New York City Royal Housewives You have a Ramona Singer problem. Ramona Singer has never been less a part of the Zeitgeist than she is now, and in this episode, it really became as apparent as Luann’s vibrator ringing in her purse before going through customs. Most of it has to do with his relationship with Leah and the complete hypocrisy of how Ramona behaves and the other behavior she accepts from her “friends”, and by friends I mean her coworkers on the show, not 50 from his closest girl. friends who all go to the same bar at UES.
Ramona is outraged that Leah was teasing Luann and pulled her skirt up at her birthday party, which she calls “the party of the century,” but which Dorinda compares to a shower commercial set. No, I think a jerk commercial would be the guys Ramona hangs out with in the Hamptons. TASTE! But that’s not really why Ramona is furious. Leah later tells us that Ramona’s friend Marie, one of Barbara Walters’ couples at the party, complained that Leah had “shown her vagina.” That is what happens with Ramona, she is so narcissistic that she does not even notice anyone’s behavior. However, if one of her friends talks about it and Ramona thinks that it reflects negatively on her, then she is outraged. She is like a typical Fox News viewer; She doesn’t even know what infuriates her until someone who owns more than a pair of “Nantucket reds” tells her what outrages she has suffered.
She goes on to say that Leah “hurt her” and only briefly points out how badly Sonja behaved as she stood up on the table, trampled on a mirrored plate, and smashed decorations. She briefly yells at Sonja Tremont Morgan for the Boob insignia named Number One Nipple Covers by Marie Claire Morgan Magazine in the car and says, “You could have broken that glass and it could have entered someone’s eye and blinded them.” I immediately thought Please, you’re exaggerating. And then Dorinda appeared with a piece of glass lodged in her foot and I had to remove everything and say that Ramona was right, that besides “No, I don’t think she wants to see a dessert menu”, it is my least favorite thing that I would say.
I hate to say this, but my favorite tramp Sonja behaved much worse than Leah at the party. It is one thing to get a little obscene and pull your skirt up, but it is quite another thing once you resort to property destruction. But Ramona was not ashamed about that, she only saw him as a security hazard, and that is because no one complained that Sonja was Sonja.
Ramona shows up for Luann’s spa day for women from Project Fortune, a nonprofit organization that helps ex-inmates thrive, and faces something more evil, more horrible, more hellish than even herself: Luann in an explosion. What homosexual demon decided to do this and what other homosexual demon allowed him to continue using them on camera for the rest of the scene? Arrest warrants need to be issued. These women don’t belong in prison, Luann’s hairdresser does.
As usual, Ramona believes the best way to deal with Leah is the same way she deals with anything uncomfortable: she puts on her fake Jane Jetson mask smile and ignores it. She is talking to Sonja on the couch about her drink, a luxury she has not given Leah, and when Leah approaches her, she just looks at Sonja as if Leah isn’t even there. Leah is right, it is one thing to be angry, another is for Ramona to ignore the people she sees as less than her. That’s when Leah yells the crux of her argument: “She’s a bitch and she doesn’t support women and she’s fake and I don’t know why she sets me apart.” Amen, sister. Amen.
Leah also points out that Ramona doesn’t give a shit about these women and acts condescendingly towards them. She even manages to connect her own skincare line to women. She knew this was a spa day, so why not bring something for all of them? Because Ramona doesn’t care about people who have never suffocated in the sun in a half-hearted polo match “in the East”. This is especially evident when they arrive at their Mexican villa and Ramona is very excited about the number of “servants” there are and calls them that.
Even worse is the scene with an astonished Sonja fixing her hair. Sure, Ramona is always tidying up the people who work for the hotel she’s staying at, but Sonja takes it to another level when she can’t keep her clothes in front of the hair salon that the hotel provided. Oh, the poor employee of Villa Casa del Mar by Alene Too! Yes, Ramona tries to cover up Sonja, who was drinking Coca-Cola and rosé, which one of my friends loves and calls “her sangria”, but Sonja continues to show not only this woman but also the cameras. Ramona is not ashamed. Know why? Because “help” does not count. They are not people whose opinions matter to Ramona. She only cares that Marie, her friend, has said something about Leah’s vagina.
This is the problem with Ramona. At one point, Ramona says, “Leah is not used to going to these kinds of parties.” Of course it is not. Why would Leah go to a party full of 60s on the Upper East Side? Why would there be? Why the audience? I’d like to go to one of the COVID-infested MAGA rallies that Ramona has been going to in the Hamptons.
For years, while watching these shows, it was easy to ignore the horrible personal policies and horrible behavior of housewives. The policy I avoided because they weren’t really talking about these issues, so I pretended it didn’t matter. The horrible way they treat people, particularly each other, was always a little unattractive. But given this very specific cultural moment, I can no longer cope with Ramona. She cites Leah’s bipolar diagnosis against her will as a way to defame her, as if she didn’t care about her mental health or the stigma surrounding her. She is a creature of the past who proudly proclaims herself part of the 1 percent and can only come out as such. She is someone who says on social media “All Lives Matter” (although she later apologized). She is the old guard, she is the old way of thinking, she is the epitome of someone to whom we should no longer give a platform.
Leah, however, is the future. I am not only referring to politics, but also to entertainment. Yes, her antics in the Hamptons and Newport were bad, but since then she has been able to do a better job of calibrating her drink and not behaving worse than any of the other women on the show. (Would I drink if I were Leah? No. But I’m not Leah). She also deals with Ramona expertly. When Sonja insults that she needs to apologize to Ramona for her behavior, Leah calms down and asks Ramona how he hurt her. Ramona cannot or will not respond, which is Leah’s point entirely. It’s also true that Ramona singles out Leah for inappropriate behavior that lets others, particularly Sonja, but also Dorinda and Luann, get away with it. If it were up to me, I’d re-center this show around Leah, who is younger, more aspirational, and crazy in a way that doesn’t offend viewers’ sensibilities.
I can’t defend my girl Sonja this time. First of all, her being on Ramona’s side in this debate is absolutely ridiculous. Are you mad that someone is possibly showing a cooter in front of the public? Can’t be Sonja T. Morgan? May! And I hate to see it. I also find it hard to watch her get drunk and messy every week. Do I still look at her when she’s at the Luann event and sits in front of a variety of meats, cheeses, cakes, and cookies? Yes. Do I still want to laugh when she says she has a “chubby pussy” and all the boys say it, or when she declares herself the “New York Ranger”. I have an unstoppable pussy ”like I was a 31-year-old junior advertising executive named Kevin making a bang as I walked through the Meat Rack on my way to the Fire Island underwear party on Friday night. Yes of course.
But sonja. It’s enough. It really is enough. She looks bloated and sad this season, and when she can’t hold her head up over dinner, it’s time for someone to yell “Go to sleep! Go to sleep!” towards her as if she were Kelly Bensimon raised with “jelly beans”.
Meanwhile, Dorinda showed me this episode why she became a fan favorite in the first place. She has Leah’s back against Ramona, but she doesn’t intrude on his drama, just trying to push him towards resolution. She also trained Leah on what to wear and how to handle Ramona expertly. Also, big credit for her Housewives Q&A that made all the women decide which rooms they had, particularly the question about Sonja’s farts. This was a fun and revealing way to keep Ramona Singer from walking through the house like a barely there soul with her burning minge searching for the best room.
Back on the Upper East Side in the present, a redhead is sitting in front of her computer looking at all the offers American Airlines has emailed her. Bonus miles. Cheap flights. The world stretched out before her like a couch on the French Riviera. Where should she go? Where can she go? When can you book? Christmas in the Caribbean as usual for the Jews of your season? They will surely let the Americans in by then. Surely. Right? They must be. Maybe she should book. All hotels are empty, which is strange for early August. Hmm, but what about the airport? How about lining up at the Hudson News for a $ 12 bottle of Dasani? What about all the people sitting in those chairs, covered in germs? What about her insect-riddled skin, full of invisible things that try to rip the limb from a limb like the worms and worms that will surely ingest it when she dies? Will this make her die? It will? But she must leave her house. She must go to a warm place. She cannot stay here forever. Or can she? Jill Zarin wonders as she taps her laptop’s trackpad with her fingers and thinks of a beach where she won’t even get her hair wet in the ocean.
