Copyright Vulture
This show is at its absolute best when it oscillates wildly between displays of incredibly aesthetic beauty and the cold-hearted world-ending evil that makes it possible. Even the name Selling Sunset suggests the commodification of a beautiful end. It can be poetry when it gets there, and these episodes get as close to this as I think I’ve seen this season. It helps a lot that we finally get a scene where everyone currently employed at the brokerage is in the same room. The Welcome Sandra/Poor Mary dinner hits all the right notes, like the refrain of a beloved song. First, Jason toasts to the fact that their jobs are “probably more rewarding now than ever, because we are helping displaced families.” This is a really cute way to describe already wealthy people not charging sales commission to wildfire victims. Then, we finally get the Mary and Chelsea fight that’s been brewing all season. But we’ll get to this. First, Blake. Blake has proposed to Emma, and the show lets us think she’s considering saying yes for a whole episode. And they did get me. Emma even goes to Jason of Beverly Hills to try on rings with Chelsea. (Blake did not propose with a ring because this would’ve required the sort of planning and forethought of which he is incapable.) It’s clear Emma isn’t thinking straight since she’s talking about marriage as a “fairytale ending.” This is alarming behavior, the sign of a woman who needs to be airlifted to safety. While Blake survived Chrishell’s initial onslaught, our beloved queen keeps good company, and her lieutenant, Chelsea, swoops in to save the day. Chelsea has held back on judgment, so she’s able to stay close enough to Emma to plant actual seeds of doubt. Though it probably helps that Chelsea likely doesn’t really care what Emma does because, folks, Chelsea has an engagement ring worth one million dollars. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what the jeweler (the titular Jason of Beverly Hills himself) was insinuating when he said she could exchange her ring for a $750,000 bracelet and a $180,000 diamond ring. This is why I feel it is perfectly okay to make fun of these people all the time. It’s at an actually gorgeous home in Encino that Emma finally admits to Chrishell that Blake has proposed. But, thankfully, she said no and dumped him. I love this scene. It’s a heartwarming moment between two best friends and one last delicious opportunity to watch Blake get absolutely roasted: “Was he drunk?” Chrishell asks, then answers her own question with, “Of course he was, he’s always drunk.” Blake, get help! You have the means. At this point, it seems like things are looking up for Chrishell, who has finally vanquished her latest foe. Unfortunately, Blake was never the thing to worry about, I like to think Emma was always going to get sick of him eventually. The real villain, I think, is the far more cunning and dangerous Mary Bonnet. Mary is becoming a Republican thinking of moving to the suburbs in an effort to feel “safe.” I don’t begrudge her the impulse to move after what happened, but what she really needs is the therapy her ex-boyfriend/boss Jason is offering to pay for. Safety is not a place; it is a feeling. Plenty of people who live in low-crime areas with tons of cameras and guns still live every day terrified that a caravan of antifa migrants is going to surround them and raise their taxes. Mary has let the fear in, and like Ricky Bobby, she must either tame this beast or become its servant. It’s unclear which path she will choose, but the fact that she’s spending so much time with Bre — who is completely ruled by fear despite what she tries to project — makes me think this might be a foregone conclusion. I completely expected the fight at the Welcome Sandra/Poor Mary dinner to begin with Sandra, who I assumed had been cast solely to force conflict. But maybe she’s just here to paint nudes, because it’s actually Mary who initiates the argument with Chelsea. As I mentioned in the last recap, I don’t think this is really about Chelsea. At least, I hope it’s not. There is really very little reason for Mary to hate Chelsea this much. Yes, they’ve had conflict, yes, Chelsea swore at her in a text, but if her concern is that Chelsea is trying to get camera time, why guarantee she gets that by making this a thing? Unless, of course, the person in question is Chrishell’s most valuable lieutenant. Once again, I’d like to draw our attention to the fact that two of Mary’s closest friends have tried and failed to bring down Chrishell in one way or another. I no longer think this is an accident. I think Mary hates Chrishell. I think she hates that Chrishell and her friends are the stars of the show, while Mary is, in fact, the second in command at the brokerage, having earned it by remaining loyal to Jason and Brett for years. Mary may be a coward whose reaction to every conflict is to literally flee production, but she isn’t stupid. She knows enough to know she cannot challenge Chrishell directly herself; she doesn’t have the clout. So, she sends her minions — Nicole, Christine, and Jason’s first cousin Jenn — to take shots at Chrishell and her first base of support, Emma. Now, she’s going after Chrishell’s newest bannerwoman, Chelsea. This is also why I think she’s been cuddling up to Bre: she’s recruiting her, hoping to flank and ultimately destroy Chelsea, weakening Chrishell’s overall influence. This is not just a fight, it’s a war. Unlisted Observations • Once again, the house in Encino is stunning. I have notes, of course: I will never understand why the wealthy want furniture that looks like it was bought at a failed tech start-up’s office liquidation sale. But it has real grass, real trees, cool accent walls, beautiful windows, and the thing that really got me: a whole wall filled with books. What makes a lot of these houses so ugly is that they were built for evil billionaire money men who do nothing but scroll Raya and bet on sports. This is a home for evil billionaire artists who scroll Raya and read books — it really does make a difference. • It’s pretty funny, just a few episodes after Amanza announces to the world that they all used to do cocaine together, to see Mary talking about going to parties at the house of a man named Smilez and claiming not to remember that it has a lazy river because she was “tipsy.” Sure, Jan. • I was really excited to roast New York City realtor Eleonora Srugo from Selling the City — who comes to town to meet up with Bre and learn what a house is (we don’t have those here in NYC) — oh, what a rant I had prepared! But she has recently decided she will not actually be helping Eric Adams sabotage Mamdani’s rent freeze plans, as previously reported. For this, I must reluctantly temper my rage because I understand that to help the overall movement, I must take what I can get, even from my opps. • The house that Alanna and Chelsea meet up in is actually pretty nice! With the exception of the obviously fake grass that makes me deeply sad, I like the design of this house! Good job, everyone! • C-List Celebrity Sightings: Chrishell shows Tinashe a house with one of those evil-looking narrow fireplaces the devil invented to remind us he exists. • Chrishell and I both got shit on by birds this year. Twins! • During Chrishell’s big scene with Emma in Encino, she says, in regards to how much she made fun of Blake: “That was me trying.” I don’t know if it’s because this is a show populated mostly by basic white women, or if this is my own hyperfixation on Taylor Swift lyrics, but there are so many Swift references in this season. It’s starting to freak me out. Eleonora wearing a snake, Nicole’s Reputation hair from earlier in the season, the use of the word “savage” constantly and out of nowhere. If I find out Taylor and Travis have been to one of those music industry parties at Smilez’s house, I will lose my tiny mind for good.
