The Real World: Brooklyn (Review)

I started watching the Real World during their 11th year: the Chicago season. After that came Real World: Las Vegas, the infamous season where the show stopped being about 7 people learning from each other while dealing with personal issues and forever became a show about 7 spoiled brats getting a 3 month vacation to get drunk every night and bitch about nothing. I was about 14 or 15 when Las Vegas aired and even then I knew it was terrible and stopped regularly watching after the following year: the Paris season. Somehow the show has managed to survive for another 10 seasons bringing us to The Real World: Brooklyn, the 21st season. I must say it's the best season in over a decade.

This season was much more like the original 10 seasons, when it wasn't about drinking and partying, it was about the individual people and their stories. It didn't seem like there were as many drunken nights, it was a much more intellectual show than it has been in the past. People said their views sober, which was a refreshing change. The focus on the relationships and individuals' stories were really compelling. Seeing Ryan get called back into service, having Katelynn talk about her struggles as a recently transgendered woman, having Sarah receive a phone call from her abusive dad, those were all spectacular moments. The only thing that I really couldn't stand was the episode that was nothing more than promo for Mtv's Pedro movie.

My favorite 2 cast members were Ryan and Chet (The 2 guys on the far right in the above pic). Ryan seemed like alot of the people I hang out with: goofy, funny and he'll always defend you. I felt so bad for him when he got called back into service. You could tell he's really hurt and upset that he may be going back to Iraq, but without hesitation, Ryan stood up to the plate. and I love him for it. Chet was the closest to my personality (although a lot more metrosexual) and his goals in life were fairly close to my own. I personally don't think Chet is gay--but I do think that he loves Ryan. Not in just a friend way either. He seems to care a lot about him.

My least favorite was Katelynn, who bitched and moaned her way through the series. She started off as this strong willed person who had an engaging story to tell, but instead she acted like a 12 year teenager. Her gambling with the money Scott gave her to pay her bills really annoyed me. She just became a slag as each episode progressed and I'd like to know in her mind how she justifies some of her actions. Scott went from my least favorite person to becoming a really respectable man; giving Katelynn $1500 pretty much proved that. I mean at first he seemed like a your regular model, macho and brain dead, but he quickly showed that he had the most caring and selfless personality out of the whole cast.

Sarah and Devyn weren't that interesting for me to comment on, while J.D was exactly as I pegged him: a nice guy, but a real asshole sometimes. I did really feel for him in the last episode where the girls make him take the blame for a joke even when he started to cry. I was so glad the guys stood up for him. Finally there was Baya, the wannabe dancer that the show didn't give give a crap about. I guess the increase in cast members from 7 to 8 was too much for the producers to handle.

Overall I was truly surprised by the Real World Brooklyn. It managed to be the complete opposite of every horrible thing the show has stood for in the past 10 years. Sure, there were still a lot of those trivial pranks and fights but it wasn't even that mean-spirited and was actually really entertaining. A cast like Brooklyn that can have conflict but still have enough brains to respect each other can still be good television. I wish the producers would keep this kind of quality up, but the next season is set to take place in Cancun, so I don't have my hopes up. But at least The Real World: Brooklyn was a return to the classic.