'Selling Sunset' Season 4 Proves That Sometimes, The High Road Is Overrated

Season 4 of "Selling Sunset" stars (left to right) Emma Hernan, Chrishell Stause, Brett Oppenheim, Mary Fitzgerald, Vanessa Villela, Maya Vander, Davina Potratz, and Heather El Moussa. (Photo: PATRICK WYMORE/NETFLIX)

This story contains spoilers.

“Selling Sunset” is back with a fourth season, a few new additions to the Oppenheim Group, and, of course, more drama to unpack. A new dawn is on the horizon for some. Recent divorcée Chrishell Stause is embarking on a journey to homeownership, and Heather Rae Young married boyfriend Tarek El Moussa. However, the sun is setting on a certain fractured friendship.

A central motif of this season is relationships, both new and old. Prior to the series’ return, photos on social media surfaced of Stause and her boss, Jason Oppenheim, catching flights and feelings. Now, the two are a confirmed couple, but fans will have to wait until Season 5 before that relationship is addressed in the series.

This season opens with an expecting Christine Quinn, who’s briefly out of commission on maternity leave, and the Oppenheim brothers seeking a few replacements to pick up slack around the office. Oppenheim enlists the help of former soap-opera-star-turned-agent Vanessa Villela as well as returnee Emma Hernan, who has worked with the Group before — and who Quinn alleges dated her ex-boyfriend at the same time as her.

Apart from the larger-than-life houses, the focal point of “Selling Sunset” Season 4 is the friendship breakup between Mary Fitzgerald and Quinn. After five years, their relationship has hit the rocks. In Season 3, Fitzgerald and Quinn had gone through a tiff, but Fitzgerald thought they had worked through it. (Later, she’d come to learn of Quinn’s pregnancy through social media like some plebeian.) What becomes evident through their interactions this season is that sometimes, the high road is futile.

With agent Christine Quinn on maternity leave, the Oppenheim brothers bring a new face on board: Vanessa Villela. (Photo: PATRICK WYMOREPATRICK WYMORE/NETFLIX)

On a lunch date with Villela in Episode 2, Quinn claims that she and Fitzgerald were “really, really, really close” until Stause joined the brokerage, shifting the dynamic. Harping on the premise of loyalty, Quinn brings up that Fitzgerald became close with Hernan. Despite the years-old breakup, she thought it was apt to express her frustration now because she “wasn’t aware that Mary had continued her friendship with Emma after the cheating came out.” (Fitzgerald said that not only did Hernan not play a role in her breakup, but Quinn did not express that she was hurt by their friendship to her.)

Though Quinn says she misses the relationship she had with Fitzgerald and acknowledges it will never be the same, she declines any attempts of civility from Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, who was not invited to Quinn’s baby shower, purchases a gift for the newborn and sends her assistant along with it, but says that Quinn refused to accept it.

Done with being in “the line of fire,” Fitzgerald resigns to being the bigger person and removes herself from the equation along with Stause and Heather Rae El Moussa, who are each exhausted by Quinn’s antics. While Maya Vander and Davina Potratz remain unscathed by Quinn, every other agent has a thorn to pick with her. Quinn, whose treatment of Stause was initially masked as newcomer hazing, never appeared quite fond of her. Their relationship turned sour as early as Season 1, from the moment Stause inquired about the details of Fitzgerald’s engagement (e.g., a prenup, who foots the bill, etc.). 

Despite not being invited to Quinn's baby shower, Fitzgerald said she sent her assistant with a gift on her behalf, which Quinn declined. (Photo: ADAM ROSE/NETFLIX)

At the company pool party, Quinn called Stause “two-faced” and launched a slew of ad hominem attacks at her. In Season 2, Stause shared that Quinn hosted a party in the off-season, featuring a cocktail called “Chrishell’s Two-Faced Tonic.” When they meet face-to-face for the first time in months, Quinn offers a lousy attempt at reconciliation, citing flowers she sent to Stause — but can’t remember why. (Her father had passed away.) As reiterated this season, Stause and Quinn are not friends, and Stause has made peace with that. 

In Season 2, when Amanza Smith joins the brokerage, her friendship deepens with Mary, which Quinn perceives as an encroachment upon their relationship. At Fitzgerald’s wedding, a discussion emerges about whether two bachelorette parties were hosted, the latter of which El Moussa and Vander were not invited to. When Fitzgerald spots it from afar, Smith is sent to quell the situation. Upon leaving, Quinn refers to her as a linebacker. This season, they surprisingly look like they’ve made amends. 

In Season 3, viewers see El Moussa’s seething frustration with Quinn as she makes dubious claims that El Moussa and her husband call paparazzi to cover their relationship. El Moussa recently parted ways with Quinn following several comments she had made to the press regarding her relationship, leaving Fitzgerald as the last one standing. 

Though Heather Rae Young, now El Moussa, was previously a friend of Quinn's, their relationship frayed following comments Quinn made to the press about Heather and Tarek's relationship. (Photo: PATRICK WYMORE/NETFLIX)

However, that is continuously undermined by a new web of tales that Quinn spins. Quinn’s friendships are not partnerships; they’re a dictatorship. Quinn defines loyalty as “If I don’t like somebody, you don’t like somebody,” which isn’t unheard of, but believes that longtime friends must run to her defense, regardless of whether she has wronged another party and should atone for it. 

In Episode 5, Quinn randomly pops up at the birthday party Fitzgerald and Oppenheim host for their dogs Niko and Zelda. Rather than chewing Quinn out, Fitzgerald storms out of the house and interrogates Oppenheim about why he invited her. Quinn makes a scene, pulling Hernan aside to hash things out.

During the conversation, Hernan maintains that they did not have an overlapping timeline while Quinn embellishes the narrative, adding that the ex-boyfriend and her were shacking up and engaged. Conveniently, the only person she informed was Potratz, who had yet to return to the brokerage. 

In Episode 9, Quinn visits Potratz’s first open house with the Group. Potratz recaps a discussion that the agents had about Hernan’s side of the story and reveals to Quinn that she told the agents that she didn’t know Quinn back then. Quinn immediately takes offense and says, “You shouldn’t even have said that because that’s admitting,” and questions her so-called loyalty.

“I will hold you accountable for things that you do to people that I care about, like Emma,” Fitzgerald says. “You can’t just keep lying about things and saying things and expecting it to be true.” (Photo: PATRICK WYMORE/NETFLIX)

Things come to a head in the final episode. At a party where the Oppenheim brothers share news of the brokerage’s expansion, Villela facilitates a come-to-Jesus moment. However, Quinn is only comfortable addressing her co-workers one by one, which is a red flag considering her history of telling different stories to different people.

After downing a shot, Fitzgerald takes it upon herself to confront Quinn. In Episode 10, fittingly titled “One Last Hail Mary,” Fitzgerald pours her heart out to Quinn, outlining that each woman in the office is frustrated with her and pushing back on the series of events that Quinn believes happened. 

“I will hold you accountable for things that you do to people that I care about, like Emma,” Fitzgerald says “You can’t just keep lying about things and saying things and expecting it to be true.”

Quinn refuses to admit any wrongdoing on her part and walks away. 

Season 4 of “Selling Sunset” hammers home that friendship isn’t merely about dogged loyalty, but having people in your corner who will call you out when you’ve done wrong and actively push you to be better. However, only you can hold yourself accountable — and no amount of good-spirited attempts from Fitzgerald to extend an olive branch could have salvaged this relationship.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.