BravoCon Loading
Season 2
Episode 8
Editor’s Rating
5 stars
*****
Charlie takes advantage of the good vibes at BravoCon to ingratiate himself back into the group — and then wastes no time sowing more chaos.
Photo: Bravo
When it became clear that cameras were following the Next Gen NYC kids to BravoCon, I was instantly fascinated by what this break of the fourth wall would look like. Ultimately, out of all of the network’s shows, this one made the most sense to follow at the convention, given that the entire premise of Next Gen is basically one big Bravo-themed fourth-wall break anyway. Each episode featuring these various Bravo kids is a mini-BravoCon panel in and of itself, so the trek to the real thing was a seamless transition, and a fun way to get a peek behind the curtain at what the weekend is like for Bravolebrities when they’re not doing meet-and-greets and panels and more meet-and-greets.
What exactly are they doing, you might be wondering? Oddly enough, they’re bonding in a way that completely shifts the dynamic of their entire cast and show — so thank God cameras were with them, because if not, they’d return to filming, and we’d all have been completely lost. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
For as fun as it was to see the gang take Vegas, it felt like a missed opportunity to not have a little bit more crossover with other Bravolebrities — especially their parents (or Kyle Cooke, in Ava’s case). At best, we got a mention of Emira running into Dorinda in the elevator and some understandable confusion over who Southern Charm’s Molly O’Connell is.
The highlights of the panels themselves included Ariana telling Jerry O’Connell (no relation to Molly) that she would “never touch Charlie with a ten-foot pole,” Riley echoing that sentiment by referencing her mom’s song “No Scrubs,” and Shai later suggesting that Brooks could learn from Riley’s willingness to be confrontational. Brooks bristled at the latter, even though Shai thought it was fair play given that most of Brooks’s first season was literally about him trying to do just that and wanting to get used to confronting people. But Shai can do no right as it stands, so Brooks confronted him over it (thus taking Shai’s advice after all!).
But the big headlining event of the weekend was the Bravos, a fake award show at which Next Gen NYC was nominated for “Rookie of the Year” — and based on how they all talk about it, you would have thought they were nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. Nobody had the heart to explain to them that this is not a real award with a real voting body. It’s all completely made up. Sort of like the Golden Globes. Naturally, they win, which I’m sure had nothing to do with the fact that they were the nominee who was filming for their show and it behooved all parties involved narratively for them to have to get up and make a speech. Naturally, they chose the famed “mouthpiece” of the group to do so: Gia. Since the episode didn’t show who they beat out, it’s worth noting that they bested RHOA’s Kelli Ferrell, Shamea Morton Mwangi, and Angela Oakley, RHOP’s Tia Glover and Angel Massie, RHOM’s Stephanie Shojaee, and Southern Hospitality’s Molly Moore, Michols Peña, and Lake Rucker. So not necessarily the toughest competition, with the exception of Angela Oakley and her fan (who would have had my vote).
But thank God our motley crew of kids did “win,” because that boon energizes them as they embark on a celebratory night out that results in such camaraderie that even Ariana suggests that someone text Hudson to let him know that they won. With guards down and vibes up, Charlie sees his opening. He books them a reservation at a club to celebrate, and then keeps the party going back at the hotel, where he orders them all food and drinks, weaseling his way back into their good graces. They even add him back into the group chat! Madness, and all thanks to the powers of drunken room service. I’d have fallen for it too.
But by the next day, Charlie is back to his old, evil tricks. He asks Shai if he thought he was vibing with any of the girls last night, knowing full well that Shai had secretly confided in him that he made a move on Ava after feeling a vibe. While he doesn’t get into too much detail, Ava does, but only once she knows that Shai himself was blabbing to Charlie. She explains that after they all went back to their rooms, Shai texted her asking to have another drink in her room. She obliged but was wearing her “grandma pajamas,” and they sat on different beds, which doesn’t feel like the “vibe” Shai was teasing. When he asked to kiss her, she said, “Ew, no.” You couldn’t torture that information out of me … but then again, this is Charlie we’re talking about, so maybe he did just that.
It also seems that Charlie is broadcasting this swing-and-a-miss to hide his own. As it turns out, he made a similarly failed move on Ariana last night, inviting her back to his room via a text that went unanswered.
But by the time the whole gang sits down for a group dinner at the end of the trip, Charlie and Ariana are outright flirting — though she tries to hide it from the cameras. He jokes about ruining her budding relationship with Liam, invites her to go to the bathroom with him, they share chapstick, and Riley even calls them out as a new dynamic duo who aren’t as slick as they think. But the most damning evidence that something is going on here is that Ariana gives up her first-class ticket home to sit next to Charlie in economy. I’ve never seen such down-bad behavior in my life. That kind of display should legally count as a common-law marriage.
But back in New York, Liam reenters the scene, shaking things up even further. Whereas fuckboy Charlie manipulates, sweet Liam is planning an elaborate date with Ariana to celebrate the end of her probation. This budding relationship ultimately reaches Ariana’s ex Hudson in the funniest way possible, via a Friendsgiving planning text from Gia, in which she grouped the two of them together while listing out what dishes everyone is bringing. Ariana and Liam are bringing roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts, she writes, thus soft-launching their relationship and sending Hudson spiraling. Revealing a relationship via roasted carrots? This show is truly breaking the form.
While Riley promptly kicks Hudson out of the group chat after that (queen), he FaceTimes his informants Shai and Charlie to get the 411 and complains that Liam disobeyed his ground rules by pursuing Ariana and jokes that he thought it would have been Charlie. Well, about that. The comment flusters Charlie, who knows that he too tried to disobey those ground rules in Vegas. With Hudson off the phone, he explains to us that he took Ariana’s comment on the panel about not touching him with a ten-foot pole as a challenge. Gross! Over hot mic, he says that she’s been reluctant to play ball in front of the cameras (understandably, because hooking up with Charlie Zakkour is perhaps the most embarrassing thing that anybody could ever do on all of Bravo, and I’ve seen Porsha wonder where the trains stopped on the Underground Railroad). I just hope this playful flirtation between them never materializes into anything real, for Ariana’s sake.
For as fun as this trip was, both for the new dynamics and drama it wrought and for the group bonding that resulted, I’m happy to be back in New York. Get me back to God’s country — and by God’s country, I mean a Rowan Henchy story line.
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