Last season of “Selling Sunset” saw Chrishell Stause victorious, the undisputed queen of the Oppenheim Group and, more importantly, of the reality show about it. In season 8, her power can go unstated, but it’s felt; she and her clique run the school (complimentary). But as their stars are rising, and other agents jockey for similar clout, the narratives on the show seem to be driven less and less by real estate affairs and more and more by reality TV production affairs: Who set up what on-camera conversation, and for what purpose? Who said what about whom during an Instagram Live or in a social media conversation about the show? If a show depicts the personal lives of its stars — their marriages, family lives, romances — is everything pertaining to their personal lives fair game, or are some things too sacred or too sensitive to be used as TV fodder?

Coming into this season, we already knew that Chelsea Lazkani, a standout agent whose reality star quality was evident from her first moment on the show, had separated from her husband and filed for divorce this spring. What we didn’t know was that not only would the divorce be addressed in the season, the show apparently had a heavy hand in the end of Chelsea’s marriage to Jeff Lazkani. Her nemesis, fellow agent Bre Tiesi, not only revealed Jeff’s infidelities to her but participated in making them an on-camera storyline, thrusting the rupture of Chelsea’s marriage into the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Chrishell has continued to feud with human ick Nicole, who has spent a season struggling to properly apologize for thanking a fan who wrote a homophobic Instagram comment about Chrishell. Chelsea has been at odds with Mary, the long-time office matriarch, after two major slights: Mary’s claim that Chelsea is a pot-stirrer (she is, and she’s fabulous at it), and Mary telling Jason and Brett that the skort Chelsea wore to a broker’s open was too short to be professional (too short? on this TV show?). A glamorous and competent but bland new agent, Alanna, has joined the cast, where she is almost too adeptly staying out of the conflict swirling around her. And Jason, mourning the loss of his and Mary’s dog Niko, consoles himself in the most relatable possible way: buying a $275k muscle car. Good thing he’s hustling to earn that retail therapy by acquiring pet listings and overpricing them by 50-100 percent.

We discuss all this and more in this episode, plus the constant relatable pratfalls of our stiletto-shod corporate camp goddesses and how long-running workplace reality shows like “Selling Sunset” inevitably morph into shows about celebrities who work together on making a TV show. Hope you enjoy! xo