Episode 6: Beach Season

Since the ladies all took a field trip to Ashley's house on Bethany Beach, we got to see them spend some quality? time together. As usual, there was lots of judgey judgey going on this week, and some of the RHOP still can't deal with the fact that Google exists. However, some of the most interesting (bi)racial issues also resurfaced this week, so let's dive right in.

The main highlight of the drama was Gizelle's disapproval of Ashley's beach house hostessing. Gizelle wasn't alone in this, but she was definitely the umbrella under which Ashley caught a lot of shade. Primarily, the ladies were frustrated that they would have to sleep on *gasp* TWIN BEDS!

Gizelle-"My children have a bed, actually bigger than that. And you want me, a grown, sexy, hot woman, to sleep in a kiddie bed...You don't bring seven grown women to a home and not tell them they're sleeping in kiddie beds".

Though Gizelle and Charrisee were losing it to the nth degree about this, it gave us a chance to confirm that Robyn is the truth!

Robyn-"These bougie hefas are trippin. It's a twin bed. They're not gonna melt, they're not gonna die. Their weaves not gonna fall out. Get a grip."

Personally, although most the of the ladies continue to attack poor Ashley for her (lack of) hosting skills, I felt that they were pretty ungrateful guests. Ashley made them elderflower cocktails, for goodness sake, and instead they demanded champagne! And Ashley did get to throw a little back in Gizelle's direction, although unfortunately it was in an off-camera interview. 

Ashley- "Gizelle, how's your beach house doing? Oh? Silence? Oh ok."

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Even though Ashley is the target of constant criticism for her etiquette, the fact that Mama Karen has decided to mentor her seems to protect her a bit.

Karen to Ashley-"It is incumbent upon us, as black women in this community, to embrace you" 

Aww, I'm touched. And in case there was any doubt about Ashley's racial status in the group, Karen confirms that she's black. This is important because of the contrast that we see in the way that biracial Katie is treated, especially by Gizelle. At this point, we've seen multiple instances of both Ashley and Katie being called out for behaving in ways that are "not black", and accusations of "not black"ness seem to arise whenever either of them strays from the way that the rest of the Housewives think they should behave. Ashley seems to let this roll off of her, but Katie takes it very personally. We got some foreshadowing about how this would go down this week when the ladies were on their way to the beach house. Katie admits that she talked to a blogger about her former relationship with Russell Simmons, and Gizelle does not approve.

Gizelle (about Katie)- "I don't know any black women that's EVER done that. Maybe that's some white girl stuff, I don't know." 

Gizelle thinks that Katie should've handled the situation the Angela Basset way. Cause that would've been blacker.


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The second (small) invalidation of Katie is very subtle, but it happens during the butt judging competition that the ladies have on the beach. Gizelle mentions that Katie is "flatticus buticuss". And as we all know, real black ladies don't have flat assess.

Finally, when Gizelle tries to throw subtle shade at Katie during the Sister Circle, Katie comes out and tells us that she gets that some of this hate is probably about her identity.

Katie (off camera)-"Did she just call me stupid? She's insulted my race, my religion, and now she's coming after me about this?"

The contrast between the ways that the women treat Ashley, who is also biracial, and the way that they treat Katie, speaks volumes. Though Ashley is clearly less part of the group, she's also clearly more comfortable as a black woman. Katie's insistence on distancing herself from blackness means that it becomes a weakness for her, and of course the Housewives will pick up on that.


Linguistic Observations

This week had lots of both pointed and baited indirectness (Ashley about Gizelle (above), and Gizelle about Katie (above)).

And when Robyn criticized the ladies for being TOO bougie, she used lots of AAE intonational features, as well as zero copula, r-lessness, and final stop deletion.

Gizelle as always, does some wonderful things with her use of pitch contours, especially when she feels the need to comment on someone's conduct. Go back and listen to her twin bed complaint if you'd like to hear it for yourself.

Random Unrelated THOTs

Robyn-"I'm not surprised they're not surfing. Did anyone really think they were gonna get their hair wet?"
Robyn is very clear on the fact that these women's weaves are WAY to fragile for water sports.

On the road trip, we  learned that most of the ladies think that Bill Clinton is very doable. 50 Cent, on the other hand is not, because he "might lick your armpits".