I’m undecided what you were as much as at 2 a.m. last night — my guess is sleeping — but I used to be up. Issa Rae’s reality series The Sweet Life: Los Angeles returned for its second season on HBO Max on Thursday night (August 4), and to my surprise and glee, got here back with a bang. It rolled out 4 episodes to assist me meet up with my favorite twentysomething Los Angelinos. I used to be excited — after which I quickly became stressed.

I used to be reminded pretty quickly of how briskly this group can get catty, petty and overreact about small pickings and the way sometimes those misunderstandings can end in explosive ways. Like one forged member calling the boyfriend of her best friend the whole lot but a baby of God.

It began when the women, led by show lead and event planner Tylynn Burns, and her friends Amanda, Rebecca and Briana, decided to confront fellow forged member P’Jae Compton about comments he made in regards to the ladies following the forged’s “Group Chat” or reunion last summer. He felt attacked by the ladies at that event. They called him out for behavior displayed at an overnight birthday celebration for Tylynn in Palm Springs that resulted in loads of drama — much of which he was blamed for. So throughout the radio interview, he said just that, and noted that he didn’t know where things stood with the women. It wasn’t anything really messy or mean to me.

The group just happened to be listening in though and took his comments as a slight, saying he was mentioning them (though he didn’t name anyone particularly) but not talking to them directly about how he felt. So at Briana’s event for her Buttrd by Bri body care line, they felt, for some reason, that it was the proper time to talk to him about it.

But in fact, 4 people confronting one person rarely goes well. P’Jae felt that after again, he was being ganged up on, and that he deserved as much of an apology as the ladies felt they did. Watching from afar and feeling like P’Jae was a person on an island alone, Amanda’s boyfriend, Rob, a transplant from Chicago making latest connections (including with P’Jae), stepped in. He jumped into the conversation to inform the ladies to permit P’Jae to speak. Things quickly went sour though, with Tylynn telling him to swiftly “get off of P’Jae’s d–k.”

Offended, he called out what he felt was a difficulty — that when people don’t agree with Tylynn about something, they’re robotically “anti-Ty.” And after that, she snapped. Tylynn would hit below the belt multiple times, telling him “F–k you,” calling him a “weak a– ni–a,” saying that he would “get up and regret this,” and that he was “dead to me.”

It was extreme.

But much more disturbing in that moment was that Amanda said nothing about it. And I mean, Rob isn’t like a latest “little” boyfriend because the elders say. He and Amanda are in a fairly serious relationship, and in the beginning of Season 2, they’re on the point of move in together. I used to be astounded by the proven fact that when she wasn’t standing there with the “WTF” face, her focus was on getting Rob out of the venue (for the record, he didn’t reply to Tylynn with the energy she directed at him) and never on the BFF talking to her partner in a fairly ugly way in front of everyone.

This isn’t the primary time I’ve seen something like this occur on reality TV. Nene Leakes told former bestie Cynthia Bailey’s ex-husband Peter Thomas to “stop acting like a b—h” on Bravo’s Real Housewives of Atlanta. And even on shows without predominately Black casts, like MTV’s Siesta Key (yes, I watch that too), principal character Juliette’s best friend sat silent while that woman’s boyfriend brutally accused the TV personality of using his friend for money and opportunity. I blame all of the drinking these people do for these cringe-worthy moments.

But it surely doesn’t just occur on TV. Individuals are generally not good at creating boundaries between their partners and their pals in on a regular basis life. Still, stuff you wouldn’t allow yourself to say to your spouse or friend, your best friend and boyfriend shouldn’t be allowed to spew. And as Amanda’s co-stars stated, a slight against one’s partner is, in a way, disrespect to that person, too, whether or not they understand it or not. Once you decide to love someone, it’s almost like they’re family and subsequently even whenever you don’t agree with the whole lot they could do, you don’t let people drag them through the mud because they’re an extension of you. And same to your best friend. They too are like family, and also you shouldn’t allow a romantic partner to disrespect them either.

If that scene might have been redone, it could have been great to see Amanda halt each parties as their energy got a bit more, let’s just say energetic; letting them each know they were they stepping out of line and needed to chill off. That way, sides wouldn’t have to be taken but drama may very well be quelled before it had a probability to escalate.

In her defense though, as later scenes would show, Amanda claimed that she never comprehended the things Tylynn was saying. Perhaps she “heard” them, but in a panic over the proven fact that her best friend of greater than 20 years and boyfriend she loves were at odds, she could have shut down. The excellent news is, once Amanda was made aware of the comments directed at her boyfriend, she handled things well. She spoke to each parties and allow them to know they were each at fault, which was true. While I do respect what Rob was attempting to do, he could have come into the conversation calmly to assist the group of women see that they were jumping on P’Jae. I respect how he handled things after that, but he didn’t approach the situation initially as a peacemaker, which created more tension. And yes, Tylynn was completely out of line. Just last season she called out her good friends over perceived disrespect to her boyfriend (a disrespect she wasn’t there to see), so to act that way on to her best friend’s boyfriend was a bit hypocritical.

Amanda allowed them to see either side while also listening to the ways wherein her man and her bestie felt mistreated. She even called out full-on foolery, which was refreshing to see. In the long run, Rob should still feel just a little burned (that Amanda doesn’t defend him enough, which will be debated), but she was capable of bring each parties together to speak. Apologies were offered, and steps were capable of be taken to maneuver forward. She didn’t handle things in the easiest way within the moment, but she handled them perfectly in the long run. She showed that you simply don’t must pick sides when your friend and your boyfriend have a serious disagreement or misunderstanding, but you do have to hold each parties accountable, in a respectful way, so it doesn’t occur again.