RHONY is back, and in the supersized season premiere, the drama is already ablaze.
As always, I love to start these season premiere reviews taking note of the difference in production and editing.
RHONY Editing and Production
It’s clear Bravo hired a new creative team because commercials and promo for upcoming shows are next level!
I love all the vibrant colors and hues used. It’s all visually very striking.
This new season’s editing style reminds me a lot of the RHOC season 17 reunion. You can see the larger than life beachscape behind the women on the couch. I felt that same “vibe” during the season premiere. It makes sense considering New York is essentially the eight Housewife.
Which brings us to the RHONY episode open.
The season premiere starts three months in the future at the title card photoshoot. The group is fractured as they get ready to pose with their apples.
The RHONY ladies go from all posing straight into the taglines and it was BRAVO BRAVO F*CKING BRAVO. I haven’t seen a transition that seamless since RHOBH turned into Vanderpump Rules.
Brynn and her New Apartment
The first scene kicks off with our modern-day Carrie Bradshaw. Brynn Whitfield caught major slack last season being unable to film in her apartment. Reality TV and HW watchers are a nosy bunch. Bravo does a good job of giving us the illusion of being “invited” into these ladies’ homes and families. When meeting an entirely new group of women, not showing someone in their home essentially closes off an entire part of themselves. Brynn’s home is Brynn – beautiful, zany, and full of character.
Speaking of beauty, Brynn’s brother Daris is in town who she is trying to encourage to move back to the city. The episode closes at her party she threw for him but more on that later.
Love having the opportunity to see Brynn’s fine ass brother again #RHONY pic.twitter.com/5m3luiGhqF
— Taste of Reality (@TasteOf_Reality) October 2, 2024
The scene could not end before Brynn could make some sort of sex joke or innuendo. This time, the spherical shape of her throw pillow.
Jessel Takes the Subway
Someone pointed out on Twitter (I refuse to conform and call it X) that Jessel moved to the city as a “poor intern.” That was one of her storylines last season.
It’s a tad inconceivable to believe that she’s only ridden the train 2 times in her life! I live in Florida and have surpassed that count.
Whether that was a bit or not, I still enjoyed seeing Jessel out of place on a New York subway. The “Paris and Nicole” schtick is certainly not new but it does work. For me anyway.
Pavit has turned his hazing last season into his new career of being a food influencer. BRILLIANT. I love marketing opportunities that derive organically. It makes them more enjoyable to support.
It was weird, however, that Pavit prefers Elon Musk to Beyonce. I think that singular statement spoke volumes, but this is not the article for that thesis.
Also, spending almost $1000 a month on uber?? Girl just take the train! If it’s good enough for Andy Cohen its good enough for Jessel Taank.
Ubah Hot Missing in Action
We don’t see much of Ubah this episode and to be honest, I am not super sad about it. I am excited at the potential to meet her “ubah hot” beau, though.
She does reveal that she’s open to having a baby. I don’t know if its in the Caroline Stanbury/Sergio way, or if she’s for real. Either way, that baby will be more beautiful than I could ever dream to be.
Meet Rebecca Minkoff
Ashley brought up a good point, wasn’t Rebecca Minkoff slated to be a full-time housewife? Seemingly she is just a “friend of.” I wonder if the recent news about asking Jenna Lyons to “fake a feud” with her had anything to do with it?
If you don’t know Becky, you might have seen her purses at Nordstrom Rack as Brynn affectionally shared lol. She enters the scene, literally, during a lunch with both Erin Lichy and Ubah.
The ladies are giving Rebecca the lowdown on the group dynamic. We begin to learn that Brynn is on the outs with Erin over ubergate.
Jenna F’ing Lyons
We know that Jenna is the most aloof housewife of this lot. She mentions she’s been with her partner for about 1 year and was preparing to meet her mother. I hope that satisfied your interest because that’s all you’re getting out of that relationship, allegedly. Not sure what Midas touch Jenna must have to not show her relationship, but perhaps that’s where all her money went? LOL.
We meet the new NYC housewife through Jenna, Racquel Chevremont. Racquel and Jenna have quite a few similarities which bonded them. They both divorced men around the same time, and then began dating women. I love this pipeline, and I think I’m going to really enjoy Racquel as well.
Ubergate
The point of contention during the season premiere centered around Jenna’s financial status. Both Brynn and Erin have different recollections of what went down in the Hamptons. Long story short, the game of telephone prevails.
From what I gathered…Jenna and Erin were driving Jenna’s old car around the beach. The car broke down and required the ladies to uber to their destination. Erin suggested an Uber, of which she booked. Those are the “facts.”
The drama, however, is in the details.
Erin tells Brynn and Jessel what happened and added her own sauce and spin to the story. From that story, Brynn hears that Jenna is having financial problems because her car broke down and she didn’t offer to pay for the uber.
Erin says she told the story in jest and meant no malice about the situation.
Speaking of Erin…
Erin’s Life
This was a tough episode for the mezcal lover. Her father actually passed away recently, which makes the storyline about her mother being diagnosed with breast cancer that much sadder.
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She also revealed that she and Abe were having marital issues. Well, kinda. In her confessional she refused to speak candidly about her fights with Abe. I’m sure that will be revealed as the season plays out, but the dinner party scene was awkward.
Erin pulled a Heather Dubrow and scolded Abe for making a joke about “taking schrooms.” Though she herself made a similar joke, which Abe was calling back to. Erin was fine with the joke, but didn’t appreciate it being made on camera.
It seems all the ladies are very hyper aware of the cameras and how they are being perceived, which is a valid emotion. I would be contrived AF given the same deck of cards, but they need to work a little more on making it look “easy.” I feel for them given the big OG shoes to fill, but they are a really great bunch and have magic together. They don’t need to try *so* hard to make fetch happen. Just be natural and it’ll work. That’s the trick to a successful season.
Back to the review!
Brynn’s Dinner Party
The drama during the episode comes to a head.
I never in a million years would have likened Pavit to Dory from finding Nemo and now I truly can’t unsee it. Sai was wrong for texting that to Brynn, but also, so so right.
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Brynn is at the center of the drama, as per.
The ladies argue over literal words. That’s all it is. Erin, I’m sure, insinuated that it was weird that Jenna didn’t offer to pay, and Brynn took that and ran all the way to her fancy apartment with it.
The event concludes with Erin excusing herself from the conversation due to Brynn twisting her words.
Jessel blaming “mom brain” to avoid getting brought into the mess.
Brynn leaves the party she threw for her brother after Sai scolds her for revealing the Dory text to the group.
What an episode.
Final Thoughts
The RHONY Reboot gets a ton of slack. I’m ironically currently rewatching The Real Housewives of New York and I don’t think anyone can truly top the lightening in the bottle that it was. It’s quintessential Housewives. It’s cozy, its comforting and its the very best of Bravo.
We shouldn’t compare the RHONY reboot to the OG seasons. There’s no comparison. But lest we not forget why the reboot happened in the first place. Sometimes things need to end, as hard as it is. Luckily for us, we can relive those iconic moments whenever we want.
I’m here for the next gen of Bravo, and I think the new RHONY ladies are doing a great job with the passed torch. That’s just a little taste of my opinion anyway.
