Photo: Arthur Daniel/Bravo
A vacation rarely brings a cast closer together instead of farther apart — unless you count trauma bonding, then any Housewives trip to Puerto Rico would definitely count — yet Grenada serves as a refreshing baptism for the Atlanta ladies. I may be abusing the four-star rating, but my goodness, am I elated to have, to quote Nene Leakes, pure, innocent fun back on RHOA. Okay, perhaps watching the women grind half-naked on Caribbean men isn’t entirely innocent, and I can do without so much talk about Cynthia’s clit, but comedy is finally back in the series. And it’s the type of comedy the Black franchises do best: shit-talking and kiki-ing.
No one does shade and verbal sparring better than RHOA in its prime, and it’s no surprise because shit-talking is an honored tradition for Black people, one that’s been traced back to West African traditions. As one scholar put it, “The themes about which joking is allowed seem to be those most condemned by our social order in other contexts.”
