Vanderpump Rules has faced an enormous uphill battle over its eleventh season, struggling to prove it should continue on in its mutant form. After a finale that tore down the facade of structured reality, the reunion is finally showing us a hint of what a post-Scandoval VPR really looks like. And it’s surprisingly good.
The reunion doesn’t revolve around Ariana Madix or Tom Sandoval, but Lala Kent finds her way to the center of it all, for better or worse. Away from the veneer of a fourth wall, the reunion finally touches on the most intriguing aspect of the season: How the cast have dealt with the immense online attention the show has received, and moreover, have adjusted their on-camera personalities to deal with it.
If you’re a fan who despises Lala’s performance this season and was hoping she’d eat crow at the reunion, well, this reunion will only have you more pissed. But if you’re a fan of the burn it all down and start from scratch approach, this reunion has that in spades. Alliances have fallen and it’s no longer about Team Ariana or Team Sandoval, harkening back to the glory days when VPR didn’t have such strictly written battle lines.
