The second season of the Real Housewives of New York has me feeling… well not enough, frankly. While some of the cast is growing into their Housewife roles (I’d like to formally announce, as it pertains to Sai, I truly always saw the vision), others are regressing (why has pulling a declarative sentence out of Jenna Lyons in confessionals become a herculean feat?). But there’s one RHONY player whose entire vibe has morphed from lawful neutral to chaotic evil in a New York minute. When and why did Pavit Randhawa become such a contrarian sourpuss? In the handful of scenes that Jessel (chaotic good) has filmed with her husband, Pavit has brought vaguely rancid, specifically anti-female energy, and I, for one, will not stand for it. I’m investigating Pavit’s rude RHONY season 15 behavior on behalf of the entire Bravo female audience.
Pavit wants to raise the next Elon Musk
I know I’m not the only one who has noticed Pavit’s shift from the affable husband who balanced his wife’s kooky energy to a total know-it-all meanie pants (I believe that’s the scientific term). It started in the season opener when Pavit and Jessel introduced a familiar couple’s season arc: Jessel wants to have a baby and her heretofore supportive, loving husband is now dragging his feet, kicking or screaming, at the prospect. So far the conflict has come off just as genuine as Melissa and Joe’s RHONJ season 10 baby storyline, but that doesn’t mean Jessel, who wants to use their frozen embryos, doesn’t truly want to have another child. Her husband dismissing her desires on camera, genuine or not, comes off as extremely cringe.
The moment was only made worse when Pavit clarified that while he wasn’t interested in having a daughter who could become the next Beyoncé, he would consider having a son so he could raise the next Elon Musk. What reaction was Pavit trying to incite when he painted the greatest living artist of our time as a disappointment compared to an alt-right conspiracy theorist, with a questionable business legacy, who is estranged from his own children, even in jest? I need someone to explain the hilarious punchline of that “joke,” quickly.
Pavit has never seen the movie Clueless
Later in the season, Jessel tries bouncing ideas off her husband about her upcoming birthday party. She’s decided to theme will be Clueless, which was executed with chef’s kiss accuracy. But Pavit wouldn’t know that, apparently, because he claims he’s never even heard of the movie. As Jessel explains the plot of Clueless, Pavit feigns that he’s only familiar with the location of Beverly Hills.
I’m sorry, the man who is chronically online enough to start a food influencer account at 44 big years of age expects us to believe he’s never seen a single reference to the pop cultural staple that’s been celebrated for nearly 30 years now??? As if! Pavit displayed even more egregious pick-me behavior when he refused to dress up (despite how much work Jessel put into the event) and even taunted Abe for giving the theme the time of day to please Erin. Why is this man so tickled pink by playing devil’s advocate to women’s interests? It’s kinda hard to sell the “I’m not like other girls, I’m a cool girl” shtick when you’re literally filming The Real Housewives, bro.
Pavit didn’t buy Jessel a birthday gift
Even though Pavit seems to love to play dumb, we know he knows how much Jessel loves shiny, pretty things. But did he buy her a birthday present in time for her party? Nope! In fact, he doubled down in his confessional that birthday presents are a part of the greeting card industry’s capitalist agenda. While there’s a decent (read: tired) argument to be made about how holidays like Valentine’s Day have been too commercialized, the argument can’t viably be made by someone who flew to Asia for a fucking sandwich.
The same dudes who joke about their wives not being worthy of pampering and gifts are the ones who can’t complete their family’s grocery shopping trip without being handheld through aisle six. Even if Pavit is just leaning into his oh-so-dry sense of humor us sensitive peons can’t understand (wait for that line at the reunion), why is everything that Jessel finds enjoyable his go-to punch line? (Pavit, if you need help finding some humor in yourself, text Sai, I think she has a few ideas.) Jessel is a very unserious woman who says very unserious things but we’ve also seen her go to bat for Pavit’s quirks against all the ladies more than once. The least he could do is show up for his ride or die with bells on (and a Net-a-porter bag in tow) on her GD birthday.
