During the third, and final, part of The Real Housewives of Atlanta season 8 reunion, NeNe arrives to give her take on the season. The men join the discussion, and Chris confronts Kenya. The question of who called the feds is finally answered. And unseen footage puts Porsha in the hot seat.
It’s not a RHOA reunion until NeNe shows up in a trashy, lacy, sheer jumpsuit. Girl, bye! Towering over Andy Cohen in heels, NeNe makes for one realistic-looking drag queen. Andy comments on what a difference a year makes. This NeNe is in a much better mood than the season 7 reunion NeNe. She admits she was burned out and needed a vacay from the cray-cray. So why did NeNe come back? Because she’s an OG and wasn’t ready to hand over the show to the other ladies. Truthfully, the show just doesn’t work without NeNe either.
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Best Friends for Now
Andy runs some clips of previous Sheree and NeNe showdowns, and the most striking thing about them is how much the women have physically changed. They laugh about all that drama now, and the two admit they are currently in a good place. They may have taken digs at each other over the years, but it was surface stuff. Apparently, these women know some deep and dark secrets about each other, and in spite of all their bickering, they’ve never gone there.
Now comes the time to debate who’s best friends and who’s not in the friend-angle of NeNe, Cynthia and Kenya. We all know Kenya anointed herself as Cynthia’s bestie, but when NeNe showed up in Jamaica, Cynthia downplayed how close she and the former beauty queen truly are. I think all these girls are a bit old to be designating besties.
For once, Porsha and Phaedra come to Kenya’s defense. They definitely felt that Cynthia did some flip-flopping when it came to her friendships with NeNe and Kenya. After watching a great relationship bloom between Kenya and Cynthia, they felt like she treated Kenya like a side piece, casting her aside when her real girl, NeNe, came back into the picture. Cynthia still insists that even though she and Kenya aren’t BFFs, they are extremely close and Cynthia has genuine love for Kenya.
The debate as to whether Kim, who’s not returning for a second season, was a good fit for the show or not rages on. NeNe found it odd that Kim would just up and leave in the middle of interactions or activities. NeNe feels that Kim doesn’t really want to be friends and alienates herself from the rest of the group. NeNe likes Kim but doesn’t feel like she’s a good fit for this group of girls.
Class Over Ass
One of the most entertaining aspects of the reunion is watching Phaedra and Porsha giggle and whisper like school girls. Andy comments on how chummy the two have become, and we get to see a montage of their best moments together from the season. Phaedra may be a proper Southern belle most of the time, but when she’s hanging with Porsha, Phaedra proudly lets her freak flag, and ample buttocks, fly.
Even though Kim made it clear throughout the season that she thought these ladies lacked class, she does a little backpedaling and defends Phaedra for her skimpy beach attire. This draws attacks from Kandi and NeNe, who don’t understand how Kim can be the harbinger of good taste one minute and defend Phaedra’s more frisky side the next.
Also not totally approving of the new and improved Porsha is NeNe. When she first met Porsha, she was a proper little housewife. Now Porsha is like a whole different person, and NeNe commented on an episode of What What Happens Live that some of the changes aren’t necessarily good. Porsha tells NeNe she was hurt by that comment and that she shouldn’t be judged for enjoying the journey of figuring out who she is. Just because she likes to drink and shake her ass doesn’t mean she doesn’t have class.
Gay is A-Okay
It’s time to bring all the men out, and Matt and Kenya are still an item. The two admit that they’re very much in love. NeNe is rooting for the twosome, saying Kenya needs some love in her life.
Although Sheree’s ex, Bob, is a no-show, the two are still hanging out. She tells Andy she’s having a good time and enjoying Bob’s company. Although he struck me as a bit of a simpleton, the entire cast has nothing but love for Bob, saying he’s one cool and funny dude.
The ladies have to answer for all the chatter about Kim’s husband, Chris, being gay. It’s one thing to throw shade behind the man’s back. It’s quite another to say it to his face. Chris says he’s a performer and he’s not immune to people talking bad about him, especially when he wants what they have. He’s totally secure in his manhood. Kim is still disgusted that Kenya would out-and-out lie and assassinate her husband’s character for no reason.
Kenya rationalizes her behavior by saying she didn’t lie. She just brought up rumors that were already out there. She also says that the only reason Chris was the topic of discussion was because of an incident that happened in Jamaica that wasn’t aired. Chris had some sort of pissy meltdown on a bus while the group was traveling and went into full-on diva mode about air conditioning. Chris and Kim swear that he was just mocking the women and giving back what they had given him. I guess there was some head rolling and finger snapping moments.
If anyone should be sensitive to rumors regarding sexuality, it should be Porsha, and she gets called out for her role in all the chatter. Porsha swears that it was all Kenya. Cynthia says that Kenya may have been the most vocal, but Porsha, Phaedra and NeNe laughed and engaged.
Andy, visibly annoyed, accuses all the ladies of being kind of gay bash-y. Was the fact that they used the word “fruity” your first clue, Andy? He says that all of their behavior was derogatory and it wasn’t a good look. That shuts the group up quick.
Phaedra is quick to pipe up that she’s already apologized, and as it turns out, everyone who has a reason to apologize has. The only hold-out is Kenya. Kenya starts talking to Chris about if she somehow offended him. But before she can get the rest out, Andy points out what a crappy apology that is. And Chris’ response is that Kenya is a horrible person. Better mind the gay bashing, girl. Andy is the Housewives wrangler and you don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you.
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“Fed” Up
The big question left unanswered at the end of the season is, did Phaedra sick the feds on Kandi and Todd, and Cynthia and Peter? Cynthia and Peter tell Andy that the agent who came to their house said he learned the whereabouts of Apollo’s ill-gotten gains from Watch What Happens Live. Who knew federal agents were Housewives fans? It came directly from Kandi’s mouth.
Phaedra makes it clear she would never call the cops on any of them, even Kenya. Kandi admits that she didn’t know what to think, and because she and Phaedra weren’t in a good place at the times, she didn’t dismiss the possibility that Phaedra was involved.
Phaedra is genuinely hurt that Kandi would think she was capable of doing something like that. With all the legal drama and public scrutiny she’s been through because of Apollo, Phaedra would never put anybody else in that position. Kandi holds firm that Phaedra’s done some questionable stuff in the past, and she can be spiteful.
Phaedra questions why Todd didn’t ask Apollo for the money he was owed for the video when they were out drinking and smoking and whatever else. Todd fires back that Phaedra made it clear the business end of the video was between her and him; Apollo was never involved. Phaedra tries to make it look like Kandi and Todd bullied her for the balance after her husband was sent to pound rocks, but Todd’s not letting her go there. He does hit below the belt when he says Phaedra knew everything about his business but conveniently didn’t know all the shady stuff her husband was doing right in front of her face. No love lost between these two.
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
For some unknown reason, the finale didn’t include footage of Porsha involved in a physical altercation. But Andy decides to air it in the final minutes of the reunion. It shows Porsha chasing some girl down the street, with a small crowd either trying to prevent her from doing something incredibly stupid or hoping to catch a girl fight.
The woman on the other end of Porsha’s ire was a woman named Jamie who works for Porsha. According to Porsha, things had been building with this woman but doesn’t offer any details.
Andy points out that since her time on the show, Porsha’s gone to the mat three times. He questions if that’s how she would have handled a conflict prior to the show. Porsha insists that the show has put her in these positions.
NeNe says that nobody has endured more verbal abuse than her. She’s had it out with everybody at some point or another, and she hasn’t touched anybody. Well, that’s not entirely true. As fans know, she supposedly choked Kim, but when Porsha points this out, NeNe’s response is that it wasn’t caught on camera.
Phaedra reveals that Porsha came to her after the party and admitted she had a problem, and she’s also been going to anger management classes.
Kenya can’t wait to get in on this conversation, stating that several of the women are not comfortable being around Porsha. The times she’s had to be restrained demonstrate that Porsha is out of control. Kandi chimes in that it wouldn’t be such an issue if it had only happened once. NeNe, Cynthia, Kandi and Kenya are all wary of dealing with Porsha. That’s a damn good way to not get your contract renewed. She already sat out one season for bad behavior.
Porsha states that it should make everyone feel better to know that she’s immediately sorry after she lashes out, but Cynthia says that’s not true.
Porsha refuses to sit and be attacked when she’s vulnerable, particularly by people who don’t care about her progress or where she’s trying to go.
Porsha agrees to answer questions from Andy, but the bottom line is that she doesn’t sound like she’s learning much from her classes. She’s all about blaming everyone else and she’s crazy defensive.
As usual, it was a season of highs and lows, and where season 9 is concerned, who knows?
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Jennifer has worked as a freelance writer in the entertainment field since 2012. In addition to currently writing feature articles for Screen Rant, Jennifer has contributed content ranging from recaps to listicles to reviews for BuddyTV, PopMatters, TVRage, TVOvermind, and Tell-Tale TV. Links to some of Jennifer’s reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.
