It’s been five months since the Southern Charm Season 5 reunion aired on Bravo and I’m still shook. Perhaps that’s because a full season’s worth of drama has transpired on social media since then, but it’s also due to the fact that this was one of the most explosive, unbelievable seasons of TV that’s ever aired, especially on Bravo — a network known for explosive, unbelievable TV.

It’s not that Southern Charm was a stranger to drama. Quite the opposite, in fact! It’s just that very few shows have transitioned as abruptly as this show did this season: from being a reality show about class and friendship in the south to being a show about an absolute monster and her sackless boyfriend as they terrorize his former friends, still in the south though.

Let’s start from the beginning. Right off the bat, Season 5 was showing exactly us how aware it was, with the girls unafraid to call out the boys’ bullshit (specifically pal J.D. Madison), making Southern Charm one of the first shows to wisely acknowledge the #MeToo shift happening in America. It was a clear sign that it would be the ladies who ruled this season, and they each delivered in their own, major ways.

Cameran faced her fears and became the mom of adorable bay girl Palmer, Chelsea was the anti-Ashley the show desperately needed, Naomie was wonderfully and hilariously outspoken and bold enough to expose her invasions of privacy that had men all over the country checking the settings on their phone. She also went nuts on Peyton, Shep’s Relationshep leftover lady who was wise enough to only pop into the show sporadically after that. And then there’s Kathryn, a woman who transformed herself in front of our eyes to a calm, healthy mom with her priorities straight, no matter how hard anyone tried (oh, and they tried) to knock her off her game. We felt for her, we rooted for her, we defended her, and we wondered if her flirting with Shep would be anything…

It wasn’t except for two pals who just click, but mostly on a friendship level at the moment. Shep also showed small yet significant signs of maturing, remaining the laid back bro we love him to be. Austen found his calling in making his own beer, which was more exciting than you’d expect listening to a dude discuss IPAs could ever be, though not quite as entertaining as his rollercoaster of relationships proved to be. And then there’s Craig who was all his all-time Craig-iest this season, working with a life coach, busting his hand, zipping up his pants with a clothes hanger, and falling flat on his face when it came to a pretty important Patricia assignment. There’s never been a grown ass man you’d want to simultaneously cuddle and then kick his butt like Craig.

So now that we’ve got the positives out of the way, let’s move on to the negativity that rocked these Charleston chums to the core. Ashley Jacobs was introduced as Thomas Ravenel’s new girlfriend, a former nurse in California who was now thirsty for an engagement (read: his money) and desperate to get rid of anyone in her way. She was rude, aggressive, out of line, maniacal, and just plain wrong in the way she spoke to Thomas’s friends, specifically the mother of his two children, Kathryn. Her confrontations seemed to never end and to only get nastier as the season progressed, leaving cast members and viewers alike, quite simply #shook.

Now Kathryn’s been known to have an outburst or two in the past (just ask Whitney about it), but in a season that was meant to celebrate her progress, and it did showcase that in her non-reactions, Ashley was a horrendous, vile distraction, though ultimately one that made every episode appointment viewing. If you weren’t watching Southern Charm before, you sure as hell were watching it now. It wasn’t long into this season where the series switched from simply one of Bravo’s shows that’s not about housewives to one of Bravo’s shows that’s better than Housewives.

In the months since Season 5 ended, Thomas, who was absent from the reunion taping once sexual assault allegations against him surfaced, was officially arrested this summer over the charges. His relationship with Ashley dissolved, and then maybe didn’t, and then just go too uninteresting to keep up with. They both separately and desperately took to social media platforms to do their best to remain relevant in the form of “defending” themselves, mostly racking up eye rolls and headaches. And yet, what originally seemed like a simple, harmless Bravo show soon spawned months of headlines, brunch conversations, and a confirmed spot in the pop culture zeitgeist, marking 2019’s Season 6 as absolute cannot miss TV (the show is expected to return this spring).

What will that Season 6 even be? See, that’s the best part. No one knows. Could it get crazier? That feels impossible, but was proven to be true each and every week this past season. Could it be calmer? Maybe…but do we even want that? The only known fact right now, as we spend the next few months bracing for the impact of the new season, is that Southern Charm has declared itself one of Bravo’s most interesting, shocking, and consistent shows — so much so that the drama can’t even be contained within the actual show. Because now, as of 2018, Southern Charm is everywhere.

Where to stream Southern Charm