Family is one of the everlasting hallmarks of any Kardashian production. This week in Season 12: Episode 2 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians the family rallies together in a very public way in New York City for Kanye’s Yeezy fashion show/spectacular at Madison Square Garden. Underlying the entire episode is the push and pull between public and private faces and the tension between being part of a larger whole while doing what you need to take care of yourself and those closest to you. The contrast is most striking between Lamar and Scott, one being present despite his very public challenges and the other being conspicuously absent in spite of his public declarations of wanting to reconcile with Kourtney.
Of course, it isn’t all conflict and tension. There are private jets and private cars and sumptuous hotel suites. Kanye is literally putting on a show with his wife’s extended family in looks designed for them by Kanye and Olivier Rousteing, the creative director of Balmain. White and ivory and beads, oh my!
The episode picks up where we left off with last week’s “To Be Continued…” Kourtney is unhappy with Tyga for hanging out with Scott. “It’s Tyga calling him to hang out and go to parties,” she says. Kim says what everyone is thinking, that maybe Kourtney’s anger is just a tad bit misplaced. “It’s Scott she should be mad at, and she can’t keep putting the blame on other people.”
Kim is very clear, starting her at the beginning of the episode that Kanye wants everyone at the fashion show, but Kourtney is clearly concerned about Scott and Khloé has some major concerns about Lamar traveling across the country and jumping into the fray of the bright lights of the big city. At Kris’s house the next day, Kim tells Khloé that she wasn’t ready to leave the house so soon after Saint’s birth. She’s planning on covering up with coats. All the coats.
We learn that Lamar found solace in his recovery in music, specifically Kanye’s. There is footage from the hospital of Kanye and Lamar together. Lamar says Kanye saved him, Khloé reports. Kim says that Kayne felt they could bring Lamar back through music. The hospital footage of Kanye and Lamar is sweet, but the footage of the former NBA star relearning to walk feels like too much, too personal.
Khloé just can’t stop telling everyone how concerned she is about Lamar. It is Malika’s turn to hear how worried Khloé is about the New York trip. Malika suggests she loosen the reins a little bit and let Lamar see how much he can handle.
Scott is still a no show on screen, but everyone has a lot to say about him coming to New York. Kim and Kris decide it would be a good idea for him to ride to New York on Kim’s plane, so she can keep an eye on him and make sure he’s not partying too much. They agree it would be good for him to come to the fashion show.
We catch up with Khloé briefly backstage at Kocktails With Khloé, braids, denim jumpsuit, diamond hoops and all. She and Caitlyn are still fighting because of her Howard Stern interview. No new news there.
Flash forward to New York City and we see the family getting their fittings for the Kayne/Balmain looks. Kim admits again that she is still struggling feeling comfortable in her skin Saint’s birth. “But I would never miss Kanye’s show,” she says in voiceover as we see her in the studio being fitted with all the beads, fur, and trim.
Khloé has faced her anxiety, and she and Lamar are on their way to New York. She admits that he has more anxiety about it than he does. She’s not sure if he even understands how big this show is going to be. “I understand,” he says, and we all collectively hope that true. They arrive in New York, and Lamar does seem to be handling it all pretty well. He says he feels great. And he clearly wants to support Kanye. “Nothing is stressing me out on Kanye’s day. It’s not about me.”
Scott is still M.I.A. Throughout the New York trip when anyone asks “Where’s Scott?” the answer always seems to be “He’s here. He’s at the hotel.” As the family gathers at Madison Square Garden, Scott presumably continues to haunt the halls of the hotel. Scott texts Kourtney to tell her that he’s not coming to the Yeezy show, saying he doesn’t want to create any drama. Clearly someone forgot to tell Scott that the family is wearing Great Gatsby cosplay at a fashion show at Madison Square Garden. Drama is what this whole day is all about.
The show goes off without a hitch. In a genuinely nice moment, Kanye walks Lamar into the arena to a rousing ovation from the crowd. The celebrities seem suitably pleased. Melanie Griffith is backstage in a plain old white sweater that no one designed especially for her. Lil’ Kim and 50 Cent are there as are Gigi and Karlie. Vogue ’s Anna Wintour sits with Kim. Kendall and Kylie dance like everyone’s watching. The models for the show are revealed on the stage. No walking for this fashion show, just standing. But they all do it in the most fierce Yeezy way possible.
Lamar meets Caitlyn for the first time backstage, and it goes well. Lamar is a pro-baller, after all. Maybe the dressing rooms at Madison Square Garden are actually a safe place for him. Talking about it later Lamar says it felt weird. He feels bad about calling her Bruce, but he corrected himself. When Caitlyn says they need to talk, Lamar keeps it mellow and clam, just like he said. “A lot has happened, but I’m here.”
Lamar and Khloé ride back to the hotel with Kourtney, who uses the car time to go deep with Lamar, telling him about how they were sobbing uncontrollably in the plane after leaving him in Las Vegas. “When we left you in the hospital in Vegas, we didn’t think we would even see you again.” She wants to know if he has a new outlook on life. She asks what happened when he was in the coma. He says he had in-depth dreams with people who had passed. Khloé is convinced he had an after-death experience. “I think he went to heaven from the conversations I’ve had with him. And they, like, basically told me he was dead.”
As the episode draws to a close, the crew (minus the West family contingent) are on their way back to LA. Lamar is there, just as he said, and Scott is still nowhere to be seen. Lamar asks to see pictures of himself in the hospital because he doesn’t have any recollection of that time. The audience gets to see the pictures, too, which, just as with the first ones, feel too close and too intimate, even for this family of professional oversharers. But it all ends on a light-ish note when Kris talks about her friend Melanie Griffith who married Don Johnson twice. That’s clearly something that is on the table in Kris's mind for Khloé and Lamar. Khloé leaves the door open, but only after the divorce from the first marriage is final. “We’re definitely getting out of this marriage. Because it is tainted.”
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