Season 14 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey has become a petty mess thanks to its long-running feuds. The glamorous yet rotten final attempt at reconciliation was dramatically named “The Last Supper,” and in what was no surprise to anyone watching it, nothing got resolved. Broken glass and spilled drinks littered the floors as producers had to intervene to hold back Danielle Cabral from charging at Jennifer Aydin. Verbal insults were traded by Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorgabefore they did a pose-off. The reshaped reunion show that followed up on this finale has suffered from these various feuds and then some. Not very demure nor very mindful.
Fans of the reality series may be surprised to know there is a Real Housewives-inspired satire that is much darker than what has gone down on New Jersey. Starring Emma Stone and Rosie Perez, it isn’t a movie or an entire TV series of its own, but a segment on one of the most surreal, queer, and imaginative shows recently aired on Max. In Fantasmas, created by and starring eccentric comedian Julio Torres, a satirical lens is put on everything, including influencers, corporate greed, and the catty ladies of Bravo. When the Real Housewives parody appears in the season finale, it brings glamour, arguments, and a grim bombshell.
Julio Torres – both the comedian/writer/filmmaker AND his fictional counterpart here – once lost a golden oyster earing on New Year’s Eve. In his new series for Max, Julio searches for his lost item through a magically surreal New York City environment in a narrative packed with guest stars and dream-like scenarios.
The experimental world of Fantasmas is one that only Torres could think up. The creator, director, and writer stars as a version of himself, journeying through the world and procrastinating on more important goals. The sets are abstract. The backdrops outside apartment windows or outdoor shots of this version of New York City are obvious rear projections. In this world, characters watch TV programs that are just as strange. There is daily CourtTV coverage of a trial involving an elf (Bowen Yang) disgruntled with Santa Claus, as well as a sitcom inspired by ALF, called MELF, which turns into a love affair between Paul Dano and the fuzzy alien creature. If those shows don’t catch someone’s attention, they can tune into “The True Women of New York,” Torres’ version of The Real Housewives franchise.
The cast is made up of four glam ladies: Genevieve (Stone), Bianca (Perez), Rellany (Rachel Dratch), and Dina (Cole Escola). Viewers get a full dive into this show in Fantasmas Episode 6, where, in-show, a new episode is released from Season 6 of “True Women.” The ladies gather at a new restaurant that Genevieve has decorated for Bianca, although Dina comes in with the criticism. Even once the gals head out to a beachside resort for some calm, the drama follows, and around the kitchen island of a hotel room, glasses of wine are imbibed and Genevieve has a startling revelation. The diva behavior of “True Women” is pure drama queen energy, much like familiar antics on The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip.
“The True Women of New York” Is More Dramatic Than ‘Real Housewives’
Image via HBO
Drama makes the Bravo franchise a beloved and controversial entry to reality TV. No one watches an installment of Real Housewives for peaceful conversations. Despite the confrontations from New Jersey’s “The Last Supper,” the following episode was more “watch party” than “reunion special” as the intense rivalries between the women had them not wanting to share the room with their enemies. The “True Women” segment of Fantasmas knows what Bravo audiences crave and serves it up with heavy makeup, big wigs, and bodycon dresses. It’s outrageous, but it keeps a familiar premise intact.
The opening intro, where Cole Escola, in full drag as Dina, stirs the pot with her tagline, “Face it, hating me is easier than hating yourself.” Then, in the episode itself, new beef occurs when Dina can’t stand the negative space in the corner of the restaurant Genevieve designed. Rellany is the peacekeeper, but Dratch’s pained expressions make it clear that her character knows she’s a lousy keeper of peace. Later, when Dina brings the negative space issue up again, Genevieve snaps during her talking-head interview, “Don’t talk to me when you talk to me!” Meanwhile, every backdrop, from the restaurant to the beach setting, is computer-generated, without the ladies addressing it. But when the set lights go dark, Fantasmas isn’t content with simply poking fun at the artificial “reality” of the Bravo series — and, like any great satire, it has a jagged bitewhen the jokes lead into a surreal nightmare.
Series writer/director/star Torres also talks about his stellar guest cast, which includes Paul Dano, Dylan O’Brien and Julia Fox.
‘Fantasmas’ Spoof of ‘Real Housewives’ Embraces Surreal Horror
Fantasmas is funny and bizarre, but several times it unexpectedly drops viewers into scenes that are just as frightening as what is found in the best horror movies of 2024 so far. In Episode 2, a side plot revolves around a guy Julio has hooked up with named Skyler (Jaboukie Young-White), a social media influencer who grows desperate to regain followers. He finds the next best app to relocate on, but this summons the elegant and vicious cyber entity known as the Algorithm (Dominique Jackson), who dooms Skyler for his selfish betrayal in abandoning his original platform. While previous episodes aren’t shy about descending into sinister territory, neither is Fantasmas‘ version of Real Housewives.
Genevieve isn’t the only one who initially wakes up from the superficial, studio-lit simulation; Perez’s Bianca is also pulled out. Both are forced to rely on a young crew member (played by James Scully), who claims to have a plan to get them away from the clutches of the show’s head producer, Jared. Unlike the brightness of the set during filming, during this scene, the cameras are off and the lights are down. Shadows are abundant, and viewers can barely see Stone and Perez’s eyes as Genevieve and Bianca nervously agree to the only escape plan they have. The effect is nerve-wracking.
Stone is right at home in Fantasmas‘ black comedy, as seen in her previous collaborations with director Yorgos Lanthimos, and her recent performance in The Curse. Having Perez as Stone’s scene partner brings a surprise pairing that is compelling to watch once their characters’ mean girl attitude is thrown away. The moment “True Women” switches to becoming a horror show is right on cue, illustrating what Torres has been successful at in every episode of Fantasmas so far. He introduces a side plot, be it Skyler’s arc or the trial coverage, that goes on much longer than you expect, and in doing so, allows it to become a complete story that he infuses with a darker truth.
This segment of Fantasmas ultimately turns into a creepy spin on the surveillance of The Truman Show and the simulated dreamscape of The Matrix. It’s not enough for Torres to make Real Housewives into a punchline at the expense of affluent women out of touch with reality. On the day Genevieve and Bianca have a chance to escape, they find out the ally they thought they had is actually their nefarious producer, Jared. This plot twist lets Stone and Perez portray the dawning panic as their characters realize they are prisoners to Jared, with his badly applied bronzer and glowing white teeth rendering his face as messy as his motive stemming from unresolved resentments with the original “True Woman” from his life.
Jared’s mother may be dead, but the twist is that he’s hooked her brain up to wires that have given her personality traits to Genevieve, Bianca, Rellany, and Dina. What’s more, the women can’t exit the set, since they all signed a contract to be on the show to avoid prison time for tax fraud. An extra, extra sting is that Jared has decided to awaken two of the four women as a new plot point for the following seasons (an idea that isn’t quite as depraved as the true story seen in The Contestant, where a man on a Japanese reality show didn’t know he was being televised). Torres had no way of knowing the outcome of Season 14 of New Jersey, but his satire couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. The conclusion to the Fantasmas segment transforms petty divas into a critique on consuming the bad blood that overflows from the kind of drama that Real Housewives is famous for.
Fans of The Real Housewives of New Jersey have no clue what the future holds for the Garden State installment of the franchise. The finale ended on a bitter note with tensions so heated that a lackluster reunion more than elucidated something has to change for the show to continue. On Fantasmas, nine minutes of “True Women” take viewers on a wild, funny journey until they discover the disturbing endgame. Surprises like this are one of the best parts of watching the show, and Torres’ project fully immerses viewers into a surreal world where reality TV can have cast members signed up for life. As the fate of New Jersey sways from rebooting some of the cast, to replacing the entire cast, to marking the finale of Season 14 as the series finale, Fantasmas offers an even darker version of what The Real Housewives could be.
