Who knew watching Kim Kardashian get her groove back would be the best rom-com of 2022 so far?
While it may have been titled The Kardashians, the family's new Hulu series easily could've been titled The Komeback Kim as viewers watched the 41-year-old go on a journey of self-empowermentover the course of 10 episodes. Seeing one most famous women in the world as an underdog for a change was captivating to watch, largely due to Kim's willingness to get vulnerable and unmask her insecurities—both professional and personal—in front of the cameras.
Say what you will about the SKIMS founder, but you can't say she doesn't share the good, the bad and the Ye of it all. And the time invested was worth it, with Kim ending the season giddily talking about her vagina with her boyfriend Pete Davidson, enjoying his end of the conversation off-screen at the time. But we'll get to him in a bit.
Back when filming began, Kim was just mbarking on this new chapter of her life as a co-parent to her four children—North, 8, Saint, 6, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 3—with Kanye West, whom she filed for divorce from in February 2021. (They were declared legally single in March.)
After years of being one-half of Kimye, Kim was on her own and the world was watching.
A big storyline in the early episodes was Kim finding her voice, both in her Saturday Night Live monologue—which, it bears repeating, she totally crushed—and through her fashion, with Kim expressing anxiety over having to style herself for the first time in years.
"I got to a point where I would just ask [Kanye] for advice for everything, down to what I wear. Even now I'm having like panic attacks, like, ‘What do I wear?'" she explained. "I've always had Kanye there as this crutch to teach me so much about fashion, and having that not be there as my crutch to guide me has really forced me to figure it out on my own."
While Kim admitted making the sartorial decisions knowing the whole world was watching was taking a toll on her "psychologically," she acknowledged, "I think for so long always depending on someone else, I forgot that I have an opinion too, and I forgot that I can make decisions too."
Not that Kanye wasn't still weighing in on her outfits, calling her after she accepted the Brand Innovator award at the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards in November 2021.
"He told me my career is over and then he showed me a picture of Marge Simpson wearing something similar," Kim revealed. But she wasn't going to let his remark get to her.
"I do know what looks good on me and I know exactly what I like and I know exactly what I want," she said. "So sometimes I just have to drown out all of the voices of people telling me what they like or what I should be wearing and just go with what I like."
The cartoon comparison was far from the only time Kim dealt with Kanye drama regarding Kanye on-camera: She also talked about his refusal to sign the divorce papers and shared that he expressed anger over the jokes she made about him in her SNL monologue (which she had sent to him beforehand).
At the same time, Kim was hyper-aware about not bashing her ex.
"I'm always super protective of Kanye and not sharing a lot of the negative things that have happened just because he's not here doing the show," she explained. "Also, if I do something on a reality show, then it's 'how dare she talk about it?' And then he can do it in a song and that's so creative and expressive."
But Kim was willing to express her feelings about their complicated dynamic to her mother Kris Jenner and siblings, admitting in a confessional that she recognized "the impact that my relationship has had" on the entire family. She later apologized to them, saying, "I will never let that happen to you guys again and, like, I feel for once in my life, I feel strong. I'm not going to let anyone treat you guys that way or myself."
In a society that so often loves to tear a confident woman down for simply, you know, expressing that confidence, it's refreshing to see a fortysomething mom fully celebrate and own her victories.
"I feel like the universe is rewarding me and this is the year about me and what I want to do and what makes me happy," Kim said. "It almost feels like all my dreams are coming true."
One of those dreams was passing California's Baby Bar exam on her final attempt after failing three times. (The fact that she received the good news while she was sitting in the parking lot of a Red Lobster just made the moment that much better.)
An advocate for prison reform, Kim burst into tears, saying, "I'm so happy. Like, I literally didn't think I did."
But she did do that and so much more, landing the covers of Vogue (bumping her sister Kendall Jenner!) and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.
"She is the epitome and definition of the modern woman," SI Swimsuit editor-in-chief MJ Day explained on The Kardashians. "She's a boss, she's a babe, she's a mom, she's a friend."
For Kim, landing both covers was "definitely bucket list-type shit" and rather than act cool, even though she had already landed the cover of Vogue two times prior, she was fully basking in the moment.
But it wasn't just the glam moments Kim was indulging in, her reveal in the premiere episode that cleaning out her playroom makes her horny also earning a chorus of "Yes!" from moms across the globe. But a tidy toy area isn't the only surprising turn-on she admitted to having during the season.
"One time, Pete was like, 'Babe, let's go get some ice cream at Thrifty,'" Kim shared in episode eight. "And I was like, 'Oh my God, you are making me so f–king horny.' Rite Aid? Thrifty? It was literally one of the best nights of my life."
She then revealed her own BDE: Big Dibs Energy. While heading off to shoot her SI Swimsuit cover on her private jet (NBD!), the flight attendant delivered a carton of Dibs ice cream bites that Pete sent, much to Kim's delight.
"These are my favorite!" she said. "When we went to the movies in Staten Island, all I wanted was Dibs. I am obsessed with Dibs, but you can only get them at, like, gas stations these days."
Another cute Kete moment came when Kim revealed the pair share a love for all things skincare and the SNL vet once applied pimple cream to her face after she fell asleep before putting it on herself. If that doesn't scream romantic comedy material we don't know what does!
These small gestures from Pete are in stark contrast to the over-the-top, sometimes-ostentatious gifts Kanye had given her over the years—Who can forget when he basically held Kenny G hostage in their home?—so seeing her pure delight over these simple acts is somehow ridiculously endearing. Perhaps because so many times we watched Kim playing defense throughout and after her marriage with Kanye.
In the finale, Kim and Khloe Kardashian had a frank conversation about the public's perception of their respective relationships after Tristan Thompson's paternity lawsuit comes to light.
"If people knew what my relationship was really like, I think they would be like, 'How did this last this long?' Kim said. "But I can live with myself knowing that I tried everything humanly possible to make a situation work, so I could walk away being absolutely guilt-free."
It's Kim's absolute ownership of the decision to end her marriage and focus on herself that makes her new romance with Pete feel so earned. The recent photos of the couple on a Tahitian vacation (and the videos of Pete adorably ribbing Kim while playing Instagram BF) felt similar to seeing a friend who has finally moved on after a bad breakup look so happy and carefree with someone new.
Not that Kim expected her time with the 28-year-old comedian to lead to something serious.
After feeling a "vibe" during their on-screen kiss when she hosted Saturday Night Live, Kim revealed she texted the producers asking for his number.
"I wasn't even thinking, like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to be in a relationship with him,'" she admitted. "I was just thinking, 'Heard about this BDE. I need to get out there. I was just basically DTF [down to f--k]."
But Kim quickly learned there was so much more to Pete than the iconic Internet acronym he inspired, gushing, "Pete is such a good, good person. I can't even explain it. He just has the best heart and always thinks of the small things." You know, like Dibs and zit cream.
Still, she kept the romance under wraps, and initially decided not to talk about it on-camera.
"I never want the person that I'm dating to be subjected to public scrutiny just because we're dating," Kim explained. "He knows what he's getting himself into, obviously, but I'm trying to minimize any tabloid drama."
But the relationship with Pete is just icing on the cake (best sex of her life included, BTW), as Kim basks in the feeling of finally coming into her own and doing it in front of millions of people.
"We are some strong biatches," Kim told Khloe in the final episode. "We can deal with a lot and we should be proud."
Yes, Kim, yes you should.