Monica Garcia was all the time a special sort of Housewife.
Even earlier than the occasions of the Jan. 2 finale of Season 4, the newest addition to “The Actual Housewives of Salt Lake Metropolis” set herself aside from her new colleagues. Bravo’s largest franchise is an ode to the nouveau riche and their tasteless McMansions, however Garcia wore her working class bona fides with delight. Her entry into the franchise was not as a “good friend of” or peer to an present forged member, however a former assistant — infamously, one in every of many — to Jen Shah, now a convicted felon serving time in federal jail. In her first episodes, Garcia overtly mentioned her struggles as a single mother and referred to as out costar Lisa Barlow for her materialism. She wasn’t one other tequila magnate with a $60,000 ring (Barlow) or a boutique proprietor bankrolling her son’s monogrammed sweatpants (Meredith Marks). She was a working individual, identical to you and me.
The finale’s occasions take that populism to a completely new degree. Because it seems, Garcia isn’t simply like the common Bravo fan, watching catfights from their sofa and tweeting their ideas to complete strangers. She is a Bravo fan — although something however common. Garcia is now unmasked because the co-proprietor of the social media persona Actuality Von Tease, an account with only a few thousand followers throughout Twitter and Instagram. To have a look at Von Tease, the (now, largely scrubbed) web page is indistinguishable from the legions of “tea” accounts aggregating information gadgets and gossip tidbits about their favourite actuality reveals. The “Salt Lake Metropolis” ladies nonetheless appeared to acknowledge the account by title, indicating Actuality Von Tease was already acquainted to them as a very pernicious troll even earlier than the Bermuda journey.
That tour, the crew’s first worldwide getaway since Shah misplaced the power to go away the nation, had been collectively organized by Garcia and Heather Homosexual, a collaboration that might quickly flip deliciously ironic. It was Homosexual who obtained a telephone name, teased within the premiere, allegedly confirming Garcia’s connection to Actuality Von Tease, and Homosexual who gathered Barlow, Marks and Whitney Rose on the seashore to plot a confrontation over dinner, a gathering solely revealed in flashback after the dinner was already underway. Introduced with Homosexual’s proof (“RECEIPTS! PROOF! TIMELINE! SCREENSHOTS!”), Garcia rapidly caved. “Even Gossip Woman couldn’t keep Gossip Woman perpetually,” she shrugged in testimonial.
Garcia’s presence on Bravo brings the cable-channel-turned-unscripted-powerhouse even additional via the wanting glass. Fifteen years in, the Housewives franchise and the better Bravoverse are totally of their postmodern period, the place the fourth wall is only a frame of mind, and meta storylines abound. “Salt Lake Metropolis” has now escalated this pattern to beforehand inconceivable heights. It is probably not sustainable previous this crescendo. It might erode the already rickety foundations of a extremely produced narrative. It’s positively the results of some heinous interpersonal conduct. However it’s additionally extraordinary, brain-breaking tv.
In a way, l’affaire Monica is the inverse of the so-called #Scandoval, the “Vanderpump Guidelines” explosion that set the earlier excessive water mark for Bravo twists. That spectacle sprang from the painfully, undeniably private barging into its stars’ public lives, respiratory desperately wanted new life into a comparatively stagnant present. “The Actual Housewives of Salt Lake Metropolis,” in contrast, has by no means lacked for drama. (See the aforementioned jail sentence.) However the Garcia reveal represents a completely totally different dynamic: that of the ecosystem surrounding “Housewives” breaching the more and more permeable barrier between entertainer and viewers.
To look at “The Actual Housewives” has all the time meant to droop one’s disbelief. It’s normal follow for performers to deploy euphemisms like “our group” to keep away from acknowledging that they’re coworkers on a tv present, not an natural circle of mates. Lunches happen in suspiciously empty eating places; producers sometimes seem on display screen and even affect the story — bear in mind Michael Darby and the cameraman on “Potomac?” — however all the time disappear earlier than lengthy. Generally, the artificiality is a part of the enjoyable. One season into their tenure, the newly minted “Actual Housewives of New York” nonetheless really feel like a random group of girls impersonating capital-H Housewives, an archetype all of them understood from years of watching different ladies impersonate, after which turn into, Housewives. And, in all probability, participating with accounts like Actuality Von Tease.
With a year-round schedule of recent releases, Bravoholics (the official and technical time period) by no means lack for viewing choices, however they will and do complement the reveals with podcasts, subreddits and social media fan pages, the overwhelming majority of that are unauthorized. After the preliminary shock, one of the gratifying points of the “Salt Lake Metropolis” finale was the affirmation that stated Bravoholics embrace Bravo stars themselves. “Don’t act like each single one in every of you wasn’t consistently watching and DMing that web page,” Garcia scoffed in confessional, full with screenshots of Angie Katsanevas responding to Actuality von Tease. “You have been our largest followers!” The argument wasn’t a lot of a protection towards an accusation of cruelty, however it was a telling look into the mechanics of actuality stardom, and one which makes intuitive sense to viewers. Who wouldn’t give into the temptation to interact with some spirited discourse about their very own lives?
One other peek behind the scenes was Garcia’s candid description of the vetting course of as “auditioning to be mates” with the incumbent Housewives. The reality is that Housewifery, like performing, is a talent — one which Garcia has in spades, whether or not naturally or from observing Shah firsthand. The quippy one-liners, willingness to overshare and quickness to anger and make up all make Garcia a invaluable contributor to the story, as much as and together with her newest transgression. The irony is that Garcia might have flown too near the solar; the identical exploits that made for one of the sensational scenes in “Housewives” herstory has doubtless put a everlasting wedge between Garcia and her castmates. Housewives can forgive (or extra doubtless, be contractually obligated to disregard) far graver sins, like Shah’s defrauding the aged or Mary Cosby’s alleged misconduct towards members of her congregation. However Garcia’s on-line assaults might hit too near house, or danger turning the story right into a snake consuming its personal tail: a present inspiring social media posts concerning the present, which in flip turn into materials for the present.
Headed into Tuesday’s reunion episode, the primary of three, Garcia’s future with the franchise stays unsure. (She has a first-rate place subsequent to Andy Cohen within the seating chart, a doc “Housewives” Kremlinologists like to put below the microscope, however there’s no official phrase but on the forged for Season 5.) There are additionally loads of logistical questions, from what Bravo and/or Garcia’s castmates knew and when to the identification and involvement of Garcia’s co-conspirators, who ran Actuality Von Tease as a bunch account (in accordance with Garcia). However what we all know solely amplifies Garcia’s pre-existing arc. Even on paper, an assistant taking on her boss’s semi-glamorous job after enjoying a task of their downfall has the makings of an “All About Eve” remake. Now, Garcia is an on-camera avatar for each Bravo viewer who’s ever venture themselves onto the motion. Even when she finally ends up banished from “The Actual Housewives of Salt Lake Metropolis” itself, she’s already exploded our notions of who a Housewife will be.
