‘Selling Sunset’ season 8 review: Real-life drama is listed on the market

The harsh reality of real life found its way to the screen on this season of Netflix’s Selling Sunset. What started as a series focused on the drama of selling real estate in Los Angeles has been overshadowed by the cast’s drama. Selling Sunset Season 8 was more focused on the controversies than the real estate business. Sure, we love the drama – Selling Sunset delivers on the drama! But does this show even sell houses anymore? Is the real estate market in LA really that bad?!

Does drama come with a garage and a pool?

Selling Sunset Season 8 had a noticeable shift in their season arcs. While the cast still toured and tried to sell homes, a majority of the plots focused on the real-life issues of the cast instead. In a sales-driven field like real estate (where it’s determined if a home is bought or sold), it makes sense why there isn’t a lot of footage of the business aspect. If the cast isn’t selling, there isn’t any footage to show. However, this aspect seemed to be deprioritized at times to focus on the drama.

This could be the case of one side of the show overcompensating for the lack of the other. If that’s the situation, Selling Sunset should still inject more scenes of exploring opulent homes. We live for the mansion envy; the million-dollar home tours were one of the reasons that hooked all of us in the first place. Bring more of this back! Including plots of the cast members vying for new listings or the troubles with the listings they have now. Even scenes of the Oppenheim Group redesigning properties helped to bring this essence back, like the new cast member’s arc (Alanna) helping with the redesign of the property. There is so much more to real estate than selling homes; Selling Sunset should keep this aspect as a priority too.

The eighth season had a few overarching stories that took focus. However, much of it could be described as “people aren’t communicating properly” and “they’re looking to start drama.” It’s good from a reality TV standpoint because it creates storylines and drives the narrative forward. Much of the earlier seasons of Selling Sunset had these plots too. We’ll never forget the early days of Christine starting office wars with Chrishell or Mary (those were great plots!). In this case, Selling Sunset Season 8 seemed to be too much of the cast stuck in a loop playing games and turning the tide against one another. It’s messy, and it gets even messier when it involves someone’s real life in the mix.

The power of rumors and gossip

For instance, Chelsea’s storyline with her husband’s affair seemed to be a never-ending implosion. The plot sparked so much drama and it caused a lot of confusion about what happened. Did Bre and her friend Amanda orchestrate the reveal to take Chelsea down? Or was this case of shooting the messenger? Both Chelsea and Bre admit to knowing about the truth long before filming, but the storyline on the show paints a picture of betrayal and schemes. What little respect they had for one another imploded and now it’ll set up fights for future seasons. At times, this multi-episode arc felt like it was blowing itself out of proportion. Still, we can’t forget that this “rumor” was shared about Chelsea’s real-life family issues; it’s a blurring of the lines that feels a little too real in reality TV.

The Nicole vs. Chrishell plotline finally got some needed resolution. Seriously! This fight was a loop that couldn’t seem to find an ending back on Selling Sunset Season 7. I was so grateful for everyone at the Oppenheim Group pulling Nicole in and getting her to listen to reason. In her desperation and urgency to defend herself, she wasn’t listening to any of their advice – this could’ve been resolved many episodes prior if she had. Chrishell wasn’t calling Nicole homophobic directly. She knew Nicole was only bandwagoning online tension against her, but she needed to hear that from Nicole herself. It was as simple as that, but Nicole wouldn’t hear her or anyone out. It was a refreshing and climactic season moment to have her apologize to Chrishell – it needed to happen for both of their sakes.

Speaking of Nicole, what was she doing spreading that rumor about Emma? Unless it’s a substantiated rumor with proof, it’s messy to throw something like that out there. Plus, Selling Sunset did itself no favors by not giving Emma the chance to disapprove the rumor herself. A reunion show would’ve been a huge help here for the cast to hash things out and for Emma to dispel the rumors. Emma finding out after the fact that Nicole said she allegedly was sleeping with a married man could detrimentally hurt Emma’s business and reputation. As mentioned above, the cast works in real estate and relies on selling homes! Sure, this will most likely be a storyline for next season, but it’ll cause too much damage in the long run.

A final sale in the mix?

With the remaining cast, everyone else took a bit of a backseat. The death of Mary and Jason’s dog was a heartbreaking moment, and Maya’s return for a visit was a welcomed cameo to see a familiar face. However, the big question is if Amanza will return for next season. She was barely on Selling Sunset Season 8; her priorities seemed to be focusing on her art and her family. Amanza may have lost the passion for the show, as well as the real estate business. We’ll have to wait until next season if she’ll return, but we’ll be sad to lose her if she decides to go.

Selling Sunset Season 8 sold more drama than houses. While the show is a welcomed guilty pleasure reality TV show, the “reality” aspect became too real and blurry at the same time. The rumors, arguments, and lunchtime chats came out in full force for another season. The drama cranked itself up several notches to the point that it seemed unbelievable if these colleagues actually liked each other anymore. Something has got to give because the business still needs to run.

Selling Sunset Season 8 is available to stream now on Netflix.