Over the past few weeks, MTV has been airing endless commercials to remind us that it’s not all about The City; that’s right it’s about Brooklyn too. Move over Laguna, forget those hills, and fake fashion jobs, this is about what happens when people stop being polite and start getting REAL. Really? Sort of.

As Real World Brooklyn begins, the cast meets up in various locations all over New York (the Coney Island Boardwalk, on a water taxi…) to converge upon their Red Hook warehouse. In New York, would that be an 8 bedroom converted? As we are introduced to each member through their audition videos they set themselves into two categories: “They seem like a really cool person I can just chill with…” and “I know they’re hiding something.”

In the first category we have Sarah, a former lesbian studying to be an art therapist. Baya is the pint-sized dancer that MTV probably picked to hook up with Scott. Scott just won the “Best Abs on the East Coast” and yeah, he has really good abs. Then there’s Devyn who seals her own grave when she says “you have a better chance of getting into heaven than Devyn.” We know two things about her- she has boobs and she wants Scott to get into heaven. As for those who are hiding something. JD is a gay dolphin trainer from Miami, Ryan served in Iraq, and Chet is a metrosexual Mormon a metrosexual out to prove he’s straight. But wait- there are 8 cast members this season which leaves us with Katelynn.

MTV seems aware that they have to address the elephant in hot tub by spending most of the episode on the “is she isn’t she” question of Katelynn’s gender and orientation. Ryan is the first in the house to question whether Katelynn might have been born a man and is fairly on-point until he calls her “it”. Here’s to being glad he didn’t call her a she-male. The tear-filled cab ride she shares with JD almost brings us back to the good old days when Real World dealt with real issues.

Not everything was so serious, though. The budding romance between Ryan and Chet is enough to make me come back for more. Oh, to watch them sail off into the sunset on their stationary boat, Ryan serenading Chet, Chet’s giant sunglasses hides the love in his eyes. I’m hoping episode 2 features Chet padding around the house in a pair of Freudian slippers, asking each of the house mates to explain again what gaydar is.