Taoboi

SLC Well, first thing first. The specter of Monica definitely hanged over everything to me. I could even say that whole opening monologue...ironically given by Heather...was most definitely Monica-coded. She got at least two mentions in the episode. And that was not including flashbacks. And I giggled at her TV Spot for HOUSE OF VILLIANS. And that was definitely RHOA S11 by Kenya-coded. That said...I thought that was a great season opener. When I heard the rumor that the first episode was going to be set contained at a group event, I wasn't sure about that. But I felt Production pulled it off well. The production. The fun shade. The set-up for everyone. It was very well done. And I am shocked to hear me even type it, but if the main arc of this season is going to be Lisa vs Little Girl, I was Team Little Girl. I know...shocking. But the basis for that dinner fight between Lisa and her was...something that happened off-camera....and it seem silly...not even fun petty. It honestly felt like without Monica to check Lisa, Lisa was just trying to lord things over everyone. Rumor has it off-camera at this point of filming Little Girl was working to get Monica back. Perhaps Lisa found out from Production. THAT makes more sense to me. Otherwise, Lisa was starting a fight because Lisa is all about Lisa and being a star in her own little mind. Little Girl has a history on this show of trying to start stuff to break people down so I feel that was a bad calculation on Lisa's part. Moreso because Little Girl has grown picked up tricks from her RHOP friends and has no problem playing the HW game and standing up for herself. So it was awesome to see her go toe to toe with Lisa, and an awesome declaration of 'war' going forward. But there was loads of potential. Meredith not in one...but TWO...petty HW feuds!! Heather trying her best to be Lisa's lapdog...which will probably backfired. The Mary/Angie K duo...which will surely cause some trouble given Angie K's issues with the others by the end of this episode. And the New Housewife and how she will fit in. I am curious to see how the show does since here it's in the same timeslot as DUBAI was, but it seems people found the episode easily so we will see. LISA. With Monica no longer around as an opposing force, Lisa has been allowed to run amok. And even with all the high fashion running around, it was not giving the Fabulous Ice that I used to know. I guess the love is truly dead for me after last season. That said she was running around like Queen Bee with Heather and New Housewife as little minions so...living her best life. But just like any Queen Bee or Mean Girl, Lisa gotta find a target. She picked Little Girl. And I feel she miscalculated and that will bite her in the butt in the end. Little Girl does not mind being messy. And over a podcast that could be taken out of context versus something that actually happened on the show? GIRL, BYE. Little Girl was right. Narcissist. HEATHER. Speaking of people feeling themselves...lol. To paraphrase Porsha Williams...I guess new body, new personality. And that personality...straight up lapdog that is a mean girl. She definitely needs to be humbled at some point. And that beginning with her had me rolling my eyes so hard. Gotta take a dig at Little Mo to be relevant. GIRL, BYE. I will give her this little one...I laughed right along with her when Little Girl was at that dinner showdown and said she didn't lie. Not that Heather has any room to talk. She will be insufferable this season. Moreso cuz she's Production's Favorite. MEREDITH. Impressed. Why? Not one, but TWO petty HW feuds??? Our resident heroine in this crazy soap opera will definitely be busy. First with Little Girl and bath bombs (sorry to @Cheap21 for all the tub sightings) . And Second with her continuing rivalry with Angie K. What was funny was they BOTH ate her up. Especially Angie K who has no use for her. I also didn't like she was in on the pile-on on Little Girl like Lisa Minion Number 3. ANGIE K. Am I about to like you this year? Cuz the potential has been there. And coming into this season, Angie is making the right moves. Being friends with Mary. Being in a petty feud. Surprising alliance because she was the only one standing up for Little Girl. Pot-stirring between Lisa and Little Girl. Not afraid to be silly. Not afraid to get into confrontation with HBIC Lisa. STILL hollering at her eating Meredith up cuz that renter line killed her. Good start. NEW HOUSEWIFE. I love her vibe and her love of high fashion so far. And I hollered (and rewinded) watching her and Mary tag-team drag Heather's Friend Of (who will be getting into it with Mary on the cast trip #tea) over her coming for their fashion and being poor. Fashion that only she and Rhianna can get? GET HER! Lol. So far, so good. MARY. The Myth, The Legend. Cuz who has not shown up to a reunion, returned as a FOH, and now a FT Housewife again? Not many. And Mary did not miss a beat. New friend in Angie K. Tag-teaming with the New Housewife. One Liners for days. Reactions. Great Confessionals. MARY...IS...BACK...HUNNI!!! WHITNEY. We know how often I use her REAL name so you know her presence meant something in this episode. Everyone's target apparently given that pile-on at the dinner. And what I ACTUALLY LIKED...she did not do what she would usually do. She would be using that baby voice of hers, making excuses or playing dumb. Or even have a silly meltdown like Lisa. But NO. She actually sat and TOOK IT. She got some great lines in there. And then she left with dignity and great digs. Did Little Girl just grow up in front of my eyes??? Probably not...lol. But just like last season, it looked like Whitney took her notes from her RHOP pals and started to use them. She had the makings of a true chaos agent...and I...was actually impressed. If she is for a Lisa takedown, I might just back her. And knowing she will soon be under Angie K and Mary's wing...she might come out of this season smelling like (pun unintended) roses. Good start to the season. I might just continue.

VERY.

A case of a successful recast that OLTL didn't know what to do with her. You will like her.

What a way to start the morning. LOVE.

Thank you @Errol for the titles on the main. I just woke up and the first name I saw was Tamara Tunie. OMG! YES, PLEASE. Just the right thing to wake up to because her history in soaps and the industry period is reason enough to tune in. And I see there's been more casting news and looks pleasing and very excited for the show even more now.

Nothing wrong with a good accent. But yes...missed opportunity that would have felt organic.

Ain't that the truth.

Lol. Will history repeat itself...? Hmmm

RHoDubai The unmasking of Chanel Ayan. I thought it was a solid reunion. There was quite a lot of resolution, regardless of people's attempt to keep drama going *cough*TerriDemarco*cough*, but it was the fact of the matter that the main thing that fans appeared to want to be resolved...the Ayan/Lesa friendship...was quite open-ended due to the bombshell...I don't know how I would feel about a reconciliation between the two of them. But I felt Part 2 had several interesting bits to digest. There was the section where Lesa was talking about the drama surrounding her event with Brooks, and Stanbury pivoted it into a pile-on on Lesa...nice chess move. There was getting to the specifics over VoiceNoteGate where Andy...in true RHOP S5 Reunion style...protected Ayan (and Production) by sweeping it under the rug. There was the bombshell and how Couch Left reacted to it with an attempted pile-on on Brooks...as if she is not a Chaos agent...when the focus should have been on the fact that Ayan said it (or whether she did) spoke volumes. And that bombshell...well. The gasp. The 'Excuse Me...?' The Lesa walk off. The reactions by the cast. The foreshadowing in Part 1 when Brooks mentioned that Ayan always does too much when she's covering up something. I feel Ayan said all of that. That Lesa heard it. Was the method shady? Yes, but not unusual among friends. And Ayan surrre did try for a resolution reeeeeeeal quick after that reveal. So...like Gizelle's face was cracked by Monique at the S5 POTOMAC reunion and Heather's true self appeared in the open at the SLC S1 reunion...so too I felt the real Chanel Ayan was revealed at this one with this bombshell. And it is as expected. She was the Season 1 star. And she can be insecure. And she can be a victim. But she is also jealous of her co-stars. Caroline Stanbury...might want to watch her back. If she can do that to her actual BFF, she will do it to her show BFF. JS. STANBURY. I would say a solid reunion performance. I felt this was an interesting conclusion to her rivalry with Lesa. And sadly for Lesa, I felt Stanbury bested her. Everything was roses with her. AND she looked great. She also has a ready-made (pun unintended) storyline with her and Sergio's friction over her having his baby. Moreso since Andy gave her a lifeline with that line about surrogacy. But Andy was covering her all reunion...which is the one thing that I did not like about her a la Gizelle on RHOP. TALEEN TERRI DEMARCO. I will give her this much. Her gagging Brooks at the very end was hilarious and well-done. Another good receipt out of this reunion. Outside of that...unnecessary wanting to have drama. Andy worked hard to get her and Brooks to come to some truce. And she tried to throw that out the window. RME. Thankfully in hindsight, Brooks off-screen saw that her friendship with Rafi is more important than mess with Taleen Terri. So we will see where they go moving forward. BROOKS. Awwww my Chaos agent. She was much softer this part of the reunion. And the fact that she was the one behind the bombshell of Lesa hearing what Ayan thought of her AND staying on Ayan. Not to mention how her and Lesa were still scrappy with each other. lol. I did not at all like how everyone tried to gaslight her for the bombshell. Ladies, Ayan said it. Lesa heard it. Brooks clarified it. BYE. SARA. A non-entity. And she had a whole segment. LESA. Andy trying to treat her like Monique did nothing for me. Probably why that receipt fell flat with the books. But I admit that it felt flat. Cuz her receipt with Ayan was perfection in Part 1. That said...I felt she did a good job saving herself this part. She clarified VoiceNoteGate and no amount of interference from Andy and CouchLeft stopped her. Did she know about the VoiceNote? Yes...BUT literally as she was walking to the dinner from what could be heard. And even then...Ayan being Ayan...did not give her any specifics. Meaning she knew of A VoiceNote, not HER VoiceNote. Also meanst what we saw as reactions at those scenes STILL ring true. I liked that Lesa admitted to being messy and taking accountability for her role in that...which was all that was needed in that situation from her at the time it happened with most of the audience. That people appear to still be obtuse right along with the castmembers I find telling. In that part of the episode, it was nice to see a glance at the old Ayan/Lesa friendship as they apologized to each other. And no, I didn't like Production trying to gaslight her as well. I didn't like that Ayan was trying to use her son as an excuse when if she was going to use him, it should have been when Lesa spoke on her own son at the finale, which shown who was being honest. As for the bombshell, I'm Team Lesa on that. She heard her BFF say cruel things about her and couldn't deal. That felt very real. And even at the end, Lesa might have appeared to be open to it, but I really don't think she was. I even think she walked off because if she stayed Old Lesa Milan from COLLEGE HILL was about to come out. She was THAT hurt. AYAN. The second season curse is real. I honestly don't think I have anything to say about her except that her in Part 2 was performative. And the only time she came alive was during the bombshell. She really did not see that coming. If my BFF said what she said and I heard it, she would be dead to me. And I already knew where I stood on her during VoiceNoteGate. So now I am seriously side-eying her and waiting to see if she will throw Stanbury under the bus next season. And if Stanbury decides to throw her under the bus, I would feel nothing because Ayan would have done it to herself. A follower when she said she was That Bitca...how dreadful. Fingers crossed for another season though.

Hmmm I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I want to say on the run. I want to say he hit the road (and wanted Lulu to come with him) during the prison break that ended with Sonny getting that governor pardon.

Alive.

I wanted to say that earlier, but yes, I remember that casting news. I wondered if it was a Nate recast. Since TW said she does not want to come back, she would have made a great Olivia recast. Just look at that great picture above.

*falls right on out*

Heheh. I would say NOPE. Brad Bell on the hand...

THIS. And both of them had so much potential.

Well...Liam gotta have a love life.

Who's vanilla? lol. THIS. Even now with these New/Old Writers...people are saying things are happening, too vs PM's run, but is it character-driven? NONE.

9-13 Uneven AF. Because how are you going to land on such a juicy bombshell as Sharon starting to think about killing Daniel...and then we don't see her for the rest of the week. On the other hand, that meant the show circled back to other storylines that were interesting *cough*Victor*cough* The writing felt better and the actors made me more invested sad to say. The first half of last week was all about Sharon and her spiral. The last half of the week was about Audra vs Kyle and Victor weaving that web of his. And everything was better for it I felt. I'm definitely over Kyle's whining. I've been over it. Because we know how I feel about the genesis of his anger at Diane. And though someone tried to put more nuances in his latest fight with Diane...too little, too late since every time they argue I zone out. That said...well-played getting in Victor's ear about Audra perhaps spilling the beans on his identity as the silent partner. I liked that Audra did not back down to Victor...though it might cost her. And I loved how much Victor was taking potshots at Billy at all their encounters. 'Eat your damn fries.' LOL oh Victor... I'm oh so looking forward to Billy falling (ESPECIALLY seeing that clip for this new week with Phyllis cuz HELL NO) and I'm looking forward to Audra's revenge on Kyle. Speaking of Giggly Heffa, I don't mind her in Billy's orbit. Keeps her out of Nick's. Yes, I'm petty. I had totally forgotten about Victoria and Cole so good to see him still around and working at the University. And while it's typical drama for them going forward, Cole has rarely backed down so let's see if they can withstand Victor again. Kyle/Claire...meh. Perhaps it took too long for me. Or it's the fact that Claire is a little too bland now, but I wasn't feeling it. It was a little moment, but I loved Jack holding Diane from the back as they talked about Kyle and the idea of Victor being the silent partner. Like a real couple. They really have become the patriarch and matriarch of the Abbots. But like I said...an uneven week. And it shows that I had no desire to rewind. Just background noise. Looking forward to that Phyllis clip though.

Bubble butts...for ONE. 😜 hehe.

You betta run with that spotlight, boy!!! lol. So happy for him.

I doubt WL is returning, but the rest are sound.

LMAO

As was TR during Frank's run here on GH re: The Peter August storyline which he was punished for. So if KM wants to go full-on Gemini on FV on her way out the door, I'm here for it.

I know right. And given how much of a chore it is getting to watch...what could be happening for November Sweeps that she would be back?