allie what she does and when Allie mentions One Model Management, Kelly, of course, knows Scott Lipps. Kelly tells Allie that she seems so skinny and Allie begs her to stop saying that. It seems genuine when Kelly adds, "If you ever need any help....I mean...I think you just look really...." and before she can complete her offer, Allie storms out of the party (reminiscent of last week when she stormed out of Adam's party).

Whitney, good friend that she is, follows Allie outside. Whit apologizes for Kelly's blunt manner of saying what she thinks.

At Erin's apartment the next morning, she's making tea as JD is getting dressed and ready to do the walk of shame . He says something about "always being down for a party" and how he'll shoot Erin a text. I am beginning to wonder if building management would consider a revolving door for Erin's apartment....Also, JD seems super casual about having spent the night with his ex so I don't imagine we are looking at a reunion for these two.

Erin is next seen at Whitney's apartment, where she gives Whit the 411 on JD. She claims JD was her boyfriend in high school that he is the standard she always compares other men to...(but aren't we supposed to believe Erin and Whitney know each other from high school?) I don't get it.


Allie, unexpectedly, drops by Whit's apartment and joins the party. Whit congratulates Allie on having "such thick skin"...(did she miss the part where Allie stormed out of the party?) Anyway, Allie brushes it off as part of her life and it's a part of her career to have to accept other people's bullshit. Allie defends her thinness because she gets a lot of work as a model. Whit asks if there is such a thing as too skinny and Allie says there is, but she's not it. Allie reinforces the "I work, therefore I am" and Whitney wraps it up by saying, "If you are happy and healthy, that's all that matters." Allie does an impression of Kelly asking if she is okay and the girls laugh it off.

Erin is training at her new job where the motto is "fake it 'til you make it." She oughta do REAL well. Two seconds into her job, she's gossiping about seeing her old flame at a party.

On a snowy night, Adam and Allie brave the cold streets of SoHo to attend a party being thrown by One. Erin is already seated at the table when they arrive. Kelly comes in and Allie says, in a STAGE whisper, "Oh, it's my BEST FRIEND." For some reason, JAY is also at this party (does he model?) and he meets Kelly for the first time. Kelly takes the opportunity to apologize to Allie, as only she can, "I'm sorry if I upset you, by the way I didn't mean to devastate you." Oh my GOD. I am totally going to try to use that line in the future!!

Bratty Allie whispers to Adam, "What is she even doing here? I mean, it's MY agency's party." Ever protective Adam asks if Scott knew (I guess about the too skinny crap) and she answers, "No he doesn't know. Why should he know?" Good point.

Kelly suggests to a model next to her that she can find her some work and all but ignores Allie and her pouting. Adam and Allie go off to the bar and Adam asks if he should say something to Kelly--because we all know that if Allie needs to be upset, he knows he should be the one cheating and causing her misery.

As Kelly bites into a dinner roll, she deliciously observes that the best thing about going out with models is that no one eats. I so love this woman.

Whitney is back at work and her usual routine is to gripe to Olivia about something so Olivia can administer a smackdown* and seem disinterested. She fills Olivia in on the minutae of the Kelly and Allie feud. Olivia laughs off Whit's quixotic view and she asks the best question of the night, "What do you think, we have Shamu coming down the runway? No way." Whitney does seem super naive and even though Shamu is long dead, Olivia's point is valid. The fashion industry perpetrates the body issue and need to be thin.

Whit explains that she feels the need to talk to Kelly about it and Olivia is right when she tells her to drop it and not dwell on it.

In SoHo, at Dean and Deluca, we watch Allie and Adam grocery shop in Dean and Deluca and I suppose we are meant to feel better because Allie wants to eat smoked salmon and asparagus. Yep, she sure is packing on the pounds. Elsewhere in SoHo, Whitney is going to see Kelly at People's Revolution. Whit apologizes for leaving Kelly's birthday party so abruptly and explains that Allie's feelings were hurt. Kelly pulls no punches. She says, "You brought your friend to my party and I hurt her feelings. I'd like to say I'm sorry, but I'm not!" She says the fashion industry has accepted these girls that are skinnier than even the consumers feel is healthy. The industry has accepted thin beyond the ultimate extreme of thinness and Allie is BEYOND that. Whit counters that Allie gets a lot of work and her agency has never mentioned anything about her being unhealthy and Kelly says that maybe they will.

I love how Kelly Cutrone defines honesty..."Honesty isn't for other people. It's for yourself. Have you done your part as a human being? I couldn't NOT say something to her and the truth doesn't always come like a shiny bluebird on someone's shoulder. THE TRUTH HURTS."

I think MTV missed the mark on this one. The show is awfully painful to watch and although Kelly Cutrone raised a valid point, it gets lost. The upside, this week, was only a brief flash of Jay and exactly zero scenes featuring Jay and Whitney together. I wholeheartedly missed couch surfer Nevan on this episode (maybe he's in court working out the terms of his probation for that pesky prostitution arrest in Palm Beach last year?) It's not as though "The Hills" set the bar very high with this type of show, but "The City" is just a bad knock off.


*About that previously mentioned weekly smackdown that we're all so used to seeing Olivia give to Whitney at work, articles have been surfacing in the NY "newspapers" that MTV was angling for a more authentic type of smackdown for the cameras. Read about it here. http://www.nypost.com/seven/02032009/gossip/pagesix/city_stars_nix_phony_fight_153258.htm