The Real Housewives of Potomac Reunion Recap: Grande Damage Control

When we first heard that Karen Huger had chosen not to attend the RHOP reunion, the backlash was swift. For many fans, it understandably felt like she was running away from the consequences of her actions, and being held accountable for the chaos she has taken the cast through over the last few seasons. Even with the revelation that she had chosen to enter an inpatient facility, many viewers remained unsympathetic considering the footage that was widely circulating; when you’re caught on camera with a wig sitting that far back on your head as you mutter aloud in astonishment “I’m lit!” with a totaled car sitting a few yards away, you have definitely forfeited your claim to sympathy in many people’s eyes.

I don’t begrudge anyone that feeling, yet I have maintained since day one of this season that we are watching one big tragedy of someone who clung to a persona no matter how it was destroying her life and the lives of her loved ones who supported her. Ray wants to be living in Boca Raton year-round, and instead, he has to come pick her up from the side of the road while she drunkenly berates law enforcement. Her local watering hole, in an attempt to show appreciation for her constantly featuring them on TV, makes such a point of insisting she is sober that we know with near certainty that she is usually anything but. Her daughter comes down to film for a day in a show of support that is a little excessive for a mother in a stupid legal situation and more attuned to supporting a parent who is struggling to come to terms with the reality that we have long seen on our screens. And Gizelle, normally so unfazed by insults that she let her arch nemesis mock her on the reunion stage about the “Pastor Holy Whore” without letting her face crack so much as once, actually teared up at the realization that Karen finally seemed to be getting some help, as the brand of the Grande Dame lay in tatters.

Gizelle’s reaction stands out the most to me. Out of the entire cast, she has known Karen the longest on and off camera, and has repeatedly expressed that Karen’s best traits are what make her easy to love and forgive despite her massive flaws. For all intents and purposes, the façade that Karen has been trying to sell for the last few years has crumbled, and I think she knows it. Once you are sitting in front of the producers with what looks to be the same wig from her DUI with a ratty fur hat placed in top, (relatively) makeup free, despondent and speechless over being found guilty of seven felony charges, you have officially hit rock bottom with nowhere to go but up. Hopefully she is actually processing that in just a few short weeks, she went from still insisting to the producers that she was not an alcoholic to appearing in a pretaped statement to the women that she was going to seek help for her issues mixing depression medication with alcohol, to be back in good shape for her next season.

One person who will not be holding their breath for any updates, however, is Wendy Osefo. As Karen extends her apologies and thank yous, she runs down the list of supporters — Gizelle, Jassi, Keiarna, Andy, Candiace, the waiters at Tally Ho’s, her husband’s Uber account, the dogs she never adopted — and conveniently, Wendy is nowhere on the list. While I was amused to watch Wendy’s face crack at the realization that Karen squeezed in one last dig from beyond the cameras despite Wendy standing by her all season, I also can’t imagine she was surprised. As Gizelle points out, people have been telling her about Karen for years, and it was quite clear to everyone watching that them mending fences was mainly about preserving alliances and camera time. But Wendy doesn’t actually need Karen’s guidance on anything involving her home life, family, or career. (Perhaps style, as Wendy does suffer from a crisis of “wrong time, wrong place” when it comes to her outfit choices, but I wouldn’t recommend Karen as a remedy for that.) This relationship was bound to end one way or another. For now, Wendy is hurt and attempting to draw a line in the sand, but I am not convinced that her “that is not my friend” proclamations will stick; after all, she has made amends with both Gizelle and Ashley after being previously embroiled in major drama with both women. Nevertheless, only Karen can keep the drama afloat from states away; barring some legal ramifications that make it impossible, she will clearly be right back on those couches next season.

Karen’s absence from the reunion really opened up the cast to be a little more forthright about their dynamics with each other as well as with the Grande Dame. Without Karen sucking all the air out of the room with her excuses and doubletalking, we saw the room make clear that very few of them ever thought she was innocent and that it was high time she saw some repercussions. Keiarna explains that her empathy for Karen was based on how Karen supported her through her fiasco last season, something she will realize in her own time is exclusively tied to how it allowed Karen to function as her savior. In perhaps the most surprising reaction, Stacey publicly pleads for grace for Karen as she goes through recovery, which is a full 180 from where she landed at the end of the season — a reaction that definitely shocks everyone at the reunion, but seriously ruffls Gizelle’s feathers.

I still do not understand what exactly caused Gizelle and Stacey to clash, but Gizelle is not getting off her tail, and while I remain a bit confused, I am entertained watching Stacey be so flustered about it. Stacey is definitely a savvy operator who is trying to come off as clueless, and Gizelle is buying none of it, holding her to the fire for conveniently flipping on Karen at her first opportunity to do so, quietly making deals that are advantageous to her, and, in a development that we have yet to see, seemingly hiding major information about TJ. While I wish Gizelle would simply make plain what her exact issue is with Stacey (I would say it’s the wigs, but Gizelle really doesn’t have standing to be sanctimonious in that realm), I do appreciate her getting under Stacey’s skin and seeing how she reacts under pressure. Do I believe that she took a “Happy Stacey” meeting to start up her own edible business and called herself a celebrity? Absolutely, and I think watching her stutter in denial was her being caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Stacey fumbling through that denial is made all the more obvious when she lands at righteous anger when confronting Mia, who was getting comfortable to the point of being smug, hoping that Karen’s comeuppance would allow her to coast for the first part of the show. But Ashley is primed and ready to go, using her forces of chaos for good and teeing up Jassi and Stacey to confront her over a girl’s trip to Miami for Mia’s 40th birthday gone wrong. First, it’s that she had no idea that Stacey was coming, which Stacey easily refutes with text message receipts, only for Mia to claim that it was her “POC” — for point of contact, of all things — who actually sent the messages. Then she claims she spoke to both Jassi and Stacey to apologize, which she did not in any way, a fact that Stacey backs up with phone records. Then it’s that she was “only an hour late” to her birthday dinner and reached out after. It’s clear that no one’s buying any of her lies and excuses, so all she has left are the same tears we have been seeing from her all season.

Unfortunately for Mia, she has cried in front of these women one time too many, and none of them are keen to entertain her emotions, regardless of whether they are real. Wendy quickly lets her know that crying does not make her less accountable for abandoning the only friends who were on her side this season, especially when she didn’t invite any of the other women. Mia was cornered into an apology, but understandably, no one is ready to forgive her in that moment, a harbinger for the next few hours that clearly has her spiraling. If Stacey politely letting her know backstage that she isn’t ready to receive her remorse has her threatening to quit the reunion already, then we are about to be in for a rough part two, because this doesn’t even land in the top five of her offenses this year. Ultimately, I’m pleasantly shocked that these women even make attempts to see each other outside of filming; I had begrudgingly accepted that this was a “coworkers only” crowd, but all of this outside drama starting to seep in has me reluctantly optimistic about them being able to make the next era of this franchise work.

All in all, this was a fantastic way to start the reunion, and I am excited for the next two parts. See you all next week!

Cherry Blossoms:

• All of the women looked absolutely breathtaking at the reunion, Gizelle included! I have very few notes outside of personal taste.

• As we now know, Ashley and the man who collects tolls under the bridge are formally divorced, and we are free from seeing him on our cameras ever again. Blessed be!

• So GnA no longer sells clothes, is no longer trying to make money, but is now a… liaison for community events and wellness? Are they publicists now? All of this sounds like they simply didn’t want to admit they didn’t have the resources and expertise to launch a business and refuse to admit failure to this group, but whatever makes them happy!

• Jassi is a beautiful woman, and I am happy she was on the couch to properly confront Mia for her shitty behavior in Miami. However, respectfully, I hope she knows that no one but her believes the narrative she is selling about her future husband, and if that makes her happy then God be with her. Andy asking for Mia’s input as a former sidechick, however, absolutely made me scream out loud.