Owning Manhattan Season 2 Review 2025 Tv Show Series Cast Crew Online
I’ve only seen three other real estate shows and there is one that used to be decent – it’s Selling Sunset. The reason Sunset was competent is because it had a subject worthy of Freudian armchair psychiatric analysis – Christine Quinn. Owning Manhattan‘s first season had a subject like that in former agent Jonathan Tremolle. Tremolle’s unprofessional behaviour during the first season’s penultimate episode finally forces his boss, main character Ryan Serhant, to fire him. However, this show is no different from any World of Wonder show that has a deep bench of villains. Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration, because Jonathan’s BFF Jessica Markowski’s biggest sin this season is wasting Chloe Tucker Caine’s time. So what if, hear me out, Serhant is the big bad wolf of this season? Rather him than someone else, which I respect.
Sure, maybe Ryan is a villain, but I’ll defend him and this show from critics who think this show’s mid. I saw him on the poster for season one and decided that he’s not a real person but he reveals interesting textures. This show captures his ambiguous morality and decision making so risky that it’s easy to conflate risk with stupidity. He demotes his ex-assistant Jordan Hunt from selling units in an impossibly overpriced building in the Upper Upper West Side. He’s also been neglecting loyal agents like Jordan March for newer agents. But he also shows his good side as he half-encourages Chloe who tries to sell a brownstone through dance. Owning Manhattan shows Ryan using the carrot and the stick on his rookies while being real estate’s Alexander the Great.
Owning Manhattan, like most real estate shows, serve as pornography and as a morality play for people in their thirties. The dynamic is particularly interesting because it shows viewers that rich people can’t buy their happiness, which is bullshit. Well, maybe half bullshit as, and let me bring up another Greek reference, we’re watching a bunch of Icaruses. If Ryan’s trying to conquer New York, his tenured agent Tricia Lee Riley is the Queen of Brooklyn, vying for Manhattan land. Selling penthouses isn’t working for a clientele that wants a community that Brooklyn has, an irony displayed here. There’s also a scene where she cries about her dead mother, a poignant moment even if it happens while shopping.
Since Tricia Lee’s forays into Manhattan penthouse real estate isn’t jelling, she tries her hand in commercial real estate. She’s going up against Owning Manhattan and SERHANT’s commercial agent, Jade Shenker, thinking that the latter’s sexy approach isn’t appropriate (Team Tricia). The one thing that I like about this show is that it beautifully juggles its subjects and their conflicts. Jade and Tricia Lee may be rivals but the show is soft launching that conflict maybe for later seasons. Besides, there are bigger conflicts here, like Ryan building a team for Miami who hate each other. And let’s not forget the biggest conflict of all – Ryan versus his desire for others to fear and like him.
