Sometimes, the real fun of recapping is finding the joy in these silly shows. To see Brandi, in the middle of a heated group argument, offer everyone a shot. Or Kam, after a blowout clears the table of all other dinner guests, forge on eating alone. Or both of those women putting their differences aside after meditating in Mexico. “Don’t underestimate the blonde and I won’t underestimate the red carpet!”
But there was very little joy in last night’s reunion finale. Apart from Mama Dee and her 150 wigs paying off D’Andra’s office lease and a little bit of fun around the idea of asshole licking, last night was extremely dark. But it was also pretty interesting. We move from the ethics of visiting the red light district to a debate on the importance of “Dallas society” (I found Stephanie and Kam’s opposing stances super interesting — more of that, please!).
Then of course, we have to talk about LeeAnne’s racism, a discussion made all the more upsetting after the recent release of a video featuring Brandi exhibiting racist behavior in front of her daughters. I hate this for Dallas. I’m sure most the people who read these recaps live here, but if you don’t, please know that behavior isn’t acceptable here. “We do not say that,” Stephanie finally interjects. “Do not throw all of us out there with you.”
Actually, I was wrong before. The biggest bright spot of this whole reunion is Andy’s take-no-prisoners attitude toward everyone. (I mean, particularly LeeAnne, but honestly everyone.) Has someone made a gif of Andy saying “Not true. Not true” yet? I would like to see it! I do wish we had dug a bit more into why LeeAnne invoking Kary’s nationality was racist in this instance — or instances, rather.
“I didn’t use my words well, and I didn’t like it when I watched it. Mentally, I was not present, and I was not putting my words together well.” – LeeAnne
“K, well there were like 10 other occasions.” – Andy
“It was an error.” – LeeAnne
“It was a series of errors.” – Andrew Cohen
Andy really buckles down when LeeAnne begins blaming things on production again.
On why she never apologized to Kary.
“I was specifically told not to reach out.” – LeeAnne
“Who told you not to reach out?” – Andy
“We were told not to reach out to each other before we came here.”
“By whom?”
“By production.”
“Not true. No. LeeAnne, that’s not true.”
“I’ll show you the email.”
“From whom.”
“From Sam!”
“Two days ago. You had four months to reach out.”
Stone cold, baby. Leave Sam out of this.
Andy then points out that during the in-the-moment interviews they’ve been filming in the months since production wrapped, LeeAnne seems to have doubled down on her comments. (Julio Iglesias anyone?)
“I started doing the majority of my interviews well earlier before I started seeing…”
“Not true. Not true. The producers were shocked.”
Whoa.
Okay, did anyone else think “ya dumb ass” was actually just Andy riffing and not the end of someone named Chelsea’s tweet?
Then the most fascinating thing of all came up: apparently, no one thought LeeAnne’s comments would air. I love when we dig into the inner workings of this show, which seem to include an assumed level of protection for LeeAnne.
“LeeAnne has brought a lot to the show, and in a lot of ways, we thought they protected her,” Brandi says. WHOA. Later, on “Watch What Happens Live!”, Stephanie says, “In the past, she’s done some things that have been horrible, and I feel like they’ve always kind of protected her. I’ve always felt like it was because she does contribute so much. So I do not think any of us thought that it would make the light of day, because it was so dark, and it was so crazy, and she’s been protected so much.”
What haven’t we seen?
This, unfortunately, might clarify why Stephanie and Kameron didn’t immediately tell Kary what LeeAnne said. Ugh. It’s suggested that Kam only said something in that Escalade because production told her the comments would be included in the season. Although Andy says, “We don’t editorialize on this show, as you may have found out. We just let it play out.” We’ll probably never know on this one.
“I think she’s duplicitous!” – D’Andra
After everyone gets a baby elephant, Dallas’ theme music plays (I can’t believe we’ve never talked about Dallas’ theme music, lol), and the cameras presumably cut. Andy pulls out his cellphone. Brandi, Stephanie, and Kary pose for a photo. And a shaky camera (cinema verite!) follows LeeAnne upstairs to her dressing room, where she tells someone, “I can’t change what happened. I can only try to do better in the future.” I could see that extra little scene being either a cap on LeeAnne’s time on the show, or a setup for a future redemption narrative in season five. I guess we’ll find out next year.
Thank you all. Never forget Kam’s mom porn book.
