The Real Housewives of Potomac Reunion Recap: Liar, Liar

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Last week, I started discussing how reunion shows have become more about creating drama than showing reality, with the cast members exaggerating their personalities to an extreme degree. I still believe that’s true, but I didn’t anticipate how clearly the cast would reveal the artificiality of it all in the second part of the reunion.

The conflict between Ashley and Wendy perfectly illustrates what’s happening. The reunion starts with them arguing about who is more morally righteous. It’s worth pointing out that someone who spent years defending their husband against serious accusations doesn’t have much ground to criticize others for potentially profiting from those accused of crimes. However, Wendy’s reaction – trying to attack Ashley – wasn’t the right approach. Her attempt to highlight Ashley’s seemingly indifferent response to a text about her legal troubles felt off. It came across as simply a person not wanting to celebrate someone going to prison, but also not pretending to like them – a reasonable reaction to someone who’s often looked down on being accused of fraud. Wendy’s suggestion that this reflects poorly on Ashley’s character feels as empty as Angel’s repeated promises to be more playful.

It’s easy to see why Wendy targeted Ashley – she’d spent the whole season being rude to her future stepfather and embarrassing Napoleon. But this approach won’t work in the long run. During their argument, Wendy pointed out that Ashley’s kids don’t even know her, which only highlights the fact that, after five seasons, their families aren’t close. Why should they pretend to support Ashley as a friend if there’s no real connection? Wendy’s attempt to win the argument actually exposes a problem with reality TV: it expects friendships, but allows people to keep their distance like they’re just colleagues on a show.

The main problem with Ashley’s behavior stems from her inappropriate comments about Charrisse’s son, where she strongly hinted at a relationship beyond a kiss. Before I say more, let me clarify that I’m around Ashley’s age, and the thought of dating a man in his twenties is unappealing, let alone a friend’s son. Still, I was surprised to learn that Charrisse didn’t seem overly bothered by it at the time—as we saw on camera—and that, according to Gizelle and Ashley, she’d actually been encouraging them to get together for years. It seems Charrisse likely made those comments as a joke she didn’t expect to come true. This does cast her recent angry reactions in a different light. However, it doesn’t excuse Ashley’s pursuit of him, and it unfortunately makes Charrisse appear even less classy than I initially thought.

The women’s discussions about their dating lives continue to feel dismissive of the viewers’ experiences. Ashley mentioned dating a politician we never see, which bothered Stacey, and Gizelle openly talked about a congressman who won’t be appearing on the show. When questioned about her breakup with Josh, Ashley revealed it happened the day before filming and was simply recreated for the cameras. The other women then claimed she admitted it was all staged after filming. While we know we only see a small part of their lives, sharing details we never actually witness feels pointless and just reinforces the idea that what we’re watching isn’t genuine.

Jassi is so determined to be on TV that she’s making increasingly strange choices, even allegedly recording the other women in a misguided attempt to create drama. She seems to believe that any attention, no matter how contrived, will be enough to get her noticed and replace Keiarna. However, her desperation is backfiring. When she can’t even admit a simple disagreement with Tia wasn’t a big deal, it makes her seem disingenuous, even if she thinks she’s right. Tia quickly turned the tables by revealing Jassi’s husband’s unstable financial situation and pointing out how Jassi’s relentless pursuit of screen time has pushed everyone away. And that was before we even found out Jassi was secretly recording conversations! It’s clear her schemes have completely failed, and she’s essentially eliminated herself from contention. When her only defense is to accuse everyone else of lying, she’s admitting she has nothing left to offer.

This latest installment really hammered home something that’s been bothering me about reality TV lately: the gap between what we, the viewers, expect and what the stars are actually willing to share. Ashley seems to think viewers have gotten ‘too soft,’ that we’re not as tolerant of drama as we used to be – remember how we all ate up Karen’s antics in earlier seasons? While expectations definitely change, that doesn’t feel like the whole story. Honestly, after fifteen weeks of watching Gizelle’s daily commute, I was expecting some updates on her love life by now! And why are we just hearing about Charrisse trying to set up her son with Ashley? It feels like crucial storylines – like Jassi’s investigation into everything – were deliberately held back until the very last minute. If the biggest reveals are saved for the reunion, it starts to feel like everything we’ve watched for the past four months was…well, manufactured. I’m not sure how these shows fix this, but they need to. A show where everyone admits to plotting and strategizing off-camera, and aren’t actually friends despite years of working together, just loses all its impact. The season finale promises a showdown between Wendy and Karen, and honestly, I’m hoping it delivers something real. See you all at the reunion!

Cherry Blossoms

Honestly, watching Keiarna this reunion has been a bit sad. Aside from one awkward try to stick up for Greg with a photo, she’s mostly been stuck observing. She tried to explain her problems with Wendy, and I actually believe her side of things, but a picture of a room just didn’t do the trick. Wendy immediately countered with a perfectly timed (and probably staged) hug photo. The only time Keiarna really seemed engaged was when Jassi accused her of being a mistress – which she quickly denied on Instagram, for what it’s worth. But even then, she struggles to hold her own and mostly just gets angry. She was spot-on calling out Stacey for unfairly painting her as the villain, because that clearly stems from Stacey’s own issues, not anything Keiarna actually did. Still, she couldn’t quite capitalize on it and really pin Stacey down.

It’s clear that Mauricio’s presence on the show isn’t just a simple promotional arrangement by NBCUniversal for his agency. And frankly, it’s hard to believe any of the women – Ashley, Stacey, or Gizelle – are genuinely interested in a newly divorced man who seems to be going through a difficult time. I recognize forced storylines when I see them, and the idea that these women would risk upsetting Kyle Richards over this just isn’t believable.

Now that I know Tia researched Lisa Vanderpump before joining the show, I see her actions in a completely different light. At first, I assumed she was just caught in the middle when relaying gossip between the different friend groups. But now I’m certain she was deliberately stirring the pot. I think she’s a strategic player and I’ll be watching her closely next season.

It was good to finally hear more details about what happened with Gizelle’s father’s will, which is clearly still very upsetting for her – it’s the most emotional we’ve seen her get. As Gizelle rightly says, losing access to important family history related to the civil rights movement is even more painful than the financial loss. Hopefully, her father’s widow will face enough public pressure to fix this unfair situation.

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2026-02-23 23:56