Bravo's The Real Housewives of....

[Cat]

RHOM

I cannot put my finger on why I enjoyed this reboot season of Miami so much. Maybe it's because I pre-gamed the three OG seasons of RHOM in the months beforehand and came away with a new appreciation -- even the much-maligned S1. In fact, I thought this S4 was going to suffer from no lowkey legend Lea Black!

How wrong I was. While the reboot was extra-glossy and you could tell production had planned it out carefully, the addition of four OGs (and the previous production crew) helped to secure some of the original fandom. The show seemed to have barely missed a year, let alone 8. Miami really benefits from having Queen Alexia -- surely a top-tier HW in her own right and frequently compared to NJ's Teresa in terms of her influence on the show as a whole. 

The addition of the newbies proved to be inspired. I wasn't sure about Guerdy, Nicole and Julia at first, but I have completely warmed to all three (and sweet Kiki!), for different reasons. They all bring something distinctive to the show but more than that, I feel like they bring something true to themselves. Guerdy has her events planning, Nicole her medical work, and Julia is Mrs. Martina Navratilova -- a true tennis icon who (in this time of Cold War invasions of Ukraine) stood up to the puppet dictatorship in Czechoslovakia and bravely defected, leaving her family behind. BTW, WWHL had a pretty good interview with both Julia & Martina this week, including Martina talking about her tennis career.

I even warmed to Larsa, who finally stood up to Adriana's endless baiting. They both managed to shade each other beautifully before Larsa got the last word. She left Adriana bitter, angry, and perhaps it was this moment that Adriana lost her mojito and became a FOH. I still want Adriana back next season being messy as hell, of course!

And while Larsa showed up Adriana, Julia showed up Larsa the next morning when discussing the out-of-wedlock comments and pointing out Larsa's deep superficiality (i.e.: her dismissal of Julia based on her Instagram follower count is insane).

All in all, a light, fluffy confection which seemed to hit the spot for me this year. Can't wait for reunion. 

[Soaplovers]

RHOSLC

With Mary now gone, I'm curious who the next target will be.  

And I believe that Mary had the same function on SLC that Kim Richards had on BH....and her absence will create a void like Kim's did on BH.

 

[Taoboi]

BH

 

Well, I guess we know Crystal's storyline then...if true...

 

[Taoboi]

SLC

 

Hm. Episode started with a disclaimer about how it was filmed before the bombshell of Jeannie's Facebook posts.

But...but I thought Utah Lydia and Andy Cokehead found a way to get it addressed on the reunion.

 

Or perhaps they are talking about the race section that aired tonight that is getting soooooooooo much backlash as I type that it sounds like they should have edited it out....

[Cheap21]

IA, they honesly should have cut the racism segment. Andy isnt the right moderator to discuss these issues, Mary wasnt there and Jennie is a lying hypocrite.  It was triggering. I especially hated Heather's putting her trap into it calling Mary a racist. Girl, shut up! Mary's ignorant, not racist.

[Antoyne]

Lord Heather’s hate boner for Lisa was in full effect last night. It’s like they never actually got along this season at all.

[Cat]

Haven't watched the episode yet, but this clear, precise annihilation of Jennie by Meredith is amazing. It's also why I love Meredith.

 

[Taoboi]

Easily my favorite part of the episode. Meredith got her ALL THE WAY TOGETHER.

 

They really should have. I found it EXTREMELY triggering and I never recovered from it. NO I don't need a rewatch. And the fact that through that whole section Jen looked like she wanted to say something, but kept her mouth was the only standout from it. 

[Taoboi]

SLC

 

 

Part 1 left me cold. In fact, seeing that the gaslighting continues next week, I think I will seriously skip over Part 2 which I feel is going to be filler anyway and be back for Part 3 for Jen vs Utah Lydia. 

 

I can see why Twitter was upset. Mary was definitely, truly, and utterly everyone's storyline. I posted the synopsis for the reunion weeks ago, but I hoped there would be more substance, but nope. Given the few times that Housewives have decided to not show up to a reunion, it is very telling that rather than move on after the announcement that they kept harping on it. So...nothing happened this season? I mean...there is Jen's arrest, but we are not allowed to mention it, right?

 

God bless, Utah Lydia.  She will be good and God darned if she was not fighting for her relevancy as a boss bitca that only 'appears' to be a victim. And she almost immediately saw Bad Weather coming with their annual reunion act. While NO ONE will EVER top Monique's binder, good to see her bringing receipts to back up the Angie catering arc that started off the season. 

 

Jeannie v Meredith was easily the highlight as shown above by @Cat. I guess Andy and the Budget Coven planned to do a whole narrative (and also next week) of Mary being the villain and a racist. And they thought they were going to pull Meredith along for the ride. And Meredith was like 'no, bitca.' She gathered that girl and gathered her good.

 

But the gaslighting. The trying to paint Jeannie as not in the wrong...even though she knew of her posts and the world did not...and allowing her to even have a narrative that Andy was supporting. Too much for me. 

[Cheap21]

Jennie tried it and Meredith shut her up. She had ZERO comebacks or defense to anything Meredith said

[Soaplovers]

Bet these women wished Meredith were still not engaging lol

[DaytimeFan]

SLC

Meredith at the reunion was like Season 1 Meredith, except she engaged. And when it came to Jennie, she engaged HARD and left her for dead.

It's amazing how much more likeable Jen Shah is than Erika Jayne. What Jen is charged with is atrocious, while Erika isn't charged with anything, yet Erika's behaviour is so callous that she seems guilty of something, while Jen sounds like she actually believes in her own innocence. It's really something. 

Heather and Lisa hate each other. It is what it is. 

[Antoyne]

What’s weird is that Heather and Lisa were getting along fine by the end of the season, but at the reunion Heather was firmly back into if Lisa breathes I’m going to freak out mode.

They talked about Angie so much for someone the show literally just erased after initially focusing on her. I’d love to know what happened there.

[DaytimeFan]

I think it's that classic case of not knowing what's being said in the VT interviews and as they'd seen all the episodes right before they filmed the reunion, I'm sure the odd minor jab got the best of both of them and they couldn't separate minor irritations from larger ego clashes. 

[Cheap21]

Jen got humbled this season and stop walking around like she was the Queen B. Season 1 Jen always looked for a moment and I felt she did that less so. The times she did explode, those seem to come from a place of genuine hurt than her exerting her superiority over the women. She also seemed to grow and learn from her mistakes last season as she'd reflect on it and be able to poke fun at herself.

 

Erika is an arrogant cow that doubled down on her worse qualities. She acts like she is superior to everyone and we all should be kissing her ass. She is fake AF and constantly lies. Even when crying, it seems like a calculated ploy for sympathy and to get people off her back. She may have access to less money, but she hasnt been humbled at all