MadameNoire
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Last night was the season 13 finale of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and even though it was pretty dry, viewers did get to see one more explosive showdown between Drew Sidora and LaToya Ali. Even though Drew was seemingly a fan favorite this season, did she take things too far during last night’s episode?
Now let’s keep it real, isn’t everyone happy that this season of RHOA has come to a close? While the shake-up of new cast members into the mix (such as Drew, LaToya, and Falynn Guobadia) definitely helped spice things up and seeing the ladies have fun doing participating in their expected antics always makes for good TV, this season was probably one of if not the driest seasons of RHOA to date.
On top of it not having as many iconic reads and shady moments as we’re used to, this season was also heavily dragged down by the whole “who slept with B.O.L.O” storyline that was immature and unnecessary from the moment it was started. While the adult entertainer’s visit to the cast’s vacation home in South Carolina for Cynthia’s birthday party will definitely go down in RHOA history, seeing Kenya (and Marlo Hampton to an extent) badgering Porsha about whether she slept B.O.L.O was cringey at its best this season and disappointing and tired and its worst.
As mentioned, what did provide some entertainment was the cast’s newbies and friends. Drew came on as a peach holder and LaToya as a friend of the show while Falynn made some guest appearances here and there (definitely leaving her mark) and regulars like Marlo and Shamea Morton were in most of the cast’s scenes. Particularly considering the dynamic at play between Drew and LaToya — who didn’t see eye-to-eye all season — their tension and its effects on the rest of the group made kept things interesting through the season, last night’s episode included.
If you recall, things between the two women got off to a rocky start basically from the jump when LaToya kept on going after Drew’s “quarantine wigs.” As viewers saw this season, the women threw petty jabs at each other most often on the topic of each other’s marriages. While Drew would make a comment about LaToya’s impending divorce here, LaToya would toss one about Drew’s husband mysteriously going to Tampa for three days without any explanation and vice versa. All of that carried on until last week’s episode when Drew took things a step further by alleging that a close spiritual advisor to her family (known as Prophet Lott) and LaToya had become romantically (and possibly sexually) involved. In that episode, Drew came for LaToya in front of the whole cast by saying the latter had a “Delilah spirit” and accused her of “preying on the prophet.”
All that being said, Cynthia’s Friends-mas event in last night’s episode actually had all the initial makings of an event that wouldn’t end up in a disaster. Marlo ended up calling her to say she wouldn’t be attending anymore but that she was still sending over her gift for the white elephant gift swap the ladies agreed to do — which was great so any lingering drama between her and Porsha would be avoided at the Christmas party. Then in a similar fashion, LaToya backed out last minute of going to Cynthia’s event too, and she claimed she wouldn’t be in attendance so that she could avoid getting into anymore “prophet”drama with Drew.
As the ladies began opening up their secret Santa gifts, things were inevitably a roller coaster of shade-throwing, side-eyeing, and surprised appreciation. When Kenya ended up receiving Drew’s three-tiered Christmas gift, both she and the rest of the cast had no problem sharing their disappointment and confusion surrounding what Drew brought as her gift — which included a wig (which Cynthia clocked Drew had already previously worn), a boom box and casket player with a meaningless recording of the prophet saying he liked LaToya (sigh), and a $100 donation to the Human Society which Drew noted came from her heart (really, girl?). Since the spending limit was $1000 and most of the women went over that budget to purchase their secret Santa gifts anyways, as you can imagine the other ladies — Kandi in particular — were really unimpressed with Drew’s trio of gag gifts.
Ironically and hilariously, just as the women were finishing up with the unboxing of Drew’s gift, LaToya ended up showing up and making a surprise entrance. Since the awkwardness of Drew’s anti-climatic recording of the prophet speaking on his feelings for LaToya had just played, once Kenya let LaToya she’s been a topic of conversation just moments before her arrival it was on between her and Drew. Understandably, LaToya just couldn’t understand why Drew was so worried about her relationship with the prophet — or what exactly that relationship had to do with Drew canceling her daughter’s baby blessing. When LaToya ended up throwing Drew’s gag gift wig in her face from across Cynthia’s coffee table, Drew finally decided to let the “Chicago” out of her.
While the women didn’t have the chance to get into an actual fight because the cast’s security was quick to restrict Drew before things got physical, the pettiness and chaos of the moment was inevitably a party killer. As a great thing to see, Kandi had given Drew such a good read surrounding the latter’s obsession with LaToya and Prophet Lott’s relationship. As she mentioned during last week’s episode, and again to Drew in yesterday’s episode, it’s not any of Drew’s business no matter what type of dynamic at play between LaToya and the prophet. Relatedly, Kandi also doubled down on her opinion that Drew’s been flat out wrong for weaponizing religion against Latoya and making it seem like the latter’s been seducing the prophet — a grown man who was going to pursue LaToya regardless if that was his prerogative.
All in all, this season and (season finale) was pretty much a letdown. Instead of giving us an inside look into the lives of the women, the season focused more on the aftermath of #Strippergate and the petty drama happening between castmates that were blown out of proportion — just like this whole Prophet situation between Drew and LaToya. Since Drew was so well-liked by viewers for the majority of the season and LaToya was the one who seemingly had her castmates and viewers alike exhausted by her antics, it was strange to see those roles flipped in these last episodes as Drew tried her hardest to make LaToya’s involvement with Prophet Lott a big deal.
Instead of Drew being focused on LaToya and Prophet Lott in the last several episodes, wouldn’t you have liked to see more of the trajectory of her marriage with her husband Ralph — from the shaky way they came into the season to the last episodes where Ralph is dare I say semi-likable…? Relatedly, instead of seeing Kenya focus on B.O.LO. and Porsha, it would have been more interesting to get details on her confusing arrangement with her estranged husband Marc Daly because at the end of the season, the state of their marriage seemed to be where it was at the beginning of the season — crippled by the weight of distance, improper communication between the two, and impending divorce proceedings. On another noted, it would have been cool to see more of Porsha Luther King’s growth as a voice in the Black Lives Matter movement too since she has come such a long way since her Underground Railroad blunder.
For better or for worse, season 13 will go down in RHOA history as having one of the show’s most iconic moments (#Strippergate), but also being pretty uneventful outside of that. Even though the cast and crew were restricted due to COVID, for some reason the iconic RHOA charm and humor just seemed to escape this season all in all and even the cast’s newbies couldn’t help fill that void. If anything, it just makes us wonder who will be in RHOA’s cast lineup for season 14…
In a final a side note, was anyone else weirded out by Drew and her family continuously referring to her son’s biological father as “old daddy” in last night’s episode?
We’ll keep you updated on the RHOA reunions so stay tuned for those, but until then, see the most popular tweets from last night’s episode down below.
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