The Real Housewives of Atlanta Review: Going to Miami

Remember in ‘80s sitcoms announcers used to say, “On the last episode of (fill in the blank)…”  Well, that’s how The Real Housewives of Atlanta should have been introduced this week.  The drama was like old cell phone minutes – it just rolled over.  Kandi’s tour bus – with Kim and NeNe tagging along for confusion’s sake – pulled into the mansion of one of Kim’s friends for their “Girls’ Weekend/Cynthia’s Bachelorette Party.”

As soon as Kim and NeNe got off the tour bus, like little school girls, they ran to the ladies and complained to whoever would listen about what the other person had done to start the fight.  While Kandi might not have been intuitive enough to know she needed to keep Kim and NeNe off her tour bus, she wised up pretty quickly and lingered on the bus while the girls told their tales.

The fight – albeit juvenile and ridiculous – dominated the entire show, causing NeNe to be rude to their gracious host and have her consider getting a room at a hotel instead of staying.  And the fight – coupled with her own troubles – had Cynthia considering calling the whole weekend off and returning to Atlanta early.  Nevertheless, not only did all the women stay put, but their individual entourages joined them.  Little did NeNe know, Sheree had also invited Lawrence, her hair stylist and newest BFF, to the party as well.  Kandi’s crew remained as well, especially since she had one last show in Miami for her promotional tour.  Since the original guest list of the party seemed to have expanded, NeNe decided to invite her best gal pal Diana to the mansion as well to serve as her cheering and chuckling section to her snips to Kim.  Given the newly invited guests, Kim told Sweetie she could stay.  Phaedra, who seemed to be one of the only two ladies who stuck to the original rules of the road trip, sat at the table for brunch with Kandi and Sheree and watched round 2 of the Kim and NeNe fight.  As the jabs went from NeNe to Kim, from Kim to Diana, and from Diana back to Kim, Cynthia and Phaedra’s heads followed the bickering like the little dog Dotty’s did on Coming to America when Akeem’s (Eddie Murphy) parents met Mr. McDowell (John Amos)!

As a fan of America’s Next Top Model and RuPaul’s Drag Race, I was happy to see Kandi’s make-up done beautifully and sad at the same time to see such dark circles under Cynthia’s eyes.  Whether it was the stress of the wedding, her and Peter’s financial situation, or years of lack of rest and “me time,” something has definitely taken its toll on Cynthia’s skin.  Nevertheless, she had a great make-up artist to transform her into a sight for sore eyes, and the designer A.Z. Araujo put her in a snazzy one-piece swimsuit for the fashion show that made the other housewives say, “WOW!”

After the concert and the fashion show, Kandi asked Cynthia about her plans for the wedding, and Cynthia broke down at the table and had to excuse herself.  Listening to NeNe, whose closest connection to a counselor should be the ‘couch time’ she’s getting herself, Cynthia at that point considered canceling the rest of the weekend and returning back to Atlanta to prepare for the wedding, which was less than a week away.  Thankfully, Sheree, the voice of reason, intercepted NeNe’s muscling and convinced Cynthia to stay in Miami and enjoy her party, especially since everyone came down there just for her.  The rest of the night included male strippers, talk of the enjoyment (or the lack thereof) of performing oral sex on a man, and a hint into next week’s season finale that Cynthia might indeed be a runaway bride.

For another opinion on this episode, check out Bachelorette Party from Hell by Inisia Lewis.

Season 3, Episode 15: Floridon’t (originally aired January 23, 2011)

Catch the final three episodes of this season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta Sundays at 10/9c on Bravo.

Images courtesy of Isabella Vosmikova and Wilford Harewood for Bravo.