Eboni just bangs that same note over and over and over… and over. It’s exhausting. Again, this is 7-8 episodes in. We’re approaching the midpoint of the season. And I blame Bravo.
Last summer, post-George Floyd, the Vanderpump Rules firings, and the overall cultural reckoning that was happening, it was clear that the zeitgeist wanted Ramona and the rest of these ladies to have a reckoning of their own. Enter Eboni, with her preachy elementary-school history lessons. They assumed the audience would be, Yaas queen! Black girl magic! This current season would have played differently a year ago. But I think people now, post-pandemic, are just craving a messy fun season with some new faces.
Right now, Eboni feels like a killjoy. Should she have to bite her tongue if she feels abused or dismissed by these ignorant, sheltered white women? Absolutely not. But this isn’t good television. It’s repetitive and suffocating. (And when it’s not Eboni’s preaching, it’s Leah’s fake tears and “drunken” melodrama. Plus her dead-eyed sister Sarah.)
It speaks to the challenges of addressing difficult topics on reality TV. RHONY is doing a sh!t job of it right now. This is a series that has dealt with uncomfortable things like death (which ultimately led to the powerful episode of Dorinda and Carole in London) with a deft hand. Over time… Not all packed in few episodes.
I sense producers wanted Eboni and Bershan to compete for that black girl apple, which is very problematic in ways that they weren’t aware of. It’s performative wokeness.
That said, we’re seeing scenes, like with Luann and Victoria, that we should have seen earlier.