And just like that, he was gone. Much like Nixon before him, Ryan left the Real World house disgraced and shamed, but defiant as ever that he did no wrong during his time in New Orleans. Ironically, for those of us who live in reality, the entire episode was quite surreal. It seemed as though all of a sudden, every single member of the house had serious issues with him, which ultimately culminated in his booting.
Immediately, the comparisons go towards Puck, who until now held the title of most obnoxious roommate in Real World history. But the key difference is Puck’s shenanigans were just that; shenanigans. Sure, he was a huge pain to live with and was offensive much of time, but a lot of the roommates’ issues with him stemmed from standard roommate conflicts, like being messy and inconsiderate. With Ryan, it’s like Puck on steroids. He was a homophobe, either because he was ignorant or in the closet. He was a bit racist (see his conversation with Sahar about Islam). He was weird as all hell. He was also inconsiderate in the normal ways, such as not cleaning and not forgetting plans he had with roommates. But he also took his selfishness and insensitivity to great new heights. A perfect example is from last night’s episode where he took the car to downtown New Orleans, left it there, forgot where he parked it, and then made Eric and Preston go search for it.
At some point, every guy in the house nearly fought him, sometimes twice (By the way, did anyone else find it funny that when both Eric and Knight wanted to fight him, Ryan tried to defuse the situation, but when he was yelling with Preston, then he took off his shirt and was itching to brawl). Ryan also was a blatant and compulsive liar, and took no extra thought to blaming something on someone else (see the prescription drug drama and lying about wiping his ass with Preston’s cigarettes).
There is a deep psychosis that exists with Ryan that borders on sociopathic tendencies. Sure, the lying and throwing others under the bus is troubling. But what about him squashing his beef with other roommates and then saying not soon after that it is all a front and he still hates his roommates? The bottom line is this was a very disturbed individual who luckily didn’t do something really bad during his time in New Orleans. So it was awesome to watch and made for a fantastic season, but it could have easily turned very real.
Throughout the entire season, I have been championing Ryan as the best thing to happen to the franchise. He was my MVP, and I never thought he should go home and turn the show into another Real World: DC. But his meltdown and dismissal oddly seems right and well timed. Perhaps it was just so sudden and over the top that there was nowhere else we could possibly take Ryan. I mean, what else could he do to top his behavior up until that point? Eventually, there had to be some resolution between him and the rest of the cast prior to the season finale. And this seemed to fit perfectly. We have a bunch of episodes left in the season, but the timing of Ryan’s departure was appropriate. Maybe now Eric and Sahar can start to shine. Eric was fantastic in this episode, which followed a strong performance last week.
There are, of course, a few lingering questions. For one, why did MTV show a promo clip of Sahar and Ryan possibly hooking up? Well, I assume they showed that hugely misleading clip because they’re dicks. More importantly, what happens to Ryan? Will he appear on a Challenge? I really hope the answer is yes because I don’t think Evan and Johnny “Domestic Violence” will let his antics slide like the New Orleans cast did ( Actually, I am PRAYING that Ryan does a Challenge that C.T. also appears on. Seriously, CT will go to jail for murder if that happens).
I would be doing a great disservice if I failed to mention what I thought was the funniest and craziest moment of the season; Ryan going to a drug awareness meeting with a beer! I mean, talk about not caring. That scene was just so insane yet there was something familiar about it. Turns out the ridiculously funny show “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” did a bit on this exact thing. One of the main characters was ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous and showed up drinking a beer. Classic Charlie. And now I can say Classic Ryan. Just a surreal moment in reality television.
Overall, I am completely satisfied with how this season has transpired up until this point. Ryan was a breath of fresh, blow dried air to the Real World franchise. He was destined to self destruct and turn everyone against him. But he gave up some awesome moments before that happened. The other characters clearly seem to be able to handle to weight now that Ryan is gone; while he could have carried this season by himself, Ryan didn’t need to because Jemmye and Knight were also such great personalities. Good bye Ryan, I hope we cross paths in the future…by that I mean with you on another show. I really don’t want to meet you in real life, you psycho.
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