The Real Housewives of Atlanta says good-bye to one of its most valuable players. Kenya Moore’s swan song plays as an eerie cautionary tale for all current and future Housewives willing to take on the villain role. Last week, in the epic precursor for Kenya’s final mic-drop moment, we witnessed the trajectory of the show change in an instant when Brit began referencing a deadly weapon in her purse amidst a one-sided fight with the queen of clap backs (seriously, anyone whose reaction to perceived bad vibes is to threaten pistol-whipping shouldn’t be allowed to carry a gun). This week, we get a blissful twenty minutes of what this season could have been, with a glimpse of the alternative universe we were headed down before Brit activated the beast inside Kenya.
In fact, the beginning half of the episode is the epitome of Kenya in her sleeping-bear state — she’s glowing in preparation for the first filmed event at her spa and nurturing her burgeoning friendship with Kelli and Porsha. It’s a refreshing change of pace with the chill-mom version of Kenya on display in a way we didn’t get to see while Marlo was breathing down her neck for the last two years. Porsha’s assessment of the situation hit the nail on the head; Kenya might have a reputation as the big bad wolf, but in her current iteration, she hasn’t been as confrontational as Brit is making her out to be. I think Brit knows this, too, as it’s reflected in her moonwalk of a backpedal. She does her rounds admitting her wrongs to everyone but Kenya, claiming she was “triggered” and “provoked” but never intended to make anyone feel threatened. How she thinks mentioning a gun in the middle of a fight isn’t threatening someone is beyond me, but she keeps reminding us she spent high-school dancing in music videos, so maybe she’s confused.
Porsha surprisingly steps into the “voice of reason” role for about two seconds (which is really all she can handle, but even Porsha can see right from wrong in this instance) as she tries to break things down to Brit during a one-on-one. It’s another peek at the alternate universe of an idealized sixteenth season where Porsha returns to the show, matured and ready to anchor the cast. Instead, it’s Shamea putting in work reflective of a veteran Housewife — and wearing the infamous CHA-NEL earrings to Kenya’s event to solidify it. Unlike Marlo, Shamea clearly learned a thing or two in her years as a supporting character, and she studiously keeps the drama from the bank dinner flowing by asking all the right questions when Brit and Angela visit following the explosive dinner. Shamea hilariously tries to get to the bottom of Brit’s manic behavior, asking if she has siblings (the assumption being that only an only child would throw such a tantrum), and even gets Angela to reveal that she was the one who wrote the question that launched a thousand tweets.
Although Kenya’s energy remains jovial until the final 15 minutes of the episode, she foreshadows the arsenal she’s sitting on while picking out models for the grand opening of Kenya Moore Hair Spa with Kelli and Porsha. Porsha recommends that Kenya do her “due diligence” to find out exactly what Brit said. Kenya ominously replies, “I’mma run a background check,” before twirling away in what might be the last RHOA twirl for Miss USA. Little did her co-stars know that her “due diligence” would include multiple poster boards of damaging information about the insurance agent, culminating with pictures of Brit engaging in fellatio so vivid that Bravo had to blur it out, ending the episode with a chyron explaining, in an ironic usage of passive voice, that “Based on Kenya’s behavior, the decision was made to cease filming with her this season.”
The grand opening is gorgeous, with Kenya’s signature purple decorating the space and an extravagant hair show serving as an opening act for something no one could’ve predicted would be so nefarious. Brit goes into the opening with a bouquet of white flowers, fully prepared to apologize and fall on her sword, reeling from the death of her aunt and the realization that she embarrassed herself on national television. As the women debrief from the last group event, everyone is firmly on Kenya’s side, acknowledging that Brit crossed a line. Once she arrives, the veterans who know Kenya can nearly smell the storm approaching, with Porsha saying she tacked her wig down extra tight in anticipation of the inevitable blow, “speaking from experience.” Brit tries to offer Kenya the flowers as atonement, but Kenya refuses them, leading to Brit swiftly exiting the building. As Brit licks her wounds in the parking lot, Kenya begins her speech, pontificating about “haters” and sharing with the crowd what happened at their dinner, asserting that she “was that bitch, been that bitch, still that bitch.”
Seconds after bragging about paying Brit dust, Kenya tells the audience that she did “her research,” grabs the posters, and begins a haunting presentation including old pictures of Brit pre-surgery and screengrabs of her video-vixen days before going completely into the gutter with the sexually explicit photographs. We hear gasps from the audience and the color leaving her cast member’s faces as the ladies express their shock in confessionals. When Shamea says, “This is too far,” Kenya keeps going, saying, “She threatened me with a gun; don’t tell me it’s too far.” One by one, they leave the event, disgusted by Kenya’s idea of revenge. Cynthia holds her friend accountable, condemning her actions and telling her to her face that she’s “bigger” than this. Porsha stands on the sidewalk, taking in the levels of privacy Kenya invaded (regardless of whether the pictures were readily available or if Brit was selling them from her doorstep for a dollar, no woman deserves to be exposed like that without her consent) before asking to cease filming, telling production they can act like she wasn’t even there.
Kenya’s departure is an uncannily full circle moment, with the network disposing of her for the same reasons that made her valuable. Since her freshman season, Kenya changed the trajectory of RHOA with her over-the-top antics and affinity for pushing the boundaries of her castmates through verbal sparring, invading personal space, and being an overall contentious human being. Then, she’s notorious for victimizing herself when others react, especially when she deems their reactions low-brow or aggressive. This pattern, while helplessly toxic, makes for great reality TV. Her presence, in part, led to RHOA experiencing a renaissance, with her casting marking what is now considered the show’s golden era (it’s not lost on me that Nene said in an interview that this is also the time she believed the show fundamentally changed). Kenya is lauded as one of the greats because of her bad behavior and likable personality … a combination that, historically, production condones and encourages. But what happens when the villain, who the producers helped create, crosses the constantly moving ethical goalposts everyone in reality TV is navigating with increased scrutiny?
In this case, Kenya left to her own devices after allegedly going to production with concerns for her safety, retaliating inappropriately in the only way she knew how. And why wouldn’t she? When has Kenya ever been punished for taking things too far? All production has to do was roll back the tapes to see that Kenya’s responses are, more often than not, outlandish and disrespectful. Is displaying lewd images of a castmate during a moment she worked so hard for — and dedicated to Brooklyn?? — a reasonable response? Not in any universe; she went entirely too far, and it’s disappointing considering how butt-hurt she was last season when she felt production excluded the process of creating the spa from her storyline. Now that we’ve given Brit sufficient lashings for her wrongdoings, we must do the same for Kenya, who is, unfortunately, learning a lesson that has chased her for the last 13 seasons. A great measure of someone’s character is how they respond when they feel they’ve been wronged, and Kenya shows her ass every time.
Bravo created a monster, but at some point, enough is enough, and I think showing pictures of dicks in mouths is a great place to draw the line. Actually, gun references would’ve worked, too, but here we are. There are so many smarter ways Kenya could’ve played this, like dramatically upping her security like Gizelle did post the Monique/Candice brawl or kicking Brit out after the speech about haters while hinting at Brit’s extracurricular activities through thinly-veiled euphemisms as we do in Housewife-land. Instead, she chose to engage in something in the territory of a federal crime, thus forcing her employer’s hand, despite sitting in the front row the last time a Housewife played with that kind of fire (the hypocrisy of bringing said Wife back in Kenya’s absence is something we’ll discuss in the weeks to come). It’s easy to want to pick sides or blame production, but I believe all parties are at some fault here, and it’s a shame to watch a promising season shift lanes on such a sour note. Let’s hope this is a lesson for everyone involved, and let’s brace ourselves as we watch the ladies pick up the pieces.
• Raise your hand if you’re starting to feel personally victimized by Drew’s storylines. You’re in good company because it seems like the editors feel that way, too — she was barely in the episode, and I’m happy because I’m sick of hearing about that bald hot-dog man.
• The Ms. Lawrence cameo was a delight! Seeing such a throwback RHOA addition added to the feeling that tonight’s episode was the end of an era, reminding me of how far we’ve come since Kenya and Porsha’s first season. This nostalgia makes the sting of Kenya’s departure hurt that much more after witnessing her build the brand and invest her daughter’s college fund, yet spends the grand opening engaging in foolishness.
• Angela is bringing us so much personal story, okay! Every week, another shocking layer of her life unfolds, and we’ve obviously just scratched the surface. I have too many questions about her daughter (getting married without telling your mom is sending a message, no matter how you slice it), mother, and sister, plus the alleged rumors about Charles having an outside baby while they were possibly together. Angela is a slow burn, but I’m enjoying the rollout.
