The cherry blossoms are back in bloom, everyone! Welcome back to Potomac, the land of formerly affluent and socially mobile Black folks doing their best soap opera stunts on camera. Last season concluded with a Patreon-induced calamity courtesy of the Dixons. Are we going to recover from the sour note? Let’s find out by checking in with all of the ladies.
We’ll start with Gizelle, who has finally chosen to showcase herself in a romantic situation since things went wrong with Sherman Douglas. We can choose to acknowledge that disastrous attempt at a storyline with “rekindling” things with Reverend Jamal Bryant, but I personally prefer to pretend that that never happened, and I believe that is better for everyone. Is her being a cougar on camera with a fellow Bravolebrity (Jason from Winter House) a little cringe? Sure, and that image of her feeding that boy sashimi like he’s a baby in front of her child is vomit-inducing. Counterpoint: this is the least miserable and meddlesome lady Bryant has been on camera in some time, and for that reason alone, I am down to see this cross-franchise romance through. Maybe he can teach her some rhythm in the meantime — her guest appearances on Ashley’s TikToks are concerning.
Ashley, on the other hand, is living large in the not-quite-single life. She has moved out of the penthouse and into the house in the burbs, but she’s still not quite divorced and freely admits that she is not rushing the process and still goes on vacations with Michael and the kids to the Bahamas. You know what, if she likes being a kept woman, I love it; I just would think that she would learn by this point that she is not at an advantage point by letting him set the terms at his convenience. Ashley seems set on the path of least resistance and least paperwork, even if it will inevitably interfere with future romantic possibilities for her.
Mia and Gordon still deal with the fallout of being ousted from their old franchise. They have had to completely downsize their life, going from a 10,000 square foot house to a 1,500 square foot condo in Bethesda, a fact that Mia could barely stomach getting out. They are living off of their savings and Mia’s salary and Gordon is fighting for what sounds like a buyout payment. They make a point of saying on camera that they completed audits and went through CPAs and accountants and came back clean, but the subtext is that the battle took a massive toll on their marriage. Knowing where the two are now, it definitely sounds like Mia is starting to set the foundation for making sure that she has an exit ramp. It will be interesting to see how she plays this out.
The rest of the premiere shows how this season may bear out in that it is all about Robyn and Juan when they are not in the scene. Karen, Wendy, and Candiace get together for drinks and barely talk about each other and their own life updates. They instead focus on how Robyn needed to take accountability for “hiding her truth” and how many of the antics of last season, including the emphasis on Chris Bassett, were a “projection and deflection” from what she was dealing with. When Candiace sits with her husband, she grapples with the demise of her friendship with Robyn, how she was a sacrificial lamb for Robyn’s own personal issues, and whether or not their personal relationship can be salvaged after everything.
Robyn and Juan are opening the season by storming out of the gate, discussing everything head-on. This is perhaps the most forthcoming Juan has been on camera concerning the numerous allegations that he has been involved in. I guess being unemployed makes you way more of an open book? Per Juan, he fucked up with the hotel situation by being “too friendly” and “too nice” — and Robyn “chose to believe it because Juan wouldn’t make something up that stupid.” Now, I’m no private investigator, but when it comes to receipts, I tend to trust the words of Whitney Houston: “If six of y’all went out, then four of you were really cheap/’Cause only two of you had dinner, I found your credit card receipt…” And as history recalls, Robyn never actually tried to check those receipts and messages for herself. She would rather live in denial.
The delusion is so strong that Gizelle, Ashley, and Charisse try to pull Robyn aside to help her see reason. It actually is quite a powerful moment — they all open up to how they’ve previously been in denial to protect their marriage, knowing full well that their unions were either crumbling or their partners were misbehaving. The problem is, as they all know, when you are in the thick of it, you think that it is you against the world, and that is what Robyn has decided. As gently as possible, they are trying to lay out for Robyn that she shouldn’t have to defend her relationship so much, but she is not in a place to hear that; she is incapable of hearing that her husband is not being a supportive partner amid his missteps and instead is blaming the public because they are easier to vilify and blame. It is sad to watch; Robyn has been in this dependent situation since high school and can’t fathom that she should be demanding more from her partner as they navigate a challenging moment that he created. Navigating these ebbs and flows and how the group engages with them will be the major storyline of the season.
Next week, we meet the new housewife, Nneka. See you then!
