Glambition [Episode #4]: Stay In Your Lane

Alas, I'm late again! No shade, but I simply had better things to do than slave over a Glambition blog post... Whoops! In any case, I've watched the rest of the season, and I do some thoughts. Thoughts everywhere!

Most of the drama this episode centered on a tiff between Isoke and Leah. Firstly, we see Leah house-hunting for a place closer to the heart of Port-of-Spain (the capital of Trinidad and Tobago) so that she can be closer to her business ventures. Predictably, she's caught between a place she loves and can't afford, and a places she can afford, but doesn't love. But, either way, she gave us the line of the night: "Champagne tastes with mauby pockets." Love it! I might have to take that as my personal motto, because lord knows it describes my life!

Later, Leah meets up with Bianca, and talks a little bit about being Ms. World, and her perception of Sarah Jane's distress that she can't "do anything" because people expect her to be a pageant queen. (insert eyeroll...) Leah does make some salient point however, and I really appreciated her self awareness about knowing that the expectations of a beauty queen will often be at odds with the reality, forcing them to deal with an undue amount of scrutiny and criticism. My real problem with Sarah Jane is that she seems to want to co-opt that experience for herself, when in reality, the 4th place queen probably doesn't have it that hard...


Here's where Isoke comes in. Later that night, the women (minus SJ) attend a mixer at a local club. Also in attendance is TrinidadLookbook Editor-in-Chief, Mel Gabriel, and Leah's client, Nikita. Isoke, ever the businesswoman, pitches a potential collaboration between her company and Leah's. All well and good. A little later, Leah pitches Lookbook editor Mel, about a possible fashion spread in the magazine for Nikita; also, all well and good.

Here's where things get shady: after Leah and Nikita step away for a moment, Bianca, Isoke and Mel have a conversation in which Bianca tells Isoke about Leah's pitch for Mel's magazine. Rather than politely acknowledging the information, Isoke decides to question Mel about Nikita's fitness as a model for TrinidadLookbook. She claims that it is out of concern for a friend's professional interests.

Except. It's not your business Isoke my dear. Mel is a competent businesswoman in her own right, and if she's chosen to feature Nikita, it's because she's already decided that she fits the aesthetic of her magazine. To suggest or insinuate that she's made a bad decision is to imply that Mel doesn't know what she's doing, and frankly, its' a little condescending. Perhaps Isoke really was coming from a place of genuine concern and friendship, but it was a major overstep to not just bring it up, but to do so in public. If she genuinely had concerns about Nikita being featured, they could have been addressed in private. Her motives are even more shady though when put into the context of her request to Leah. Shutting down Mel's collaboration looks shady. I can't be mad that Leah was pissed enough to leave when Bianca told her what had transpired.

Strangely enough I don't have that much to say about or against Bianca this week. I do think she started shit between Isoke and Leah unnecessarily, but I also think that if I were Leah, I would have wanted to know what Isoke said. I think my real problem is that the twinkle in Bianca's eye was a just a little too bright when she let her friend know what was going on.

Lori's storyline this week dealt with her fitting for Style Spirit with Mel. At the fitting, we find out that Lori's very behind in producing her line and Mel is nervous that she won't be ready in time. To top things off, Lori apparently hates her models! That part was highly amusing, but Lori is so own-way and she throws shade for days without even trying. She needs her own show. Seriously! Professionally, while I understand Lori's perfection issues, "perfect is the enemy of good" as they say. Sometimes you just have to delegate in order to keep your sanity. A lesson she seems to learn the hard way in next week's epsiode. (Spoilers!)

And, Sarah Jane, Sarah Jane.... what was it that Fitzgerald Grant told Mellie? "You are ornamental, not functional". Methinks you might want to at least try to be a little more functional, rather than just be filler for the rest of the cast. Sarah Jane seems like a genuinely nice person who is painfully clueless and it bugs me. She has so many opportunities and doesn't seem to be taking advantage of any of them. It is frustrating to see her squandering her potential.

*****

The season finale episode premiered on Tuesday last, and it wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped, butsuch is life. In the mean time, check out the reviews of the rest of the season. The finale post will be up tomorrow, so look out for it soon :)


Previously on Glambition:
Glambition [Episode #1]: Introductions, Shit Talk, and First Impressions
Glambition [Episode #2]: Girl, Bye. Go Find Some Real Problems
Glambition [Episode #3]: The Business of Fashion