Following some huge and unprecedented mid-season changes, Season 12 of The Real Housewives of New York City has returned.

But the shakeup sees some explosive, expletive-filled fallout between Luann and Sonja that leads one of them to break down crying.

This week's The Real Housewives of New York City featured Dorinda's redone Blue Stone Manor.

Viewers may recall that one of the things that has warped Dorinda's behavior all season was stress over how it had flooded.

Now it was back, and she had the ladies over as guests.

The ladies took seats on some very comfy-looking furniture during the first night of their girls weekend.

This is when Luann de Lesseps made an announcement.

"Sonja and I are going to do a show together!" the former Countess revealed.

"Are you going to pay her?" Ramona Singer asked -- and yelled -- seemingly immediately.

It was Sonja Morgan herself who answered: "No! She never pays me."

This conversation was getting hostile very quickly.

"My girl Lu, it's not that I don't have a good time doing any kind of performance with her," Sonja explained.

"But," she shared, "I have a family to support, people who depend on me, other than Lu."

While Sonja does have a net worth of millions, it is not unreasonable to ask to be paid for your labor.

"I want to bring Sonja into my show because I love her," Luann explained to her gathered friends.

Ramona, who was clearly prepared to harp on this, exclaimed that Luann should "Pay her $10,000 or $5,000."

Sonja said, possibly jokingly: "She wants to exploit me!"

"Exploit you?" Luann exclaimed.

"I don't need you," she then declared.

A furious Luann instructed Sonja: "Go f--k yourself."

Dorinda had to ask Luann if she was reacting with this fury: "Because you have to pay her?"

"I do pay her!" Luann insisted.

This is when Sonja revealed that her financial compensation amounted to a whopping: "$225!"

"You only pay her $200?" Ramona exclaimed in shock ... or alleged shock, anyway.

She is the one who brought this up. We're not saying that the conversation was scripted, but let's be honest, it may have been planned.

Luann explained that she is grossly underpaying Sonja because she already employs "Broadway actors."

"I have major Broadway talent in my shows," Luann explained to the camera.

"I am not going to pay Sonja Morgan more to take off her dress to be in my show," she stated.

That seems a little unkind and, though Sonja was likely not in the room for that confessional camera statement, she says as much in the moment.

"You're being mean, you want me for free," Sonja accused Luann.

"You're not valuing her. That's not nice." Ramona chimed in, once again piling on the drama.

"What do you mean I don't value her?" Luann demanded. "Of course, I do."

Sonja explained: "You give me $225 -- that doesn't even cover my hair and makeup."

Luann's anger intensified and she accused that Sonja didn't "appreciate" being int he show.

In fact, Luann decided that she didn't "need" her friend to participate anymore.

"I have my cabaret show that's very huge and guess what, you're not a part of it," Luann snapped.

"I tried to include you," she claimed.

"And," Luann accused, "you made me feel bad about it."

"You're done," Luann declared. "I don't want you in my show ... you bitch." 

After that bit of nasty name-calling, Luann bolted off in anger.

In a quiet voice, Sonja murmured "I just said I can't do it for free," and then broke down into tears.

Ramona, who was arguably the instigator of all of that drama, decided to follow Luann.

"[Sonja] thinks she's going to be the star of my show," Luann told her.

"Well, sadly," she added of Sonja, "she's mistaken."

Before all of this, Ramona made peace with her friend Elysa Slaine (one of the best names, ever) and Dorinda.

This was to handle the aftermath of Luann's Halloween party, at which Dorinda had madea  toast while trashing Ramona as a friend.

"I want to make peace with you, baby," Ramona told Dorinda upon her arrival for the social call.

"I'm willing to let it go," Ramona explained, "because I just know Dorinda is going through something."

She told the confessional camera: "She's not really mad at me, she's mad at life."

Ramona detailed: "She feels life has cheated her. That's what it is!"

Elyse hugged everyone when she showed up ... except for Ramona.

As she had explained to SOnja, she felt hurt by Ramona because Ramona had given her the cold shoulder at that same Halloween party.

Elyse had then been disinvited from a night out by Ramona.

Ramona initially insisted that she needed to "be on her own" to "develop" her own friendships woutside of Elyse's orbit.

Elyse called out Ramona, and the two went off to talk privately.

The result was that the two made peace. Sometimes, all that you need to do that is to chat off-camera. But the other ladies aren't all happy with Ramona.