Just when it seems the season-long family battle between the Guidices and the Gorgas would come to an end after their trip to Punta Cana, tensions mount once again, and it’s now the housewives versus Teresa in this less-than thrilling season three finale.

In contrast to the previous 18 episodes of family drama this season, the start of the finale seemed to give hope to an end of the Guidice-Gorga war. Teresa, Joe, and Melissa set their differences aside and decide to take a family portrait for Giancinto Gorga, Teresa and Joe’s father. Melissa helps Teresa dress baby Audriana, and all seems well. Teresa even makes peace with Melissa and says she’s finally happy that they’re all getting along again. During the shoot, Papa Gorga looks less than happy to be there, and everyone whole (or half) heartedly smiles for the portrait. The adults clink wine glasses after and celebrate their newfound harmony as a family, but just like the fame Melissa’s been receiving lately for her new single “On Display”, it was pretty clear to viewers that this probably wouldn’t last long.

It didn’t. And in true Real Housewives fashion, all of the petty (but juicy) drama began with one person pissing an entire group of people off (Danielle Staub, anyone?). The culprit? Teresa.

More specifically, the intro to her new cookbook Fabulicious!, where Teresa’s humor goes from “fabulicious” to “backstab-ulicious”. Teresa takes cracks at pretty much everyone, including Caroline, who, according to the text, is only 1/16th Italian. Chris replies with probably the best line of the entire season, “I wonder who did the math on that? Maybe their accountant?”. Possibly the same accountant that helped the Guidice’s amass 11 million dollars of debt?

It gets worse. Teresa takes it one step further and insults Caroline’s Italian cooking, claiming she deep-fries her meatballs. Caroline handles the remarks in her trademark calm fashion, correcting Teresa, saying her meatballs are “pan-fried in a traditional Italian way”.

Caroline isn’t the only Manzo in Teresa’s line of fire. She then goes on and writes about Chris’ stripper car wash plans, which turns into the last straw for the entire Manzo family. The scoreboard is now Caroline and the Manzo clan against Teresa and everyone else.

Later on in the intro, Teresa takes a dig at Melissa, claiming that she copies everything she does, from her wardrobe to her décor (which includes having the exact same chairs on her deck). Melissa dismisses the line, insisting that it wasn’t worth it to ruin all of the progress the two have made in their relationship. There may be some truth to this, as it’s revealed early on in the episode that Melissa is styled by the same stylist, but there’s no telling who came first with these two.

Over at Teresa’s later in the episode, Jacqueline asks Teresa if she was upset at Caroline while she was writing her book. Teresa acts surprised, claiming that what she wrote about Caroline was all in good fun. She even claimed that before the book was released, she contacted Caroline to give her a warning. Funny, because according to Teresa’s very own website she says,

“I was really upset to watch Caroline and her family talk about my book like they do. Like I said in my blog last week, I had no idea all season the way other people were talking about me and my family behind my back... insulting my husband, making judgments about my kids, and saying mean things about me and now my job. But even if I'd known, I wouldn't have done it back.”

The rest of the episode can literally be summed up in four sentences. Ashley moves to California, kind of, sort of with Jacqueline’s blessing. She also legally changes her name to “Ashlee”. Kathy has a “I want my baby girl to stay a baby girl for forever” moment. Victoria’s prom date graciously endures Rich’s awkward nut-cracking comments.

Well, they say there are three sides to every story: one person’s story, the other person’s story, and the truth. And according to a very public Twitter feud between Jacqueline and Teresa in which Jacqueline calls Teresa “scum” amidst accusations from Teresa, once again, that Melissa has a stripper past, all is definitely not any better with the housewives.

While this episode left much to be desired, previews for next week’s part one of a two part finale reunion show should be one of most dramatic Real Housewives reunions yet.

Part one of the reunion airs next Sunday (Oct. 10) at 10pm on Bravo.

Reach reporter Shakyra Moore here or on Twitter.