Reality Recap: Reunion, reprioritizing, receipts

A TikTok of West at a music festival is going viral over speculation there may have been a drug deal caught on camera. Despite claims she was quitting the show, Tamra Judge was recently seen filming with Heather Dubrow. Sigh. And the new season of Vanderpump Villa is seeing Stassi Schroeder back on our screens, with some of the women from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives? Personally, I am seated.

The loose ends of the Southern Charm season finale

The season finale of Southern Charm was…something. It was a masterful episode, truly, because it was the first finale in a while where so many different storylines and relationships seemingly had the door left open to so much more development. That is how you build anticipation for a reunion.

First, there was the semi-resolved issue of whether JT made an alleged remark about “some Black girl” being all over him, in reference to his blossoming friendship with Venita. With Venita and Leva confronting Ryan, and Venita and Ryan ultimately calling a truce, that opened the door to a romance between Venita and JT, but as we saw, it was short-lived. JT quickly posted another girl on his Instagram page, prompting a swift unfollow from Venita. 

Then, there was the quick tiff between Sally and Taylor. Admittedly, Sally had every right to confront Taylor for talking about her after they agreed to not discuss each other again. Despite having been a Taylor fan (until that nasty move she pulled on Olivia last season with Austen, anyway), Sally is right in saying that Taylor tends to run away when she’s confronted. Taylor should’ve stood her ground, taken accountability and apologized.

There was the unexpected romance that blossomed between Shep and Molly – a match made in heaven compared to his one-sided romance with Sienna. And while love may have been blooming for Shep, it was dead on arrival for his friend, Craig, whose split with Paige Desorbo finally aired on the show. 

Having broken up with just about every man I’ve dated, I’ve always wondered what conversations about splits between men look like. This was a pretty good window into that. At the beginning of the season, I criticized Craig for his attitude about being in a big boy relationship and seemingly out of his party boy phase. But the main reason for my criticism over his failure to maintain a sense of humility is because you never know when your situation will change and you’ll need your friends again. And lo and behold. 

Having heard both sides of the breakup over the last few months and seeing how nasty things got, it’ll be interesting to see what he has to say about their split – and particularly the cause for it - on the reunion. Kudos to the producers on this one. Now if they’d only stop throwing Black women under the bus…

Re-examining Paige and Craig’s breakup on Summer House

Over at the Summer House, we got yet another perspective into the impending split between Craig and Paige, with the scenes on this show taking place even earlier than the post-Thanksgiving ones on Southern Charm.

At Carl’s shipwreck-themed party (amazing theme, amazing execution), Paige and Craig hop into a raft and continue what seems to be an ongoing chat about Craig’s concerns that Paige will stop making him a priority as her career continues to take off.

A few days prior to the party at a dinner, he expressed his concerns, and during a conversation with Amanda, Paige revealed that she was annoyed over hearing what he had to say. She told Amanda that when her and Giggly Squad cohost Hannah Berner took off on their 60-city tour, she feared she was going to hate Craig. 

There is a theme on several of these reality shows when it comes to women who work – and it’s a certain sense of discomfort on the part of their male partners as their success increases. We saw it with Kyle and Amanda, who, despite wanting to branch off on her own, was drowning in work doing graphic design for his company instead, and only recently began executing her vision of doing a bikini line. And we saw it a few weeks ago on Southern Hospitality with Maddi Reece, whose blossoming DJ career earned her a gig in Las Vegas. She had to spell out clearly to her partner (of just a few months) Joe Bradley why she wasn’t ready to move in with him yet. In a confessional, Joe revealed he was concerned he’d be “left behind” as Maddi’s career continued to take off.

To be frank, I actually don’t think Craig is wrong for voicing his concerns about his relationship with Paige. And I don’t think he’s wrong for having them. He’s entitled to that, having spent the last few years romantically invested in her and having made it clear that he intends to marry and start a family with her. But I also think Paige is entirely within her right to want to prioritize her career.

“I just don’t ever want you to resent me because I’m working. My career is way different than it was when we met,” she explained. 

“I’m just making sure that after three years, we’re still good,” he said.

It’s becoming clear as day why many women took Craig’s side in this split. He’s a good looking southern boy with table manners and a business, genuinely invested in being a family man and willing to communicate about rocky times in his relationship. In a lot of women’s eyes, he’s a catch. But this breakup is about so much more than whether he’s a catch. It’s about the fact that Paige’s timeline is changing as her career is, and she’s going with it. She went from wanting to be married with kids by age 30 to wanting to break every glass ceiling she encounters, even if that means having to freeze her eggs and defer marriage and kids. Some of us won’t understand that, but some of us will. 

Sutton Stracke gets called out

This week, we learned that Sutton is an asshole. I mean, some of us clocked that a long time ago, but in this week’s episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, it felt like Garcelle, Erika Jane, and some very dedicated producers, helped paint the picture clear as day.

First, Garcelle, at the encouragement of Sutton, brought to light the double standard of the group being able to openly discuss Mo and his ongoing affairs, but not being able to mention Kyle’s weird relationship with Morgan Wade. Sutton made it seem like she would have Garcelle’s back in that conversation, only to leave her fending for herself later on at the dinner table.

But on the catamaran, Erika performed one of the best call outs I’ve ever seen in Real Housewives history, packed with receipts, examples and, much thanks to the producers, actual footage. 

“You know what I have noticed? I have noticed that you are very critical and sometimes very…not the most compassionate with women who are going through the worst time in their lives,” Erika said. She then highlighted Sutton’s treatment toward her, Kyle, and now Dorit.

The producers ran the tapes of Sutton questioning Erika about what happened with her son’s car accident, questioning whether she can believe what Erika says, then they ran the tapes of Sutton asking Kyle if there was “something in her personal life” she wanted to share, alluding to whether her marriage was falling apart way before it was public knowledge that there was trouble in paradise. 

Then, Erika pointed out that Sutton is now being an asshole to Dorit. And the producers, on cue, run the tapes of Sutton slamming Dorit, telling her she’s “angry at her life”, and the swath of other horrible things she’s said. 

“You pose as a friend, and often times work as an enemy,” Erika tells her. And that’s exactly it.

Sutton is living proof that having all the money in the world amounts to nothing if you don’t have a good heart. Garcelle, Dorit, Boz and Kyle all reveal in confessionals that they will not be coming to her defence. And I can’t say I blame them.