Summary
A desperate attempt to replicate the success of Selling Sunset.
It took me two minutes to figure out Buying London. After you get through the painful introduction from property mogul Daniel Daggers gloating about himself, you realize they are trying to replicate Selling Sunset, but in London.
The only blatant issue here is that moving from beautiful sunny locations to the miserable weather of the Big Smoke is hardly an appealing selling point. The allure of real estate women getting catty with each other doesn’t land as well when they are not basking in the sun. Yes, you may have gotten out your new favorite outfit that costs a few months’ worth of food shopping, but who cares in the glum overcast?
Who Cares About London?
Miami, Los Angeles, Orange County, or London? At least the appeal of the other series is that you can imagine being on holiday for the rest of your life. Sweeping beautiful beaches, an abundance of vitamin D, and a relaxing lifestyle that doesn’t involve wanting to fight someone on the subway.
And here’s a secret for those who are not familiar with London because I know most Americans believe everyone in the UK lives there. The majority of people in the UK do not give a shit about London. The dream is to “make it” in London with corporate ambitions but what you are left with is spiralling costs and nothing to show for your salary just so you can tell your family and friends that “I live in London”. There’s no romanticism surrounding the city like New York or Paris. It’s a city that’s only used for tourism, but from a real estate perspective, the value you get from the market as a renter or buyer is virtually nil.
So, Buying London is a downgrade, really. Going from beachside multi-purpose mansions to siloed, overpriced mansions invested by billionaires trying to tug each other off is hardly a pipedream. Of course, the ladies try to sell the dream with nonsense phrases like “David Beckham used to live down there.” Okay, and? Does that justify the price that you may bump into a famous person in Tescos? Unless I’m living directly next to Zendeya, who I need to borrow teabags from now and again, I sincerely don’t understand why living somewhere where someone else used to live matters. It’s superficiality at its finest.
This Is Not A Reality Series
But here’s my biggest gripe. Buying London is far too obviously scripted. With Selling Sunset and Selling the OC, I could at least bite my tongue because it was the same agency. A story has been built up before and the additional series are an extension to the overarching narrative that the Oppenheim brothers have built.
The opening episodes of Buying London immediately plant a reason for the women to be combative and jealous. Daniel Daggers is seen giving favoritism to one of the women who is securing the lucrative property. The women have a problem with this. Where have we seen this before? Jason and Chrishell, anyone? Of course, they sell it as “just friends” while coding that they are sleeping together at every opportunity.
And then, like Selling the OC, one of the male estate agents has a wife, but one of his female colleagues flagrantly wants to jump his bones, and he half-invites it, and half puts it down to “just flirting.” It’s like Daniel Daggers and the production team have plucked the best storylines so far and forced them on the cast. Surely they knew that crossover audiences between these series was undoubtedly going to happen?
The concept is wearing thin, and while the predecessors are worth watching purely for being the originals, Buying London is trying too hard to force itself to be the new sensational real estate series on Netflix. It’s too obvious, and it feels flaky. It offends the audience’s intelligence.
At least Selling Sunset at least tried to keep it authentic in its premiere season, but if you are trying to convince me that suddenly, a real estate company in London is at war with each other as soon as the cameras are on, then you must think I’m stupid. We are far less dramatic people in the UK, trust me. Fool me once, shame on you.
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