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The Real Housewives of Atlanta Recap: The Ghost of Nene Leakes

Season 15 Episode 14 Editor’s Rating2 stars **

Photo: Bravo The exotic veneer that the Portugese vacation put on this flat-lining season has entirely dissipated now that we’re back in Atlanta and back in Housewives purgatory. There was a sex toy party, the dragging of a girl-on-girl kiss storyline, and Cynthia Bailey bags; it’s as if the producers are propping up the skeleton of the old RHOA and giving us a lifeless, redundant version of what once was.

Whatever happened to fun shade? The silly reads and kikis that made RHOA stand out from the other cities. Actually, these moments, in addition to the larger-than-life personalities, are arguably what paved the way for other cities to have the success they have today. Sorry to the OGs, who are each iconic in their own way (Vicki Gunvalson is like my shitty first boyfriend, who I hate but look at fondly because of the significance of his role in my life), but RHOA catapulted Bravo into being a venerable reality TV institution that is firmly cemented in the modern zeitgeist.

Nene Leake’s two-part interview with previous RHOA producer Carlos King was both an ode to the legacy of the Atlanta Housewives and a scathing read of the show’s current state. The first part laid the groundwork for how we got to where we are today, while the second part allowed Nene to indulge us with her notorious shade. She calls the cast “starless,” questions the decision to continue bringing back old faces, and discusses her disdain for many of the new friends on the show. Hearing about the history of RHOA through the eyes of the Nene Leakes puts a lot into perspective about the rise and fall of what used to be one of the highest-rated shows on Bravo.

Since I watched the second part of the interview before I received this week’s episode, Nene’s words echoed hauntingly in the background as I watched every dull scene. The beginning twenty minutes are nearly unwatchable — the only significant moment was the return of Cynthia Bailey, which was almost as boring as the OG reunion Shereé orchestrated. Cynthia, like Kandi, gives very much supporting character energy. And, not that I blame her, she didn’t want to pulge too much about her breakup with Mike, which is the juiciest tea she has. We’ve all already stated the issue ad nauseam, but the lack of true star power leaves a gaping hole that we can’t help but fill with ghosts of Housewive’s past, the most notable being Nene herself. Love her or hate her, she made the show. She’s synonymous with Housewives and reality television, her influence reaching people who haven’t watched a single episode of the show. I guarantee the demand for non-white refrigerators reached new heights after her now famous scene with Kenya.

As Nene said in her interview, if Marlo is providing the bulk of the interesting discourse surrounding the show, production needs to rethink the cast. Outside of her strange obsession with Kandi and Kenya, Marlo is the funniest Housewife on the show right now … a sentence I didn’t think I would be typing at the beginning of the season. Nene and Carlos both pointed out that the show is missing an anchor, a position that Kenya, Kandi, and Shereé are all failing to fill. Kandi isn’t present or entertaining enough, Kenya is bored, and Shereé is, well, Shereé. Even Cynthia’s reemergence tonight isn’t enough to truly shake things up as she, too, is a Kelly or Michelle, not a Beyoncé.

This whole season feels as if we’re waiting for the star of the show to arrive, but someone forgot to give her the call time. Kandi’s Peach Buzz event celebrating the tenth anniversary of Bedroom Kandi is the epitome of an RHOA ball missing its belle. The elements were all there — the women were together, LaToya and Cynthia were both in attendance, and the always funny TS Madison made an appearance — but the party was uneventful and predictable. There was no one to take the reins and stir the pot (Marlo’s “Did you kiss?” text to LaToya was the closest we got) or whose reactions to the drama were funny enough to be memorable.

From RHOA’s inaugural season to the show’s golden era, there was a brilliant coalescence of factors that is now impossible to recreate. Other than Kandi, the women were not truly famous, there was no manual on how to be a Real Housewife, and the world had never seen Black women with such large lifestyles and boisterous personalities on a platform like Bravo. Carlos and Nene touch on these circumstances in part one of the interview, discussing the authenticity and newness of the show in its heyday (and as I said last week, it’s interesting that Nene cites Kenya’s time on the show as when things began to change) and how things snowballed season after season into a final product with only filler holding up the memory of its original form, much like the frozen faces of a lot of the OG Housewives.

It’s tragically symbolic as Housewives have the unfortunate fate of being frozen in time, constantly compared to who they were when their respective shows first blew up. There’s pressure to stick to the characters and formula that made the show popular, but this contradicts the very ethos that made it groundbreaking to begin with, as the friendships are no longer organic, and the cast is painfully aware of the cameras and how they’re being perceived. This leaves little room for moments of natural charisma — especially in Atlanta, where the current cast isn’t all that charismatic in the first place.

Like most of the season, tonight’s episode lives in the shadow of its own legacy. Kandi and Drew go back and forth on whether Drew will still be in the movie (which is boring because we already saw footage of her filming during teasers) and finally see each other face-to-face at the Peach Buzz event. Though LaToya is there to speak for herself, she stays pretty tame and ambiguous. Mainly, her feelings are hurt that she was the topic of conversation without being present in the room. Drew, Marlo, Kandi, and LaToya all discuss the recording in Portugal, with Drew claiming that the videos that were sent to LaToya were “edited” by Marlo. This is too much for Marlo, who exits the room and lets Kandi, Drew, and LaToya finish the conversation. Kandi states that she truly doesn’t care what happened between them and either sets of their lips (and, honestly, neither does the audience), but she will not be called a liar.

LaToya asks Drew if she thinks Kandi is a genuine person, questioning why she doesn’t believe Kandi is telling the truth. Drew continues to conjure lies to give Kandi a reason to fabricate the kiss. Now she’s taking her story one step further … not only was Kandi trying to “produce a moment,” but she was “fantasizing” about LaToya and Drew, and what she saw was maybe a mirage from those lustful thoughts. We’re two episodes away from Drew saying that the devil took over Kandi’s body before trying to resurrect the prophet to perform an exorcism. Eventually, they “agree to disagree,” which is the most lackluster way to end an argument in all of Bravoland.

Production then cuts to Drew being asked point-blank why Kandi and LaToya are insisting that the kiss happened. Drew brings up an episode of the RHOA aftershow that was filmed during the Bolo season, where Kandi mentions Drew and LaToya having a dalliance on the infamous night, and LaToya vehemently denies the allegations. Drew says that since they weren’t friends at the time, LaToya ran with the story at the reunion to get under her skin.

The clip from the aftershow replays menacingly in the background as Kandi says that if she misjudged the situation, then she accepts that she’s wrong. It’s all edited as a gotcha moment, but it’s anticlimactic at best and only proves that LaToya is the one who keeps changing the story. In the words of Cynthia Bailey, the whole episode leaves us wondering, “Now, what else is going on?”

Peach Tea To-Go

• Clearly, the biggest part of Nene’s interview with Carlos was discussing the mistreatment of herself and the other women on the cast in comparison to non-Black Housewives. It’s a tale as old as time, a cliche example of Black labor being the backbone of American culture without the proper recognition. Her description of being used over and over again to launch WWHL and then basically discarded achingly aligns with how Black people are treated across the board.

• Bethenny Frankel threatening legal action against NBC amidst the strikes is completely proving Nene’s point that she’s held to a very different standard than other OGs. Hearing Nene speak about possibly being blackballed from the industry was heartbreaking. I thought she was intentionally stepping away from the spotlight; I had no idea she wasn’t getting deals.

• Cynthia’s return was boring but still cute! No, she doesn’t provide the star power that’s missing, but it’s nice to liven things up. However, I would have loved to have seen a conversation between Kenya and Cynthia about the events of Ultimate Girls Trip and what that fallout was like. And I really want to hear her, Kandi, Kenya, Porsha, and Shereé’s reactions to Nene’s interview.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

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