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‘The City’: Is Whitney Port cracking from the pressure?

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We saw some definite shifts in this episode of “The City.” Whitney Port takes part in a trade show for buyers and points the finger at Roxy Olin when she gets burned. And Olivia Palermo isn’t backing down now that she knows Louise Roe and, of course, Erin Kaplan are nipping at her high heels.

Olivia isn’t a hot mess (right now)
I don’t like this turn of events lately. Olivia knows she’s being watched and she seems to be actually showing up to work and not just coming in to check her e-mails and strut her new flowy-top-with-a-belt look. Has anyone noticed her style creeps into Bea-Arthur-on-“Golden-Girls” territory sometimes? I digress.

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Erin needs to double up her efforts and fast. Olivia’s momentum has picked up, and she must be stopped. I held out hope that Seth, the double-agent assistant, would be a fitting partner for Erin in her quest to oust Olivia, but he failed us in this episode. I see now that he’s just the gossipy office assistant who loves to play all sides. When he was complimenting Olivia on the trash-bag shoes and then threw a wink at Erin at the same time? That’s when I gave up hope that he’d be of any use to Erin. Plus, he sent her on the wrong trail by insinuating that Olivia may be taking credit for Louise Roe’s pull. That was a totally unfounded assumption, and Erin took the bait. It only gave Olivia the chance to rub Erin’s nose into the failure of her evil awesome plan to replace her with Louise. Still, Olivia has to fall back into her old ways at some point. And when she does, Erin will be there fidgeting!By the way, the best line of Erin and Olivia’s fight was cut from the scene, but you can see it here in our exclusive clip!

Whitney goes aggro on Roxy
In many ways, I think it’s good that we get to watch Whitney stumble as she tries to establish herself as a fashion designer. She may not like watching it herself, but it gives a pretty interesting view of the whole celebrity clothing-line trend. With that in mind, it must be pretty difficult for some unknown fashion designer to do the same. After all, Whitney’s stardom has opened doors for her that others never have the chance to even knock on.

Fresh off her success in Miami, Whitney gets the chance to exhibit at a trade show for buyers. Her goal is basically to unload some inventory. At the beginning, she has a hard time closing sales. And you know what they say in sales, “If they walk away, they won’t pay.” She does better when Kelly is there and some strange man puts an order in for several pieces. Back at the office, they find out that the man has canceled his entire order. I love it when Kelly says that buyers are basically compulsive shoppers, which is why they go into the field. That makes total sense. At any rate, Whitney will have to find some way to unload the guy’s inventory or she’ll eat the losses. She then turns to Roxy and blames her for not following through.

Of course, Roxy is taken off guard by the sudden attack. Kelly steps in to take the blame, but the damage is done. Poor Roxy then tries to make up for the loss by revisiting the buyers who had expressed interest in Whitney’s line but ultimately walked away without ordering. After landing the sales, wasn’t it sweet that Roxy walked Whitney over to see her dress in the store window? That was nice of her, and it was really above and beyond.
It does remind me of what I said in a previous review. Roxy really needs something of her own. She’s not the type to be second banana. I felt there was some movement in doing that when Kelly had Roxy run that photo shoot and recently when she had Roxy assist her in producing a runway show. In the last few episodes, I felt Kelly was backtracking by letting Roxy assist Whitney instead of continuing to give her her own projects.

From the previews for the next episode, it looks like things are going to get heated between Roxy and Whitney. But, then, we all saw that coming, right?

-- Jethro Nededog
twitter.com/TheRealJethro

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Photos, from top: Kelly Cutrone tells Whitney Port what to expect from the trade show. Erin Kaplan accuses Olivia Palermo of taking undue credit for a pull. Roxy Olin is shocked when she hears a buyer has canceled his entire order. Credit: MTV

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