When Mia Thornton joined Real Housewives of Potomac during Season 6, I enjoyed her quirks. I liked that she owned things that other people would hide or side-eye, from her plastic surgery to her past in the strip club. She seemed fun.
As she drew criticism from cast member Wendy Osefo then, I remember being impressed that she seemed relatively unbothered, smiling through tense moments and genuinely appearing just happy to have a…peach? Wait, that’s Atlanta. I think it’s a glass of wine in Potomac? But you know what I’m referring to. Whatever symbol signifies that you’re a main cast member and that you’ve arrived.
Watching her in Season 9, though, has been difficult. As her marriage to Gordon Thornton has, at least on the show, seemingly gone kaput, and she’s publicly moved on with a man from her not-so-far past named Inc (aka, Incognito), moving him in with her kids while living in the same apartment complex with her estranged husband, it’s been a trainwreck. And while she’s spoken about how hard everything has been, not knowing where her kids were in last night’s episode and feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of her situation, she’s behaved as someone feeling quite the opposite.
Every week, she gives some odd update on her situation to her cast members, sometimes without being asked, running down her situation as if she’s informing everyone of the latest from a Netflix series. “Guess what you missed!” These updates would often run counter to what she shares on social media, as her eager boyfriend and soon-to-be ex-husband, who has been open about his bipolar I diagnosis, would toast and seemed to be on good terms in pictures and videos, only for Gordon to decide he wasn’t with the bull as soon as the flash went off, or so she claims.
And while Mia has the right not to stay in a toxic relationship, marriage with two kids or not, could she go about things any worse? Listen, if my husband left me for a woman he had an affair with (and allegedly impregnated, and she allegedly had an abortion) and then moved that same heifer woman into a home with my children almost full-time, I’d cut up, too. They were all filming together until Gordon expressed that he couldn’t do it any longer. And the new boo even wanted a DNA test for their oldest son. That things remained as peaceful as they’ve been is a miracle under the circumstances.
Gordon also continued to be a constant in her life, which she claimed she wasn’t happy about because she wanted to continue to care for him. With her “I love yous,” and conversations outside of “The kids will be at your place at X time” boundaries, even her BFF Jacqueline Blake said it felt like she was giving him false hope.
But would you look at that? While the season is still playing out, Mia, in real-time, has announced her split from Inc and, amid that, shared a photo with a much happier Gordon, both smiling and posing close. Please take us out of the group chat.
And that is the rollercoaster of trying to follow a storyline about Mia Thornton. She’s spent the majority of the time painting Gordon as a controlling, scorned ex, one she’s only keeping around for the kids (and not just to have the same control he seeks), and now she’s cheering on a new year and new beginnings with him by her side. Perhaps she only wanted to move on from her marriage if she could be with Inc and realized the grass wasn’t greener over there. Maybe she just needed some time away from Gordon to miss a somewhat good thing. Or perhaps it’s just a picture and they’re celebrating healthy co-parenting. As usual, one can never tell.
