Angel’s journey is “driving empty”

New York City has been inundated with emergency warnings in recent days as it prepares for the worst snowstorm in years. As a result, my newsfeed has been dominated by cold-weather tips, soup recipes, puffer coats, and shovel recommendations. Perhaps that’s why I and other viewers had almost no idea that this week’s episode would serve as an effective season finale for Potomac, and that next week’s episode would be entirely dedicated to Karen’s return. Did anyone here know this? I was certainly surprised when I saw a lame end-of-season recap shot scroll by while the women were commiserating outside the Denver airport. What a rude end to a season that had so many promising moments.

In any case, let’s get down to the remaining tendrils of Angel’s one-way journey to hell. Last week, I lamented how Angel felt cornered with no way to survive after Giselle’s targeted attack while on the road. I still find it uncomfortable and overall over-the-top to watch as Gisele badmouths Angel on the private jet while the rest of the women look on in silent support, but as of the end of this trip, I’ve done Angel’s Escape from Hell with a complete 180. This may be an obvious disaster, but if you’re not going to pamper the girls, you might as well entertain them instead by watching them endure dire conditions, which apparently is the only thing Angel was able to service them for the entire trip.

It’s almost impressive how many times Ángel has wrenched defeat from the jaws of victory at every moment. After successfully thwarting Gisele’s attempt to hijack the final days of this ill-fated voyage, she oblivious to the remaining logistical limitations of the itinerary and remains committed to getting her colleagues back to the Oregon Trail until the plane departs—except instead of red-hot, the girls are forced to buy gas station nachos before starving to death. That’s not the only mistake. Staying overnight in a competitive luxury hotel? She instead returns home to her husband and children, leaving Gisele and Ashley to keep the ladies excited in her absence. By the time they try to go fly fishing, Angel has lost any favors the women could choose to extend to her. She could have told them she was attacked by a wild coyote and no one would have cared one bit.

I’m human enough to empathize with Angel, who is clearly flustered by everything that could go wrong with the itinerary. But the sign of a good event planner is the ability to pivot based on the audience. If women want brunch at home, why would they add a four-hour round trip to fly fishing, especially when they don’t know where? If she was thinking straight, the most reasonable compromise would have been to find a way to locate staff closer to the hotel so the women could gain experience without commuting. In any case, there was no way Wendy would be successful fly fishing wearing a smallish bralette. It is better to keep them local so that the fish are not surprised by the inevitable failures.

Not only is every part of this trip a complete logistical nightmare, but the women are forced to create drama in solitude. Luckily, the women are skilled pros at initiating crashes in Sprinter vans. Jassi’s enthusiasm for social engagement is what I can only accurately describe as “Scheana Shay in spirit” and she is eager to get things started. When Wendy tries to denigrate Stacey for choosing to date Charice despite her vocal misgivings about Stacey, she immediately launches into a clearly planned retort to “reveal” that Stacey, despite claiming to be her friend, chose not to come to the wedding until the last minute, which Wendy backs up with a response that is disproportionate to the charge.

Like most things, this fight is less about the wedding and more about the plot of the show. Jassi is clearly trying to get promoted to the main cast by any means necessary, so she entered this season with her sights set on Chiaruna, earning her the position she thought was guaranteed. Stacey attends Jussie’s wedding not for friendship, who would call someone she worked with for eight weeks a year ago a close friend? We’re not teenagers attending summer camp, but to ensure that her wedding will be filmed. Whether it’s just Wendy going, or Wendy and Ashley, documenting the trip is worth more than cell phone footage from the women. But having the three main cast members present means it’s camera-worthy, and all the ladies know it. Just as it was true that Stacey was betting on whether Jussie could have enough of a presence on the show to maintain an alliance among an increasingly hostile cast, Jussie hoped that Stacey would legitimize her presence with the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, Stacey’s actions read like someone who knows she has the upper hand, while Jassie’s frustration comes from wanting Stacy to help her and being left in the dust in response.

Wendy’s intervention with Splinter and later one-on-one with Stacey turned the match completely against her. As she pointed out to Stacy, no one is going to want to advocate for you if you’re not going to do the same. This is not a question of friendship, but a question of the transactional hierarchy of housewives. For Stacey to successfully rally allies against OG, she must serve their interests as much as she seeks out her own. That includes attending the stupidly overblown wedding of a colleague who is just trying to collect as many Getty images as possible to justify an increased appearance fee. It also includes not jumping up and attacking the friend who is supposed to be recording you at the first sign of conflict on camera, and not abruptly leaving when faced with an issue you can’t really argue with. All involved jumped to the nuclear option over a problem that could have been resolved quickly and easily. More than anything, this scene most clearly shows that while Stacey may be a diamond in the rough, she still needs polishing to navigate the Housewives dynamics.

As everyone knows, next week will be mainly dedicated to Karen’s return. Wearing a braided wig and bandana, her dramatic expression as she silently sheds tears, it’s clear Karen is preparing to rise from the ashes as a masterpiece. From what we’ve seen so far, Andy seems to be pulling out all the stops, and I personally look forward to seeing him insist on her return. Unsurprisingly, that fact was already made clear in the last few episodes of the season when Karen was absent. With no one able to stop Gisele from steamrolling the entire cast at will, it quickly became boring and uninteresting to watch. Giselle, like Cersei Lannister, is most convincing when she has to scramble to fight off her hind legs. Otherwise, her authoritarian approach to reality TV is just a restless, aimless blur.

I’m eager for Karen’s return, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the amount of abandoned storylines this season. Where can I find additional post-arrest footage of Eddie and Wendy? How are the other women taking the news of Karen’s early release? What will be the fate of the endless series of half-baked business ventures we’ve seen on screen this year? I feel like I sacrificed too much of what I left unfinished in my rush to see Karen again. I hope at least some of that gets covered in some way ahead of next week’s reunion. Next week we’ll be announcing our post-season rankings and thoughts, and we’ll also be covering interviews with Karen and Andy. See you all again!

• Raise your hand if you’re even nominally surprised that Gisele isn’t as close to her mother.

• I wish I could believe Chiarna when she says there’s no one she loves more than herself, but if that were true, I feel like I wouldn’t have to watch her flash all 32 of her teeth while her boyfriend stood next to her like he was attending jury duty.

• Stacey and Monique both act like they’ve never been to a gas station before, which is exactly what I’ve come to expect from a housewife’s fantasy.

• After all the coverage of Gisele’s court battle, I think we deserve more insight into what happened to the will than the final screen announcing her defeat. I hope we can bring this up at our reunion.

• Ashley continues to try to solve the case of “Who Told Chris” in the final episode, which shows how little story she has left. I’ll save my remarks for next week, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that her journey is coming to an end.