Vanderpump Rules back with two key players missing (II)

 (continuation from the previous post)

Vanderpump Rules returned last week for its first outing since the Scandoval affair brought its cast out of the confines of Bravo and onto the pages of The New York Times.

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.

Even though these characters don't want to be defined by Tom and Raquel's actions, the pain is clearly too fresh for them to move past it, at least this quickly. Ariana is obviously the most hurt, continuing to ice Schwartz after a Watch What Happens Live segment where he encouraged people to give Sandoval a hug if they saw him because he could use one (come on, man) . Towards the end of the episode, Lala, having apparently taken an off-screen maturity potion or something, decides that she doesn't want Scandoval's mistake to define the rest of Raquel's life and tries to tend hand to clarify things. Ariana doesn't like hearing this when she finds out, but it mostly sparks a conversation about how sensitive they both actually are. (Katie Maloney is also there and is in a lot of this episode, but doesn't do much. Sorry Katie!)

Given the frustration built up in the few months between the affair being announced and Pump Rules starting filming its 11th season, all on the slopes. It would be weird for them not to talk about that. But Sandoval now has his apology tour planned, although it will more likely be a righteous outrage tour based on his reunion performance and everything about his personality. As a fellow human being, but as a consumer of reality TV, thank goodness for that.

Vanderpump Rules back with two key players missing (I)

Vanderpump Rules returned in the end of January 2024 for its first outing since the Scandoval affair brought its cast out of the confines of Bravo and onto the pages of The New York Times. 

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.

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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)