Season 10 of The Real Housewives of Potomac isn’t bad, especially in comparison to the lackluster seasons of The Real Housewives of Atlanta we’ve gotten in recent years. Despite its successes, there are some major flaws.
There’s more than one thing wrong with the season, but we will start with the biggest of them all.
The Stacey take-down…attempt
Right off the bat, with the absence of Karen Huger as she served her DUI-related jail time, something was amiss. Enter Stacey Rusch, who has saved the season and invigorated new life into the franchise as it reaches the 10-year mark. Andy Cohen said it best: Stacey Rusch is Bravo’s best casting decision in the past decade.
Stacey is everything a housewife should be: intelligent, poised, family-oriented, beautiful, sellable, and relatable. But she has a star quality about her because she’s witty yet kooky. There’s something very green about Stacey, but she’s not dumb. And she is playing the reality game well. But unfortunately, it’s at the detriment of her relationships with her co-stars. For the very reason she’s a quintessential housewife, they hate her for it. And the hate is loud.
Stacey has been coined a liar by her castmates since the TJ fiasco. She’s been accused of faking a relationship for the sake of the show. Her co-stars also claim she’s not forthcoming about business ventures and beyond. No one, not most viewers, believed Stacey and TJ were an actual item. Yes, she hasn’t always been fully truthful, but who on this show has? Most, if not all of them, have faked relationships.
Ashley Darby seemingly faked love for financial security with her elderly ex. Gizelle Bryant hasn’t been the same since her former flame, Sherman, left her when she had to go solo to Candiace Dillard Bassett’s wedding in Season 3, only for her to circle the block with her ex-husband and get played in Seasons 4-5 with her ex, Jamal Byrant, who is now married to a woman many fans say is her doppelganger. Charrise Jackson Jordan was in an unhappy marriage for decades while her then-husband lived in a different state and allegedly with another woman, while she allegedly dated younger suitors. And let’s not even talk about the Juan and Robyn Dixon of it all. All of those antics and her covering up for him may have even caused her to lose her flute. So why are they going so hard at Stacey?
For Ashley to call Stacey a “lying ass hoe” and act as if she’s been the poster child for transparency when she refused to acknowledge her old ex-husband’s alleged escapades with any man or woman from Virginia to London is wild. Not to mention, Ashley barely spoke about her very lengthy divorce proceedings with Michael. Enough is enough.
What makes all of this better, however, is that Stacey remains unfazed. She’s a troll, an elegant one at that, who plays into the BS with her vast vocabulary and unbothered demeanor, and she comes out on top every time. The constant need for a “gotcha” moment with Stacey from the collective is exhausting. It hasn’t worked yet. Stacey is here to stay.
K and Angel
Sophomore housewife Keiarna “K” Stewart and newbie Angel Massie may be one of the worst duos in Real Housewives history, with their performance this season even worse than Porsha Williams and Shamea Morton during one of their seasons as a duo. Both K and Angel had the potential to be great housewives. They’re both successful in their respective industries, they’re both beautiful, and they both have interesting family dynamics. But they’ve clearly taken Real Housewives bootcamp and studied previous GOATs of the game. Their emulations have fallen flat, the strategies aren’t great, and most of all, they make a horrible team. And unfortunately, they aren’t that dynamic in their solo efforts on the show either.
Angel came in great, but the moment her budding friendships with some of her new co-stars made her longtime friend K uncomfortable, she seemingly chose to play follow the leader. The problem is that K isn’t seasoned enough in this Housewives universe for her to play mentor to Angel.
Angel has also taken the nitpicking and victim approach in dealing with the other women. Her one-sided feud with Wendy Osefo is misdirected. It appears that because she knows Gizelle is the queen bee of the franchise, she prefers not to come for her, at least not to her face. And K’s gripe with Stacey doesn’t make sense, and her rehearsed reads are constantly falling flat. I wanted more for them. I don’t know if they are right for the show.
Monique’s return
Hazel is back. When viewers first met Monique Samuels in Season 2, she was a devoted housewife, mother, eager entrepreneur, and former rapper who could spit 16 bars at request. But we have to ask: Is she a part of a larger game that she may not be as equipped as she thinks she is to win? And does she realize that?
For many, it seems as if she is again being played like a fiddle by Gizelle and Ashley. Even if Ashley and Monique are friends, Ashley’s loyalty with always lie with her fellow OG, Gizelle. Think about it: When is the last time Gizelle and Ashley have been at odds? Probably Season 1.
They keep one another’s secrets while exposing others’, and they understand they need one another to keep the show and drama going. Gizelle has never been a fan of Monique and her former four homes. While some fans thought Gizelle always saw Monique as competition, Gizelle will now tell you was hard on Monique because she felt as if she was inauthentic. As we remember, Gizelle was the main person who vilified Monique after the wine bar brawl between her and Candiace, and did everything in her power to exile her from the group.
Now, since Monique is divorced, she wants to bond and get to know her. But we must ask, where was all of this compassion when she claimed she saw Monqiue being taken advantage of in her marriage? As a woman who has been through hell with an ex, she could have been a source of support to Monique. Instead, she was her adversary and made it a point to try and expose the cracks in Monique’s life at the time. She also seemed to play a part in the dissolution of Monique’s friendship with Candiace.
Why is she being kind to Monique now? Season 5’s binder gate. Monique is the only person to have ever successfully chin-checked Gizelle (a nod to K and Angel). Is the strategy the age-old adage, “If you can’t beat them, join them”?
Wendy, Wendy, Wendy
Bravo cameras reportedly picked up filming once the fraud charges came down. In the midseason trailer, we didn’t see any buildup to what happened or any cast hints, despite Ashley making jokes during a karaoke performance that the fraud charges were not a surprise. What I do know is we’d better get time dedicated to the fallout, and I expect a deep dive at the reunion and a 1:1 with Cohen.
To be candid, since her mommy makeover and personality shift in Season 6, Wendy has always come off as lost to me. The fraud charges have added to my previous suspicions. She gives great fashion, and she can sometimes give a good soundbite, but I personally will always feel like she traded in CNN and Hopkins to live and dress like a City Girl. But where has it gotten her? We all love fun and frolic, but at what cost? It’s like she’s trying to regain time she feels she lost. Housewives viewers love a good prison story, so she’s likely secured her return for at least two more seasons as we watch this legal stuff unravel.
We need the Grand Dame
Yes, Karen was serving time, and we see that she’ll have some screen time upon her release, and a highly anticipated 1:1 with Cohen, but was there not a way to follow her storyline from the pin? We could have had some meet-ups with Ray, instead of getting second-hand info from Cookie. Karen’s absence was felt. She’s the core piece of the puzzle in the group, and regardless of her being able to shut a b***h down with a quick comeback, she always finds a way to play mother hen and bring resolve. No one else on the cast has that capability.
Potomac got a lot right this season, but there was also a lot that was wrong. They are on the right track, and RHOP remains a top franchise. Once Karen returns full-time, I am confident things will fully gel.