‘Real Housewives of Potomac’ Is Officially in Its Flop Era

Like most long-running television series, every great Real Housewives franchise has its peaks and valleys. While it’s hard digesting an awful season in the moment, all it takes is some slight recasting or some changes in production to make viewers forget all the dullness we previously sat through. Sometimes, what we initially consider low points in a franchise later become the reason a show is our favorite.

That said, I can’t imagine ever wanting to revisit this utterly drab season of Real Housewives of Potomac, which has fallen in quality severely since its stellar season premiere. While Potomac is one of the few franchises that has gradually gotten funnier, juicier, and more iconic as the years go by, Season 7 has offered viewers nothing but (failed) orchestrated takedowns, weird lesbian panic, and an unspoken beef between Karen Huger and ex-Housewife Charisse Jackson Jordan. And don’t get me started on Robyn Dixon’s prenup discussions!

It’s not that these women aren’t still ridiculously funny, savagely shady, or charmingly tacky. Rather, Potomac is suffering from what I always considered to be Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’s downfall from the start: These women know the game too well and are in full self-producing mode.

Of course, what cast member doesn’t fully understand the rules of Housewives at this point, and would eagerly use certain strategies to their advantage? If you have a particularly bad season, you can spread rumors about one of your castmates in the next to deflect attention. If someone pisses you off, you can refuse to film with them or invite them to events.

In the case of Jen Shah, you could blackmail them. Or if you’re Ashley Darby and you’ve spent most of your tenure defending your soon-to-be ex-husband from cheating and sexual assault allegations, you can orchestrate a plot to make someone else’s husband look bad—albiet very poorly.

This is currently what we’ve had to suffer—although, it’s certainly galvanized social media—in the first half of Season 7. In a not-so-shocking turn of events, Candiace Dillard-Bassett’s husband Chris Bassett has repeatedly been accused of… not exactly infidelity, but having eyes for other women. Or maybe just speaking to other women in a friendly manner. Or putting his elbow on a bar. It’s hard to get the gist!

Anyway, it began with Gizelle Bryant telling Candiace that she felt uncomfortable after last season’s reunion when Chris allegedly asked to speak to her in her dressing room with the door closed. Of course, Gizelle, the cast’s head mastermind, waited until filming to bring this up, seemingly with the intention to humiliate Candiace or, at the very least, stir up some drama. As underwhelming as the accusation was, it was enough to spur a signature Candiace meltdown and a breaking of the fourth wall.

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More egregious claims were later launched by Ashley and her friend Deborah—oof, Deborah—about Chris, confirming or at least hinting at some sort of weird, premeditated campaign against the Bassett family. Ashley was initially confused when Chis responded to one of her Instagram Stories, casually inviting her to drink at the W Hotel, where, unbeknownst to Ashley, he works. Fair enough! However, once this was cleared up, she inserted poor Miss Deborah, who alleged that Chris was being flirtatious at Karen’s spring celebration. Mia Thornton also joined the chorus, claiming that Chris was staring at her at the same party.

The Plot Against Chris reached a hilarious tipping point last week when Ashley, Deborah, and their group of friends met with Gizelle to rehash Chris’s alleged flirting and even asserted that Wendy Osefo’s husband Eddie was apparently too “happy” around them. When Ashley brings Deborah to Karen’s live show later in the episode, it’s clear she wants to get a rise out of Candiace. But for the first time in her history on the show, the “Drive Back” singer didn’t take the bait, instead calling Deborah a Sesame Street character (presumably for her thick, Bert-esque eyebrows) and refusing to give her any extra screen time. Similarly, Wendy and Eddie laughed off Deborah’s insinuations. Can a brother not smile?!

The thing is, even if the claims against Chris are true, none of them are really that damning. At worst, Chris is being accused of finding women besides his partner attractive. In Gizelle’s case, no one really knows what happened; both she and Chris have relayed different versions of the event. Not to mention, at that same party where Chris was supposedly infatuated with Deborah, the cast was joking about Karen’s husband Ray having a crush on former castmate Katie Rost, who was in attendance. She even grabbed his butt! It all seems very hypocritical and orchestrated.

Additionally, it feels like this mission to vilify Chris (but primarily Candiace, given that her and Ashley are enemies) has also been falsely equated to some sort of #MeToo witch hunt on social media and the show. To be clear, there’s a difference between flirting and crossing a line of consent. It seems like whatever discomfort these women have around Chris, legitimate or not, is due to his married status, not that he’s made any of them feel unsafe.

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These rumors are being treated with such gravity that even the editors have inserted themselves in this debacle. It’s helpful and even satisfying that we get to see footage of the situations these women are describing, which have largely been in Chris (and Eddie’s) favor. However, I don’t think the cheeky chyrons are appropriate. While the fanbase seems to love the show’s production, their editorializing is becoming a bit superfluous.

In other disappointing plotlines, Gizelle, Robyn, and Karen (mostly Gizelle) have been weirdly preoccupied with Mia and her best friend Jacqueline's intimate friendship, which includes taking showers together. Mia also put a down payment on Jacqueline’s Porsche. The big question is whether Mia, her much-older husband Gordon, and Jacqueline are a throuple, given that the married couple has participated in threesomes before—notably, with Peter Thomas’ ex-girlfriend.

Would I be somewhat intrigued if I discovered this information about a new friend? Sure. Is it worth a multi-episode arc with Mia and Jacqueline telling half-truths and essentially trolling the audience? Absolutely not. To be fair, I do think Gizelle and the other women think they’re doing the audience a favor by digging into their curious arrangement. However, I think the most satisfying conclusion to this investigation would be discovering that Mia and Jacqueline do, indeed, share Gordon sexually and financially. If so, cool! Who cares? It seems like everyone is overestimating how perturbed the Potomac fanbase is by polyamory.

It seems like this season might—might—pick up some speed during an upcoming trip to Mexico, which airs on Sunday night and, according to Bravo’s trailer, will have Karen and Charisse finally airing out their issues—which I’m not sure are separate from the issues discussed at their last reunion together. If this season was Charisse’s bid to become a full-time Housewife again, I don’t think she’s getting that champagne flute—which ironically originated from her “champagne room.” But we will get to see Karen yell across a table and threaten to “whoop” someone’s ass “in this place.” Unfortunately, that seems like the best we can hope for during this snoozy season.

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