Aviva's Leg Stole the Show on 'RHONY'

Considering Tuesday night marked its season finale, Real Housewives of New York was a bit of a snooze-fest. The point of this episode wasn't to provide closure for an incredibly lackluster season. It didn't even wrap up the pent-up tension that the Team Sonja party had packed neatly into a ritzy room at Le Cirque. No, the real meat of this installment wasn't meat at all. In fact, it was Aviva's prosthetic leg. And the epic leg toss heard 'round the world.

I have to say, the leg throw turned out even more intense than I ever dreamed it would. It was perhaps one of Bravo's most telanovela-like moments — and that's saying something for a network whose M.O. is drama. Also, I'm one who appreciates a good pun, so the fact that Aviva showed she wasn't pulling their leg about her asthma by actually taking her own leg off? Like, how can you not see and feel the poetry of that moment? The way she slammed it on the table with malice. When she picked it up again and tossed it for effect. When the camera panned in and out on the disembodied leg, seemingly making it a character of its own. If you had any qualms about Aviva's reality TV potential before, it's become abundantly clear that she knows how to milk a situation for all it's worth.

But, like all truly fantastical housewives — namely Danielle Staub, Jill Zarin, and Camille Grammer — Aviva's 15 minutes of fame seemed all too short. We'll have to look back fondly now and remember her for all she did for us in this season finale (and sadly not the rest of the season). So, though Aviva and #LegGate had a short reality TV shelf life, perhaps her importance wasn't in the length of time she awed us, but just how much she did.

That's dedication if I've ever seen it.

Images: Giphy