Our long national nightmare is finally over. Ariana Biermann found an apartment in New York City. No longer will she spend this series aimlessly wandering around downtown Manhattan, experiencing the city with the fresh, innocent eyes of Buddy the Elf. In fact, I think there’s something almost impressive about getting cast on a show about living in New York and not living in New York until the fourth episode. Then again, Gia got cast on the show and has no intention of living in New York at all. At this rate, next season’s cast might as well feature someone in Los Angeles who just FaceTimes in.

That’s how we get Kim Zolciak back on our screens, who FaceTimes her daughter to see her expensive new apartment — but naturally, the main thing to catch her eye is the bottle of wine on the counter. But unlike her mother, Ariana isn’t drinking it out of a red Solo cup. Also, unlike her mother, Ariana is getting along great with the Burruss on her cast. She and Riley continue to rekindle their childhood friendship by meeting up and talking more about Charlie’s microaggression from last week. Riley says it hurt so much more because it was coming from someone she considered a friend, and unlike everyone else, she’s not going to let Charlie get away with it. Bonding over their Housewives upbringing, Ariana assures her that she’s in her corner, adding, “If we need to throw that wine glass or shift that wig, we will” — which sort of implies that Charlie wears a wig.

Even Ava is at the end of her rope with Charlie after that display, venting to her dad on the phone about the ordeal. It makes sense that this was her last straw, given that as a Black woman herself, his microaggression against Riley could have just as easily been towards her — but nonetheless, it’s significant given that Ava seemed to be one of his closer friends in this cast. Her dad says that Charlie treats women poorly because he doesn’t know how to love a woman, but to do so, he first has to learn how to love himself.

I’m starting to think this entire show was put together as a way to fix Charlie. All of his friends, as well as their parents, are engaging in some kind of Truman Show scenario with him. They told him that they were all making this fun reality show, but really, they’re just using it as a way to trick him into addressing and working through his tumultuous familial relationships. Soon enough he’ll catch on. He’ll look up from rolling joints on every flat surface of his apartment and suddenly realize, Wait a minute … when did this show become about how much I hate my dad? “Cat’s in the Cradle” will start slowly playing.

At one point, he even says he doesn’t think he’ll ever truly know peace until his dad is dead. He does know this television show will be airing, right? Has he found a way to call his father’s cable company and somehow remove Bravo from his plan? On top of that, another twist to this dynamic comes when all of Charlie’s friends finally meet his father at a barbecue and remark on how similar they are. I need to know what Charlie makes of that assessment. When the group rightfully tells him that all of this tumult could really be aided by professional help, he says that therapy isn’t for him. No, Charlie. If therapy is for anyone, I can assure you it’s for you. But in his rebuff of therapy, he tells Brooks, Georgia, and Dylan that it’s probably something that they all could benefit from. Rightfully, Brooks takes that personally. Put on your own oxygen mask first, Charlie! Besides, as Brooks tells Ava later, he has been to therapy because, as a child, he thought elves haunted his house. These are the kinds of asides I watch this show for.

All of Charlie’s dark family drama is part of the reason Georgia is such a breath of fresh. Whereas most of the cast’s stories are tied to their parents in some way, which ultimately makes sense given the circumstances (nepo, etc.), Georgia feels refreshingly independent — both in life and the stories she brings to the show. We’re finally meeting her boyfriend this episode and getting to see how she plans events. Want to get into a Georgia party? Well, if you’re wearing heels, a suit, or work in finance, you’re not getting in, she says. Queen. Finally someone creating a safe space where we can party without the looming threat of the American Psycho types, as she calls them. And that safe space might just be a bowling party since she says the new trend is doing traditionally nerdy things in a cool way. Sorry to the bowling nerds out there.

Speaking of nerds, Charlie is on his apology tour in this episode. He goes on two separate apology walks, first with Riley then with Ava, to basically go through the motions. The problem is that he can apologize as much as he wants, but we now know that it means nothing to him. He views apologizing as a means to an end or a get-out-of-jail-free card. Despite this, he somehow manages to clean the slate enough to move on. But in true Charlie fashion, that slate doesn’t stay clean for long, and he’s on to his next offense — telling Ava that he’d be down to fuck Ariana, who not only has a long-term boyfriend but also has been his adversary most of this show so far.

As you’d expect, word of this spreads. Because Brooks is so calm and monotone, on the rare occasion when he breaks, so to speak, it’s some of the most exciting television I’ve ever seen. That happens at the birthday party he throws for Chloe, where Ava tells him what Charlie said about Ariana. “WHAT?” Brooks screams, whipping his head around like he’s doing slapstick. It’s the appropriate reaction, and this surely won’t be the end of this.

And speaking of Ariana, Ava accidentally finds herself in a little drama of her own as well when she says she was surprised to find out that Ariana is starting a fashion line. It’s a classic read, but for some reason, Ava says it so matter-of-factly that I believe her when she says she didn’t mean it in a rude way. What happens next simply has to have been production at work because as soon as Ava leaves, Ariana and Riley show up and start berating Brooks to spill the beans on what was just said. Given that they asked five times, over and over, I suspect that a producer heard what Ava said and, knowing Brooks would never stir the pot voluntarily, told Ariana that she should investigate. Being the pros that she and Riley are, they do eventually get Brooks to rat, and Ariana wastes no time launching a counterattack on Ava’s sparkly gold shorts. That’s the thing, if you’re going after someone’s fashion sense, you simply can’t do it while you’re wearing sequin shorts.

 Now that Ariana is officially a New York resident, she gets to work bonding with (and plotting against) her castmates.