The Real Housewives of Atlanta Recap: Reset and Reboot

The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Saddle Up and Settle Scores
Season 17 Episode 6
Editor’s Rating ★★★★
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As Cynthia notes, day two of Dallas serves as a reset and reboot for our girls. Riding the high of the epic read off between Pinky and Angela, they make up for their misses with an episode bursting with one-liners, sprinter-van spats, and, my favorite, a nip slip from Cynthia. Plus, the slacker peaches finally get to work. Perhaps the message from being banished to the outhouses lit a fire under their asses because the next morning, Kelli, Shamea, and K. clock back in after attempting to make a statement by skipping dinner. Some of the drama is a day late and a dollar short — Shamea and Kelli are dragging out this room scenario since they see their pouting by the pool didn’t faze anyone, but I’m just happy to welcome them back to the party. 

RHOA is in a precarious place as a legacy franchise, and now is the time for the show to fire on all cylinders. No one can afford to clock in and clock out, leaving their co-stars to do the heavy lifting (not showing for the first dinner of a cast trip is the equivalent of time theft at an hourly job), especially not budget Frick and Frack. They haven’t earned the right to such choices. I know I’m hard on Phaedra, but as K. Michelle learned from Phaedra’s legions of “white lady” fans at the airport, there’s a real pecking order to this Housewives shit, and only three current cast members are at the top. Tonight, these all-stars — Cynthia, Porsha, and Phaedra — teach the girlies a lesson or two on how Housewifery is really done. On the next tier of the hierarchy is Angela and Drew, who flex their natural ability to blend in with the seasoned Wives by adeptly knowing when to obnoxiously stir the pot, when to turn up the heat, and when a mere side-eye or confessional shade will do.

On the bottom are, for obvious reasons, Kelli and Shamea but also, surprisingly, K. Michelle. K. Michelle’s defensive attitude has driven a wedge between her and the other girls to the point where she comes off as a wet blanket. For me, the final straw was choosing not to go to dinner because she didn’t have a glam team to put a fresh layer of paint on her face. Shamea does validate my previous theory that K.’s behavior is partly in response to how her cast treated her on her old show, but I still think she can put a little pep in her step, at least in respect to the Bravo gods for saving her from the catacombs if VH1. 

However reluctantly, watching the ladies’ convivial relationships during her first-ever girls’ trip seems to warm K. Michelle to the group. The day starts with the all-stars and non-probationary peaches sweeping up the mess the others made. It’s like watching a flawless relay race where each cast member passes the baton with ease. First, Drew, whom I’ve always said is a fabulous scene partner, plays ball with Shamea at breakfast, employing a nonchalant attitude that she knows gets under Shamea’s skin. She uses a soft, demure voice, explaining that she still hasn’t accepted Shamea’s apologies due to the “but” attached to them, before saying in a near whisper, “I really don’t like drama.” Fast-forward a few hours to when, at the urging of Cynthia to make up, Drew brings up Shamea’s mama before even extending to a full standing position to deliver the hug. This woman knows exactly what she’s doing. 

The almost-armistice happens over lunch at a BBQ place during the Housewives cast trip tradition of breaking into factions for different excursions. Mother Cynthia rounds up Pinky, Shamea, and Kelli for the herding, but really, she’s ready to whip them back into shape after their botched power move the evening before. She also brings Drew, knowing she’ll be her personal pot-stirring protégé. En route to the cattle drive, Cynthia wastes no time checking Shamea and Kelli about the rooms. A durag practically spawns over her wig as she transforms into 50 Cynt. Shamea and Kelli claim no cleaners have arrived yet, and no one knows what they “saw” and “dealt with.” While gripping the neck of a bottle of tequila, Cynthia pretty much tells them to cut it out and get over it or leave the accommodations because it’s “not a hostage situation.” When Drew tries to defuse the conversation by putting things into perspective, reminding them they still had a good night’s sleep and look gorgeous, Kelli cuts her off, saying, “And you look like the alien in your movie.” Drew catches the unnecessary shade and throws it right back, replying, “And what do you look like? Misproportions?” And this is why Drew is in her fifth season. 

After the herding, Cynthia takes the girls to lunch. This part of the punishment is directly for Pinky because who brings a vegan to a barbecue restaurant if they’re not trying to send a message? At the table, Cynthia tries to give Pinky some Housewife 101 tips, explaining that Pinky’s “curt” tone is why the conversation with Angela went left. Instead of listening to sage advice from a veteran, Pinky starts talking over Cynthia, forcing Cynthia to be aggressive right back. Cynthia continues to school the newbie, saying, “Please don’t come in here and run the whole conversation and not open up the floor,” referring to Pinky’s habit of strong-arming her position with undue force without allowing her castmates room to react. 

Pinky’s desire to always stand her ground gets in the way of her seeing the truth of Cynthia’s statement. To avoid self-reflection, Pinky latches on to her offense at the word “aggressive,” which is a sensitive topic in Black franchises. While there is validity to what Pinky is saying about how using aggressive as a descriptor for intense emotions can be a microaggression, especially when referring to dark-skinned Black women, this is not the case. It brings back memories of Candiace on RHOP; sure, for the sake of respect and to avoid giving an unintentional dog whistle to prejudiced audience members, we should all just avoid using the word “aggressive” as a label. But what we can’t do is hide behind a very real problem instead of taking accountability for coming in hot. Two things can be true at once.

While 50 Cynt disciplines the other ladies, Phaedra and Porsha mine K. Michelle for insight into why Pinky is so combative. K. defends Pinky just as Angela waltzes in unbothered like the pro she is. She doubles down in her confessional, saying she stands by her words and would say it all again … including the bit about the live-in wife. Once they hit the road to see the dressage horses, this team immediately brings the comedy and light shade back to the show. They have a ki in the car before building upon the foundation of the pending beef between K. and Drew. Apparently Blakk was in K.’s DMs calling her fine; honestly, he seems like community dick, so I also would want to clear up any association, but the over-the-top denials make her seem a little too bothered. 

At the barn, the ki continues with a string of laugh-out-loud moments, including Angela saying the horse was jumpy because the ladies probably stole “too many ponytails off they ass” and Phaedra declining to ride because she isn’t “adhesive.” This quip produces my favorite confessional line thus far, with Phaedra shadily saying she’s not going to talk about her unglued wig on TV before joking, “Do that with Beverly Hills. Theirs ain’t tacked down either.” I gotta give Phaedra her tens for that one. Then here comes Porsha, Tweedledum to Phaedra’s Tweedledee, saying she won’t get on the horse either because, “I’m not dressed to ride a cow today.” You have to love her! 

The entire group reunites aboard a sprinter van for dinner, where Cynthia, queen of shady questions, opens the floor for the women to discuss the status of their friendships. Kelli thanks her castmates for supporting her new restaurant, allowing Angela, whose finger is always on the pulse of the drama, to take the final baton and run with it by reminding everyone that Porsha didn’t attend. Porsha highlights that she at least sent flowers, but Kelli emphasizes that showing up would’ve meant more. For the final three minutes of the episode, all hell breaks loose in the sprinter van as they rehash the “sleeping with a married man” accusations. Soon, Kelli is screaming about Porsha hooking up with R. Kelly, which is news to me, but upon a quick Google search, I see that Porsha opened up about her inappropriate encounter with the convicted sex trafficker in her book.

Weaponizing the fact that Porsha fell victim to an abuser is not the read Kelli thinks it is, and for Shamea to sit in silence shows her character. It actually makes me side with Porsha’s choice to air out the rumors about Kelli and this mystery man. In a turn of events I would’ve never predicted, it’s Phaedra who shuts down the conversation to protect the man’s wife, a woman she knows personally. The argument crescendos into more slut shaming, leading Porsha to yell out, “Bitch, you tried to scissor me!” before the camera cuts to a “To Be Continued” title card. Kelli, I’d be careful going up against Porsha; if you think rumors about your sex life are bad, wait until you’re in a back alley and cameras go down, and you could end up like poor Jamie.