Vanderpump Rules Should Have Ended With Scandoval Because S11 Is Missing 3 Crucial Things

When Season 10 started airing in early 2023, fans were growing tired of "Vanderpump Rules" — particularly after the 8th and 9th seasons, which were dull slogs. Sure, Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz's divorce — as well as Lala Kent's high-profile split from her disgraced ex-fiancé Randall Emmett — presented enough drama to shake things up somewhat before the premiere, but both of those plotlines were basically thrown to the sidelines for Scandoval.

Season 10 presented a situation completely unique to reality television as we knew it. The season continued airing as usual after March 3 broke the Bravoverse, but fans knew about Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss' affair ... and it gave all of us the opportunity to search for clues and indications in the ensuing episodes. (Sandoval literally smacks Leviss' butt on camera in one episode. We didn't have to look hard.) Production then made the unprecedented move of picking cameras back up for a follow-up episode titled "#Scandoval," and it was one of the best hours of reality TV to date. 

Now? Season 11 drags on as Sandoval, Ariana Madix, and their cohorts muddle through the aftermath of Scandoval, but that aftermath is ... really underwhelming. There are zero stakes. Sandoval is, as DJ James Kennedy dubbed him in song, "a liar," and everyone knows it — there's nothing left to solve or uncover. Schwartz dying his hair blonde isn't exactly going to match the heights of Season 10, when Leviss bought a lightning bolt necklace that secretly matched Sandoval's own jewelry while on camera. 

I don't want to say this. In a just world, "Vanderpump Rules" would win an Emmy every year and outlast us all. The fun is over, though; the party's done. We can lower our glasses now. These are no longer the best days of our lives.