Filled with endless gossiping, multimillion-dollar homes and glamorous dresses, the new season of “Selling Sunset” is 10 episodes of quality reality television. In this show, the cameras follow an all-woman group of realtors in Los Angeles who work for their brokers, Jason and Brett Oppenheim, at the Oppenheim group. Though the basic plot leads the viewer to believe the show is mostly about real estate, this could not be more wrong. Selling Sunset is the perfect portrayal of what life is like when the everyday struggles of the average American disappear. Suddenly, money, education and stability are no longer a worry; instead, these women deal with more stressful issues, such as hosting ‘burgers and botox’ open houses. 

The protagonist of the show is Chrishell Strause, a newly licensed agent hoping to make her big break selling the gorgeous sunsets of Los Angeles from multimillion-dollar mansions. Strause, a kind-hearted woman who immediately makes friends with the majority of the office, is so sweet that she could only be described as the human version of sugar. She quickly becomes a dividing force in the office, as she is attacked in the media and on-screen multiple times by Christine Quinn, a competing agent whose emotional stiffness is almost on par with that of her freshly steamed, quilted Dior pencil skirt. Quinn seems to live in an alternate reality where one’s purpose is to bring others down and then gaslight them into an apology.
The main conflict of the show occurs after Quinn continually spreads rumors about Stause’s divorce, splitting the office into two distinct teams with each fiercely standing their ground. However, as the show progresses, Quinn, who believes she is a prophet in a world of idiots, treats her so-called friends horribly enough that they all leave her side. But worry not! Quinn finds a new sidekick in season five of the show, and she seems strong and salty enough to stick. Quinn’s new best friend and the newest addition to the Oppenheim Group, Chelsea Lazkani, made her mark on the show as well, but I can’t decide if it was the 7-inch heels or her sparky personality that elevated the season. This dynamic duo is so manipulative and arrogant that I can’t seem to look away. 

The entire show feels as if it is in an alternate world, though one theme prevails: money. These women — who all have access to closets full of Chanel purses and dozens of Jimmy Choos — uphold a stereotype of women that we have worked immensely hard to break down. They are everything the media makes women out to be: oblivious and superficial. In the midst of manipulation, gossiping and an intense grasp on materialism, the women of the Oppenheim group are almost blind to the state of the world we are living in. Even worse, they seem aware of their blindness. Quinn and Lazkani are almost too vindictive and Stause too kind, clearly displaying that these are not people that Netflix found on the side of the road; these are characters that were carefully crafted to create the most entertaining show possible. 

Even with that in mind, it’s hard to deny that Selling Sunset is unbelievably entertaining to watch. When Stause went home to her family to grieve the end of her marriage, I shed a few tears, and when Quinn showed up 45 minutes late to a meeting because she “felt like it,” I admit that I let out a chuckle. Netflix has done an incredible job of setting up a Barbie-like fairy tale filled with villains, a heroine and cotton candy-colored convertibles.