Flipping Out: A reunion and a relationship down in flames

If you've been watching Bravo's "Flipping Out" this season, you know there has been a lot of turnover in Jeff Lewis' design business and also in his life.

Around the middle of the season, Jeff believed he had discovered that his longtime best friend and business partner Ryan Brown had been stealing business from him. Jeff eventually confronted Ryan (he denied any wrongdoing) and the two ended their professional relationship.

Tuesday night's reunion show was our chance to see if any of those fences had been mended since the taping of the season finale (which showed Jeff attending -- and paying for -- a birthday party for Ryan's daughter).

Sadly, fences were not only unmended, they were essentially trampled and set afire Tuesday night. 

I've made no secret of the fact that I'm on Team Jeff all the way, but I was still open to whatever Ryan had to say in his defense. But his defense seemed to consist primarily of: "You're crazy" and "You have no proof." (Which, by the way, is something I hear guilty perps say on "Law & Order" all the time.) The other thing that drove me crazy about his on-camera argument with Jeff was that Ryan kept saying, "I wish you had come to me and talked about this before." Or something to that effect. 

Hello! Jeff did talk to Ryan about his suspicions several times, and all Jeff could get out of Ryan was some version of Ryan's favorite comeback: "You're crazy." It drove me batty that Jeff didn't point out that he had tried to discuss it with Ryan (on at least three episodes I can remember). 

Okay, Jeff can be a little "crazy" at times, and he certainly overreacts over plenty of really minor things. But as host Andy Cohen pointed out to Ryan during the reunion, Jeff did seem to proceed with his suspicions very cautiously, doing research and consulting others before confronting Ryan.  

The clincher for me was Jeff's assistant and friend Jenni. Jenni has no problem calling Jeff on his bullshit, so when the Ryan stuff was going down this season and Jenni made comments about how Ryan's behavior was troubling, it lent credibility to Jeff's rantings.

The show pretty much ended with Jeff telling Ryan that he had "wrecked him" and that he would probably never see him again unless Ryan apologized. Which isn't going to happen because Ryan denies any wrongdoing. Jeff broke down and left the room, and Ryan left Jeff's house. Even though I have never cared much for Ryan, he was Jeff's best friend ("like family" they each said) and it's sad to see that relationship destroyed. And for what? Clients? Money?

The reunion show wasn't all darkness and drama. There were some hilarious moments between Jeff and Andy (like when Jeff explained how employees can earn "rollover minutes" in the bathroom to use when they have to go #2, which he generally discourages), between Jeff and Jenni, and also with Jeff's beleagured housekeeper Zoila, who got off some great lines herself. 

So where do you come down on all Jeff-Ryan drama? Is Ryan a sneaky backstabber making money off Jeff's fame from the show? Or is Jeff "crazy" as Ryan suggests?