Passing Strange

Now I'm doubtly sorry Imrul got kicked. We knew there had to be much more to him than orgy beast and it might not have even been his idea to lead with that. We also got a hint that there's more to Gabby than we saw. There aren't enough POC on this show for production to play fast and loose with the editing like that. Agreed. Kyle seemed to be more the one edging toward the door. Looking at Amanda's mannerisms during that conversation, she hasn't come far from the Amanda of the first seasons, when she was more of a baby than some think Lexi is now.

Not only was Chris a jerk for pushing Misty off the platform, he was even more of a jerk for talking about the worst-case court outcome over and over and over. This family claims to want to support Amy, but they've confronted and complained while making zero useful suggestions. Being mad at her because she didn't handle stress the way they wanted her to is not what a loving family does. I'd cry, too, if I had to depend on these people. That said, while I understand Amy the horror lover's desire to get married in a haunted venue, I also understand why her family members don't want to attend. I think some of it is concern that Amy is making a mistake by marrying Brian, but I believe most of it genuinely does have to do with their own belief systems. Still, they were very judgmental. There was no need to act like this was the ickiest, most disgusting undertaking ever. Just say you're uncomfortable because of your beliefs and maybe do something nice, like offer to celebrate with them at another time. I never thought I'd say this, but in this episode, Amanda was responsive, reasonable, and helpful. Hell has requested a shipment of ice melt.

My sense is that Tzarina is still a bit of an outcast. She knows she's odd, but she doesn't know that much of her problem is that she can't read others very well, so she tries to establish connections the wrong way. She's not horny, she's looking to belong somewhere, even with someone as shoddy as Wihan. As difficult as Lara is, Tzarina had at least some sort of friendship there. Assuming she dated only one of Lara's cheating exes, Tzarina traded an established friendship for João. 😒

Just another not Aja fan here, too.

I agree. What bothers me is that Carl made the choice to do this on camera. It didn't just happen; it wasn't spur of the moment. He actively arranged it. He'd broken up with Lindsay before without humiliating her, and the dust settled quickly. So he knew his options. To me, picking the one he did was cruel. I have the same issue with Lexi, although not to the same degree. It was the last weekend, run out the clock. She could have said this was the last weekend they were all going to be together, let's concentrate on having fun with our friends instead of each other. Then break his heart on Monday. Except, while I don't think this was a showmance, I do think it was an opportunistic attraction, and after he milks it a bit, he'll be fine. Based on how he and some of the others reacted, I figured the post would include digs at Carl. It didn't. She said the day changed her life and was difficult, humiliating & traumatic. Then she went on to list the good things that had happened afterward. That was it. I'm not sure how Carl saw that as not reality or coming from a deep, dark place, but do what you gotta do, I guess.

I don't follow these people in the media all that much, so I may have missed something, but I think he's pretty much stuck to saying he could have done better and he's sorry he hurt Lindsay. Although it might be too late now, a better approach would have been, "I apologize for saying one thing to your face while bad-mouthing you to others, then saying you weren't blindsided. And also for arranging to break up on camera." Yes, Lindsay isn't a good partner for someone who needs love, support, and nurturing; she's never pretended to be anything but who she is. I think Carl was right to end the relationship, just not in the way he did it. In past relationships, we saw him gaslight Lauren Wirkus and Lindsay herself; he was cruel and ugly to Jules Daoud. I think his own selfishness has caught up with him, and there are finally some consequences.

I think Amanda definitely deserves a "Founder and CEO of what?!" The way she explained it in an earlier episode, the deal with South Moon Under sounds like the swim suits are a white label product. Nothing wrong with that, but she's not actually designing or distributing. If she has a company, it's likely for accounting purposes, and there's not a lot of day-to-day stuff for her to do. Lexi looks to have a similar arrangement with a lingerie line. We have Amanda to thank for much of the Jessie and Lexi puppy love idiocy we've endured this season. She could have done the adult thing in the beginning and told Jessie to talk to Lexi, rather than tattling. The second-hand information from all the housemates, plus Jessie's perfunctory relationship with the truth, caused a lot of miscommunication. And this episode Paige played Second Shit Stirrer, lying that Jessie didn't say that Ciara was part of the reason for the breakup. Neither Lindsay nor Carl has completely moved on. She's still pissed at being dumped on camera and he can't seem to figure out that he's still the villain, not the victim. I really think that all Carl would have to do is take responsibility for the bad execution of a good decision, and she'd stop trolling him.

I really don't like West. The faces he was making while listening to Jessie made me want to slap him silly. I mean more so than usual. It irritates me no end that if there's a next season, Lexi and Imrul will likely be dropped in favor of West and Jessie. 😠

Heh, shows you how much attention I pay. 😄 Thanks for clarifying.

In past seasons, Drew annoyed me because she refused to even consider that Ralph was abusive. Now that we're seeing more of her personality, I realize she's just plain annoying. First, she belittles Brit's invitation for a drink, then she thinks she has some sort of right to grill Brit about her past. I hope that scene happened because Brit wanted to get that information out. I just wish we were at a place where a woman could say, "Yeah, I did sex work by choice. I had fun and made good money. So what?" Angela, WTF? You're a first-season try-hard. You don't get to repair a broken relationship between two show veterans. I do wish the others would quit joking about her hot flashes, though. I think it's great that she acknowledges menopause and the discomfort it causes. It feels like this cast has no chemistry. In the earlier seasons, even if the women weren't real friends, it felt like they could be. This is just a group that wants any kind of attention, even if it's negative. I'm watching for Cynthia. Her comments and expressions were the highlight of this episode for me.

I suspect that Amanda and Paige, either together or independently, came to the conclusion that not being nice to Lindsay this season would result in a not-nice edit for them. To her credit, Paige at least acknowledged her shift in attitude. Amanda has always been a stealth shit stirrer, disguising it as "concern" while smiling gently. Kyle dumped her before the start of the first season, and when he couldn't get any action anywhere else, she happily became his 2:00 AM booty call. Amanda knows who she married.

Whatever Kenya has said about her family has seemed like an explanation, not an excuse. Her mother acted as if Kenya didn't exist, and other family members wouldn't talk with Kenya about her mother's behavior. That's some pretty significant trauma. It's not a given that someone would grow out of it or stop referencing it. One of my friends experienced severe PTSD as the result of witnessing a murder as a child. She saw a therapist for most of her adult life and was still struggling when she died at age 60. We do our best with mental health treatment, but as a society, we're still a long way from understanding and supporting people in that situation. Porsha is saying that the photos were given to Kenya by a current cast member and that they were taken when Brit was underage. Since Porsha has been shown to have a very casual relationship with the truth, I'm not putting much credence in her claims. Kenya says the photos were not given to her. If Brit really was a sex worker in the past, it's likely she was an adult. I'm not sure what Porsha was trying to do with these statements. What's done is done; there's no need to try to make it worse.

I've been thinking they weren't over the breakup, but this makes more sense. They were friends for a lot longer than they were lovers. After the first breakup, they were able to be friends again. This time, they weren't, so they're both floundering, each in his or her own way. I'd like to see more of Imrul, too. Unlike West and Jesse, he's straight up offering sex, not tooling women with the false promise of a relationship. On another note, I'm not sure I'd want relationship counseling from either West or Ciara.

I can help! Yes, Brit apologized, wrote a note, and brought flowers. I think that was even genuine. What I meant was that she's not doing that now. She's gone from complete apologist to total victim. Sorry, I thought I was clear that I meant now. As soon as Brit could assume a different role, she did.

There's a difference between Kenya's action and her reaction. Watching Kenya during the conversation about Kelli's violent ex, I remembered that there's violence in Kenya's past. It's possible that Brit's remarks triggered her. Whether Brit meant anything by what she said or not, if Kenya felt threatened, she felt threatened, end of story. Her emotions, her reaction, were valid. It's Kenya's actions that were reprehensible. She suffered the consequences of her actions, but I'm going to give her some grace for her reaction because of her mental health issues. She has since accepted responsibility for her actions and apologized to Brit. Brit, on the other hand, gets nothing from me. She's taking no responsibility for her words and is behaving like a victim who has been vindicated. Regardless of what she intended, the statements themselves were repulsive, especially in our current climate, as Keywestclubkid pointed out. It would have been great for Bravo to send a message about that and fire her, too. But this is Bravo, where bad behavior is often rewarded with another season.