Real World New Orleans Cast : Photo: MTV
Knight poses a good question, “the question of the year,” as he says. “What is wrong with Ryan?” That’s the big question on everyone’s mind this week and we finally get an answer. Sort of.
By : CHAD KENNEDY
Knight poses a good question, “the question of the year,” as he says. “What is wrong with Ryan?” That’s the big question on everyone’s mind this week and we finally get an answer. Sort of.
We begin with one of the tropical fish dying. This would typically be a sad moment in most Real World houses but not this one. Ryan and Knight decide it’d be brilliant to cook and eat the fish, so that’s just what they do. Ryan throws some seasoning on the poor fish and then flings it around in the pan as if he’s a professional chef. After it’s cooked, Ryan and Knight do indeed eat the fish (ewww!) and then take it around the house to try to get the girls to eat it too. Jemmye is grossed out but it’s Ashlee and McKenzie who go into freak out mode over them cooking the house pet.
That night the roommates go out to a bar – yes, shocking I know – and Ryan gets trashed. He tells Eric at one point that he’s losing his mind. Didn’t he lose his mind already? On the way home in the SUV, Ryan is sitting next to Jemmye and Knight when all of the sudden he just starts punching the back of the front seat and then bangs his head on the window. Jemmye quickly trades spots with Knight so he can sit next to the lunatic. Knight holds Ryan’s arms so he can’t punch anything. When they get home Ryan lays in bed with Sahar and opens up to her about his OCD problems. He starts crying and explains that he has had extreme OCD issues his whole life but lately he seems to be losing control and losing himself. Typically I would be feeling bad for the kid right now, but do any of us honestly believe OCD is his issue? He has mental issues far beyond just OCD. Sahar tells Ryan that he should get help and that she’d go with him if he does.
Real World New Orleans Cast : Photo: MTV
At some point in the night or early the next morning we see footage from two of the camera’s that are mounted on the walls in Ashlee’s bedroom. The footage shows Ryan going through Ashlee’s drawers frantically looking for something. We later find out that Ashlee brought six Percacets with her to the house when she moved in and now she doesn’t have any left. She says she let Ryan have one but that’s it. When Ashlee and a few others confront Ryan about it, he claims Knight took one. Knight, of course, was previously addicted to prescription pills and even went to rehab for his addiction, so that is a pretty strong accusation. When they confront Knight, he doesn’t seem to want to talk about it and claims to have no idea what Ryan is talking about. Hmm… either Ryan or Knight is lying; who do you believe?
Another fish dies mysteriously. This time McKenzie gives it a proper burial, speech with God and all. Ashlee talks to her mom and mentions the Percacets missing. She tells her Knight went to rehab for prescription pills but she says she is 100% sure it was not him. Her mom tells her not to be so sure, “a druggie is a druggie,” she tells her. I get what Ashlee’s mom is saying, but I think Ashlee is right. At least up to this point Knight doesn’t seem to have had any major personality changes as I would expect to see in someone that is relapsing. I’m no expert but that’s just what I would assume. We have however seen some major changes with Ryan, he seems to be spiraling more and more out of control each episode.
Sahar’s friend, Lila, arrives to town for a few days. The roommates go out for the night and watch Eric do stand-up at a bar and surprisingly Eric is pretty funny and very confident on stage. He never even mentioned this side of himself before. Seeing Eric perform so well on stage makes Sahar want to get on stage and do her thing as well. On the way home Jemmye and Ryan get into a big argument. It’s not really clear how it began but it escalates pretty quickly when Ryan starts trashing Jemmye’s past and her being from Mississippi. Jemmye is drunk and doesn’t hold back, she hits Ryan from the back seat – he’s driving. He stops the SUV in the middle of the road and just sits there. Sahar and her friend, Lila, are in the far back and she tells him she just wants to get her friend home, finally Ryan hits the gas and continues home. I’m sort of shocked that we never hear more about Jemmye hitting Ryan. You’d think Ryan would use that as an opportunity to send her home, but he doesn’t.
The next morning, a third fish is dying – though not dead yet. McKenzie tries to “motivate it” by using the tongs to move it around. Meanwhile, Ryan secretly calls an OCD therapist and sets up an appointment. Let’s hope we get to watch their sessions!
Sahar decides she will perform on stage at the same bar Eric performed at. Before she does that though she has some local musicians come by the house to practice with her. Sahar still seems to be lacking the self-confidence she needs to perform. That night she and Knight get into a back-and-forth argument where they throw low blow jokes at each other. Remember a few weeks ago when this happened Knight hit Sahar with a joke about her boyfriend cheating on her. This time it’s Sahar who goes for the really low blow calling out Knight on the Percacet rumor. This really gets to Knight. In order to get back at Sahar he talks smack about her singing to the other roommates loud enough so he knows Sahar can hear him. Sahar can’t take the criticism and hides out crying. Ryan finds her and comforts her.
The next day Knight, Jemmye, Ashlee and Preston volunteer at New Orleans Mission. Knight and Ashlee end up talking to Loretta, who runs the Mission, about the issues at home. She tells Knight that he has to be the one to choose how to react to situations. Knight goes home and does an at-home drug test and shows Ashlee that everything has shown up as being negative. It’s unclear whether taking Peracets would show up, especially if he just took them a few days ago, but it’s pretty obvious Knight was sure the test would come back negative which speaks volumes.
Sahar’s friend Lila goes back home. It was a quick visit and they didn’t really seem to do anything fun, at least not that we got to see. Ryan calls and cancels his therapist appointment. I guess we won’t be getting to see his therapy sessions afterall.
That night Sahar performs at the bar. She’s extremely nervous before going on stage but she and Knight make amends which helps brighten her up and then Knight even does the introduction for her. Things go very well until about the middle of the song when she completely forgets the words. She hums through for a little bit but then leaves the stage. She tries to keep a smile but you can tell she’s really sad and disappointed. Eric jumps on stage though and gets everyone in a better mood. He performs a rap in support of Sahar throwing in how sexy she looks in her little black dress. By the end of the rap everyone, even Sahar, is smiling and laughing and having a good time again. When Sahar gets home she calls her friend Lila and tells her what happened and also says this just motivates her to perform again. She knows she can’t do any worse than that performance so things can only get better. She really does have a good voice, she just needs some more self-confidence so I’m happy to see she wants to perform again.
Next week, Ryan may be leaving the house – or at least that’s what MTV has us believing based on the previews. Ryan’s cousin visits and the two of them acting like little kids together makes everyone in the house a little mad. Eric, who shares a room with Ryan, gets really mad and it looks like he shoves Ryan.
