T. Green
This week, we get some major relationship drama on The Real World: Ex-Plosion. And this is even before the exes arrive!
Resolutions with Ashley
With all the messes that Ashley made in the first episode, there was still some cleanup left to be done. Arielle was still calm about the hot oil incident and gave Ashley a fair reminder that her actions affect everyone in the house. Arielle even called a house meeting just to reiterate that everyone should hash out their issues in the future in a rational manner as opposed to blowing up. Jamie was more stern in her conversation with Ashley however, as she emphasized that Ashley was a much different person while drunk. Ashley became defensive and threw out accusations of Jamie being mean and talking behind her back.
Jamie and Thomas
Throughout the episode, Jamie continued to express her interest in Thomas. Thomas revealed his intrigue for her, but they ran into some differences of opinion that made a potential hookup difficult. At the bar and back and the house, the roommates exchanged stories of their sexual histories. While most boasted of having numerous partners, Thomas said he only had three and had meaningful relationships with all of them. At one point, Jamie copped to having 16 partners in her past, something Thomas wasn’t down with. He didn’t exactly berate her directly, but spoke in general terms of not liking girls that had too many sexual partners. It was enough to make Jamie upset.
Nevertheless, Jamie still pursued Thomas. She soon realized that she was gonna have to put the moves on him to reel him in. Finally, they started to make out at the club, making the other roommates giddy as all get out. There was some added tension when Jamie showed of her jealous side at the club by shooing away girls who were talking to Thomas. But Thomas reassured her that he only had eyes for her, and he asked her to be his girlfriend. Now, they are “official”.
Jenny and Cory
Going back to the sexual war stories exchange from earlier, Cory (who I was just thinking resembles Michael Ealy) admitted to being a player back home but was trying to change his ways. There was a potential love triangle brewing when Jay told the rest of the house about Ashley putting the moves on Cory the other night. But Ashley seemed content to back off of Cory for the time being, plus Jenny didn’t feel threatened by Ashley at all.
Jenny and Cory wanted to keep their confessional sex story a secret from the rest of the house, but they ultimately let the cat out of the bag. In fact, they ended up doing it later on in the shower, much to the chagrin of everyone else. Their relationship seemed fine until Cory’s ego started to rear its ugly head. At a club one night, Cory got pissed off when Jenny was kissing and dancing with girls. His mindset was that he was the man of this relationship and she needed to be giving that attention to him. Jenny shrugged it off as Cory dealing with some insecurities.
On one of the following nights, Cory was specifically watching out to see if Jenny would bring someone home. He became more on edge when a couple local guys started to mess with the Real World group. Cory shoved one of the guys down to the ground and was about to take it even further when Arielle blocked him. Back at the house, Cory knocked over glasses and other things in a fit of rage. He even knocked down Arielle at one point (although I don’t believe it was intentional). Jenny tried to calm him down in the confessional, but Cory barked back at her, not taking kindly to someone scolding him. Jenny was distraught, fearing that Cory reminded her of her ex-boyfriend.
Final Thoughts
Remember how I said Cory was a good guy? Yeah…no. I don’t think he’s irredeemable, but his stock dropped a ton this episode. Control issues, anger issues, commitment issues: pretty much the trifecta of things you don’t want to see in a potential boyfriend. As far as Jenny goes, I didn’t give her enough credit for her…openness. I was comparing her to Ashley which made her seem a lot better. She may realize that she needs to pump the brakes on the whole Cory thing.
Thomas and Jamie is the latest edition of “opposites attract”. As some of the roommates suspect, it could be a case of Thomas eventually succumbing to Jamie’s forward-nature and getting wild with her.
On a different note, the production and editing is quite different right now than what we’ve seen on most of the previous Real World season. The intro is different, the cuts are different, the premise of course has the added wrinkle. Perhaps it’s a way to keep the show fresh, but it’s certainly a departure from the traditional format.
