This season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is one for the fucking books. We're all hanging on every single word these women say, the looks they give, even the production value of an episode. COME ON, they have drone footage for god's sake. But ever since Episode 1, all I've heard all season long is, "is Erika acting??"

I mean, the mascara tears, the dramatic pauses, the "finger acting" on the placemat while opening up to the other women about Tom flying down a cliff/throwing himself down the cliff (the details on that whole thing are a little up in the air)... is it, perhaps, all a calculated performance from a trained professional?

I had to investigate. Is Erika even that good of an actor? I dug up a shit ton of old clips to find out.

Exhibit A: Law & Order Roles (1990-1991)

Her first on-screen acting roles were two episodes of Law & Order, actually the second episode of Law & Order ever, which aired in 1990. She's in the opening scene, and she plays someone "uncredited," which means her name was not in the credits or end titles.

In her first episode of Law & Order, which I was able to find on Prime, she plays a dead girl. Doctors are rushing to do CPR and resuscitate her. I had to laugh a little because the way the 1990s looks compared to today looks so outdated and it wasn't thaaat long ago. It was giving me janky-war-hospital-in-the-1950s rather than just 30 years ago. Anyways! Erika is dead. And I give her an A+ for the dead face and body jumps that she had to do while they did the whole defibrillator thing.