The Real World Homecoming: New York's conversation on race is striking in how much has flipped since Real World Season 1

Vulture

"At one point, Rebecca says she feels like she’s being attacked by Kevin, which is more or less the same thing she said 30 years ago," says Jen Chaney of this week's episode. "Eventually, Norman Korpi, her closest friend in the group, tells her to shut up and just listen to what Kevin is saying. Norman also suggests that she’s going to look really bad when the show eventually airs, which: bingo, sir. After the group disperses, Rebecca tearfully tells another roommate, Julie Gentry, that she feels hurt; Julie waves off the cameras, and both of them eventually remove their mics so Rebecca can express herself freely. Soon after — and this will be discussed in more detail momentarily — Rebecca decides to leave the loft without discussing her departure with any of the other roommates. Obviously, all of this makes for great drama. It’s also worth noting that when you’re talking about reality television, it’s never 100 percent clear how much of it was edited to make certain people look better or worse. Still, there are some striking things about this conversation, particularly the degree to which the tables have flipped in the group dynamic. If you go back and watch the first season of The Real World — which you can do, also on Paramount+ — Kevin was always the odd man out in discussions like these. He would make arguments about systemic racism and get pushback from everyone in the loft. Now, literally everyone else in the group seems to have reflected more deeply about such issues and sees where he’s coming from, except for Rebecca. Even Julie, the youngest of the group, who was cast as the naïve country girl from Alabama back in the 1990s, is more progressive and comfortable discussing these matters. Kevin, while disagreeing with and challenging Rebecca, never once loses his cool the way he did when he was younger, making Rebecca’s responses seem even more disproportionate." ALSO: Real World Homecoming is like a beautiful suspension bridge between past and present.