Just when you think the Wicked press tour can’t infiltrate more of the human experience, the forces that be have dug their claws into the world of Bravo. It’s so scary that everywhere I look, something Wicked this way comes.
Truly, we get it. No one is more likely to watch Wicked because Sai took her daughter to a fashion exhibit inspired by the movie adaptation. No one. At least when The Real Housewives of New York City did an in-show advertisement for The Hustle and Sonja Morgan talked about the riot that is that Anne Hathaway, it was camp. This is psychological warfare.
And it’s astute that this season would feature a little ad reel for Wicked that in practice seems like some good corporate synergy, but is just lifeless in reality. We’re about halfway through Season 15 of RHONY and the season is still struggling to find purpose. Finally, though, the cast has honed in on a plot that could save us all—if only it weren’t so confusing.
Rebecca Minkoff might be pregnant… with another man’s baby… after a torrid one-night stand. Or it might all be a little prank. Huh. In theory, that’s the biggest plot twist a Housewives franchise could ask for, whether or not it’s a freaky little lie or the scandal of a lifetime, so why exactly is the RHONY cast sleepwalking through the reveal? Wake up ladies, it’s showtime.
It’s not about the plot itself; it’s about how you present it. In theory, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City arguing over Alibaba drop-shipping isn’t exactly a riveting idea. It’s Meredith Marks’ transatlantic slur and Whitney’s QAnon accusations that give the whole thing some punch.
So, even though a pregnancy scandal of an alleged Scientologist should be the explosive drama RHONY needs to prove the naysayers wrong, it simply has fallen short—for now. This could just be the tip of the iceberg, or it could be the last domino that falls in favor of the anti-RHONY brigade.
How does it all go down? Well, the cast’s A-team sits down for lunch to stir the plot as transparently as possible. Brynn has taken it upon herself to become the drama queen of the cast, self-proclaiming herself a pot stirrer in her signature, put-on baby voice, to mixed results. Here, she tells Jessel that Jenna thinks she’s a “basic bitch,” negating the fact that Brynn’s the one who pushed that line of thought, and Jenna refused to play ball.
Brynn’s pathological lies have gotten so brazen that this entire cast would turn on her come reunion time if any of them actually cared about each other at all. The betrayal of trust doesn’t carry that much weight, though, since they view Brynn as that one weird co-worker who’s fun to chat with but who you have to keep at arm’s length.
Brynn is simply trying to pull off the Aviva Drescher, although she’s not exactly on the same footing. She’s just a bit too lucid to pull off this archetype.
On the flipside, Erin continues to step up as the cast member with the most classic Housewives energy. Dropping the bomb that Rebecca might be pregnant, Erin also lets slip that the father could be a huge mystery—and little do we know, the whole thing might just be an elaborate lie. Her calm demeanor whilst gossiping about this explosive rumor scratches that Housewives itch. It’s just funny.
Maybe Erin just wants to get Rebecca divorced so the two can commiserate once she rids herself of her own marriage. Apparently, Erin’s husband was once bicurious, so maybe he can get back to exploring in his singlehood. Be the next Kyle Richards, king! Or maybe it’s a convoluted attempt to prove Brynn is a gossip who can’t be trusted, giving her an obvious lie and waiting for her to blow it out of proportion.
I’m not entirely sure what’s happening here, but for the first time all season, I’m theorizing. I’m eager to see what’s next—all the while aware that the handling of this plot-line could further jeopardize the shaky season.
For some reason, the rumor comes to life at a game of dodgeball. Perhaps all the pickleball courts were booked for the day. At the game, the cast discusses Sai’s little hot mic moment, where she accidentally admitted that Rebecca is a boring presence on our screens.
Little did Sai know that Rebecca’s giving us an affair storyline simply to shake things up. She’s a philanthropist fighting for the good of this show, only to get dunked on and destroyed by all her castmates. And now the church of Scientology has hexed RHONY to a life of mundane drama and an ever-growing fan mutiny against this milquetoast season.
The actual full-time Housewives aren’t entirely willing to bare it all on screen, so they’ve found a sacrificial lamb in Rebecca. Kudos to Brynn, who manifested this drama through sheer hater energy. She must have been so thrilled. There’s nothing like your unjustified ick for someone finding validation. If it all turns out to be a lie, she’s going to short-circuit to a scary degree.
Dolled up in a “Move, I’m Gay” shirt, Brynn—who I’m pretty sure… isn’t gay—tells the entire cast the hot gossip. I’m on the fence about Brynn in general, but her saying “we all have our reasons” and then winking toward Rebecca when she said she’s sober got a real chuckle out of me. Rebecca’s proof that this cast needs some real fish out of water to balance out the rigid energy, as she accidentally makes everything funnier.
She’s a flop queen of the highest degree. Whether or not she’s carrying a baby remains to be seen, but quite frankly, she’s carrying the show. I’m not going as far to say it’s good or anything, but hey. When the post-mortems drop, I don’t want to see anybody blaming the Scientologist cheater who acts like a robot on camera.
And, for as much as I’ll rag on Jenna’s inability to play the game, at least she steps up at dodgeball to expose Brynn’s lie to Jessel and deliver the news back to Rebecca. At her best, Jenna can serve as a normie Carole Radziwill who does her best to serve as a moral compass through her own askew perspective, and here, she finds that purpose.
Jenna does that classic thing of telling Rebecca she’s heard something horrible about her, but can’t say what. It’s the most evil thing a person can do. Sadly for Rebecca, it appears the rumor may be true as she pretty quickly deduces what’s up, blasting Erin for exposing it—before revealing it was all… a soap-opera fabrication. What?
The two smirk as the episode ends on a cliffhanger, leaving us to wonder if this was all an elaborate ruse or something else entirely. It’s… bold. It’s bold. I’ll say that. Maybe they’re all sleepwalking through this plot because it’s simply fabricated. It’s too early to say, and hard to make sense of it until the other shoe drops next week.
After all, it’s not about the plot itself, but how it’s presented. This could be the weirdest Housewives plot all season, and it could be one that revitalizes the show. Next week, we’ll learn if Erin’s a Machiavellan villain pulling strings on her clueless puppets, or if the cliffhanger ending was all just a ruse to trick us, the audience, too.
