There's More Than One Villain on 'RHOSLC'

The Big Picture

• Lisa Barlow has been the villain on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City all along, with her confidence and inability to empathize causing conflict.
• The women of Salt Lake City often take turns playing frenemies in each other's lives.
• While they are focused on finding the next enemy, they may be missing a potential super villain operating from behind the scenes.

After the salacious departure of Monica Garcia following the season four reunion, viewers have wondered what the next season will look like for The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. The wives had hoped for a fresh start after season three, free from the shadows of Jen Shah's indictment hanging over the group. The disgraced reality star is currently serving her sentence after she pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. It was eventually revealed at the end of season four that Monica and some friends had been running a troll Instagram account to help expose Jen. However, the account has also been harassing the Salt Lake ladies on social media for years. The repercussions of allowing Monica into their inner circle will hang over the women for seasons to come, especially affecting future friendships after the breach of trust. Presumably, they will keep future cast members at arm's length at the beginning of their new relationships. Either way, season five will certainly be a shake-up, with or without the scandalous Monica on board.

According to Whitney Rose, viewers won't have to look far to find the drama next season. On her recent appearance on The Viall Files podcast, Whitney claims that costar Lisa Barlow has been the villain in Salt Lake City all along: "Lisa's always been the villain! You're an iconic villain, Lisa." The self-proclaimed "Queen of Sundance" does paint a picture-perfect portrait of a villain in the housewives world. She is convinced of her infallibility, has a complete lack of awareness when it comes to other people's feelings, and delivers the most cutting observations with a smile. However, Whitney herself has played the villain from time to time in the group, spreading gossip like wildfire as she investigates every rumor that she comes across. In fact, the women of Salt Lake often take turns playing the role of villain in each other's lives. As iconic as Lisa is, and as much as Whitney gossips, there remains another villain in Salt Lake who operates from behind the scenes. While the ladies are busy searching for the next "villain" on their show, they are missing the fact that there is a potential Super Villain among them, someone with manipulative powers comparable to Summer House's PR expert Lindsay Hubbard. A Super Villain that operates from the shadows, keeps her hands clean, and is in constant control.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

TV-14Reality TV

Set against the stunning backdrop of Utah's mountain ranges, a reality TV series follows a group of affluent women navigating life in Salt Lake City. The show captures their opulent lifestyles, complex relationships, and personal and religious challenges, providing a unique glimpse into how tradition and modernity clash in a tightly-knit community.

Release Date November 11, 2020 Cast Whitney Rose , Lisa Barlow , Meredith Marks , Heather Gay , Jen Shah Main Genre Reality TV Seasons 5

Lisa Barlow Is An Iconic Villain in 'Salt Lake City'

In her first appearance on screen, Lisa Barlow quips: "A quick lesson on how to be a good Mormon: don't drink, don't swear, and treat your body like a temple." It's an ironic entry line for a woman who claims a close relationship with the LDS Church, yet owns a tequila company, binges on fast food, frequently curses, and dresses provocatively enough for her sons to have a code word to let her know when they think she is showing too much skin, or "dressing single." For Lisa, though, the usually strict rules of good behavior in the LDS church are not her problem. As she states: "I'm sure other Mormons care that I own a tequila company. What's important is, I don't." She feels that she knows God personally enough to speak to his approval of her: "I'm very important to God. And like, very connected."

It seems, like many Americans of many religious denominations, Lisa is happy to choose the parts of Mormon strictures that suit her moral compass and be content with that. She is confident in her own correctness at all times, and claims that her relationship with the church has to do with their encouragement in the rigorous pursuit of self-perfection: "One of the things I love about the LDS Church is, there is a constant pursuit of being your best self, and I love the standards I set for myself."

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Lisa's confidence, despite her inconsistencies, often irritates her cast members. For many of the ladies, Lisa's confidence poses a challenge, causing them to feel determined to force her to acknowledge her own imperfections. One such imperfection is an inability to empathize, to put herself in anyone else's shoes. An illustrative example is the time that Lisa felt the need to take to social media with receipts about the timeline of when she reached out to Heather Gay after her father's passing. Heather had claimed that Lisa had sent a text hoping her father "felt better" even though he had already passed on. Rather than let the matter go and not risk re-traumatizing her friend by bringing up her father's death, Lisa instead posted receipts to social media clarifying the timeline of their text exchange. She insists to Heather: "If you didn't use your dad to lie about me, I would not have ever used your dad to tell the truth about me." Lisa is someone used to getting her way, making her point, and not moving on until she is in complete control of the narrative. If someone says something about Lisa, she feels a need to address it full force: "If you lie about me, I have to be able to clear my name."

Another "imperfection" that drives the other women crazy is Lisa's ability to button up an argument with devastating one-liners that has turned her into a fan favorite over the years. In the first season, Whitney tries to let Lisa know that the bartenders she gifted for her vow renewal ceremony had over-served themselves while on the job. Lisa is annoyed that someone like Whitney, who is "trash", would dare criticize her gift. To sum up, Lisa says in a talking head: "If I give you a Chanel necklace, and you choke on it, that's your problem, not mine." When Lisa gets flustered after the Cinco de Mayo dinner in season two, she is on a rant in her room, frantically packing and yelling at the group of women attempting to comfort her: "Guess what, I'm richer than all of you. I don't need to be here." When her friend of twenty-four years, Angie Harrington, betrays her trust, Lisa states: "To me, you're invisible at this point. Like, I forgive and forget. And sometimes it means I forget you." These one-liners roll off of Lisa's tongue so easily, that it seems hard for the cast to believe that these are anything but her true feelings toward them.

The Women Of 'Salt Lake City' are Each Other's Villains

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Whitney is on her healing journey, addressing trauma and negative energy in her life. Confrontation is the key to moving forward. This is where Whitney and Lisa constantly clash. In season one, Whitney tells production in a talking head: "I'm realizing now, Lisa is mad at me for telling her that she's not perfect." From this moment forward, it seems that Whitney makes it her priority to have Lisa confront her own imperfections. From Lisa's perspective, she feels the group is constantly badgering her about how she feels, and what she says: "I don't think I am perfect, and I am so sick of people saying that to me." It seems that Lisa is resistant to confronting her flaws, or even admitting that she has them. Instead, she prefers to gloss over them, sweep everything under the rug, make nice in front of the camera, and spread spiteful gossip once the dust settles.

At the season one reunion, Whitney points out to Lisa that she has noticed a certain pattern with her friend: "I think the point is, you don't see yourself as being rude or condescending. But it is landing that way." Whitney has had a lot of patience with Lisa over the years, considering her friend's resistance to the process of acknowledging her flaws. When she consistently points out instances where what Lisa is saying does not land the way she claims to have intended, Lisa tells her to back off and not "go backwards" in their relationship. Whitney responds: "We're not going backwards, Lisa. I'm helping you understand that when you say one thing and do another, it breaks trust." Whitney "helping" Lisa to understand her flaws makes her the main villain in Lisa's world. As Whitney herself states, she is very alert to Lisa's actions and intentions: "I have a PhD in Lisa's behavior. When Lisa's screaming, it's because she's being challenged. When Lisa cries, it's because she doesn't want to deal with it. And when Lisa walks away, it's because she's guilty, and she's been caught red-handed."

Whitney is not the only cast member intent on holding Lisa accountable. At the season one reunion, Heather makes clear that she is tired of the mean-girl tactics her costar employs. She states: "I don't want to be friends with a caricature of some, you know, teen magazine she read in the eighth grade that said how to be a cool mean-girl." Heather accuses Lisa of being nice to them in person, but behind their backs she claims that Lisa "goes around and collects what she believes is mud and slings it in the face of her friends." Heather feels Lisa does this to "dismantle relationships, to undermine affection and loyalty, and to try and like somehow win at some imaginary game that she's playing." In rebuttal, Lisa claims that Heather has refused her efforts in their relationship, and is constantly looking for the worst in her: "I have only so much energy to give. Why am I going to put good energy after bad? If you want to keep coming for me, come for me. You're missing out, because I actually have a lot to offer." From Lisa's standpoint, Heather has created a narrative that she is a mean girl to keep viewers from liking her, in "reaction to how you portrayed me."

The main cast members are not the only ones to stir up villainous trouble in Salt Lake City. Viewers seem quick to forget that Monica is not the first housewife scandalously linked to a troll "finsta" account. Angie Harrington's husband gets off light in comparison when he creates a fake account to "defend his wife" online by posting salacious details about Jen Shah and her criminal undertakings in season three. The account subsequently attacks Lisa as well, amid her feud with Angie about canceled caterers. Whitney claims she feels very uncomfortable that a "grown ass man" was creating fake accounts to troll the cast. According to the ladies at the season three reunion, the hubbub around this issue seems to have died down, in part, due to the Harringtons having contributed funds to Jen's legal defense. Amid all the chaos in Salt Lake over fake Instagram accounts, lays a quiet accusation that has never been addressed to viewer satisfaction. Meredith has said that she "has been sent certain things" that tell her Lisa is guilty of the same thing that the Harringtons, and subsequently Monica, have been doing, that is, creating fake accounts to fight her battles online. Considering Monica was abruptly ousted from the series, if Lisa is guilty of the same actions and kept it quiet this long, that would be a machination of villainous proportions.

Meredith Marks Is an Undercover 'Salt Lake City' Super Villain

When Lisa and Meredith Mark's friendship of over ten years first starts to break down, Meredith does what she does best. She turns to the sources she has available as a licensed attorney. She states: "Do I really want to dig into Lisa's stuff? No, I really have no interest. But if you're going to sit there talking bad about everyone else... fair game on her at this point. Fair game." While the other housewives are willing to go low on camera when sharing their opinions, Meredith is content to quietly gather her facts off camera and save them for just the right time for a momentous reveal. She will then gossip lightly with another cast member, always very careful in her word choice to maintain deniability, knowing the other ladies will not be able to keep her innuendos between them. Monica, Jen, and Whitney have been her preferred vehicles for such gossip in the past. However, with Monica off the series, Jen serving time, and Whitney on her healing journey, the pool of useful idiots that are willing to spread Meredith's "rumors and nastiness" is shrinking.

Meredith exposed Lisa's SCC filings over supposedly outstanding business debts. Lisa alleges Meredith was part of a scheme to bring a man to a filming event who they thought she might have had an affair with to "trip [her] up." Whitney thinks Meredith is behind the rumors about Angie Katsanevas' husband that spread around Salt Lake in season four. Meredith has been accused of hiring private investigators to snoop on the cast, and admits to hiring cyber investigators to look into the "fake" accounts targeting her and her family. There are many examples of Meredith "digging into" the other wives' personal lives once she considers them "fair game." However, nothing ever seems to stick to her. Villainy at this level is in a category of its own. By exercising complete control of the narrative, working from the shadows, and keeping her hands clean in every confrontation, Meredith deserves to be acknowledged as a Super Villain. No one in the cast is innocent. They have all played a villain role in each other's lives since the show began airing in 2019. But as a potential Bravo Super Villain, Meredith seems to be playing 3D-Chess while the rest of the cast are playing Snakes and Ladders.

Filming for season five of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City picks up in early February. Season four and past seasons of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City are available for streaming on Peacock. Watch on Peacock

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