I’ve been curious about IN THE CITY from the moment the SUMMER HOUSE spinoff was announced, and it became quickly evident that Bravo picked the stylized name because Whitney Port and Kelly Cutrone had beaten them to the more obvious punch. But Andy and the gang needn’t have worried — Lindsay and Kyle’s legacy series is nothing like the fashionable socialite scene haunted by Olivia Palermo’s RBF.
The SUMMER HOUSE elders have assembled a SEX IN THE CITY-esque crew of modern Samanthas, Carries, Mirandas, and Charlottes, and brought their male other halves into the mix to boot. Contrasting a singular episode of IN THE CITY with the two seasons of THE VALLEY should be what middle schools across America show in health class to promote safe sex. Not because the New Yorkers have it all together, but because there are no screaming babies or screaming adult babies to make their complicated relationships crippling.
These fuckboy fossils and high-strung East Coast women promise to bring the semi-aspirational urban melodrama that Danny Booko’s dark energy and Janet’s dementor death grip on group dynamics, among other domestic bleakness, won’t allow. It’s such a refreshing change of pace that I’m even happy to see our old, forgotten CEO and Founder gearing up to get activated.
IN THE CITY S1 E1
Rated NC for New Cast Smell
Genre: Ensemble Romcom
Starring: The (not speakeasy) Garrett, Mandy’s (not) raincoat, and a $50 mozzerella stick
Rating: ⭐⭐.5/5 stars
Act 1: Back To The Future
This story begins by going back to Kyle and Amanda’s future. The ex-couple has a post-Scamandal conversation where Kyle wants his Amanda to admit that she had one foot out the door and one foot in West’s lap this summer, while also remaining surprisingly supportive of Amanda’s well-being (which apparently is so unwell that she’s not been eating).
Amanda doesn’t confess anything of that nature, though; she instead insists in her trademark tearful vibrato that while she may have been done “to an extent,” she also simultaneously wanted them to work more than anything because she couldn’t picture life without Kyle. It’s unclear how she expects Kyle, or anyone with two eyeballs and access to Peacock, to believe that, given the S10 footage showed Amanda evading Kyle’s line of sight as if he had the power to turn her to stone like Medusa for 99.9% of their time in the Hamptons, but maybe she expresses her love differently!
When Kyle pushes, stopping short of calling his ex-wife a cheater, but settling on her being “reckless” and “thoughtless” of their relationship, Amanda can’t internalize the criticism. Instead, she throws another unsubstantiated assertion in the mix. Kyle cheated on her again after they were married, and it’s on video. Kyle’s reaction gives no indication as to whether he believes it happened, but um, as Monique once iconically uttered, I would like to see it!
Thankfully, we get to move on from Mandy and Kyle for a bit to meet fresh faces. Lindsay introduces the Bravoverse to her best friend, Yvonne, the ride-or-die who helped Linds pump and dump tequila to get through her breakup with Gemma’s dad, and her other friend, Georgina, who also recently went through a bad breakup. Except Georgina’s ex left her with a baby in such a traumatic manner that Georgina says she could’ve qualified for an episode of SNAPPED. I have a strong suspicion I would’ve been on her side.
On a tennis court somewhere in Brooklyn, Lindsay’s most well-known former friend, the queen of kook, Danielle Olivera, is playing love games with her new man, Eoin Heavey. Though it feels like just yesterday, Danielle got broken up with by her chef BF Robert back in 2022, and is now living with this Irishman whom she’s been dating for six months total, as they prepare to have a kid (!!!) within the next year and a half (Spoiler alert ICYMI: Dani Girl is now indeed pregnant).
Danielle and Eoin play up their brief former fling, but that doesn’t really count as history strong enough to negate the fact that they’ve only known known each other for less than a year, or the rumor that, according to Amanda’s friend Katie (who is so unremarkable in this opening episode that she only gets a fleeting lower third) and DeuxMoi, Eoin is still technically (?) married. If Lindsay marrying Carl (whom she’d known for nearly a decade and dated once before they got engaged) was fast, Danielle’s one-year-to-baby timeline with a technically still-married dude must be warp speed akin to Marty’s DeLorean.
And our introductory act ends by revisiting another old friend. Andrea — the Italian Stallion fumbled by Paige — is now a few years into his marriage with Lexi, the blonde that made him cry in yearning at the same dinner where Danielle and Ciara almost came to blows over (opposite of drumroll, please) Austen Kroll. For the first time, Lexi is getting full sentences on air, so it makes sense that it wasn’t until now that I could detect a Disney Adult (who dreamed of getting married in front of Cinderella’s Castle…) was among us.
Act 2: Wolf Of Wall Street
Next up, one of Kyle’s crew debuts in his top spot on the call sheet. Kenny is a 30-something with perfect teeth and a suss smirk who accidentally became a rare black male allstar on Wall Street. We must applaud this because the finance dbag sector needs representation too. Kenny’s venture capital funds are invested in Loverboy, and therefore, Kenny is invested in Kyle getting his life together.
Kenny advises Kyle that he has always been “energetically” mismatched with his wife, and that Kyle should find a woman like Kenny’s girlfriend, Whitney of apparent BACHELOR lore, who “wakes up happy” in the morning. This might’ve remained a cute commendation if Kenny’s further description of her to the producers didn’t immediately make it evident he is only kind of into Whitney, who conveniently just moved across the country to be with him in time to film this show, rather than coming across as someone who has hopes he found his person.
But Kenny is right, Kyle and Amanda’s energy is certainly unaligned in the next scene as they leave therapy. One second, they’re coming together to commiserate how tough the session was, and the next, Amanda is unleashing while overheating about how Kyle stayed out until 4AM the night before, giving her “no hope” that things will change. Meanwhile, she is in therapy, “doing things,” not going backwards to see if they can make it work.
I assume the things she’s referring to here aren’t bar hopping and covert date nights with West Wilson (as happened, apparently, one night after Amanda’s forthcoming bleak anni dinner). In any case, if Amanda’s dealbreaker is DJing, and Kyle won’t give it up, how come this brilliant counselor hasn’t advised them to separate already? No amount of talk therapy can make 1 +1 = 3, or make wearing a waxed mini trench (NOT a raincoat) logical in New York late summer.
Act 3: The Hand That Rocks The Carl
Kyle copes how he knows best, meeting his friends at a bar. There already, a panel led by Lindsay is giving Kenny the second degree about the fact that he moved his live-in girlfriend across the country with no engagement ring. Kenny couches his affinity for sowing his oats on losing his mother. His friends bring a little levity to his very male coping mechanism, noting that Kenny may have just invented a sixth stage of grief: fucking around.
Frankly, hardware hardly seems to be the problem with Kenny’s new relationship — his energy for Whitney is far too casual to be on the fast track to forever. He calls her a “doll,” which is a nice compliment for a fun stranger you met in a grocery store, not a woman you love. Worse than barely being into her, he might be more interested in the idea of her, if his language is any indication.
Kenny is even hesitant to use the L word, as if that’s binding terminology for a life in suburbia with kids and without nights at The Garrett, the “speakeasy” everyone in Manhattan has been fully aware of for the entirety of its existence. (The best part, if memory serves, is overpaying for a Five Guys burger afterward.) Mind you, Whitney seems game for Kenny’s ambiguous embrace. I imagine filming brand deals from a slightly different home base wasn’t an earth-shattering career decision.
Finally, Kyle arrives at the party, and not long after, Danielle is there too, wondering aloud why she and Lindsay are no longer close. If Danny Girl needs a refresher on her unhinged behavior during the demise of Lindsay’s most serious relationship, I know a really good pop culture Substack she could peruse. But for now, I’ll leave it at: screaming into a pillow.
Lindsay also raises the issue of an alleged handy J Danielle allegedly gave Carl in the back of a moving cab after his OG breakup with Hubbhouse. Lindsay’s been holding onto this bumbling betrayal while assessing Danielle’s friendship report card. (For the record, Danielle has said the allegation is completely false.) But whatever distance Lindsay has intentionally created, Danielle wants to remove it, because now that she is happy, she wants Lindsay to be happy with her.
This reads like a familiar friend archetype all women have once encountered; the restless bestie who becomes nothing but smiles and rainbows when she’s settled into a relationship. And so Danielle invites Lindsay to coffee or something in the most awkward 30-second over-the-shoulder encounter since Carl’s mom forced a hug with Lindsay over the summer.
Act 4: Rent
The premiere decrescendos with a girl’s night out, sans Danielle, wherein Lindsay spills the beans that Amanda just had to pay over $100K to Kyle in back rent. Amanda says she had no trouble writing his silly little check, and my only thought (other than why she didn’t pay that entire time if that was the case) is that influencing is a better windfall than the lottery these days.
Yvonne shares her own relationship tea in confessional during said drinks. Her young marriage to Nick Barber is in a tricky spot, as evidenced by the fact that when Yvonne got so mad that Nick wouldn’t take the next step in their life and ran away to California, Nick didn’t even notice she was gone. Ouch! Even Mandy keeps tabs on Kyle’s DJ bookings, even if she won’t text him back after he leaves. Yvonne seems to have it under control, though; if Nick does it again, she has a whole GONE GIRL set-up brewing on the back burner.
In other crimes, Kyle and Amanda kick off their anniversary by spending $50 on a mozzarella stick covered in caviar at Chelsea Living Room. Sigh, the restaurant industry’s obsession with making caviar casual continues (yes, send me one). Instead of having a LADY AND THE TRAMP moment with the cheese pull, Amanda informs Kyle that with her rent all settled up, she’s on to getting her own place, but she’s doing this for them, not in spite of them.
Regardless of the movie nights in and dates around town that Amanda smothers the separation news in, like feeding a dog a pill coated in peanut butter, Kyle finds the news almost too hard to swallow. Amanda’s right, leaving your husband does not need to be a joint decision. But feigning there’s a chance you’ll come back if you’ve already moved on can be an expensive mistake.
Best IN THE CITY Performance Of The Week:
Kenny’s Friends ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
A man like Kenny needs friends who speak to him like that at all times.
Outstanding IN THE CITY Flop Of The Week:
Danny Girl ⭐⭐.5/5
Let’s get to the part where she remembers why her best friend no longer speaks to her, so we can unpack it on screen, girl.