Quick thoughts on 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' season 8, episode 5
By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, December 7, 2015
I flew to Los Angeles Sunday and was in a hotel without Bravo. (It seems Bravo is not in most hotel TV options.). So I had to wait until the next day to view it. At this point, there's no point in a full recap so here are just a few observations:
- Cynthia Bailey was not someone I expected to ever see get into a physical battle with anybody. But she joined the likes of Kim Zolciak, Sheree Whitfield and the entire cast of "Love and Hip Hop Atlanta" in that infamous club. What happened was ugly and stupid at the same time. A drunken Cynthia felt disrespected by a stray comment made by Porsha Williams, who felt understandably bewildered, then defensive. Porsha, who had been laughing and joking with Cynthia all day, felt she had done nothing wrong. They both should have walked away and stayed away but instead, they got into each other's personal space and Cynthia ultimately kicked Porsha in the gut. "Don't put your hand in my face b****!" Cynthia yelped. And Porsha had to be held down by a dude while screaming, "I'm going to catch that b****!" This was pretty darn intense.
The rest of the episode mostly focused on the aftermath as both women tried to grapple with their emotions. Porsha, who felt she had been "fighting with a wild ghetto rat," showed bruises on her stomach, leg and arm. Cynthia convinced her husband Peter Thomas to come down from Charlotte and talk to her and they agreed to try to work on their marriage.
Newbie Kim Fields was just befuddled by what had happened while Kenya Moore as queen bee felt the need to "fix" things despite hardly being Switzerland in the situation. Although Cynthia was the one who kicked Porsha, Kenya called Porsha "a rabid dog."
It's clear why Porsha didn't exactly take to Kenya lecturing her about taking responsibility for her actions. As Kandi pointed out later, Kenya seldom liked to say, "I made a mistake" either.
"I don't trust you," Porsha said. "You're talking at me... You don't have any compassion for me and I know that."
"Now you're coming across hostile," Kenya said, escalating things. But then in a sign of maturity, Kenya managed to de-escalate the situation and they were able to finish their meal without incident.
Cynthia was feeling truly repentant and realized her issues with her husband may have driven her to craziness.
"I may have overreacted," Cynthia said. "I'm not myself."
Kenya, as part of her repair work, then gathered all the women together and convinced Cynthia and Porsha to sit down and talk separately from the peanut gallery. Both ultimately took sincere responsibility for their actions and apologized. This chapter is (probably) closed.
Other story lines:
- Kandi checks in with Dr. Jackie of "Married to Medicine" fame (cross-show promotion alert!) to see how her baby is doing. So far, so good. "The only kicks I need to deal with are the ones in my stomach," she said. But hubby Todd Tucker receives a major thumbs down for stepping out in the middle of an ultrasound for a work call.
- Shamea Morton, seen crying after the Porsha-Cynthia fight, got almost no lines this week. Sheree was able to get a couple of moments, including uttering "buzzkill" in such a droll manner after the fight, it caused Kandi to break out in giggles. Phaedra Parks missed the boat trip and is seen playing with her kid and picking up intel about the fight after the fact.
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
