Normally, we'd recap 'The Hills' and 'The City' in the same post. But we decided to forgo recapping "The City" this week because recent questions about whether some of 'The Hills' stars are mentally ill requires a more serious discussion than the side by side treatment.

The most recent 'Hills' episode took a turn from vapid fluff into darker psychodrama territory, or as Lo puts it, "I don't know where they took a left turn into legitimate Crazytown."

Now 'The Hills' has rightly earned its share of flack for its clique of pretty children who endlessly date, drink, bicker and shop. It isn't the most enlightening show but it is no more or less insidious than other reality shows featuring normal people masquerading as stars.

There's also an implicit understanding when watching a fight on 'The Real Housewives of New York' or vintage-era 'The Real World'; the audience watches with the knowledge that producers would intervene if anyone was ever seriously in danger. In 'The Real World: Hawaii,' for example, a drunk cast member managed to drive off in her car, before producers intervened. As for the majority of fights, for all the screaming, burly men outside of the camera's angles would often jump in to pull away the brawlers before any real damage was done.

It was when the cameras turned off that the reality TV world suffered its biggest blow. Last summer, a former reality contestant, Ryan Jenkins, killed his wife before hanging himself. At the time, questions were raised about better vetting psychologically-fragile people before thrusting them into the spotlight

Against this backdrop, the 'Hills' has shifted from its formally breezy self into something out of 'Intervention.' The majority of the conversations now on 'The Hills' center on Spencer Pratt's increasingly erratic behavior. In last night's episode, Spencer responded to Audrina's friendly hello with a loud rebuke about she was the [expletive] lamest girl in the club. A few minutes later, he half-whispers, "People don't know how dangerous I am. I just have to hold myself from smashing his head off." As he's speaking, Spencer spasms jerkily as if literally fighting to hold himself away from violence. His friend Frankie looks terrified.

In a later scene, Heidi and Spencer show up at a club where the group is gathered. A glassy-eyed Heidi tells Kristin about the powers of the crystals they brought with them. "This is morganite. Close your eyes and see what you feel," Heidi says. "This one is for geniuses. It opens your mind for everything. It helps you to really think and it's for protection, and if you're in a war zone..." She trails off with a knowing wink.

Spencer takes a seat next to Heidi. "I don't let her go on TV, no computers," he says proudly while Heidi smiles. "All Heidi does is read and write poetry and pray and pet puppies. She is logged out of the matrix." Kristin looks like she can't leave fast enough.

The show ends with an intervention-style conversation, as the female cast members (sans Heidi) decide that they can't help the Pratts and have no choice but to shun them.

Is it all for show? The cast is convinced the antics are true. And so is TMZ, which posted a photo of Pratt holding a giant crystal. Heidi's mother Darlene was chased off the property with the threat of a restraining order. As 'The Hills' turns serious in its final season, the cast is starting to show the scars of living in front of the camera for years, leaving viewers in an uncomfortable dilemma. Does having an audience encourage the Pratts' antics, or are they adults who have made their own choices? What has to happen to stop the cameras from rolling, or conversely, what has to happen to keep people from tuning in?

While I can't say I've come to any conclusions, Gawker's Richard Lawson has made a very strong case for never watching the show again.