That’s it?

The Real Housewives of New York City is in free fall. Erin is “really tired of vacationing with these girls,” and I agree. This Puerto Rico trip didn’t need four episodes, nor did it save this bizarre season. And somehow, next week’s season finale still takes place on the cast trip, making this the first Housewives season ever with a five-episode cast trip. Everyone wants to be The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Bermuda momentI guess.

On paper, this trip was a decent success, as Ubah unravels at every turn while Brynn continues to spin a web of lies and everyone else gets caught in the crossfire. Although this season is establishing itself as the franchise’s worst ever, it’s actually quite interesting to analyze in detail.

There is a misery emanating from the cast that is easing every moment. This is the reason why the drama, no matter how outstanding it seems, lacks the necessary charm. The RHONY Women always act like they are on a company vacation and forced to work for their job. That could be because that’s exactly what’s happening.

In a few weeks that means nothing will happen. And some weeks there are the most uncharismatic fights known to mankind. Ubah’s specialty is creating a convoluted drama so confusing that the entire cast’s only response is to ignore it and this diva delivered an all-time disastrous performance tonight.

Ubah is determined to make this journey as uncomfortable for the women as it is for the viewers, delivering a crash so intense that Jen Shah’s volatility seems mild. Look, if our options are for Ubah to get too hot or for the ladies to put fake pubic hair in their bikinis to prank Jenna, I always choose the former.

Unfortunately we get the latter too, but that’s the last thing I want to say about it. I lead with love and have nothing positive to say about this show Tendency to stroke.

Ubah’s collapse is kind of Kelly Bensimon’s less interesting moment on Scary Island. It’s just more fun to watch gummy worm-induced psychosis than a debate about whether the water in Puerto Rico is “disgusting.” Don’t get me wrong, a bland insult to an entire country is a classic Housewives performance – an original new York Housewives have done it all too well – but Racquel is too sincere a messenger to make this moment a real struggle. And Sai is fully on the image rehab train after becoming America’s Most Hated Housewife last year, so she allows the little slip to maintain her non-role.

Next, the ladies challenge Erin to make a sexy call to Abe while they’re all there, which deeply upsets Ubah. She, too, is tired of the stupid pranks that flood this franchise.

It’s a coincidence that Ubah is so hurt by this harmless phone call, but she’s just in a bad mood. She hates everyone and everything right now, and nothing can turn the tide.

“Have some respect! “Some of us pray for a husband every day,” protests Ubah. If Erin truly supported women, she would delete her husband’s number and never call him again. She’s not a girl.

It’s no surprise that Erin is too depressed to even deal with Ubah – although it makes her appearance on the Bravo FanFest Besties panel even more confusing. This is how the entire cast feels.

They don’t care about each other and therefore don’t have the energy to fight real battles. Ubah vs. Brynn has become the standard feud of the season simply because they are the two cast members who really like to argue and want attention. Everyone else just wants to hide behind the Housewives brand to sell Sonobello or something.

As Ubah continues to praise herself as Girlfriend of the Year for canceling Erin’s call to Abe, Brynn barges into the conversation to tell Ubah not to come to other people’s weddings. This leads to the biggest fight of the season, with Ubah and Brynn trading low blows.

It’s a really funny moment in an otherwise dreary episode where they both come out as losers. Ubah is right that Brynn is completely fake, and Brynn is right that Ubah is nowhere near the household name she claims to be. There is no point in choosing sides, as is often the case in the world of housewives.

This is where Erin makes a mistake: she falls for Brynn’s pleas and takes sides. This results in a total outbreak – well, compared to what we are used to – setting us up for a final fallout.

It’s strange that the season ends with the journey, as this is a huge rarity in the franchise. Before RHOSLC Season 4 was the only season where this was the case New Jersey Season 12, not exactly a great season.

To give such a mediocre trip a third of the season’s episode count And The finale is such a failure that it’s clear, because as tepid as the cast is, the production is just as to blame, if not more so.

From the excessive pranks to the focus on forced themes like the pigeon motif while real storylines fall by the wayside (what happened to Erin’s marital dispute? How is Racquel’s wedding planning going? How did Racquel and Mel actually get together? Will Jessel make it? Another child got it or not?), production has put its eggs in the wrong baskets.

We are now looking forward to the final with little excitement. It’s far from unwatchable and may be better received with time, but it’s hard to view the season as the success that Bravo sees as justification for a reboot RHONY. With only one episode left until the reunion, it’s now too late to reverse course. The real question is where we go from here, and that will likely touch on the reunion. Until then, see you all next week.