If you watch the original clip, Liz holds this pose, without moving an inch or blinking, for an entire five seconds. It's giving amazing TV
As a long time housewife watcher, this is the first time I've seen a first season knock it out of the park like this from the get-go. Even RHSLC, my favorite franchise, had a fantastic first season, but Jen Shah's ego centric personality absorbed the energy for the first few seasons. This cast is extremely well balanced and it is becoming more clear as the episodes go
First off, I wanna say Rosie understands the HW game. If you are a first time HW watcher, I would suggest reading Carlos' King book (or excerpts) and his interviews as a HW producer. There is a HW psychology that repeats itself throughout franchises and I think Rosie spent some time getting acquainted with the HW culture and also, her work as a news anchor also gives me Stacey from POTOMAC vibes, where they can be poised and put-together but are very smart intellectually and quick with their words, plus they know what it takes to have good tv
Do I love Rosie? No, she actually was not my favorite when I first started. I initially loved Liz but the tides are turning. With Dino's recent police bust for dealing c*ke and Liz herself saying she spent a LOT of time with Dino, it would be interesting if someone asks her if she knew about Dino's dealings. She definitely did and while she claims to be a no-bullshit person, she does choose bull-shit sides: she chooses Kelsey's, when anyone with two eyes and a brain can see Kelsey is doing the most. I think Liz could become a Grande Dame type of character if people coddle her too much, where the only logic that works is hers, no matter if it's the real world logic.
Now, coming back to Kelsey: she is a sheltered person who never faced any confrontation, no one went against her word. She went from being sheltered in her parent's home to being sheltered in her boyfriends home; as a former sheltered daughter, I can't blame her for hating housework. It was also a great shock to me once I left my home country because I always had a hot dinner waiting for me at home and now all of a sudden I had to cook it. A lot of things that one reads as love and care, stop. It's part of adulthood and everyone grieves this.
It is obvious no one in her life ever confronted her or even defied her, though. The way she was absolutely shell-shocked by Rosie verbally obliterating her tells me two things:
It's also funny that Kelsey's bone to pick with Rosie is that she "cheated" in the past when Kelsey is confirmed to be in a relationship where she is not the only woman and may very well have been the 'other woman'
To the viewer, all we see is Nosy Rosie, a kinda bitchy albeit harmless woman who is just talking about things to generate good TV and is overall good fun, is there on time, tries to engage all the ladies vs. Kelsey, who usually has RBF, is judgy and expects people to accept her snarky comments, hides behind Liz, performs for male approval and is starting over from scratch as a 30 year old woman realizing her beauty can only take her so far, since she committed the worst sin known to society: losing her youth.
Rosie noticed they were going to try to make her the season's target, that she had virtually no back-up other than Ashley and her husband and she did what any seasoned housewife would do: she ate her opponent alive, as if this were the National Geographic channel. Kelsey didn't even see it coming and she unknowingly activated it too, with the siren. She wanted the smoke and she got it; it will be interesting to see if one of the ladies try Rosie again this season or even the next one.
The season is gearing up to have a great finale and next week all the tensions are building up to explode, all the dynamics have been put in place and all the ladies have been spending a lot of time together, it will be interesting to see the natural fallout of all the things that have been occurring.
As for the rest:
Ashley: I thought she was not being fully transparent with her struggles and I think she def has interesting things going on - her son's health, 'Audrey' apparently generating no income while taking away all their energy. She has been transparent in her own way although not entirely forthcoming and I also like the fact that she calls out the madness. We always need a HW that can ground the others (like Cynthia Bailey, and even Cynthia showed her crazy side later ... lol)
Alicia: I think Alicia is the underdog of the season. I believe Liz was positioned to the be main character, but Alicia quickly defied that. Queen, iconic, I love that she gives the appearance of being ditzy but can definitely stand her own, as we will see with Liz next week. I don't see her as a pawn at all and I like that. In the after-show, she does not fall into Jo-Ellen's mean girl antics. She will be one of the greats. I hope her husband values the absolute gold he has and marries her or that she moves on and gets her $$$ worth.
Jo-Ellen: Initially did not like her as much, now that I understand her childhood more I can see how it had an effect on how she carries herself. The scene with Alicia discussing both their childhoods last week and the scene with her mom this week was one of the most compelling HW TV I've seen. I cried this last episode watching the scene with her mom, it was truly raw. She does have mean girl antics though I don't think she is truly mean, like Kelsey
Rulla: Rulla-la has the potential to become an icon too and it's obvious she is not showing her entire personality, I think sadly she is in a toxic marriage so I won't go too much into her. I don't know if we truly know -her- yet. She can be funny and light-hearted despite being the focus of the season and having so many people talking about her marriage. I hope she stays.
All in all, this cast is gold and they work well together. I hope they continue with the same cast for S2, there's a lot to develop with the dynamics still.
Sorry for the long post and typos, I am not a native english speaker and I have things to say!! quick edit for a typo
As a long time housewife watcher, this is the first time I've seen a first season knock it out of the park like this from the get-go. Even RHSLC, my favorite franchise, had a fantastic first season, but Jen Shah's ego centric personality absorbed the energy for the first few seasons. This cast is extremely well balanced and it is becoming more clear as the episodes go
First off, I wanna say Rosie understands the HW game. If you are a first time HW watcher, I would suggest reading Carlos' King book (or excerpts) and his interviews as a HW producer. There is a HW psychology that repeats itself throughout franchises and I think Rosie spent some time getting acquainted with the HW culture and also, her work as a news anchor also gives me Stacey from POTOMAC vibes, where they can be poised and put-together but are very smart intellectually and quick with their words, plus they know what it takes to have good tv
Do I love Rosie? No, she actually was not my favorite when I first started. I initially loved Liz but the tides are turning. With Dino's recent police bust for dealing c*ke and Liz herself saying she spent a LOT of time with Dino, it would be interesting if someone asks her if she knew about Dino's dealings. She definitely did and while she claims to be a no-bullshit person, she does choose bull-shit sides: she chooses Kelsey's, when anyone with two eyes and a brain can see Kelsey is doing the most. I think Liz could become a Grande Dame type of character if people coddle her too much, where the only logic that works is hers, no matter if it's the real world logic.
Now, coming back to Kelsey: she is a sheltered person who never faced any confrontation, no one went against her word. She went from being sheltered in her parent's home to being sheltered in her boyfriends home; as a former sheltered daughter, I can't blame her for hating housework. It was also a great shock to me once I left my home country because I always had a hot dinner waiting for me at home and now all of a sudden I had to cook it. A lot of things that one reads as love and care, stop. It's part of adulthood and everyone grieves this.
It is obvious no one in her life ever confronted her or even defied her, though. The way she was absolutely shell-shocked by Rosie verbally obliterating her tells me two things:
She, although smart, is not quick with her words: This is not a Nene vs. Cynthia or a Candace vs. Anybody on Potomac, I don't think we can expect Kelsey to be a Marlo or a Karen Huger and produce great lines, she would first have to get some media training, because the facts are that she freezes up and starts to do that weird tongue thing where she licks her lips constantly.
She, as opposed to Rosie, is not recognizing that Rhode Island =/= the rest of the world: Again, Rosie is not my fav, and I actually think she was truly vicious with Kelsey, but see it this way: these women are recording TV almost 24/7 and making Rosie their bitch; all of them, but mostly Kelsey, treat Rosie however they wanted during a large part of this season, possibly because they could back each other up if needed, that is why Rosie said to Kelsey she no longer cared to be part of the 'clique'. I am glad Rosie called this out, RHORI being a close-knight cast does have the potential to become clique-y and I don't want a RHOBH where the fox force five bullies everyone they don't like.
It's also funny that Kelsey's bone to pick with Rosie is that she "cheated" in the past when Kelsey is confirmed to be in a relationship where she is not the only woman and may very well have been the 'other woman'
To the viewer, all we see is Nosy Rosie, a kinda bitchy albeit harmless woman who is just talking about things to generate good TV and is overall good fun, is there on time, tries to engage all the ladies vs. Kelsey, who usually has RBF, is judgy and expects people to accept her snarky comments, hides behind Liz, performs for male approval and is starting over from scratch as a 30 year old woman realizing her beauty can only take her so far, since she committed the worst sin known to society: losing her youth.
Rosie noticed they were going to try to make her the season's target, that she had virtually no back-up other than Ashley and her husband and she did what any seasoned housewife would do: she ate her opponent alive, as if this were the National Geographic channel. Kelsey didn't even see it coming and she unknowingly activated it too, with the siren. She wanted the smoke and she got it; it will be interesting to see if one of the ladies try Rosie again this season or even the next one.
The season is gearing up to have a great finale and next week all the tensions are building up to explode, all the dynamics have been put in place and all the ladies have been spending a lot of time together, it will be interesting to see the natural fallout of all the things that have been occurring.
As for the rest:
Ashley: I thought she was not being fully transparent with her struggles and I think she def has interesting things going on - her son's health, 'Audrey' apparently generating no income while taking away all their energy. She has been transparent in her own way although not entirely forthcoming and I also like the fact that she calls out the madness. We always need a HW that can ground the others (like Cynthia Bailey, and even Cynthia showed her crazy side later ... lol)
Alicia: I think Alicia is the underdog of the season. I believe Liz was positioned to the be main character, but Alicia quickly defied that. Queen, iconic, I love that she gives the appearance of being ditzy but can definitely stand her own, as we will see with Liz next week. I don't see her as a pawn at all and I like that. In the after-show, she does not fall into Jo-Ellen's mean girl antics. She will be one of the greats. I hope her husband values the absolute gold he has and marries her or that she moves on and gets her $$$ worth.
Jo-Ellen: Initially did not like her as much, now that I understand her childhood more I can see how it had an effect on how she carries herself. The scene with Alicia discussing both their childhoods last week and the scene with her mom this week was one of the most compelling HW TV I've seen. I cried this last episode watching the scene with her mom, it was truly raw. She does have mean girl antics though I don't think she is truly mean, like Kelsey
Rulla: Rulla-la has the potential to become an icon too and it's obvious she is not showing her entire personality, I think sadly she is in a toxic marriage so I won't go too much into her. I don't know if we truly know -her- yet. She can be funny and light-hearted despite being the focus of the season and having so many people talking about her marriage. I hope she stays.
All in all, this cast is gold and they work well together. I hope they continue with the same cast for S2, there's a lot to develop with the dynamics still.
Sorry for the long post and typos, I am not a native english speaker and I have things to say!!