There are many ways to handle a financial crisis. You can hire an accountant. You can consult an attorney. You can sit down with your spouse and figure out exactly how much trouble you’re in. Or, if you’re Karen Huger, you can summon your friends to a press conference, bring along a staff member to take notes, and distribute printed screenshots of their tweets like you’re preparing to testify before Congress.
Welcome to Potomac, where the champagne is chilled, the shade is professionally administered, and the Grand Dame is not taking questions from the press unless she has personally approved the press.
We pick up with Karen’s financial situation still making headlines, and the ladies are having a difficult time pretending they aren’t fascinated. Ray’s tax troubles have become the subject of considerable discussion, and Karen is less than thrilled that her friends are discussing her business. Apparently, the appropriate response to a newspaper reporting on your financial problems is to become angry with the people who read the newspaper.
Monique is still settling into her enormous new home, which apparently has enough rooms to accommodate a small municipality. Karen stops by for a visit, arriving in a very nice Jaguar that costs approximately as much as some people’s entire houses. Monique gives her a tour, showing off the property and its many amenities. Karen is impressed, particularly by the fish tanks, and brings along gifts because the Grand Dame never arrives anywhere without an appropriate offering.
Karen remarks that it’s wonderful to see a successful Black couple doing well in Potomac. It’s a lovely sentiment, although the conversation takes an interesting turn when the subject of financial responsibility comes up.
Monique is not particularly interested in imagining what she would do if Chris were facing millions in tax problems. She has a lovely house, a successful husband, and a basement that still needs finishing. She has other things to worry about.
Meanwhile, Karen is concerned about the way people are treating Ray. She believes the public is being judgmental and that her friends should be more supportive. She also makes it clear that she and Ray maintain separate financial arrangements, which is apparently something Monique finds rather surprising.
Karen’s explanation is that a marriage does not necessarily mean combining every dollar into one enormous marital checking account. This is a perfectly reasonable concept, although it does raise the question of how one is supposed to defend a financial situation when nobody seems to know precisely what the financial situation is.
Over at Robyn’s place, Gizelle comes by for a visit. Robyn and Juan are preparing to move into a larger townhouse nearby, and Robyn is feeling pretty good about the state of their relationship. The couple has been through plenty, but things seem to be moving in a positive direction.
Gizelle, who is apparently now the relationship counselor of Potomac, suggests a double date. Because nothing says you’ve finally gotten your relationship back on track like having dinner with another couple whose relationship has also been through several seasons of television.
The conversation inevitably turns to Karen.
Gizelle and Robyn remain unconvinced by Karen’s explanations. They believe there’s more to the story than Karen is letting on, and they aren’t particularly impressed by her insistence that Ray’s financial problems are entirely separate from her own.
Karen, meanwhile, is telling Monique about her unpleasant conversation with Robyn. She feels betrayed. She believes she has been supportive of Robyn through her own relationship difficulties and doesn’t understand why Robyn can’t extend the same courtesy.
Karen is not simply annoyed. Karen is furious.
She makes it clear that she has no intention of backing down, and her language becomes increasingly colorful. There will be no scratching of the Grand Dame without consequences. This is not a woman who intends to be quietly escorted out of a disagreement.
And just in case anyone was wondering, the Grand Dame has claws.
Elsewhere, Gizelle is enjoying the honeymoon phase of her relationship with Sherman. She has apparently found a man who makes her happy, and she is determined to enjoy every minute of it.
Sherman picks her up for a romantic date, complete with a limousine and a trip to a vineyard. Gizelle is positively giddy. The woman who normally approaches every social interaction like she’s preparing to cross-examine a hostile witness is now feeding fruit to a man in the countryside.
It’s almost unsettling.
They discuss their relationship and the possibility of moving in together. Sherman has three children, Gizelle has three children, and the two have apparently decided that combining their respective households might be a reasonable next step.
Gizelle is enthusiastic about the prospect. Sherman seems equally comfortable, and the two enjoy a romantic picnic before deciding that perhaps they’ve spent quite enough time discussing the logistics of a blended family.
The date ends early, but not because anyone has suddenly remembered an appointment.
Gizelle is happy. Sherman is happy. And for once, nobody is accusing anyone of owing millions of dollars.
Over at Oz, Ashley is also enjoying a somewhat brighter chapter. The restaurant is doing better financially, and she and Michael are making an effort to get their marriage back on track. After all the problems they’ve had, Ashley is optimistic.
Monique arrives for a brunch gathering, and the two women are joined by someone new: Candiace Dillard.
Candiace makes her entrance with the energy of someone who has never encountered a room she couldn’t immediately occupy. She’s a former pageant queen, having won Miss United States, and she knows how to introduce herself.
Ashley knows her from the pageant world and makes the introductions. Monique and Candiace hit it off almost immediately.
Candiace is engaged, excited about her relationship, and ready to talk about her upcoming wedding. Monique is delighted to meet her, and the two women seem to discover an immediate connection.
Candiace is bubbly, enthusiastic, and very comfortable discussing herself. In other words, she has arrived in exactly the right television franchise.
The conversation eventually turns to Karen.
Ashley is not buying the Grand Dame’s financial presentation. She questions how Karen can be driving around in an expensive new Jaguar while living in a home that reportedly costs thousands of dollars a month. The optics aren’t particularly convincing to her.
Monique also has some thoughts about the situation, and the ladies discuss whether Karen’s lifestyle is consistent with the financial problems being reported.
Ashley is particularly unimpressed. In her estimation, Karen is putting on a show, and the financial reality doesn’t match the image.
Monique advises Candiace to be careful around the women in this circle. There are people who smile in your face while doing something entirely different behind your back.
Candiace assures her that she can handle herself.
This is the sort of confidence that tends to precede a very entertaining amount of television.
Meanwhile, it’s moving day for Robyn and Juan.
The couple is upgrading to a larger townhouse, and Robyn is reminded of how different their financial circumstances have been over the years. She remembers their earlier days, when Juan had money, when they were living a more extravagant lifestyle, and when things subsequently changed.
Robyn reflects on the experience of having once enjoyed the privileges of being married to a professional basketball player. She misses some of the conveniences that came with that life, including having people pack up the house instead of having to do it herself.
Apparently, being an NBA wife comes with certain perks that are difficult to relinquish. Who knew?
Robyn is also conscious of the foundation she and Juan have built together. They’ve been through difficult times, and she believes that history gives their relationship a depth that Ashley might not fully understand.
Then there’s Karen.
The Grand Dame is preparing to address the growing chorus of questions about her finances, and she has decided that the best way to resolve the situation is to bring everyone together.
She calls Gizelle and announces that she wants all the women to meet so they can discuss what’s been going on.
Gizelle is intrigued. Karen is not exactly known for inviting people over to have a relaxed, informal conversation about uncomfortable subjects.
And Karen has a name for this gathering.
A press conference.
Not a girls’ lunch. Not a sit-down. Not a little chat over cocktails.
A press conference.
The Grand Dame is apparently prepared to face the media, although the media in question consists entirely of women who already know her business and have been discussing it behind her back.
Gizelle is amused by the idea, which is generally a dangerous sign when Gizelle Bryant is amused by something involving Karen Huger.
Before the big event, we get to know Candiace a little better.
She’s out with her fiancé, Chris, and the two discuss their relationship. They originally met while working at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. He was a manager, she was a hostess, and their friendship eventually developed into something more.
Chris proposed in spectacular fashion, arranging for a large group of Candiace’s friends and family to be present for the surprise. Candiace gets emotional recalling the proposal, and it’s clear she’s very much in love.
There is, however, one small complication.
Candiace comes from an affluent family, and Chris’s background is quite different. He is divorced and has three children from two previous relationships. These aren’t necessarily dealbreakers, but Candiace acknowledges that her fiancé isn’t exactly the person she imagined herself marrying when she was younger.
Still, she believes in their relationship and is determined to make it work.
She also has some fairly particular preferences. At one point, she makes it clear that she doesn’t want to drink from a can.
Candiace has arrived, and apparently even the beverage packaging must meet certain standards.
Now, back to the main event.
Karen is preparing for her press conference, and she has enlisted her friend Matt to help organize the proceedings. Matt will also be present to document what happens, because apparently this is a formal proceeding and the Grand Dame requires an official record.
The women begin arriving.
Ashley is among the first, followed by Monique. They’re already wondering what exactly they’ve walked into. Matt’s presence adds an interesting layer to the situation, because nobody seems entirely sure why a staff member needs to be present for a conversation among friends.
Then Gizelle and Robyn arrive together.
And they have come prepared.
Gizelle has apparently considered making a fashion statement by wearing a shirt referencing the tax situation. The idea is to poke fun at the circumstances surrounding Ray and Karen, which is not exactly the kind of humor Karen is hoping to encounter at her press conference.
Karen is not amused.
The Grand Dame has assembled her guests, her note-taker, and her documentation. She is prepared to address the accusations, but she wants everyone to understand that she will not be ganged up on.
She distributes printed screenshots of the women’s tweets about her.
Yes. Printed screenshots.
Because nothing says friendship quite like walking into a meeting and receiving physical evidence of your previous social media activity.
Karen wants everyone to explain themselves. She has the receipts, and she intends to go through them.
Gizelle insists that she isn’t Karen’s enemy. She explains that her comments were motivated by confusion about the circumstances surrounding Karen and Ray’s move and the financial situation that had become public.
Robyn is considerably more direct.
She asks whether the move was connected to Ray’s unpaid taxes.
Karen denies that this is the reason. She maintains that Ray’s business obligations are separate from her own financial affairs, and she reiterates that the two of them have separate finances.
This explanation does not satisfy the room.
Robyn wants to know how the women are supposed to support Karen if she won’t give them enough information to understand what’s happening.
Monique also struggles with the explanation. She wants to know why Karen is being so defensive when the women are simply asking questions.
Karen, however, sees the questioning as an attack.
And then there’s Ashley.
Ashley has been relatively quiet, but she eventually decides to enter the conversation with a question about whether Karen could face an indictment.
Karen’s response is to remind Ashley that Michael has had his own share of public controversy.
Specifically, she brings up the reports and social media drama surrounding Michael’s alleged extracurricular activities, including the infamous discussion of his anatomy making its way around the internet.
Ashley is immediately offended.
She wants to know why Karen is bringing Michael into this discussion, and she certainly doesn’t appreciate having her husband dragged into the conversation.
Karen, however, is not finished.
She brings up reports and rumors concerning Michael’s alleged involvement with another man, and the producers helpfully provide a visual reminder of the controversy involving a photograph of Michael.
The conversation has officially departed from the subject of Ray’s taxes and arrived somewhere considerably more anatomically specific.
Ashley is furious.
She fires back that Karen should be more concerned about Ray than about Michael’s private affairs. She also makes a pointed reference to the possibility of Ray facing trouble himself.
The ladies are now arguing about two different husbands, neither of whom appears particularly eager to be included in the proceedings.
This is no longer a press conference. It’s a marital liability summit.
Ashley continues questioning Karen about the possibility of legal trouble, while Karen insists that her financial arrangements protect her from being responsible for Ray’s business debts.
Robyn remains unconvinced. She points out that she knows what’s happening financially in her own household, and she doesn’t understand why Karen seems unwilling to provide a straightforward explanation.
Monique makes perhaps the most reasonable observation of the afternoon: how can the women have Karen’s back if they don’t know what they’re defending?
It’s a fair question.
Unfortunately, fair questions are not particularly welcome at this press conference.
Karen becomes increasingly frustrated with the entire situation. She has called these women together because she feels betrayed, but now she’s sitting in a room full of people asking questions she doesn’t want to answer.
At one point, she gets up, seemingly ready to leave.
Robyn notices and points out that Karen is walking away from the conversation.
Karen eventually returns to her seat, but the atmosphere is deteriorating rapidly.
Gizelle, who has been waiting for her opportunity to get to the heart of the matter, asks the question everyone seems to be circling.
Is Ray going to be indicted?
And that’s where we leave things.
The Grand Dame has convened her press conference, provided the documentation, brought in a member of her staff, and managed to turn a discussion about taxes into an argument about Michael Darby’s alleged sexual activities.
But the one question everyone actually wants answered remains hanging in the air.
Is Ray in trouble?
Karen Huger would like everyone to know that she is still the Grand Dame. The women would like to know whether the Grand Dame’s financial empire is in considerably less comfortable shape than advertised.
And Ashley Darby has apparently decided that if Karen wants to discuss husbands, Michael is not going to be the only one under examination.
The press conference has been a tremendous success, provided the objective was to generate even more questions than it answered.
No statements have been clarified. No friendships have been repaired. No one has been reassured.
But Matt has presumably taken excellent notes.
In Potomac, even a financial crisis deserves a formal event, and nobody is leaving without at least one husband getting dragged into it.
The Grand Dame has taken questions.
She just hasn’t answered them.
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