The world of docusoap-format reality TV is a delicate ecosystem of artifice and narrative-building that has matured over the years to adhere to specific templates. Each scene has its winners and losers — it’s how you end up rooting for specific characters over the others in arguments, getting a sense of their personalities in conflict, and building relationships with them over time. There are what producer Carlos King likes to call “force multipliers†— cast members who are willing to do anything to propel a storyline forward and work with production to make sure that they get the best possible scenes. There are those who view the role as a job and craft a persona that they fully lean into (see: Kenya on Real Housewives of Atlanta, who has proudly held the villain mantle while reportedly being a complete sweetheart in real life). It is all part of world-building in an ensemble cast.
When certain shows are built on longstanding relationships, however, certain endemic realities become germane to the show. In Real Housewives of Potomac, that happens to be the third rail of colorism that has existed since the first season, when the cast was almost entirely fairer-skinned save for Charisse, and is the reason why my friend Chris still calls the show “the Real Housewives of the Vanessa Williamses.†Colorism is a touchy topic in the Black community and a label that people don’t want to have affixed to them, for good reason — Ashley recently put out a video addressing allegations of “being a colorist,†speaking to the fact to that she has gotten into feuds with everyone, and in that she is factually correct. Ashley does not have to be a colorist to benefit from colorism; just by nature of being fairer-skinned and biracial, her endless antagonism is viewed differently than Candiace’s, even though they both have the same capacity to say irredeemable things about other cast members’ personal business. You may not intentionally engage in malicious acts or target darker-skinned people, but you preserve a hierarchy when the OGs of the show are the ones who are protected and catered to, and they happen to be fairer-skinned; if newcomers don’t fall in line, they are either shunned or targeted at their whim over the seasons, and that has been the general ebb and flow of Potomac storylines, from Monique and Candiace on. Whether or not it is intentional, it creates a dangerous narrative picture where Gizelle and Robyn sit at the top, with Ashley as a colluding minion, and Karen remains immune from general consequences and can deem when she chooses to opt in or out of at will, at the exclusion of others. Everyone else navigates their position in the OG cast’s good graces to the best of their ability, and drama naturally ensues.
These dynamics become extremely relevant in this episode, when the conflict between Mia and Wendy spills over and — in a complete flip of events from season five — Gizelle and Robyn not only take Mia’s side in initiating violence on multiple instances, they chastise Wendy for antagonizing the situation. The entire melee completely offended my sensibilities, particularly since this was all instigated by Peter Thomas, who is inexplicably still attached to the Bravo-verse despite Cynthia Bailey having gotten remarried and divorced. But let’s walk through this fiasco step by step.
In news that should surprise absolutely no one, Peter Thomas and G are longtime friends who I’m sure have seen the inside of many a smoky steakhouse-slash-strip club together. Since Mia has decided to make this trip as irritating as possible for Wendy and Candiace — and because Peter is so pressed for promo that he will let the cast eat for free — naturally their first dinner is going to be at Bar One.
So Mia calls up Peter and tells him the guest list, and Peter says he has beef with Wendy, leaving it open-ended for Mia to make her own conclusions and spread gossip with the other women who don’t like Wendy. Gizelle offers “quotes†— while deploying Joey from Friends’ version of air quotes — that Wendy did research to find something that they had in common so that she could ask Peter to go into business with her, and he thinks a Nigerian restaurant is ludicrous, and Wendy doesn’t have any money. First of all, a Nigerian restaurant in the DMV, which has a dense West African population, would be far from ludicrous if executed well. Secondly, is there something specifically wrong with researching a potential business partner? Now, if Wendy did, I feel she should know to stay far the hell away from Mister Peter, but that is neither here nor there. Lastly, is Gizelle really the person to be discussing finances in this group? Help me understand this high horse she is on — especially when the particulars of Peter’s alleged gripe are that Peter is attempting to go into business with Wendy and he is claiming that she is stalling him out, which is a world away from dismissing her restaurant idea altogether. Ashley’s restaurant flopped on high-definition TV, so I have no idea why she’s snickering, either.
As usual, no one looks like they’re going to the same place for dinner. Wendy is wearing a satin blazer set, Karen is rocking a slip, Gizelle has palazzo pants, Ashley has chain-link cutouts, and Robyn’s peach ruffles looks like she is heading to her first school dance. We can’t have an episode go by without acknowledging Candiace and Chris, so Ashley attempts to yet again feebly defend her position in revealing the information she did back at the winery. What falls out of this conversation, however, is that Gizelle completely inflated the story — backed by camera footage — not only misrepresenting the fictive additional details to sound like they came from another source, but also feigning like she can’t recall where those tidbits came from.
Peter eventually makes his way over to the table — and lo and behold, his interaction with Wendy isn’t nearly as dramatic as he had built it up to be in Mia’s ear, likely because they don’t actually have any real issue, which Ashley immediately picks up on. Never one to be deterred from kicking up the hornet’s nest, Mia sidelines Peter to needle him further on the matter, where he claims that Wendy has left him hanging on contract negotiations — conveniently omitting that she was waiting for him to get back to her on a site visit after looking at a redlined contract — and then failed to check in with him on this trip despite her not knowing they were going to Bar One. Peter not being 100 percent on the up and up? What a shocker.
That conversation, however, gives Mia all the opening she needs to hammer in on Wendy with half-baked information. It is fascinating that Mia is the one that initiates the conversation, but Wendy merely saying, “I don’t have beef with men†turns to Wendy, don’t start it. Wendy rightfully says she is only accountable to her husband as to where she comes and goes, and Mia hysterically rebuts with “there is no family in business,†while running a franchise she inherited from her husband under the premise of generational wealth and is now fighting with his family for access to. All Wendy says is “I am not in town for business,†elaborating that her and her husband don’t operate like Mia and G, and Mia launches off with her drink and demands that Wendy leave, delusionally accusing Wendy of coming for G (which never happened).
The fallout is mind boggling. Robyn accuses Wendy of baiting and being antagonistic, going so far as to pull out her camera to record it. Wendy calls her a crater-faced bitch and asks if she’s rolling in the hay with Peter to be going this hard. Mia comes back, sticks her finger in Wendy’s face from across Karen and Wendy loses her temper; Mia calls Wendy ghetto, apparently temporarily forgetting that she is the one that is from Southeast D.C. Wendy is still incensed at having a drink thrown at her over nothing, and lays into Mia at how she embarrassed herself, leading to Mia getting up and physically trying to fight her again, her nails getting broken up and bloodied in the process of being manhandled by security.
In this whole experience, it is Mia who is being sympathized with, despite Mia being the one who brought unnecessary drama to the table, Mia escalating the conflict necessarily, and Mia mishearing the issue that led to her initiating a physical response. In season five, these same actions led to Gizelle refusing to tape with Monique for the rest of the season and walking around with security on camera. Now, Wendy needs to watch her words and stop antagonizing situations, even though it is clear that no one has the full picture of Wendy’s business dealings with Peter and they’re just certain that she is lying to them based on passing conversations they’ve had with someone who had to be sued by his ex-wife to recoup financial expenses from restaurant ventures. Ashley and Karen, at the very least, see the nonsense for what it is and refuse to go out of their way to console Mia’s outlandish behavior. Robyn’s hatred of Wendy refuses to allow her to see the reality of the scene for what it is. Gizelle solemnly recaps that Mia is “not doing well,†leading Wendy to finally snap and call out the elephant in the room: “somebody is okay with violence now, but when Monique did it to Candiace, she was against violence. I’m not here for hypocrites.â€
The level of distaste the cast has for Wendy is completely outsized to her actions. Wendy is corny and can be a bit extra and aimless, and it’s more than a bit clear that she is just not the best fit for the ensemble, a la Kim Fields on RHOA. For that to result in an entire table looking on silently, filming, and egging on Mia assaulting her? If this was Basketball Wives or Love & Hip-Hop, I might not give it a second glance. But Gizelle and Robyn are not Evelyn and Jennifer; this is a franchise that has set a precedent for its relationship with Black respectability, and all they are showcasing is that they don’t believe that Wendy deserves the respect that they demand.
Cherry Blossoms:
• Ashley’s split is starting to get more contentious. Who could have seen that coming?
• It’s not that Gizelle’s complaints over her accommodations are illegitimate, but we see how she lives in Maryland, so her putting on airs like Charrisse as if she is accustomed to some really pristine standard of living is extremely comical to me.
• We’re beginning to see the ins and outs of Mia and Jacqueline’s relationship, and boy does that seem like a toxic rollercoaster ride that I am too old for. The putdowns in public, sharp negging and mood swings — that form of emotional manipulation is deeply unhealthy, and Jacqueline admitting that they likely wouldn’t be friends if they had met as adults is a massive red flag.
• Those pictures of Mia and G with Peter over the years were like the bottom page of an Animorphs flip book. Mia really kept her estheticians and doctors booked and busy over the last decade, my word.
• Shout out to Karen for not getting a drop of liquid on her in the middle of that fracas. She really is covered and protected in the light of the Lord, Amen!