Amanda Batula and Kyle Cooke address cheating rumors in the West

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of “In the City,” streaming May 20 on Peacock.

Picture the intro to “The Sopranos,” replace Tony with an anxiously avoidant Italian woman leaving a hellish decade-long relationship, spice up the score and you have the opening beats of “In the City,” the critically acclaimed spinoff of “Summer House.”

“In the City,” which premiered Tuesday night on Bravo following the season finale of “Summer House,” centers on Amanda Batula, Kyle Cooke and Lindsay Hubbard, three cornerstones of the aforementioned Hamptons series, as they navigate their lives on the not-so-mean streets of Manhattan. Amanda, 34, is the estranged wife of Kyle, 43, the founder of a canned cocktail company inexplicably called “Loverboy” that is hemorrhaging money; Kyle is her recently dumped husband, who in his forties chose to pursue a DJ career both to spite Amanda and to funnel money into his struggling company; and Lindsay is a former publicist and single mother of a ridiculously cute girl, Gemma, whose palatial apartment would make Nancy Meyers blush.

Other cast members in attendance include former “Summer House” star, founder and president of Something, Danielle Olivera, and her Irish live-in boyfriend Eoin; occasionally Andrea Denver, a really ridiculously beautiful Italian model, and his wife Lexi; Lindsay’s friends Yvonne and Georgina; and Kenny Martin, an insufferable venture capitalist who immediately emerges as the show’s villain, and is accompanied by his sweet-looking girlfriend Whitney, a former “Bachelor” contestant who should run for the hills.

Aside from the much anticipated scenery chewing from Lindsay, who clocks Kenny the moment she meets him, and the most awkward “birthday” date you’ve ever seen between Amanda and Kyle, who still seems unable to accept responsibility for his deplorable behavior toward his half-husband (even giving up on relationship therapy sessions), the pilot’s biggest takeaway comes in the opening scene.

But first some background information. In the tenth season of “Summer House,” Amanda and Kyle’s four-year marriage was on the brink of complete collapse. Amanda was more than checked out and barely acknowledged her husband’s presence, while Kyle threw violent tantrums left and right because he doesn’t know how to handle his emotions, even saying “fuck you” to Amanda twice in front of their roommates. In January, Amanda and Kyle publicly announced their separation in a joint statement; Meanwhile, in the season 10 finale of ‘Summer House’, they break up and Amanda stays in a hotel for a few days. On March 31, two months after announcing their divorce — and after weeks of online rumors and speculation — Amanda and Westling “West” Wilson, 31, a content creator, friend of Amanda and Kyle and overall hypebeast, announced that they were dating kind couple. The fact that West had previously dated Ciara Miller, one of Amanda Batula’s best friends who still harbors feelings for West, made it a particularly sticky scenario.

After a montage of news reports about the divorce and coupling, “In the City” opens on April 9, as cameras shot nine days after Amanda and West’s announcement to capture the aftermath. Kyle is doing the dishes and Amanda comes in. He greets her warmly and asks, “Have you eaten? You look thin. I’m worried about you…”, to which she replies, “I’m worried about me too.”

Amanda has long suffered from depression, some of which was documented in “Summer House,” and has been cast as the conniving boyfriend (or “Raquel/Rachel”) in this mix-up, which the Internet has dubbed “Scamanda.” The amount of vitriol directed at Amanda versus West has been wildly disproportionate in my opinion. West is the one who served as a shoulder to cry on for Amanda, taking advantage of a very vulnerable woman who had recently left a traumatic relationship. Amanda should have shown more transparency and grace toward Ciara, who dated West years ago but also probably viewed West as a fun, non-serious post-breakup fling (at least initially). This mess should really be called ‘Westgate’.

The two go to the couch and start discussing their breakup. “I know we’ve been able to stay in touch somewhat through all of this, and I want to be there for you, but I also want to take this opportunity to clear things up. Because I look back on the summer and it seemed like you were done with me,” a visibly irritated Kyle opens up.

“And that’s what’s so frustrating: I’ve given up on our relationship everything I did that because I really wanted the relationship to work,” Amanda answers, torn. “And the idea of ​​not existing with you in my life was so impossible for me to wrap my head around, and that’s what made it so hard to stop, and that’s why it became so damn messy, because I was so afraid that once we ended things, we’d be out of each other’s lives forever, and I couldn’t handle that.”

Kyle continues. “But I’ll be honest: I can point to these instances during the summer and fall where I thought, damn, she wasn’t just a foot away, she was complete out the door,” he says.

‘I was done with it to a certain extent tired. I had nothing left in me to fight, but I still tried to give it everything I had,” Amanda reiterates.

And then Kyle addresses the real elephant in the room: Amanda and West. “Can you honestly say, though, that even though it was an emotional affair with West, this was during Thanksgiving…” he says, before Amanda slyly interrupts him. “Nothing happened! I was so committed to you the whole damn thing, and all I wanted to do was make it work, and for you to even question my loyalty in any capacity hurts the hell out of you, because that’s not the type of person I am! Like I would cheat on you or cheat on you? I’ve been cheated on by You.” (I think it’s fair for Kyle to question the timeline, but so does he did regularly cheats on Amanda during their relationship, so he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on.)

“I had a one night stand…” Kyle responds defensively.

“Kyle, you kissed someone while we were married“, says Amanda. “There is one video.”

When he brings up the video, Kyle stops in his tracks, and his response triggers feelings of guilt. He switches from a defensive ex to a sympathetic ex.

“I know you’re not a bad person,” he says. “I think you were reckless and thoughtless, if I’m being honest. But through it all, I’m still trying to be a good friend to you. I mean, I’m worried about you. I’m worried about your mental health.”

“It’s not your responsibility, but I appreciate that,” Amanda says. The action then flashes back seven months to September 2025 and to our regularly scheduled programming. For the real fireworks, we’ll have to wait for the three-part “Summer House” reunion, which kicks off on May 26. The teaser alone is absolute cinema.