Southern Charm - all caught up

I want to open this up by mourning the end of the small app I was using to track my journey has sadly come to an end. It was a small start up that could no longer manage to stay afloat and unfortunately they had to make an executive decision to shut down. I have moved to a similar app called TV Time that also tracks movies. My tag is still @zolabud on TV Time to follow my journey. 

I have - over the course of the past three months - finally completely caught up on Southern Charm. I am genuinely shocked that I have not heard of Southern Charm outside of just knowing that that is where Paiges (ex) boyfriend was from. I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed the show. To me Southern Charm has something that not many other Bravo shows genuinely have - and that is the feeling of sincere friendship. Some Bravo shows get to the point where everyone feels like co workers, it is why Vanderpump Rules is on a break, it is why RHOBH is struggling this season, and I’m sure other shows experience as well that I will discover as I continue on. Craig, Austen, Shep - and even sometimes Whittney feel like they spend a lot of time together and talk about life like real friends do. Obviously there are times where the friendships waver like Austen and Shep figuring out their dynamics with Taylor post break up - and Craig and Austen entering a new era of their friendship with a “sober” Craig. At the end of the day I think they all genuinely love and care about each other and it brings a different feeling to the show that you cannot force no matter how many other shows try. I do think Leva needs to go though. I have not started Southern Hospitality yet but if that is where she is spending all of her time she should just fully move over there. She barely attended any events or trips in season 10 and then she would have a one on one dinner or a facetime with someone and stir the pot and leave. She then shows up to the reunion and has comments about every situation even though she has barely been around? It feels messy. 

The next thing I wanted to address is the edit that Paige gets on Southern Charm vs Summer House. Obviously having Paige on Southern Charm was few and far between because she lives and works in New York City and I am sure that every time she came to see her long distance boyfriend she did not want to spend the whole time filming. I think that if you didn’t watch Summer House or Winter House that I could see why people have a negative view on her. I believe that from the beginning the producers gave her a bad edit. Paige has a great sense of humor, she is driven, and she is a loyal friend. She is so funny that she is on a cross country comedy tour - but I felt that they never showed that side of her. They show her being stern and dry and on facetime saying she’s too busy to come visit even though those clips are followed up with Craig admitting he’s not giving her enough heads up. I think from the beginning the show knew they had to protect Craig and that was done by not allowing the Southern Charm fandom to fall in love with Paige like the rest of the world has. They did this by showing her as this driven business woman that puts her job before her man - and with the traditional values that the people of the south and Charleston hold, paired with the charming light that Craig has been painted in for the past 10 years where he can seemingly do no wrong, it is no wonder the Southern Charm cast and fandom are team Craig. Craig - the embellisher, the lawyer, the storyteller, and the man behind the lie compilations.   

I want to close this out by going back to the beginning of the show, and stating that Katherine Dennis deserved better. She deserved more grace from her friends when it came to T-Rav and their children. That man was twice her age and preyed on her and put her through hell as a young mother. Her actions that were highlighted during 2020 are not defensible, but when it comes to Thomas and her children I don’t think her friends supported her enough. That became very clear when Cameran had her first child and broached the topic, but I think it is sad that she had to have a child of her own to truly understand how bad Katherine had it. She had it bad with T-Rav and when Ashley came around? Game over. Ashley was one of the worst tv villains I have ever seen in all of my watching. How someone could say all the things she said with seemingly no remorse? I will truly never understand. I hope she has grown. 

Southern Charm was an incredible watch with genuine friendships, and I am glad I was able to bridge the gaps between Summer House and Winter House, even though there still feels to be a lot unsaid (like if Austen Kroll and Lindsay Hubbard were such great friends, why has her name never even been uttered on Southern Charm), and I am excited for my next watch!