Noel is a former child Ping-Pong star, a dandy-dressing fraternal twin who dreams of launching a real estate empire with Joel—yes, the twins’ names rhyme!—his actor-model brother who is fluent in Korean. He’s an expert at tossing off wild one-liners, like “If the price is right, everything is for sale.”
Peggy, when she’s not throwing microaggressions at Noel, carries the weight of making the show entertaining. A hyper-competent schmoozer whose nickname is Deals in Heels, she has the ability to reel off full paragraphs of insults. “As of today, I do not want to be associated with you and I would really appreciate it if my name never comes out of your mouth,” she tells a realtor named Sara, with such little apparent warning that Sara squeals, in confusion, “I would love to work with you! I have never had any issues!”
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This should be meme material. Instead, it’s lost in a just-off-Southampton sea of microaggressions. “I just sold a house for $10 million,” notes Jimmy, the least seemingly problematic realtor. Not with smugness but with some wonder, he adds, “I closed on four houses while they were sitting around, arguing.” It’s the same sentiment the white male bosses of Selling Sunset voice, more condescendingly, to their employees. (A show, it's worth nothing, that avoids confronting office racism by casting mostly white people, the exception being a single biracial person.)
Million Dollar Beach House is meant to be a fantasy escape to a luxury vacation and a life where working hard equals getting rich. Accidentally, it demonstrates how, exactly, white men get ahead of women and people of color in the same jobs. It's a perfect primer on the problem with being the only person of color in an office of perfectly “nice” white people. It’s reality; it’s just not fun TV.
Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.
