'Selling Sunset' Season 2 Review: The Kardashians meets World's Most Extraordinary Homes in Netflix reality series
Contains Spoilers!
Netflix's unscripted series 'Selling Sunset' is one gigantic pandemonium, and to be frank, that's exactly what will reel you in - hook, line and sinker. The show revolves around a group of top brokers from The Oppenheim Group, a high-end real estate brokerage firm based in Los Angeles. Season one of the series premiered last year and introduced us to the leading ladies - Chrishell Stause, Christine Quinn, Maya Vander, Mary Fitzgerald, Heather Young, and Davina Potratz. They are elite real estate agents who broker luxe homes to an affluent and celebrity clientele. The series also features Romain Bennet (Mary's fiance), and Jason and Brett Oppenheim, who own the high-end real estate firm. Season Two, which dropped on May 22, is just as fiery and histrionic as the first - the ladies are back and working hard to be at the top of their game. Add love and relationships to the mix and you're in for a dramatic ride.
The new season follows the ambitious agents as they navigate through their personal and professional lives. A new addition to the mix is Amanza Smith, an interior designer, who's just earned her real-estate license and is learning the ropes of the game. The first few minutes into the episode and you can totally expect what is to come - lots and lots of filthy rich drama, and you're not upset about it at all. Why? Because you know you're a sucker for it.
Christine Quinn's sudden engagement had left everyone speechless and naturally, it became the first topic of gossip. She's about to get married to a man she's known for probably a few months and has been vacationing with but there's a twist - the news of the engagement was kept a secret from all of her 'friends' except one. Well now, everyone's offended that they had to get to know about it from someone else and not Christine herself. Mary, among all of them, is the one who feels a tinge of betrayal for she thought they were close, until she admits herself that they had grown apart.
There is a whole lot of tension between Chrishell and Christine, and it's so thick, you can even slice it with a butter knife. Chrishell dislikes Christine, and that is putting it nicely, and which culminates from a dinner-gone-wrong that was part of the first season. Things were said and done, some pretty harsh things, and now Chrishell wants to steer clear of Christine, but the latter has other plans. It's as if though she thrives on riling people up, but Chrishell is just over it. She's not about to take Christine's bait of a half-a**ed apology and go back to being friends like everything is just great and dandy. Chrishell's walls are up high and guarded, not even a jackhammer could penetrate through it.
Enter Amanza Smith, a passionate interior designer who's just joined the firm after earning her license and is making her way into the real-estate business. She is good friends with Jason Oppenheim, who is also mentoring her more or less. Amanza is a single mom, who credits all her life's bearings to her hard work and humble beginnings. She is also Mary's best friend and instantly connects with Chrishell and Maya.
Heather Young is in a new chapter of her life. After a string of failed relationships, she's found love again with Tarek El Moussa, host of HGTV series Flip or Flop, and is adjusting to a life of being a step-mother to his children. While all seems well on the surface, it is apparent that Heather is increasingly protective of her new-found love and immediately goes into defense mode when someone comments on it. She has an argument with Amanza, over meeting Tarek's children so early into their relationship when the latter tried to pass on advice from her personal experiences, and now she's wary of Amanza every time she's around.
Evidently, Christine is a walking drama magnet. She manages to stir trouble by blowing something irrelevant completely out of proportions and causing a scene. It's like she's a magician and the drama is a playing card, appearing out of thin air. Her toxicity is rather palpable, and she goes out of her way to become the center of attention.
Meanwhile, Mary Fitzgerald is sort of all over the place trying to get the elements of her fast-approaching wedding altogether. Her wedding venue falls through the last minute, and Christine stirring up drama and exaggerating the smallest of things has her at her wit's end. Added to that, her stubborn fiance, Romain Bennet, is no help whatsoever. He does not want Davina to be in attendance at their wedding because of some insensitive comments about him and his finances, that she made in the past. However, the season closes with Mary and Romain's fairytale wedding and they begin their happily ever after.
Davina is in disagreement with Jason and Brett over an $80 million listing for a luxurious modern mansion. Jason argues with her about the listing being too ambitious with that price, however, Davina is relentless and will go to the ends of the earth to see this deal through. She even mentions having her own brokerage license, and if Jason and Brett refuse to let her broker this deal, she would take matters into her own hands.
The only person that usually keeps out of the narrative is Maya Vander, who is a new mom. Earlier on, it was revealed that she'd had her own share of problems and suffered miscarriages before finally having her son Aiden, although even his birth was a difficult one. She's adjusting to her new role, while also getting back in the groove and selling houses. While all this drama unfolds in the background, the seven glamourous realtors show us how it's done, as they take us on an exclusive tour of the gorgeous million-dollar properties that they're brokering. They even syllabize the process of closing a deal with a client.
A fair warning we can provide you is to get yourself a large bucket of popcorn, because, in the best sense of the term, sh*t will hit the fan and you need to be prepared for the catfights that will inevitably come your way.
'Selling Sunset' Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.