‘The Real Housewives of New York City’ Gets Real About Abortion

Every episode of The Real Housewives of New York City is a very special episode. It’s rarely funny, often super serious, and always feels like we’re supposed to watch and think, “Wow, they are so brave, relatable, and aspirational.”

It’s kind of like if the Real Housewives was made by the producers of The Bachelor. Unfortunately, that leads to mixed, mostly tepid results. We’re on week three of the leaky pigeon pregnancy prank, and it’s just as tedious as it was two weeks ago. It’s a storyline that would only work if the cast were funny, and since they’re not, it just feels like beating a dead horse.

At Ubah’s pigeon picnic, the ladies go around in a circle to discuss the biggest rumor about each other, something that should be fun in practice. They lightly nudge Rebecca Minkoff to talk about Scientology, which she describes as though it’s All in by Teddi, not a well-known organization with some scary allegations against it. To be fair, All in by Teddi has those, too.

I will give the ladies a lot of leeway, as I wouldn’t want to go toe-to-toe with the church of Scientology, either. But I guess I’m confused why Bravo would even cast Rebecca if not to go there. If this were the old RHONY, Dorinda would end the season either running the organization or mysteriously going missing. These ladies are a bit too smart to rock that boat.

As for the rest of the rumors, it’s simply a chance for the women to deny, deny, deny. Of course Sai didn’t break up a marriage! She would never do something that interesting.

Next, the conversation returns to that cursed prank, and who actually was in on it. It’s so convoluted that I don’t even know or care whether Brynn knew. Brynn probably is lying, and Erin is, too. Moving on.

With the prank in the rearview, Erin launches her redemption arc, preemptively getting ahead of the insensitivity of joking about pregnancy in a group full of women who are trying to have kids. She meets with Jenna to discuss the fact that, when she was 18, Erin had an abortion. It’s a topic she feels implored to share in a post-Roe vs. Wade America, and she’s going on Glamour’s podcast to tell her story.

Yes, it’s a little weird to have Erin talk about abortion rights when she donated to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign to Stop the Steal. But that’s the kind of brazen hypocrisy that this franchise was built off of, even if it’s presented without a touch of irony.

All cynicism aside, Erin’s story is touching, and the scene between her and Jenna packs a much stronger punch than all that pigeon drama. Both their stories are very moving, and the fact Erin willingly films with her dad to discuss it is brave, too. She may not be a perfect Housewife, but Erin does punch far above her weight on a cast full of mild personalities. The new RHONY really does excel far more in solo scenes than when the full group gets together.

Over some bagels, Erin sits her dad down for a public conversation about her abortion, not wanting him to be blindsided by her Glamour interview. Filming uncomfortable conversations on camera is a cornerstone to being a good Housewife. Erin’s arc this episode may be a smart ploy for sympathy, but it’s also genuinely well-done. It’s the good kind of “very special episode,” one that hopefully can move us past the pigeons and pranks that have slowed the season down.

The motherhood motif carries through the entire episode. Ubah goes to a fertility clinic to talk about her options, as she and her boyfriend who never appears on screen look to have a baby. Meanwhile, Jenna has a chef teach her son how to make mushroom risotto for his Stanford summer program. It’s a classic dorm dish, alongside peanut butter & jelly and cereal for dinner.

As for Racquel—also a mother in a “that’s mother” sense—she meets up with Jenna at an art gallery to flirt a little, and have some fun. They want to be Adriana de Moura so bad, but not everyone can ooze raw sexuality in the art world.

The good thing about Racquel is she’s the one cast member Jenna actually seems natural with, helping tether Jenna more to the group dynamic. It’s funny that’s the case given Racquel seems entirely unaware of what show she’s on half the time, but she makes it work. Her utter confusion at Erin’s picnic behavior is why Racquel will probably never end up central to a feud, sure, and that’s okay. Every cast needs a Carole Radziwill. This cast just happens to have three or four people vying for that role.

It’s certainly worth noting that, on new RHONY, the abortion conversation is one of polite niceties, while The Real Housewives of Potomac forays into the subject with a brazen lack of care for who it will hurt in the process. This show is just too buttoned up for that.

So yes, most episodes are a little boring at best, but at least RHONY can still make a “filler” episode work. Maybe it’s a good sign that this was the best episode in three weeks, and maybe it’s a better sign that next week Erin’s husband is doing Dorinda drag.