Mention It All - RHOP Turns Over A New Leaf

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

It’s the start of a new week, and big changes are afoot in Potomac. On today’s episode, Dylan recaps the season 9 premiere, featuring new women, hush hush departures, and a true crime-style reenactment. As the Grande Dame is in DUI trouble once again, her crown is looking wobbly, but she’s not the only one with some personal drama to figure out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Ha ha, laugh, funny. Mention It All, a Bravo by Betches podcast. We don't say that, but now we said it. With me, Dylan Hafer. We're going to check me, both. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Mention at All podcast. Oh, it is the first day where it really feels like fall.

I'm sitting in my room right now. I'm recording from home. And it's one of those days where I just want to be under a blanket. I have my UG boots on inside the house. That's how you know. but it's not like cold enough that I really need that I need like the heat or anything. This is a tangent. Suffice to say, I'm glad that it's fall and I'm glad, so glad that we have a new season

of Real Housewives of Potomac to talk about today. Oh boy. It feels like it's been a while and I suppose it has. Now I'm like, when did Potomac finish last season? It has been, let's see, since April. Actually, that's not as long as I would have guessed. Oh, boy. Okay, so Potomac wrapped up in April, and I think we all agreed that it was not a great season.

It was a little bit of a tough one, and, you know, they made some changes. They did not take a very long time making the changes, and that's something that I think is interesting to look at, because we have shows like Atlanta. like New York, like New Jersey right now that have taken extended hiatuses. Is hiatus is the bright, plural? Good question. I'm not going to look it up. But we have shows that they've taken a long time to sort of figure out how to put the pieces together and then come back stronger.

But actually, it has been less than a year since the last season of Potomac premiered. It premiered in November 5th of last year to October 5th of last year to October. October 6th, so about 11 months. And they only took a few weeks off after the season ended airing because Karen's DUI was at the end of March. And this season, the premiere starts with a reenactant of said DUI, which we will get to. But I want to talk a little bit about this season as an overview and this premiere overall. Because you can tell watching it, or at least it feels watching it like they went into this season, season nine, with a clear objective. And that is to sort of do a soft reset on this franchise, really move the ball forward,

and kind of shake off, I think, some of the dust that this show had accumulated over the years. And I don't think that Candace and Robin were necessarily the only problems or the biggest problem, certainly not the only problems, but with Candace and Robin leaving, and NECA, but really who was keeping track, and Cherise, I guess, was on last season, they have really turned over a good chunk of the cast, and it feels like kind of for the first time ever, Potomac is having a season where they're in kind of a reset mode. For eight seasons, they had those four OGs standing strong in the cast. we saw Robin get fired after last year.

Candice had been on for, I think, six seasons. So her leaving felt like a big change. And watching this premiere, obviously I knew that there were going to be new cast members and departures, but I was struck watching it by just how shaken up the energy felt and how much it felt like we were getting introduced to new people and sort of being drawn into this show through a little bit of a different angle. So, like I said, Candice and Robin leaving, I think something that really surprised me watching this premiere was that Candice and Robin, as far as I can tell, were not mentioned one single time in this premiere. There was no mention of Giselle losing her

fellow green-eyed bandit and her podcast co-host and best friend and confidant and all of that. I mean, I think it would have been perfectly normal for Jazeel to kind of talk about not having Robin there with her on this season. We didn't get one mention of that. Likewise, I think it would have been super valid to have somebody bring up Candice. Candice was on this show for a long time. She was a major part of the fabric. I mean, she and Ashley had major issues. She and Jazele had major issues.

I mean, Candice was a linchpin of this franchise. And so for them to, I have to think it's a conscious decision not to have their names all over this episode. And so I noted that. And then over the course of the episode, as we were being introduced to these new people, I think they really went in with an intent that this was going to feel like a fresh start. So before we even get into the episode, I want to kind of rattle off the additions to the cast this season. because it's a lot of people to keep track of, and actually we don't even see all of them in this premiere episode. Kiarna, who was a friend of last season, you might recall,

or maybe you don't, and that's fine too. Keirna is not in this premiere. I kept waiting for her to show up because I felt like people kept rolling on into this attitude Karen Huger birthday party. I don't think Kiarna's there. On the other hand, our other new housewife, Stacey, She is in this episode quite a bit. She is Karen's friend.

She just moved back to D.C. Or the D.C. From Philly where she was working for QVC as I think an on-air host. She has a husband, but she reveals in this episode that she has been separated for a year. And I was really interested to learn this because when Karen is describing her to Giselle earlier in the episode before we actually meet her, she goes, oh, Stacey's, fabulous. She was living in Philly. She moved back. She was working for QBC. She has a husband and a kid. And we're getting these pictures flashed on the screen of her family. And Mr. Baby Daddy, his face is blurred in the photos. So right off the bat, before we even get to the shopping day and her talking about the separation, I'm like, what's going on?

Because that's not, if he's your current husband, I don't think the names are going to be blurred out or the photo. So that's Stacy. She, she to me really looks like Janelle James, who plays the principal Ava on Abbott Elementary. So I'm going to have to work through that. I mean, Principal Ava would make a great housewife,

but that's neither here nor there. Like I said, Kearnah, our other new housewife, not in the premiere. So that's confusing. Of course, we still have Ms.

Jacqueline around. Mia's lifelong friend slash maybe three-sum partner at certain points in life she's around, she's at the birthday party, we already know her,

she's still asking all the out-of-pocket questions. I like Jacqueline, I think that she's a good kind of like side character and we've known her for a few seasons at this point so it feels like she actually, in a way, is sort of providing stability a little bit. Now our other new friend this season is Jazzy, J-A-S-E.

S-S-I. She's also Mia's friend. We don't, we don't like talk to her too much, but she's also at the Hattitude Party. Hermann Darius plays for the chiefs, the Kansas City Chiefs. Yes, she has met Taylor Swift. Yes, he has two Super Bowl rings. This is confusing to me. Like, I don't know that much about how, like, do most NFL players not live in the vicinity of where they play? because the football season, especially if you're making the playoffs, is like September through February. And then there's like pregame training

probably in the summer. So like why did they just buy a house in Maryland if he's playing in Kansas City? I don't know. I'm interested to learn a little bit more about Jazzy. I don't know how much screen time she's going to have. But then our final person that we meet or that we spend some time with in this premiere is Vivian, who is another one of Karen's friends who owns a boutique in a local mall. Good for her. We've seen Vivian before. Vivian is not new to the circle, as they would say. But she's new to the cast. And I think that's interesting. But actually, she's not technically a friend of. She's just, I guess, a guest. So TBD on how much we see Vivian, TBD on how much we see a lot of these people. I'm like, is cute.

yarn are going to be a housewife that comes in seven episodes through the season. I don't really know what the plan is there, but I think the reason why I felt like it was important to spend some time kind of picking apart all of these additions to the cast is because it feels like they are really leaning into the idea that this is sort of a new look for Potomac. And so I think that these people, whether it's our two new housewives, whether it's our friends, whether it's, whether it's, you know, other kind of auxiliary characters, I think that they're going to be important this season. And, I mean, of course, every housewife is important.

Sure. I mean, I love all my children equally. I don't know. But I just feel like for a season premiere with, you know, OGs and longstanding housewives, we spend a lot of time with some of these new women this episode. So it felt important to kind of like really get our bearings about us. Girl, winter is so last season.

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Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. But overall, this episode, I thought it was entertaining. I thought it was not necessarily like a wild, crazy premiere, but I thought that there were some good kind of seeds planted of things we're going to be focused on this season.

I thought that there were some good kind of personal updates in people's storylines. I mean, seeing Wendy finally send that email resigning from her professorship at Johns Hopkins, kind of forgot that she still worked there. It feels like that's something that realistically should have happened like two seasons ago. So I'm glad for her sake that she is finally done, you know, claiming professorship. She'll always be Dr. Wendy. She still has her four degrees. And no one can take that away from her.

So I'm glad that she was able to take that personal step. I know that it was challenging for her. We get Ashley briefly meeting with her attorney. she is finally ready to move forward with that divorce. And I thought we would never see the day. I thought the day would never come. I mean, a year ago, she was trying to buy a house with Michael, even though they were already headed for divorce.

Make it make sense. It didn't. It never will. But the funny thing about what Ashley says is she's like, yeah, you know, for a while I was dragging my feet because, you know, I was content with the way things were. but now, now I'm ready to date and I'm ready to get out there. And I'm like, Ms. Darby, did we not all see you date Luke from Summerhouse like in broad daylight in public after meeting at BravoCon in 2022?

I mean, did I not have Ashley Darby on this podcast on Zoom from Luke's parents' house in Minnesota? with a fucking cuckoo clock going off in the background. Be so for real right now. She's acting like she's been living in a nunnery for the last two years, waiting for the day when she finally feels ready to put herself out there and, you know, go test some other merchandise. I'm like, truly, I'm not trying to, like, sludgeeam Ashley or anything, but I'm like, Madame, you've been having plenty of fun in the last couple of years, but I'm, I am glad.

I am glad that she is going to finally, finally, allegedly move forward with this divorce. I mean, her kids are, her kids are not that young anymore. She doesn't have babies anymore. I just always, when I see somebody that's in like a years-long divorce process, I just always assume that their life would be, I don't want to say better, maybe less stressful if that process was complete. And so I hope Ashley can still make his pockets hurt a little bit. But overall, I hope that either way, she can finish up that divorce, I mean, goddamn, it's been a minute. But before, I'm getting ahead of myself,

because we really have to talk about the beginning of this episode. And that is the cold open of a reenactment of Karen Hugar's car accident and subsequent DUI arrest. Now, we've seen a lot of, we've seen a lot of things on Housewives in our time. We've seen, you know, diagrams, animations. we've seen, you know, paintings even, police artist sketches of a woman who maybe looked like Karen that somebody else had their eye on. I don't think we've seen like a true crime style reenactment of a car crash. You know, it's like lights up. 11.39 p.m. Karen leaves dinner. 1142. She's driving down this street.

1150 The wheels are spinning There's like some shaky cam motion on the street We see a deer run past And then there's sirens and lights Now the only thing that could have made this Could have up to the ante on this Was maybe if there

I don't know if there was like a 911 transcript That they could have recreated Or Why not have an actress portray Karen in this reenactment. You know, put somebody in a little Karen Hugar costume, film them. Even you can film them from the back or maybe in shadow kind of like stumbling to the car, you know, stumbling out of the car.

Maybe that would be in poor taste. I mean, look, maybe all of this is in poor taste, but you know what's in poor taste? Karen Hugar getting behind the car drunk in the first place. And this is, I mean, It feels really unfortunate that this is now the second currently airing Housewives franchise where we have to have a storyline about somebody sort of going through the aftermath of a DUI. And let's be real, of a DUI that is not only reckless but so deeply avoidable. You know, Karen and Shannon are both two women in their...

Is Shannon in her 60s yet? They're both two women of a certain age. And women of means who have, at the very least, have the ability to pay for an Uber, to pay for a cab, to call somebody to come pick them up. I mean, come on. And I thought it was interesting. We see after this reenactment, Giselle is calling Ashley.

She's going to go over to Karen's. and they're going to get breakfast. It's kind of, it's a month later. It's a month after the DUI. And it sounds like Karen hasn't really been out and about much, hasn't really been seeing people. But Ashley, right off the bat, is kind of focused on the fact that not only is Karen, somebody who, you know, should know better and do better and all of this, but this is Karen's

second DUI. And so it's one thing to make a bad decision and slip up and do something stupid. one time. But when it's already, when you've already done it and you've had to, you know, deal with some of the consequences or face the, in Karen's case, the public stigma of your choices, to do it again? Like that, I mean, nobody should be getting one DUI, but to get a second one, it just feels like so flagrant in a way that it's like, come on, what are you doing? And I mean, it's reflected kind of in the charges that Karen is facing this time. I don't, I don't know all of the details, but it's like, you know, DUI, DWI driving with a, I don't know if it was a suspended license or not a

valid license. I mean, usually, I don't know the Maryland specifics, but when you have multiple DUIs, like those consequences really start to pile up and it can result in jail time. It can result in losing your license for a long time. It can result in, I mean, Shannon has a breathalizer in her there's a lot of stuff that happens, especially when you get into multiple DUI territory. And it's just like, it sucks to see that Karen has made these choices. But then obviously, you know, we go into filming and she picked and Giselle picks her up at the house and they go to this diner. And the vibe is a little bit strange. Jiselle seems really focused on the idea that she and Karen have had this relationship for such a long time and Karen's her girl and, you know, she wants to make sure she's okay. And it's a little bit of a funny. I feel like she's sort of like cherry picking the best parts of her relationship with Karen. I mean, let's not pretend that Jizelle and Karen have like had a peachy beautiful friendship for the last 10 years. But I mean, they have, they've been in each other's lives a long time. I think they have sort of a mutual relationship. I think they have sort of a mutual relationship.

respect for each other. But pretty quickly at this breakfast, it sort of becomes apparent that Karen is not quite on the same page with kind of what Chiselle is trying to accomplish with this scene. Because I think obviously, Giselle, Giselle is a messy person. Chiselle is a nosy person. I relate to her on that. Giselle is somebody who, yeah, she's going to have an agenda sometimes. And maybe, maybe if you're in her orbit, you should be a little bit careful. But in this case, I think Giselle feels like she's doing Karen a little bit of a favor by giving her this first sort of scene of the season where it's just going to be the two of them. Giselle is going to approach it with an energy that's like, this is my friend, this is my sister. And, you know, we're going to talk about this and we're going to sort of like establish a baseline for the season.

and Karen kind of isn't really playing along with that. Because Giselle is kind of like, you know, telling Karen about how shocked she was and how, you know, she, you know, when she heard that this had happened, she was worried and glad she's okay. And Karen seems a little out of it. I don't know if that's in like a real way or just kind of she is dreading this conversation. But she is putting out this idea of like, well, you know, I can't. talk about all of it because it's in the legal process and it hasn't been adjudicated yet, but I can't wait for the truth to come out. And when she said that, I just was kind of like, I mean, I guess, like, yeah, the part about not talking about all the details, because there's

a legal process, of course. I mean, that is par for the course with anything like this on reality TV, but like, what was, what's the truth that's going to come out? I don't think anybody like, spiked your drink. I don't think anybody like forced you to get in the car. Like it's not like you were being pursued by a serial killer. Like it's just there's not, this doesn't seem like a situation where there's going to be some bombshell that's going to drop that's like, oh, never mind. Karen was justified. Getting a DUI

it just is shitty, point blank period. And, you know, she talks about how, you know, there's been a lot that she's been going through with Ray's mom passing and then her father passing. And she says that she, you know, never really had the time to take care of herself. And so it, you know, kind of spiraled. And like, sure, yeah. But then call an Uber. You know, if your drinking is in a place where you are making questionable decisions, then just like, don't drive or figure something else out. Like, it just, it's a little unsatisfying when the explanation is that once I say the details,

you'll see my side of it, but I'm not actually going to say any of the details, or at least not yet. So for right now, you just have to, I guess, take me at my word, that there's all this stuff that you don't know. And once you know, it's all going to make sense. And I'm like, right, that would make sense

if we were talking about like why you said something rude to someone, not why you got drunk and crashed your car for the second time. I don't know. It's just, it's, I'm hoping that we will see a little bit more from Karen in this sense. And, you know, later at the birthday party that Giselle throws for her, we don't get a lot more either.

I mean, Jacqueline kind of delivered, she asks people to ask her questions, which, okay. But then when Jacqueline is like, well, you know, I'm, I'm just so happy that,

you know, no child was killed or whatever the case may be. I'm like a girl. You jumped right to killing a child. I think that says a lot. But she's like, you know, it's not for us to pass judgment. Of course not. Own it all. Pay off your home. Travel for life. Drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29th.

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So whether you're pouring milk, melting cheese, or just grabbing one more spoonful of yogurt, keep it real. Look for the seal. Real California milk by real California farm families. But Karen, you know, she doesn't actually answer any questions. And then she says, well, you know, I want to figure out who the real bitches are because I don't want any fake bitches around me. And I feel like Karen, at least from these first few scenes, it kind of, you know, I kind of seems like she wants to have it both ways.

Like she's opening herself up to whatever people have to say, but then she's not actually willing to have a conversation. And I think that if that's going to be her energy for the whole season or for most of the season, it's going to be really challenging to kind of feel on her side about anything. And of course, again, there's no her side to be on when it comes to the actual DUI. but in terms of where she is in life and kind of what she's going through,

Karen has never been somebody who's great at opening up or great at really sharing exactly what she's going through and exactly what she's feeling. So I think that this is a situation where because she has made these poor choices and gotten herself in this situation, more than ever, it would kind of behoove her to break down some of those walls. But I just, I don't really feel at this point that that's like in Karen. Karen's DNA. I don't know, though. It is, um, there's another like weird scene. She goes shopping with her friends Vivian and Stacey, who I was talking about before.

Um, and this is where Karen notices that Stacey isn't wearing her ring and she says that she's been separated for a year. Um, but then there's this weird moment where Stacy and Vivian are drinking champagne. They're like in a fancy store and they're like, oh, ooh, wait. is it okay that we're drinking in front of you because, you know, Karen has just had this whole DUI situation. And Karen sort of waves it off and is like, oh yeah, I'm only not drinking right now because I'm on medication. But before long, I will be having a libation. And I can't tell, again, if that's like a way for Karen to sort of just deflect because she feels uncomfortable talking about

her situation or if she really doesn't see that as an issue. And that is a little bit, you know, it's shades of Shannon Bador this season where it's like she knows that people are watching her drinking so she's acting self-conscious about it in a certain way, but she, for whatever reason, isn't making the choice to just drink less or not drink at all. And I don't know the specifics of Karen's situation. Like, I don't know if she is not supposed to be drinking from a legal perspective or whether there just is a sense that maybe she shouldn't be drinking. But even, you know, at the birthday party, Jiselle has put together this menu of specialty cocktails and there's, you know, one out of the three of them she mentions is non-alcoholic.

And Karen's like, Jizel is a messy bitch. She knows what she's doing. And it's like, it's actually in 2024, it's not that weird to have a non-alcoholic cocktail option. like that is pretty normal but also specifically given the situation that you're in the way I look at that I'm like that is kind of nice that she gives you a non-alcoholic option so that if you don't want to drink at this party or you feel like you can't drink at this party that you don't have to be the awkward one who's like I'll have a club soda like you can order the

fucking grand dom cocktail I don't know I'm getting more heated about Karen than I expected to because I generally like Karen I think that Karen is a great housewife I think that you know, it's, she made some poor choices and I hope to see her make some better choices. And this premiere didn't necessarily like fill me with confidence about that. But there's a lot, there's a lot of other stuff to focus on too. I think the biggest kind of other storyline. I mentioned the Ashley divorce stuff. I mentioned, uh, Wendy quitting her professor, professorship. The other biggest thing that we're still sort of, um, dealing with is Mia's situation with Gordon. They are separated, but Gordon has moved into Mia's building, so they are still

living near to each other. Mia is still with Inc., the radio personality. Don't get it twisted. He's not a fucking DJ. He's not a rapper. He's a radio personality, you bitch. So they're still together, and this first scene that we get of them is Mia and Gordon getting, I ice cream with the kids. And look, it is very nice to see that they are able to do stuff like this with their kids together. Obviously, co-parenting is super tricky and super challenging and everybody has a different journey with that. But if they are able to maintain some sort of, you know, connectivity with their family and both parents and the kids, you know, I think that's cool. Clearly, it matters to Mia and I'm sure it matters to Gordon as well. That being said, I think there's

some boundaries that could be better to find there. Mia tells a story at the Hattitude party of one time Gordon left his dirty laundry, and so Mia washed it and ink helped fold it, and then they went and put it back in his apartment. And I'm like, let's not. Let's not do that. Karen's like, so ink is washing Gordon's drawers. All of the women still seem a little perplexed by Mia's whole personal life situation.

And I don't think Mia is necessarily doing much to assuage those questions because she says that her relationship with Gordon was more like a business arrangement. They were together married for 11 years. Jeze, I was like, that's a long business arrangement. Also, you had kids. You gave birth. And I think that Mia, I mean, obviously she has some tough stuff in her past. And I think her relationship with Gordon was certainly not peachy all the time.

But even seeing him when they're together earlier in the episode, they're talking about their relationship. And he's basically saying, I don't feel like you went all the way to try and work for our relationship that you ran into somebody else's arms. And that, you know, the more like mature thing to do or the braver thing to do would be to just separate rather than, you know, going off with someone else's arms. And they clearly have differing kind of views on exactly how their relationship kind of fell apart. I don't know that it even particularly matters, like, who's right in that situation. It's more of a thing of like, I hope that they can both just move on. Because it doesn't seem like it's necessarily healthy for either of them to still be kind of like on the treadmill of who did what in this relationship. I don't know.

I mean, at the very end of the episode, it ends with, um, with this question of Mia's kids being brought up in the media with her relationship with Gordon. And Mia's adamant that Gordon was the one that kind of brought them up in the first place. And this is tough because she, Karen and Giselle are like, well, you didn't protect your kids at all costs. And when push comes to shove, you know, even if it was Gordon that started it, you should have done more to stop it. And I'm like, damn, it's episode one. And we're coming for the jugular with her parent. I like Mia a lot.

I think that Mia is somebody who is certainly not always right, and she has made a lot of questionable decisions. But I'm like, oof, that's a tough one when you're, you know, dragging someone for how they handle stuff with their kids. I don't know.

That situation, I'm kind of nervous to see how it plays out this season because she and Gordon are talking about how Inc. still wants a paternity test for Jeremiah. He thinks that he may be Jeremiah's father. Um, Mia claims that she is sure that Gordon is the father, but she clearly still feels like Inc is sort of entitled to the test. Gordon doesn't want the test at all. Um, he feels like accepting the test is accepting that Jeremiah might not be his kid. That's a super tricky one.

I mean, I, I have no idea kind of how to even handle a situation like that. It's just, it's messy. And I hope that, um, I hope that for Mia's sake and for Gordon's sake and, and really for the kids' sake that they can leave this season in a less messy place than they are right now because it's just, it's been a while and that's not good. But that's, I mean, that's the Potomac premiere. I had fun with this premiere. I think, you know, I think I had more fun watching it maybe than it sounded like I did when I was talking about it because I really feel like I just kind of complained about Karen for about 10 minutes there, but we have a lot of time to go on this season of Potomac. And I think there is a lot of ground to cover. And I'm excited to get to know our new women a little bit more

because I think they clearly are excited about the direction the show is going. And I like to be excited about things too. Anyway, that's our episode for today. Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to rate review and follow the show wherever you listen. You can follow us on Instagram at Bravo by Betches. And until next time, hey, be cool. Don't be all like uncool. Mention It All Podcast is produced by Dylan Hafer and Bell Roman. Editing by Bell Roman, social media by Dylan Hafer and Candace Maniga, guest booking by Ali Friedlander, VP of podcast is Chris Allen, and be sure to follow Bravo by Betches.