The Real Housewives of Potomac
Sharing Is Caring Season 8 Episode 13 Editor’s Rating «Previous Next» « Previous Episode Next Episode
The Real Housewives of Potomac
Sharing Is Caring Season 8 Episode 13 Editor’s Rating «Previous Next» « Previous Episode Next EpisodeIn the last couple of years, Bravo reunion sets have habitually been themed around major trips or functions. The Real Housewives of New York framed their big showdown around Jenna Lyons’s event, New Jersey set their stage around the castle in Ireland they visited, Salt Lake City shot for Bermuda but ended up in a barnacle under the sea, and Atlanta did a take on a Jamaican theme on the last reunion I watched. Given the trying state of affairs that has gone down this season, I was deeply fearful that we would have to prepare for the Potomac girls to spar on a set full of roosters and bingo cards. I say all that to say, despite my sharp words for Robyn this season, all praises be to her for ensuring that our main memories of cast trips this season are not in a series of middling outings in Austin. To the Dominican Republic, we go!
Before the final trip of the year, we do the requisite round-robin check-in amongst the cast to level set where everyone stands amongst each other. Mia and Ashley’s get-together starts to bear fruit over the reality of their circumstances, with a more mature sugar baby doling out advice to one who is waffling on executing her final walking papers. Ashley’s reluctance to file for divorce comes from lifelong trauma around poverty and security and having a long-held fear of not being able to provide for her kids. I empathize with that trigger, and you can tell that her anxieties over an unstable childhood are very real. Still, she is also a woman who now has a healthy check from being a reality TV veteran. The means to leverage it into multiple other business opportunities, which certainly won’t fully match the lifestyle she was previously accustomed to with her Crypt-Keeper ex, but will more than suffice for a comfortable lifestyle that she and her kids will need. She’s far from a young kid watching her clothes strewn about on the road and has plenty of resources to keep her in tow, so she needs to either shit or get off the pot in closing the door on this chapter in her life. She informs Mia that she plans on filing her executed divorce papers by the end of 2023, and unless she has a new development to update us on at the reunion, I have no reason to believe that she has done so yet.
Nneka and Wendy meet in Baltimore to have their long-awaited one-on-one sit-down to clear the air and move forward, and the scene is as frustrating and unproductive as every other interaction they have had this season. Conflicts come with dialogue, compromise, and resolution, and while Wendy has understandably gone into this conversation with her defenses up, she has already predetermined the only acceptable resolution for her and refuses to yield on any other points. I am glad that both women establish that there is a significant stigma associated in the Nigerian Igbo community with publicly declaring someone a witch and the danger of letting a rumor like that simmer unfounded — it was a low blow that came from an escalation between third parties and has set their relationship off on a sour note. Where Wendy falls short is that she seemingly insists that no such interaction between her sister and mother happened offline, and that is an argument that she cannot sell to Nneka or the viewers as the episodes develop throughout the season. I can buy that things are getting lost in translation, unfairly misconstrued, or difficult to talk about because it would be breaking the fourth wall a bit too much about producer interference and casting protocols. But Wendy is unable to convince me that her mother did not have a conversation with Lebe that took an untoward turn, especially when her mother so much as admitted that she raised issues with the former family friend. Acknowledging that other people may have gotten involved without your knowledge is far from witchcraft or submitting names to a shrine, Catholic or otherwise. Unfortunately, Wendy has committed to drawing a hardline requiring that Nneka fully walk back all of her claims, even those with substantiation, and leaves no space for Nneka to engage or for the duo to reach a space of mutual agreement, amounting to her vocal frustrations with producers after Wendy walks off in a stilted, yet dramatic, huff.
Thankfully, everyone seems committed to having an enjoyable trip to the Dominican Republic and leaving most of their interpersonal grudges stateside, leaving the door open for Karen to slip and reveal that Ray Huger may be a bit of a passport bro, going on annual trips to the island and having unspecified women answer the phone in his room. Karen, of course, insists that it was part of the housekeeping team, but as someone who has seen her way around an international resort or two, that answer really fails to meet the smell test. But hey, it’s their institution!
No trip is complete without the requisite drama over room assignments — an inevitable mixture of doubles and singles always results in a rat race for the best accommodations. The Grand Dame Karen Huger finds herself holding the metaphorical short straw this time around and is assigned to bunk up — only she is not taking it lying down, attempting to circumvent Robyn’s orders by booking her own room on the estate to no avail. For a second, she declares that her ultimate fuck you to Robyn’s demand will result in her shacking up in the reception and living area for the length of their stay until Ashley graciously concedes and offers to swap sleeping arrangements with Karen so that she can take off her wig in peace. While the stunts and tricks were over the top, I can’t say I don’t understand where she is coming from: I refuse to share accommodations for girls’ trips either, and my bank account has dust and lint for a bank balance.
What I don’t understand, however, is the purpose of a dramatic coronation of Nneka as the “true Grande Dame of Potomac” before the gang goes out for night golf. I’m all for a petty gag, but the delivery was stilted, the drama insignificant, and ultimately, the moniker is a label for Karen that has been readily accepted by the general public and will not change anytime soon. It wasn’t a bad moment as much as it was small and lacked dramatic flair or proper build-up. Are we supposed to be bought into the drama between Nneka and Karen? We get it: Nneka owns while Karen rents, but seeing as how it is an honorific with little heft, and Karen once was the president of the local Jack and Jill chapter, I struggle to see how this amounts to much of an occasion whatsoever, despite Candiace expressing irritation at the antics. When we pick back up, the Mia/Karen cold war finally heats back up. Until next week!
Cherry Blossoms
• Another season, another round of Candiace and Chris seemingly squabbling over finances and work/life balance. I know that marriage is always a work in progress, but in the five to six years they have been on this show, they seem to have circled the drain over the same topics with limited resolution. Glad to see that Candiace’s health scares have passed, however.
• Grace looked lovely at her graduation, and Gizelle’s words for her daughter were touching as always; Jamal Bryant jumpscare notwithstanding, however. I am genuinely curious what her storyline will be after she officially becomes an empty nester and can’t rely on her daughter to soften her image on the show.
• Poor Keiana has really only been seen in bits and pieces throughout this season, and when she finally gets included in a cast trip, her main highlight so far is being sidelined with an ulcer. Shame on the editing crew for adding the bubble guts sound effects!
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