I’m a bit late to the party here (just watched the ep) but I thought I would leave a few thoughts.
This was probably the most lame episode ever. Not the worst business, but the worst episode. It begs the question whether it was just some “filler“ episode they slapped on TV while they were filming real episodes?
It also, to a limited degree, tarnished my perception of the show. I think it is a grave strategic mistake for the show to go the “celebrity route“ where actors become the stars. It is obvious to me Marcus treated her differently than non-celeb owners. This sort of thing lowers my respect for him and faith in the show.
Yes, I know “Reality TV“ isn’t real, and that it really should be called “unscripted TV”. But even unscripted TV is still choreographed, and in this episode the choreography was way too invasive. Such episodes stain the integrity of the show.
It is also clear she almost certainly did the show for its “advertising affect“. Reportedly, her net worth is approximately $3 million, so it’s not like she was facing poverty. She can easily cover the relatively small deficits that the business is suffering, and she didn’t really need Marcus, and I strongly suspect did not really want him either.
Moving onto Monica Potter herself, first, I am shocked that an actor would let themselves be in such a situation. Brand is everything in that business. To be honest, she reminds me of a woman I used to date (for about 6mo) several years ago. Later, I found out she had been diagnosed with something called “borderline personality disorder“, which best I can tell means, “we really don’t know why you’re so narcissistic, selfish, hateful, dramatic, and controlling..so we invented this label for such cases..”. Second, the way she treated her sister was appalling. No thoughtfulness, no empathy... just an “ I am Monica Potter, and you are *just* her sister, don’t ever forget that..” sort of hatefulness. Third, her “woe is me“ self-sacrificial perception of herself, honestly made me wonder if she was going to hop up on a cross and ask somebody to drive some nails into her hands. Utterly distasteful. Before this episode, I would have rated her a B-list actress. After the episode, I’m thinking more C-list. Regardless, at least on the show, she came across in a very poor light, at least by my values.
Lastly, I have a question, perhaps I just missed the answer because I was being triggered by Monica Potter. Marcus wrote her a check for $100,000 (yeah, we know that “the check“ is a prop primarily), and I don’t remember the show showing anything about him getting his money returned?
