RHONY Off to a Shaky Start

 

 

The Real Housewives of New York City premier kicks off with all the usual images of a bustling New York City; packed outside cafés, noisy traffic, crowded Avenues, and joggers and dog walkers everywhere you look. Then it flashes ahead to the bleak reality of New York City today, with images right out of Will Smith’s I am Legend” (or The World, the Flesh, and the Devil if you’re old like me), and unfortunately, those images are what sets the tone for what appears to be a challenging season filmed during a historic pandemic.

 

Returning cast member Leah is introducing us to newbie Eboni by meeting her at a park bench for some coffee where they do their best to convey some kind of pre-existing friendship. It is virtually the identical scene where Tinsley introduced us to Leah last season. Eboni’s thirst is next level, and I find her rather off putting thus far, but I’m keeping an open mind.

 

Ramona arrives at Luann’s new bachelorette pad . She has unloaded that round 80’s nightmare Scandinavian home on the Hudson River, and has STRIKE bought STRIKE rented yet another apartment on the Upper East Side which unbeknownst to her, looks directly into her last husband (Tom’s) “penthouse” terrace. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t buy this scenario, but we are talking about a recovering alcoholic. Speaking of alcoholism, Luann has had an epiphany; she no longer NEEDS to drink (translation: she fell off the wagon). Her new digs are just a hop, skip, and stumble away from Ramona’s condo, so the two OG’s plan on using this as a bonding experience.

 

As we’re reconnecting with all the women, we see Ramona at home with her ex-husband, Mario. The typical hair-tossing giggly Ramona emerges as she offers to cook for him anytime he’s in the city. In return, he tells her to come visit him in Florida. Clearly, Ramona will flirt with every man she encounters, even cheating exes.

 

Next we see Leah going to boxing trainer, Martin, that strange dude whom the producers are obviously really trying to make happen. Leah tells him she has a new nose (could have fooled me), a new apartment, and a whole new lease on life. She tells us that she was “called” to convert to Judaism; probably not a bad idea when you’re gold digging husband hunting in NYC.

 

Next, we catch up with Sonja, who according to Ramona and Lu, has been missing in action for six months, not even returning texts. We meet Sonja’s newest hapless “intern”, Zoe, who apparently needs instruction on how to fill a bath. Sonja says her interns learn invaluable skills, like how to prepare a bath, how to do laundry, and how to load a dishwasher, stuff you don’t learn that at Wharton.

 

Sonja has all the ladies over for a little afternoon garden party, including Eboni, whose first reaction to meeting Sonja is “Is she for real?”. All the women are looking at Eboni like she’s from outer space, and the awkwardness is palpable. Sonja shows Eboni the fish in her fountain, pointing out that she has black and white fish, and Eboni hilariously adds, “I see you have some larger fish for body positivity as well!”.  Bravo just can't help themselves.

 

Luann invites all the women to her Sag Harbor house in the Hamptons, and Eboni seizes the moment to school the women on black history, informing them that black people weren’t allowed to own property in Sag Harbor. Ramona tells Eboni that she feels a certain bond with her that she doesn’t feel with most people, and Leah reminds Ramona that she said the same thing to her the season before.

 

All in all, I thought it was a decent premier, but I still don't like Leah, and I can tell Eboni's disingenuous preaching on "social justice" is going to get really old, really fast.  Also, I'm still missing  Bethenny.