This episode reminded me of one of the things I like about Married to Medicine. The cast can get along and can keep it together. Jackie accepting Sweet Tea's apology, the men's cooking competition, the women's golf competition, the drama free yacht ride and Simone's harmless slumber party game all made for a light, fun episode. Reality TV can get mean and dark (👀 Real Housewives of Potomac 👀), so it was really refreshing to watch an episode in which the cast members weren't being mean towards each other or saying dark things about each other. Simone's game was fairly constructive and we (the audience) really walk away from this episode feeling like this cast has grown a lot and has outgrown boat fights and toxic, marriage breaking game nights. 10/10 for the 'OG' cast members and 10/10 for Toya in this episode, for not falling into the trap of entertaining Alicia's "Eugene needs to train your {behind}" statements. Superb!
HOWEVER. Speaking of Alicia... She doesn't necessarily blend well with the rest of the cast and her husband and their "marriage philosophy" may have a lot to do with that. Kema is very obviously different from the rest of the men in the cast and that's okay. But what isn't okay are some of the statements he's made in previous episodes including this one. The idea that an adult should have control over another adult and that a man (or he) trains his wife (Alicia) is concerning and hard to watch. Their reactions to their own statements are even more bizarre. Kema's hysterical laugh after Jackie very seriously tells him "women are not trained, dogs are trained" and Alicia's bizarre demonstration of being "shocked" into "temper" are incredibly hard to watch. Doesn't she know shock is a tool of torture? How many torture tools are electric shock devices? And what is amusing about a dog shock collar? Their lack of awareness that this type of thinking and the type of language they use is situated on the very thin line between so-called "traditional" marriage values and abuse is incredibly off-putting.
Heavenly and Damon's marriage philosophy is similar to Alicia and Kema's, but we won't see Heavenly and Damon invoke the type of language and imagery Alicia and Kema have in this episode and previous episodes. Clearly there is a way (and I'd argue, multiple ways) to uphold and advocate for so-called "traditional" marriage values without invoking the same type of language used to describe subjugation, pavlovian conditioning and torture.
Kema can say he doesn't mean to be derogatory and disrespectful but there's nothing more derogatory and disrespectful than using language that is commonly associated with training dogs (Alicia said Eugene needs to get a collar on Toya's {behind} and shock her) and describing treatment that literally mirrors Pavlov's study in which he conditioned dogs, and then reapplying it to your spouse and/or women. That is peak derogatory and disrespectful and they need to either acknowledge that the language and descriptions they've used this season are problematic or take their incoming train wreck of a marriage off-screen.
Long story short, Alicia and Kema are not fun to watch and this episode is a great example of why they are so hard to watch. Their marriage doesn't have to look like Toya and Eugene's, but can they at least recognize that the language and descriptions they've used here are problematic then do a better job at explaining their marriage philosophy without these problematic undertones (this is a show about marriage and medicine after all).
HOWEVER. Speaking of Alicia... She doesn't necessarily blend well with the rest of the cast and her husband and their "marriage philosophy" may have a lot to do with that. Kema is very obviously different from the rest of the men in the cast and that's okay. But what isn't okay are some of the statements he's made in previous episodes including this one. The idea that an adult should have control over another adult and that a man (or he) trains his wife (Alicia) is concerning and hard to watch. Their reactions to their own statements are even more bizarre. Kema's hysterical laugh after Jackie very seriously tells him "women are not trained, dogs are trained" and Alicia's bizarre demonstration of being "shocked" into "temper" are incredibly hard to watch. Doesn't she know shock is a tool of torture? How many torture tools are electric shock devices? And what is amusing about a dog shock collar? Their lack of awareness that this type of thinking and the type of language they use is situated on the very thin line between so-called "traditional" marriage values and abuse is incredibly off-putting.
Heavenly and Damon's marriage philosophy is similar to Alicia and Kema's, but we won't see Heavenly and Damon invoke the type of language and imagery Alicia and Kema have in this episode and previous episodes. Clearly there is a way (and I'd argue, multiple ways) to uphold and advocate for so-called "traditional" marriage values without invoking the same type of language used to describe subjugation, pavlovian conditioning and torture.
Kema can say he doesn't mean to be derogatory and disrespectful but there's nothing more derogatory and disrespectful than using language that is commonly associated with training dogs (Alicia said Eugene needs to get a collar on Toya's {behind} and shock her) and describing treatment that literally mirrors Pavlov's study in which he conditioned dogs, and then reapplying it to your spouse and/or women. That is peak derogatory and disrespectful and they need to either acknowledge that the language and descriptions they've used this season are problematic or take their incoming train wreck of a marriage off-screen.
Long story short, Alicia and Kema are not fun to watch and this episode is a great example of why they are so hard to watch. Their marriage doesn't have to look like Toya and Eugene's, but can they at least recognize that the language and descriptions they've used here are problematic then do a better job at explaining their marriage philosophy without these problematic undertones (this is a show about marriage and medicine after all).