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The first part of the reunion is dramatic between Eric addressing the DaKiya situation, Donovan’s drama with Sabrina, and Laverne being, Laverne.
| Aired (OWN) | 4/29/2022 |
| Directed By | TBD |
| Written By | TBD |
This content contains pertinent spoilers.
Recap
On A Lighter Note – Donovan, Carmen, Ace, Laverne
Unfortunately, after Laverne left and Ace self-eliminated, things didn’t progress to a relationship while the two did talk for a while. Why? As noted when he was eliminated, Laverne wasn’t ready to love. If not, in Ace’s words – to have a substantial relationship. Now, despite blocking Laverne, she doesn’t give specifics, but it seems clear that she isn’t really for the idea of seeing if something could be there. Especially after what gets revealed in part one.
As for Donovan and Carmen? They are still going strong. But, again, some things could be revealed that could potentially change all that.
The Eric Situation – DaKiya, Eric, Paul
Eric self-eliminating, and the reason behind it, gets explored – to a point. There is still some vagueness there, but the gist is, Eric touched DaKiya inappropriately in public, and she was very embarrassed by it, and Eric misread where they were at and the situation as a whole. At first, he apologizes for it during the reunion, but then he backtracks. Why? He still has issues about what he said about the incident and what she said. With that, the apology might have been said, but Eric keeps digging a new hole after just getting out of one.
Because of that, DaKiya calls in a witness in Paul to co-sign her calling him out after the incident, which brings to question why Eric thought this was just a misunderstanding and not a major violation? But, after a while, with it being clear Eric might be apologizing for the sake of his reputation, but his ego wanted a face-to-face confrontation that could lead to DaKiya apologizing, the segment gets shut down for it gets to an impasse.
The Many Battles of Sabrina – Tory, Demetrius, Donovan, Sabrina, Joi, Laverne, Precious, Ace, Tina
Whether intentional or not, Sabrina finds herself in the middle or part of the majority of Part 1’s segments. First, there is her journey, including Demetrius, Donovan, and Troy. She is pushed to address her nibling on Demetrius’ ear, and she notes that happened because, while Troy was consistent at that point, Demetrius stepped up 15 minutes before, and so she wanted to reciprocate. And she adds the only reason that moment blew up as it did was that Joi was hyping it up before she picked Demetrius.
Secondly, there is the Donovan situation. Unlike Tory it’s shown that he didn’t feel defeated after Demetrius got his ear nibbled on, but the more time he and Sabrina spent together, the more she wondered if he was there to find love or survive the process? Hence she thought he wasn’t ready to love.
But, to add insult to injury, she talks about how a kiss they had, her and Donovan, is part of the reason she and Demetrius got to a rocky place. For hearing about the kiss from Donovan, and not Sabrina, got him in his feelings, led him to calling his mom, and part of the reason Sabrina didn’t want to meet his mom is she didn’t want to deal with that conversation, aka they were in too rocky of a place. All of this, combined with saying Donovan had an interest in Joi, leads to Donovan following in Eric’s footsteps and putting his foot in his mouth a bit. But, thankfully, as before, the situation fizzles out rather than keeps escalating.
The same could be said for Sabrina’s last encounter, which is with Laverne, who recounts their whole thing with the plot to get him voted off. He talks about how Ace said, that Sabrina said, that Precious said, that Carmen said, that Tina and the truth gets broken down. First and foremost, Tina was not involved. Secondly, only Carmen seemed to really be conspiring against Laverne. Everyone else just didn’t have a romantic connection. And while apologies to Sabrina were done off-camera, Precious is still hot since no one has apologized to her about anything.
Things To Note
- Unexpected Content Advisory: Cursing (Yes, but it is bleeped out)
Question(s) Left Unanswered
- So, I know everyone is well into their adult years here, but should we not consider the environment the show allowed, maybe even fostered, being part of the reason Eric did what he did? You can’t laugh about how much innuendo is going on, and then when someone crosses a line, not take some of the blame with them. It’s like casting people they know aren’t ready to love because they can see they’ll make good television. If not casting someone they know is going to struggle in the process for they didn’t cast other people into their look or profession.
- Remember during Ready To Love: Last Resort when we saw the audition tapes for the show? Can we see the tapes each season?
What Could Happen Next
- I feel like Joi is going to be dragged into some mess since she seems to have decent friendships with the people who get into the hot seat.
- Addressing Demetrius, both the drama we saw Precious bring up in the next episode preview and maybe what Joi said to him about if he is serious about this
- Look deeper into Tina just leaving without even telling Tommy
- Maybe talk to the people eliminated early on?
Review
Low Points
The Men Not Knowing When To Shut Up
Ain’t the male ego something else? Don’t get me wrong, I get it. Eric being seen as someone who crosses the line with women is definitely something that could tarnish his name and business around DC. However, he gave a decent apology. DaKiya accepted it on television. He should have left it there. But then him going on about people talking and trying to do some necromancy on a situation Tommy just put to rest, that was so stupid and a major step back. I mean, he showed his ass, and Mr. Hyde came out!
Though, he isn’t alone. Donovan and Laverne also got a bit out of pocket, and while it didn’t get as bad as the last reunion when people were calling out the men for not speaking up, it was getting there. Eric seemed to be the warm-up to rile everyone up, and the other guys, seeing how Eric was handled, seemed ready to have a good ole back and forth with the ladies. One that wasn’t constructive but was more disrespectful and pushes you to wonder where the line is between getting the audience good TV and controlling the situation?
Is It Wrong To Say I Miss Tanika Ray?
As we say anytime we ask for someone but Tommy to host, it isn’t necessarily against him. Tommy knows how to stir the pot, allow the drama to happen, and maybe ask a nosy question here and there. But what he doesn’t really do is control the situation. He waits until things are getting a little too heated, and needs to raise his voice. To me, it makes it feel like he has part of the problem.
This makes me miss Tanika mainly since, with her being an outsider, you get the vibe that she wasn’t taking sides and pushed for all parties to be accountable and respectful. With her, I felt the purpose of the reunion was for resolution. Not to squeeze whatever drama could be left after people going through a journey with heartbreak, stress, and frustration.
I mean, say what you will about Sabrina, but how Tommy set up her segments lowkey made it sound like he wanted to foreshadow the drama he planned to allow. Rather than present himself as a host who knows all parties well and wanted them to talk it out as adults and figure out where some common ground could be.
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