Reality Check: Change Is Good on 'The Hills'

With plenty of loose ends to tie up from last week, “The Hills” delivered us a double episode to do just that with the theme: “Something Has to Change.”

While I realize it refers to Lauren Conrad’s need to resolve her rift with Audrina Patridge, it also echoes my need to see some new story lines come into play here. A trip to Sin City is definitely what the doctor ordered, and luckily with this crew, what happens in Vegas ends up on national television.

So what takes them to Vegas? Well, the occasion is Frankie Delgado’s birthday. The vehicle is Doug Reinhard’s private jet. That’s right, the boy has his own plane. Stephanie incredulously asks Lauren, “You broke up with a guy with a jet?” For the first time ever while watching “The Hills,” I can honestly say, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Though Lauren fires back with: “We’re still on the jet aren’t we?” Touché.

But even at 10,000 feet, the drama begins before they even take their first sip of bubbly. Brody Jenner kicks things off by making the toast: “Having little Steph here is almost as good as having Spencer here.” Ouch. Talk about the wrong time and the wrong place.

Kind of like when Stephanie later asks Brody why he doesn't trust her in the middle of Frankie’s birthday dinner. And that was following a request to change the topic away from Audrina. Maybe Stephanie failed to realize they were hoping for a topic what would be less awkward, not one that would end up ruining everyone’s meal.

Of course, while the gang’s trying hard not to talk about Audrina (even though they clearly have nothing else to talk about), Audrina’s telling re-boyfriend JustinBobby about an awkward encounter with Lauren the night before.

The girls’ versions of the story couldn’t be more different, leaving me to wonder where the heck the cameras were on this one? Clashing friends plan to not only go to the same club but sit at the same table and the camera crew decides to take a night off? Poorly played.

I’m guessing the producers tried to make up for it by forcing Audrina and JustinBobby to pack their bags and join the party. Why else would she be there? She hates Lo, she’s not friends with Stephanie, she clearly has no intention of talking to Lauren and considering she left his party after all of five minutes, her I’m-here-for-Frankie act isn’t working for me either.

What’s also not working for me is completely faking everyone out into thinking Brody and Doug were really in jail. Frankie and the girls were worried sick — what if they actually had to fly commercial?

Though I guess the guys pressing charges on someone gives them another reason to come back, which is never a bad thing ... for us anyway.

In the meantime, this Vegas trip is over and it’s back to L.A., where Heidi Montag is dealing with the joys of sharing a roof with her sister Holly and her boyfriend Spencer Pratt.

Considering Spencer’s gone from living with Heidi to living with his sister back to living with Heidi, it’s hard to believe his self-described phobia of “girly things” is all that bad. But I will agree that Holly does seem quite “cozy” in their apartment. The idea is for her to get her feet on the ground, but she seems more concerned with making sure they're sporting the perfect shade of nail polish.

And, for the record, having someone erase your DVR is serious business.

Still, Heidi seems to have no problems with her freeloading sis, telling her to stay not only as long as she needs to but as long as she wants to. I give Spencer one episode before he moves out.

Audrina, on the other hand, looks like she’ll be sticking around courtesy of her long-awaited “talk” with Lauren. It’s still a bit confusing as to how things got resolved, considering Audrina’s best defense for her recent behavior was to tell Lauren she can’t “dwell in the past.” I didn’t know discussing something someone did 24 hours earlier fit that description, but Lauren seemed to go with it. In the end, they agree to “start fresh” ... and set the record for the darkest tears in human history.

So Audrina and Lauren will be starting over with their newfound friendship, and we’ll be starting over with some newfound story lines. JustinBobby’s not coping well with sharing Audrina, Stephanie’s eyeing Doug and Holly’s looking to stick it to Spencer by reuniting Lauren and Heidi. Change is a beautiful thing.