Posted Sunday, February 25, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Porsha Williams couldn't take the shade anymore.
On tonight's "Real Housewives of Atlanta," Porsha decides to leave a girls trip to Barcelona early.
Since she fell for Phaedra Parks' vicious lies last season about Kandi Burruss and spread them, she hasn't been able to regain the full trust of the other castmates and has felt isolated. She has made personal apologies already to Kandi and the others. She has taken anger management classes following past physical attacks on Kenya Moore and Cynthia Bailey. She has taken the therapy route. (Who hasn't?)
She feels she had made some progress with ladies like Sheree and Cynthia, who is ultimately a forgiving type.
But on the Barcelona trip, Cynthia brings Porsha's actions up again and Porsha feels hurt. Then when Marlo Hampton jokes about Porsha's past lies and her need to "back pedal," she can't help but get defensive. She starts crying when Marlo makes some comment about her welcome mat being too small and says it was a gift from her mom. Then Marlo - who finds the tears over the top - grabs Porsha's fan, an echo of when Porsha grabbed Kenya's prop scepter a few seasons earlier.
At this point, Porsha gets up and departs the table.
Porsha later talks to NeNe Leakes in NeNe's room about how broken she feels.
"I tried over and over again with these girls," she says tearfully. "All I get is torn down."
Nene - who has had issues with Porsha in the past - feels bad for her. "Something is wrong with Porsha," she says. "I can see it in her eyes."
She likes being the Mama Bear and hugs Porsha in sympathy.
"Poor Porsha," NeNe says. "We have a family here. We're just dysfunctional, honey!"
Next week is the Academy Awards so we'll find out in two weeks how the rest of the trip plays out sans Porsha.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Marlo, of course, is on the show as a semi regular simply because she has no shame and is willing to instigate controversy just to get some screen time. Porsha knows this but she's still feeling raw about the mess from last season.
You have to wonder if Porsha will even want to return for a season 11 despite the generous paycheck.
Kandi, despite Porsha's apologies, has not really forgiven Porsha. After Marlo's "backpedaling" joke, Kandi told the cameras snidely: "Porsha backpedals so much, she may as well moonwalk out of the room every time somebody asks a question."
Lady love
Earlier, there was a minor issue regarding part-time newbie Eva Marcille being offended by fellow part-timer Shamea Morton wondering if she had ever slept with Missy Elliott.
Eva was shocked - shocked! - that someone would try to question her heterosexuality on this reality show. The other women rolled their eyes. This is what you sign up for! It's not exactly a secret. But Eva felt like such a private subject should be brought up by her. Welcome to the show Eva!
As part of the Barcelona trip, Cynthia created a bucketlist for the women to do for fun. Marlo brought up Cynthia kissing a girl. Cynthia chose Kandi but Kandi said no way. Sheree also bowed out. But Porsha, trying to be part of the group again, said yes. (She had kissed Kandi before.). When they do, Cynthia sticks her tongue in Porsha's mouth and Porsha is suitably disgusted. This happened before the Marlo comment and all seems to be good in RHOA land.
Sheree even got to throw in a mildly amusing shady quote: "Cynthia may have to gargle after she kisses Porsha. Who knows where those lips have been?"
Porsha also crashes a go kart on the streets of Barcelona into another go kart carrying a camera man. It's amusing because nobody gets hurt and Porsha insists it's not her fault.
Other observations:
- At one point, NeNe said "papaya" when she meant "paella."
- "I'm not into head. I'm more of a wide receiver." - NeNe, supposedly talking about the head of a fish or something. Mixed metaphors with sex thrown in for good measure.
- Cynthia had booked the Barcelona villa for all the ladies but it wasn't the five-star feel they had expected. She said the photos made the place look a lot fancier than it actually was. So NeNe found hotel rooms for them and by the end of the episode, they were on their way to new digs.
- All the women seemed to be in agreement that no-show Kim Zolciak spreading that video her daughter took of supposed "roaches" in NeNe's bathroom was over the line. Could they have been water bugs? NeNe hopes that Sheree will confront Kim over the issue at some point when they return stateside. NeNe later would pull the race card on Kim on social media, something I'm sure the RHOA producers will mine for drama in a future episode.
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