In its second season, The Real Housewives of New Jersey returned to form with a season premiere full of deception, double-talk, nastiness, narcissism, and the usual filler that has inexplicably made this edition the highest-rated of all The Real Housewives shows. I say inexplicably because there really is not a single likeable housewife, not even in an ironic way. Sure, there is Teresa Guidice who lets her rugrats wreak havoc everywhere she walks and pays for everything in cash, but who also lets her husband Joe get away with making homophobic comments. This woman is literally living in conspicuous consumption and her hot-headedness is pretty predictable at this point. It is predictability that is the problem of this season and the series itself.

The rest of the ladies are really not fun either. There is the three-headed monster of Caroline Manzo, Dina Manzo, and Jacqueline Laurita, all related in a family that may or may not have mafia connections, and provide Bravo with a convenient locale for much of the series in The Brownstone restaurant.

Caroline clearly has control over her sister and sister-in-law and is pretty protective. Do not let the red bob haircut, the innocent baby blue eyes, and the love for her kids fool you. This woman is a barracuda. She only makes Danielle Staub’s attempt in trying to take down Dina Manzo in the season opener evermore quixotic. It is three against one, clearly. Lest we also forget Teresa freaking out at Danielle’s secret past that we viewers still have not heard the last of, yelling at her while flipping a restaurant table the catchphrase that is synonymous with the show: “PROSTITUTION WHORE!”

The season opener is everything you expected and the series appears to be a regurgitation of season one. The problem with this show is that three of the five housewives are family. Too predictable and especially when other Real Housewives thrive in unpredictability. This show is stuck in a cycle.