It was a pretty normal return to form, even if the big, bad thing loomed over the cast's heads: Tom Schwartz explained that he was still at odds with Ariana Madix after their intense conversation in the finale; Lala Kent grew closer to her family following her own scandalous divorce; Schenea Shay reveals she started taking Zoloft after national attention naturally triggered flare-ups of OCD and anxiety.
Bob Odenkirk learns he is related to King Charles III and reconsiders his stance on monarchies
Not to mention the restraining order Raquel Leviss filed against Scheana after their confrontation in New York, the one that kept them at least 30 feet apart while filming last season's reunion. Scheana rightly notes that filing a temporary restraining order against a former friend "changes everything" and seeks some acknowledgment that she was also a victim, if not as much as others in the cast, of Raquel and Tom. Sandoval's antics.
But Scheana, nor anyone else, was going to get that recognition in the Season 11 premiere, at least not from Sandoval and Raquel. There was a Scandoval-shaped hole in the episode, with Raquel in Arizona (her return for the season seems out of place) and Tom "in New Zealand, filming some sort of competition show" in D's words. 'Ariana. (Probably Special Forces, not The Masked Singer.) While the episode ends with the image of Sandoval's car stopping in front of the house he still shares with Ariana, he and Raquel are missing, leaving a wound gaping that the rest of the cast has no choice but to talk about.
(to be continued)
