I’ve always said that the smartest people watch reality television, because it offers an unfiltered study of human behavior. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is a particularly rich social case study, shaped by its unusual ecosystem: a high-altitude city shadowed by the headquarters of the Mormon church and flooded with social-media influencers crafting micro-celebrity in real time. Within this environment, each woman’s personal story becomes its own ongoing ethnography of motherhood, ambition, faith, and reinvention.
Here’s your field guide to why each cast member is fascinating this season.
Lisa Barlow: Marriage as Enterprise…