Selling Sunset is a reality TV fairy tale

TIME

The Netflix real estate reality series "is the kind of show you turn to for a dose of pure frivolity, only to discover, after a couple episodes, that it has broken your brain," says Judy Berman, adding: "Although its genre is docusoap, and every episode provides copious quantities of the backstabbing and smack-talking native to the form, Sunset can just as accurately be described as a reality-TV fairy tale. As such, it has the spooky ability to short-circuit (mostly but not exclusively female) minds that absorbed Cinderella and Snow White before they could speak in full sentences. Updated for the 21st century with flashes of girlboss feminism and flickers of prosperity gospel, this is a bedtime story populated by beautiful woman striving to secure wealth, power, and love—to, essentially, become the contemporary American equivalent of a princess. There has been no shortage of real-estate shows, dating shows, or shows about rich, cliquey women in the history of reality television, but this precise combination of elements is unique. And that, I’m increasingly certain, is what keeps so many of us watching." ALSO: Ben Affleck denies he's on dating app Raya after Emma Hernan's Season 5 claim that they matched.