I’ll say it: I don’t think Bronwyn and Todd’s separation is real—at least, not how it’s presented. I don’t think the women are that concerned about what Meredith did on the plane.
And I don’t think that The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City excels at the art of the reunion.
The Season 6 reunion leaves RHOSLC at a crossroads, ceding the narrative to Bronwyn and her feigned effect, allowing the worst aspects of the past season to run rampant like a “Brat summer” confessional gone on too long.
Inauthenticity is the name of the Housewives game, of course, but humorless sanctimony scratches at the foundation of the franchise, leaving us in a rocky place as the Sisters of Salt head into new terrain. I’m not down on the show—quite the opposite, really—but you have to call out bad habits early before they crystallize in form.
A reunion in which Andy can say “people really fall in line with what Mary Cosby is saying” with a straight face and no one even jumps at the low-hanging fruit is a missed opportunity. Watching Bronwyn maneuver the conversation to a third-act separation reveal that, in turn, reveals nothing is exhausting. Whitney twisting that reveal to be all about herself… well, that was actually pretty funny.
Also funny is Andy saying to Meredith, “It’s confusing to viewers that you can’t remember what happened at the end of Crazy Rich Asians,” as though any of us remember the movies we watch in plane purgatory.
That’s the kind of smoking gun that faithful fans latch onto week one of The Traitors, so we might as well hold the Housewives to the same shoddy standards.
From there, the reunion jumps around, nibbling at every topic without ever getting a good bite. While we spend 40 minutes discussing the plane ride and its aftermath, the conversation stays exactly where it’s always been: Meredith denies, denies, denies; Mary acts like the arbiter of all topics (some might call her omnipotent, even); Heather acts as though that plane ride changed the course of history forever; and Bronwyn, well she bobs her head around to scold someone for something she never saw.
The stakes have never been lower, truly. How are we supposed to care that Bronwyn has lost trust in Meredith when four weeks ago, I wouldn’t have even realized they knew each other? Why, oh why, is the reunion’s last segment these two bickering over the state of their friendship as though anyone gives a rip?
Prior to this, we’re granted a brief reprieve as the women discuss their marriages, both Whitney and Lisa breaking down in tears over their hunky, hubba hubba husbands failing to be perfect. Whitney would hate to imply anything, but if you renew that contract of hers, you might just see a separation storyline in your future—oh wait, Bronwyn’s doing that?
Scratch that. Her marriage is stronger than ever because she’s seen what happened to Bronwyn and Todd. Wouldn’t Whitney Wild Rose be such a good confidant for Bronwyn to lean on in Season 7? #SaveWhitneysSnowflake.
As for Lisa, that segment devolves as all of hers do, lately: the women scold her so severely that you almost forget how absurdly annoying Lisa actually is. At some point, the Housewives will learn to sit back and let someone hang themselves with their own rope.
It does provide a really good Heather quote, though, as Lisa sobs over John calling her out: “We love John, we know John, and we all sided with John.” Somehow, this is said in support of Lisa, which proves Heather still has it in her to be backhanded in the funny, silly way she’s known for, and not the “you were annoying on a plane ride, so I’m going to tank the season’s narrative” way.
Oddly enough, there’s no follow-up on Heather’s boundary-breaking storyline (owning an air fryer). Disappointing.
Now, let’s get into Bronwyn and her separation from Todd—and reality. Earlier this season, Ms. Bob sat down with Whitney, eager to get ahead of “Todd cheating rumors” no one had heard of, and here, she’s playing from the same rulebook. Nothing happens naturally in the Bronwyn Newport universe, where every beat is storyboarded weeks in advance for maximum impact.
Here, Bronwyn sits down with a big sigh and a subtle smirk, realizing it’s time to pull the lever on the separation reveal. It’s something that could fully be true, sure, but it just rings hollow. We’ve seen a plethora of Housewife divorces, dating all the way back to Tamra Judge raging “I want a divorce!” in the backseat of a limo as her husband sits by in shock.
Bronwyn could never have a moment that unscripted; it’s far too risky. She needs to scroll Twitter and Reddit for hours on end before telegraphing any decision. This reveal is the equivalent of an AI slop amalgamation of Housewives divorces, simply unable to reveal anything new or honest. Maybe that’s the most authentic Bronwyn experience.
Whitney running off stage to cry in her husband’s arms as he reaffirms, “We’re good, you know we’re good, right?” is the exact reaction that moment deserves. Follow a stunt with a stunt. Whitney’s solitary tear falling as she makes this all about herself is a reminder that some Housewives have it, and some don’t. If this is her last act as a Housewife, at least she went out with a laugh… almost.
Sadly, Whitney (and Mary) follow that by going above and beyond to glaze production while sobbing over Meredith “blaming” them for her behavior. I’m often obsessed with shamelessly grasping onto your job—Gretchen Rossi’s fake proposal, Aviva Drescher tossing her leg for no reason but to have a moment—but even that has its limitations.
Whitney was two seconds away from staring into the camera and saying, “I, Whitney Rose, love and support Bravo, and would never, ever give you all a hard time. Can I have another contract?” I would have preferred if she did, honestly.
With that, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City signs off for another season, and you might think I hated everything about it based on my whining and complaining for the past 1,000 words.
Of course, I do hate seeing the best Housewives on Bravo succumb to the slippery slope of sanctimony, but I’d be remiss to pretend this was anything near the worst season of Housewives in history, let alone this year. The Salt Lake City standard is simply so high that a 6/10 feels like a catastrophic miss.
Thankfully, the flaws are mostly surface-level.
It’s time to remove Bronwyn from the narrator role, so she can settle into life as a snakey shapeshifter. And, while I’m far from jumping on the Heather hate train, it’s time we accept she’s washed in her current role. Avoiding a one-on-one with Meredith while letting Bronwyn and Mary slide past easy lay-ups, Heather occupied a role neither engaging nor authentic this season. Thus, the season has ended with a horde of question marks where emphatic periods should be.
When The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City returns this fall, we can only hope production makes the small, but necessary, changes to ensure the show doesn’t continue its collision course. Whether Whitney, Meredith, Britani, or all three exit the show, it’s time for a simple reboot to what works best. Let storylines breathe, stop searching for the next “Receipts! Proof! Timelines! Screenshots!” moment, and, for the love of God, do not end another season on a cast trip.
As Tyra Banks once said, “I was rooting for you! We were all rooting for you! How dare you? Learn something from this.” These women are too talented to be second-rate Housewives of the Beverly Hills ilk.
