One of the things that I’ve noticed about Basketball Wives is that, in the right company, they’re not bad people. When the show either pairs up people and doesn’t have them talk trash or allows a bit more of their home life to peek through, it changes the entire complexion of the show for the better. You get to understand who some of these people are and what they’re going through, as well as finally having the chance to see them cutting loose (oops) after episode upon episode of drama. It may not change your opinion completely of a particular wife, but it dulls the blinding hatred that they can tend to drum up.
For example, I’m not a fan of Evelyn. Like, at all. Not even fractionally. If I were one of the wives on the show with her, one of us wouldn’t make it back from the first commercial break. But every time that Basketball Wives focuses on her family, I have to say, she’s a lot more tolerable. You can argue that it’s sympathy for her current situation peeking through; I just enjoy having proof, actual video evidence, that Evelyn is a human being with feelings and capable of being compassionate. The image that she puts out (blame the editing all you want, girl, but…) is extremely nasty and vile, the high school mean girl all grown up, so having a tiny break from the catty comments is appreciated. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think her proposal to have her brother-in-law and his wife renew their vows at her upcoming wedding makes Evelyn the patron saint of anything. Particularly on an episode where she talks a lot of junk about Jennifer and gets Tami to promise to protect her from jail, but footage like that makes her more human, less harshly drawn caricature. A sweet gesture is a sweet gesture, regardless of motivation and the rest of that person’s behavior.
And to beat it all, her trip to get a mammogram with Tami was actually kind of a good time. Well, as good a time as one can have during a medically stressful appointment, but still. They laughed (not at other people!), the doctor gave out some useful information about breast cancer prevention, and that was that. Last week, I mentioned that Basketball Wives was becoming too lenient on product placement and while it wasn’t a product, per se, all the medical statistics and not-so-subtle reminders to self-examine were pretty forced into the episode. But it didn’t bother me the way that the other incidents did because there was at least a purpose to everything the doctor was saying; if a woman watching the show got inspired to get checked from seeing Evelyn and Tami, I can handle a little preachiness and shoe-horned topics. The ladies talk about all the good work they do, but they’ve yet to understand the wide reach that the show has. If they can harness that message into something good and something that could benefit other people, that’s about all we can ask for as viewers.
Tami is another one who has benefitted from being taken outside the circle and shown in another light. Around the rest of these ladies, Tami can be a mean, vindictive bully, but get her around her kids or around someone not made from the charred remains of former cast members (sorry, Evelyn) and she’s Cool Aunt Tami again. Funny, effervescent, inappropriately loud – that’s the Tami that I love and that’s the Tami that we’re barely seeing this season now that she’s fully in the circle. It’s a shame, since Tami can be the biggest and best personality on the cast on her good days, but her main focus in season 4 has been playing both sides (in lip service only) and that’s…not cute. (Exhibit A: the fact that she lets Evelyn and Nia drag Jennifer but uses the confessional to talk about how there’s no problem between the two.) Judging by the preview for next week, Tami doesn’t stay copacetic for too long, so enjoy the time off while we have it.
But let’s talk about Royce, shall we? After basking in the glow of love for the last few episodes, she got brought down to earth by her father, who addressed a lot of what I mentioned last week. It’s not even a comment meant to shade Royce – it’s just a warning to keep your head in the game and not let yourself by consumed by the desire to be with somebody just to be with something. Obviously, I don’t know the woman, nor do I claim to, but if her father is offering a pretty similar point-of-view (along with Tami and Drunk Ass Suzie), maybe there’s a little validity there that Royce doesn’t want to face. Her father probably could have approached the topic more constructively, but he made several okay points. I don’t agree with everything the man said, either, particularly the “no living together before marriage” thing and the age difference issue, but somebody needed to give Royce a heads up about the path that she keeps following in her (televised, at least) relationships. The main question is, though, did she really hear what he said while she was breaking down?
And did it sink in?
Thoughts, Quotes, & Observations:
-“In my mind, his poems suck.”
-“Once you go old, you’ll never be cold.”
-“It was nice to see Suzie. Bless her heart. She means well.”
-“Yeah, go check your booty hole.”
-All this being said, props to Royce for not going on the vacation with the girls. Don’t blame her in the least.
-I liked Suzie’s lighter hair during one of her confessionals.
-Speaking of hair, Kenya’s chop sticks? Mulan realness. Also, she’s been super lowkey recently.
-Evelyn and Love & Hip Hop alum Chrissy did a photo shoot together.
–Royce, Jennifer, Evelyn, and myself wrote about last week’s episode, if you’re looking for a little reading material (and a lot of shade).
-Are the Basketball Wives producers upset with Jennifer?
-Shaunie addresses bullying on the show by…being defensive.
-Tami thinks that Evelyn is the victim in all this recent drama. Chile…
-Next week on Basketball Wives: Royce and her dad continue to bump heads over her boyfriend, the ladies head to Tahiti, and Tami comes for Kesha.
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