RealReality

Which is part of the reason the whole thing was so suspicious. Gizelle is too smart not to know how shady Jamal is. That restaurant scheme should have set her spidey senses tingling. I mean, the restaurant was in a different state and none of them seemed to have aspirations of going into business or going to culinary school. I was LOL'ing when they thought were excitedly hoping for Beyonce concert tickets and ended up with some deed to a restaurant. Oh, and bonus, they could work there for tips in the summer! Lucky girls!

The only place I can fault gizelle is for letting Jamal get their daughters mixed up in all this. They may not have gotten to that restaurant yet but the whole thing is extremely suspicious. Jamal can do what he wants, but gizelle should have been objecting from the mountaintop. Jamal positively oozes and that restaurant sounded scammy. But other than that yeah, Jamals tax problems are not her own. She isn't married to Jamal. But it won't stop Karen from desperately trying to compare the two.

And not to put too fine a point on it, it sends an awful message when a person "becomes prettier" and acts stupid. As if this we should expect beautiful women to be stupid. Wendy railed against stereotypes as she plays into one.

I think its why Karen has to resort to lying. She will always lose a battle of wits to gizelle. Karen has some good one liners, but she cannot think on her feet like gizelle. And so karen just ends up making shit up, so she can keep up. Her line about Jamal living in gizelles phone was funny, but felt maybe practiced.

I mean revulsion is a strong feeling, so technically Nichole wasn't lying. I'm unclear about why Daonte was hauling around the gifts he gave her in his trunk. Daonte knew she was using him and he knew he was trying to buy her. I don't think its any great mystery that, when he got mad at her, he immediately demanded his stuff back (not this episode, but the last episode when she found her namesake in a cloth bag under the bed). I can't believe Zakk let himself get involved in this mess, is the sex worth it to get entangled in this disaster?

So, I was telling my mom about a party I was invited to the other day, because I secretly believe my parents don't think I have friends. The first words out of my moms mouth were "don't wear something stupid" and by golly when I saw that picture of Wendy that was the first thought that came to my mind. Working a pole is work, I've seen p-valley

This is an interesting point that you make. I think that had it JUST been the wardrobe that may have been one thing (I think the bus look was just bad, like just really bad, IMO - I can't imagine who I'd think that looks good on) but Wendy is like changing everything. From the rooter to the tooter as they say! Its not just the clothes, its the confounding ignorance and bad decision making, its the screaming catch phrases and this focus on presenting herself as almost wholly a one dimensional person that is jarring Wendy last season was of the cool and intelligent analysis. She, with Robyn calmly explained why Monique was full of shit to her face. Now she is out here trying to make 'TICK TOCK BITCH, I GOT TIME" happen. I barely heard any explanation about how or why she thought Mia was in the wrong, it was like 0-100. Wendy last season was intelligent and thoughtful. Now she doesn't know that you need to register a business? She doesn't know you need a business plan if you want to be the black Martha Stewart? She literally just bought some random candles and put them in a box? She didn't even do a google search? Karen has ZERO degrees and managed to figure out perfume and wigs, Wendy is a doctor with four degrees and doesn't know to ask someone how you start a small business. Wendy's candles are such an aggressively bad idea that its almost like failing at this business is strategic and all part of a storyline because it makes no sense. And its the personality change. Its not just the skimpy clothes, if Wendy wore skimpy clothes and was the same person, I think it would be like "oh, okay!" But everytime she walks into a room, she is talking about her tits or shaking her ass. And both of these are totally fine, and I understand that people can be both thoughtful and introspective AND willing to drop it like its not (As a gemini I know all about dual personalities) but we like almost never saw any part of this with Wendy last year. Even when she was being silly, there wasn't....almost this hypersexualization. like"hey i walked in a room, look at my ass in these shortie shorts!"

I can only speak for myself, but I never saw Wendy that way and I think the cliche is old. The whole "respectability" debate has been going on forever. It's the hair styles the outfits, the makeup. I feel like all this was first an issue with the rise of computers. A lot of people were extremely intelligent but non conformist. Especially women in the field. So, I dont know why Wendy thinks this is some kind of ground breaking discussion. It really isn't.

I agree. But I think that Karen may be protective of Ray moreso than herself. I think its different when someone comes for Jamal because I don't think gizelle gives a shit about Jamal unless it's directly reflecting on her. The only time I've seen gizelle really upset was over sherman. Gizelle went scorched earth and no one who was involved in that is on the show today except Karen.

I wish Karen would just say that. She has every right to be pissed over that t-shirt which was a shitty thing for gizelle to do. Residual anger over that is much more understandable. You don't kick someone when they're down. Gizelle was dead wrong for that.

I would bet you $100 that Gordon had those franchises before she met him. And it's why she drives me nuts. She knows damn well she didn't open or run those businesses. She is taking credit for her husband's accomplishments and that's not cool.

That scene in the park was odd. Like first she makes it a point to talk to her kids about her mom (why?) and then she tells them to leave as she proceeds to talk to Gordon about her mom. And I think one kid may have still been there. I dont really care about Mia and I don't care about her mom but it's odd to me that she intermittently talks about her mom in front of her kids. It's not like she talked about anything shocking after she sent the kids away.

And because I am a petty betty, let me just link to this candle recipe which is listed as a beginner project with four ingredients and takes only an hour to make. https://www.brambleberry.com/in-the-studio/projects/candle-and-home/magnolia-and-tonka-candle-project/PS000264.html I have now officially done more research into a candle making business than Wendy.

Ashley needs this check more than anyone I suspect. She has 2 kids, her husband is waiting for a call from Juan Dixon so they can run away together and I get a sneaky suspicion Michael Darby may be laundering money. She doesn't have a secondary business venture and her "entertainment" career kinda flopped. It looks like Ashley is more than happy to pick up her messy mantle and make it sound like Gizelle was talking shit about Wendy. And ZenWen is gonna go for it, because I guess she needs this check too. That recorded class session sounded like some hot, buttered garbage.

That was bizarre. Mia was unnecessarily rude about the initial invitation and now she just rolls over? Uh, no, if you two need to be together all the time, just spend the night in the same HUGE ASS ROOM. Robyn needs to realize that this is part of the reason why people just see her as Gizelle's sidekick. You two can be apart for like 10 minutes.

I have it on good authority that thats how Martha Stewart became the icon she is today. No research. All kidding aside, I have to wonder if this was all for a storyline because no way is Wendy this stupid. it just doesn't make any sense "my passion is candles!" also "I do not make any candles, I did not do any research into candles and about three minutes ago I mentioned that I actually wanted to start a line of home goods that goes far beyond candles"

Where to even begin. 1. An unkind truth is not the same as a lie Karen. Stop comparing the two. 2. Mia is still fake and her whole storyline feels unnatural. I'm not emotionally invested enough in Mia to really care about her childhood as much as she wants me to. Kenya also had a strained relationship with her mother, but they let the storyline build more naturally. 3. I wonder if Mia and Karen get along because they both lie with such ease 4. Ashley just gave birth, but she NEEDS this paycheck. I wonder how she felt about being excluded from the trip and only finding out about it from Gizelle. That kinda means the producers didn't particularly feel like they needed her there. 5. I, once again, am flabbergasted by and disappointed in Wendy. The whole "I should have the freedom to be the pretty girl, non-stereotypical boxed in [scientist/teacher/professor/astronaut/mathematician]" has been overdone since the first librarian undid her hair and forgot she needed glasses in every 80s movie. There is nothing new and cutting edge about this, whats new and cutting edge is when women stop thinking about it. When women dress how they want, listen to what they want and do their hair how they want without any conversation about respectability thats new and groundbreaking. When what others want or expect is not even an agenda item. Very few people can achieve this. But the conversation Wendy is having is nothing new. 6. Still extremely confused about ZenWen's passion for candles. I thought she was going to be Martha Stewart? Why hasn't she made a candle? How can you be passionate for candles and you don't even make them? Wendy, at best, is passionate about selling candles? But she doesn't seem to be passionate about that since she doesn't have any kind of plan. 7. I sincerely hope all of this is some strategy on Wendys part to stay on the show. I damn near cringed at that outfit she wore on the bus. Girl, NO.

Doug, having spent a grand total of 10 minutes in dougies life, is demanding "respect" and excuses his behavior because "well I didn't like how he talked to me." I can clown in daonte and Stan all day, but Doug is the absolute fucking worst. Why didn't they just put that poor child up for adoption.

You all are never gonna guess who ALSO has candles

I find Mia worse, because at least Wendy put in the work for those degrees. Mia is just taking credit for Gordon's success. I wonder if she is being this obnoxious on purpose so people talk about her.

That is downright budget for a brazilian human hair wig. Thanks for the heads up, I would have assumed a sky-high markup because she is "famous". I'll have to check it out!

Here you are asking the REAL questions. They should have had you interview the designers. I love me some diva Naomi. You're also right about the critiques. Nichole Richie and Naomi Campbell looked about ready to go at each others throats, which is great reality TV, so I don't know why they got rid of them. But both gave critiques that were about the actual designs, as well as they guy they had on the show. Although, I think "80s sad clown" is hilarious

I agree. I was "meh" on the show last year, in part because of the gimmicks, and I think those gimmicks included the winner. One of the cool things about fashion is that your design should be able to speak for itself. When someone says something like "you have to TELL me what your clothes are about" it sounds ridiculous and like emperors new clothes "don't bother to have a visceral response, let me explain to you why you like my clothes even if you don't like how they look" The idea that they want some cookie cutter, interview ready, corporate fashion designer is silly to me. Some of the greatest designers of the 80s and 90s were diva personalities. This is what made them intriguing. They were quirky, interesting, difficult personalities with genius level creativity and talent. They weren't judged on oratory. I'm already bored with Winnie and the other guy who is trying too hard to be Michael Kors. I love me some diva Naomi Campbell. Also, the judging is ridiculously tortured. You don't need to tell everyone "congratulations! you are making the cut" save that for the person who won. And "did you change your mind?" "Did YOU change your mind" judging takes longer than it has to with all this filler. The only interesting designers are Gary and Andrea S (the bridal designer). Everyone else is just a caricature of past project runway contestants. I really, really liked what Gary put down the runway, I think his process is incredibly interesting, I love his story. If I get bored and check out the rest of this season I'd put money on him to win it......if he isn't run ragged in the process. I'm bored with Winnie but "sad clown from the 80s" was hilariously accurate.

It sounds ridiculous and I don't like Karen but I love her bringing attention to minorities living in rural America, wifi access and black farmers. I feel like food deserts are kinda played out. Not that they arent a problem, but it's had a spotlight and so there are several innovative solutions people are putting forward. I'm ALWAYS here for the drama but I appreciate when they shine a light on these issues and I liked hearing about it on RHOA

But her plastic surgery and fillers are so poorly done. Her face looks alien to me.