Gizelle smells blood in the water as Angel’s trip falls apart.
Photo: Andrew Wevers/Bravo
Friend groups can be very complicated dynamics. As much as people like to insist otherwise, when you regularly socialize with the same five or more people, not everyone gets along at the same level of camaraderie or intimacy. There are some people you only chat with in the group chat and never hang out with one-on-one, because you may all love each other, but your individual personalities don’t mesh — at best, your natural friction emerges in a battle of competing memes on WhatsApp or arguments around who to Venmo. The only way this delicate ecosystem survives, however, is if everyone agrees to be on the same page — once the ringleaders decide that you are expendable, everything escalates quickly, as Angel Massie is learning the hard way.
Angel’s was starting this trip on her backfoot: as she revealed in recent interviews and the Bravo aftershow, the trip was originally intended to be a couples trip (which, in part, explains why we were bombarded with so much nonsense about the single women’s romantic lives), but as most of the nonmarried couples fizzled out, production and Angel restrategized, leaving them with only one possible house to fit both the cast and production staff and equipment at the house during a popular touring season. While these logistical elements might have been unavoidable, they provide a key opening for Gizelle, Wendy, and Ashley to launch their final offensive and render Angel persona non grata in the group through a series of legitimate claims. The water pressure is inconsistent, if not outright absent in the house; there is little to no service in their remote location; they are effectively secluded from everything, and driving back home at night looks like the beginning of yet another movie in the It franchise. All of these complaints are legitimate, albeit fairly expected hiccups for anyone used to extended stays in outdoor/remote settings; after multiple conflicts between her and Gizelle and Wendy, however, Angel has long passed the window when she could demand the benefit of the doubt from the group.
It’s a shame that the logistics of this trip ended up being so haphazard because Angel’s house itself is a true gem — a remarkably chic piece of property on top of massive amounts of acreage. I watched the Massies’ home tour on the popular channel Homeworthy, and the details of the estate are even more stunning when examined in depth. Given where she lives and her recent revelation that she just finally purchased her home in Potomac, I fully understand her being insulted by the misrepresentations of her family life and finances. She clearly has the most money out of all of them, but is unfortunately failing at properly showcasing it outside of small glimmers, instead addressing rumors that she tried to pay $1,000 a month, which isn’t even enough to rent an apartment in Montgomery County, much less a house, to rent an entire house in Potomac.
Instead of us being able to really revel in Angel’s beautiful estate, however, her failure at developing allies amongst the group starts to come into play. The girls barely acknowledge the stunning spread they are given for dinner because all they can do is lay into Angel about how remote they are. The day trip to Aspen on a private jet (which Angel recently said she paid for herself) is barely mentioned because they have all decided the separation is Bobby’s doing. Save for a brief intermission where Tia and Stacey yet again fight over the most insignificant white lie said since the first person decided to say “yes, we should definitely get coffee sometime” to a passing acquaintance at a party, Angel can’t escape the endless nitpicking from women who have spent nine years throwing one failed trip after another. I am fine with the women expressing complaints about hospitality, but one Nevis trip does not overshadow how we spent a decade watching Potomac giving us a grand tour of every Ramada Inn this side of the Mississippi; I can’t even bring up Ashley’s trip to Austin without breaking out into PTSD hives over them partying next to literal chicken shit.
Ultimately, however, none of this matters. Angel’s trip to Kemo Sabe next week can go flawlessly — although we know it won’t — and she still would get pilloried by this gang, who have now unilaterally decided that she is in a controlling, miserable marriage. While they are right that Angel should have accepted certain sacrifices that come with a cast trip and coordinated accordingly, I am frustrated that this group of women continues to fall victim to the same tropes again and again. We are once again targeting a cast member by throwing unfounded speculation on her marriage. I don’t know what exactly about being a recent divorcee makes you a qualified relationship counselor, but Monique has clearly decided that her role as a friend of is to be the resident Iyanla Vanzant of the group — I would kindly like for her to pick up another hill worth dying on. Instead, I have to witness Gizelle and Ashley eagerly speculating about the health of a marriage, all because a grizzled former football player would rather hang out with his guy friends than his wife’s annoying, catty, and cheap coworkers. I’d almost rather we go back to bad catfish puns if this is all they are going to come up with.
In a surprise to no one, Gizelle finally smells blood in the water and strikes, making the play to take over Angel’s trip altogether after their trip to Aspen, which she announces next week. See you all then!
• No matter how hard they try, no one will get me to care whether Stacey and Chris dated or not. I am sorry that Monique is receiving intimidating letters from lawyers, but I am sure it is just as much due to her decision to return to television as to any rumors spreading around.
• I enjoy the outdoors plenty, but when Angel started listing all of the lions, tigers, and bears in her neighborhood, my eyes got as big as saucers. You mean to tell me that folks in Denver are just living on Pride Rock without a care in the world?
• I’ve been mostly trying to get a feel for Tia, but I am starting to realize that she is more of a pot-stirrer than she likes to let on, particularly when it comes to giving Gizelle ammo to use against someone else. I’ve got my eye on her!
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