Vanderpump Rules Recap: Either Him or Me (Season 7 Episode 3)
On Vanderpump Rules Season 7 Episode 3, “Either Him or Me,” Raquel defends James, Brittany, and Jax go into business together, and Katie gives Lisa an ultimatum.
The episode picks up right where Vanderpump Rules Season 7 Episode 2 leaves off. James is drunk and belligerent, and his doe-eyed girlfriend is trying to figure out if she’s being played or not. So, naturally, Raquel turns to Scheana for guidance. Scheana thinks Hope isn’t entirely trustworthy and could be exaggerating the extent of her intimate connection with James.
This leads to another conversation between Raquel and Hope, who swears that she and James have been having sex on and off for over years, and there’s a definite overlap between their sexual history and James and Raquel’s relationship.
James doesn’t deny ever having sex with Hope, he just swears he hasn’t done so since he’s been with Raquel.
Basically, it’s Hope’s word against James,’ and Raquel chooses to believe her boyfriend.
In other dysfunctional couple news, Brittany and Jax have decided to start a beer cheese business. This is a Kentucky delicacy, and Brittany is eager to bring it to LA with her own twist.
Jax and Brittany are happier than pigs in s**t, and they feel their relationship has evolved so much, they can pity the likes of James and Raquel. Jax isn’t entirely blind, deaf, and dumb to the fact that he’s not in a great position to judge James, but Jax feels like while he was eager to change, James isn’t.
Brittany sees a lot of herself in Raquel. At one point, she was also the new girl who was dating someone everyone hated.
Speaking of hated, Peter calls James to disinvite him to he and Carter’s (Kristen’s boyfriend) joint birthday party. James admits to Raquel it doesn’t feel great to be excluded, and she gives him a lecture on the dangers of over-indulging.
The party goes on (minus Raquel and James), and Jax receives some good news — Lisa’s hiring him back (shocker). Another more surprising development is the newfound friendship between Stassi and Ariana. According to Stassi, she never had a problem with the blonde bartender — it was Ariana who didn’t like her.
Ariana (along with a series of clips) confirm this is true. But Stassi kept hanging around, and, eventually, she won Ariana over. This friendship feels fra-gee-lay, and one person likely to cause friction is Scheana. She’s less than thrilled to see her bestie getting tight with Stassi and worries the two are talking behind her back.
Scheana is currently once again on the outs with just about all of the girls because somebody has to be. While the fact that she’s had so much Botox and filler put into her face that she actually resembles a character from The Simpsons is enough to find Scheana annoying, Stassi and the other girls are just over Scheana’s flip-flopping.
Basically, Scheana’s attempts to not piss anyone off is actually having the opposite effect — she’s aggravating everyone.
Brittany decides to organize a girl’s night, so all the girls (minus Scheana) can get all glammed up and go out drinking. The only difference between this night and their everyday lives is the glammed up bit.
There haven’t been nearly enough Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules crossover events, but fans of both shows (and who isn’t?) get a treat when Teddi Melloncamp shows up at SUR.
Teddi’s brother is in town and needs a job, and what could only be considered the worst possible time, Teddi asks Lisa to hook him up (Lisa’s own brother recently committed suicide).
Will Teddi’s brother working at SUR cause problems between the two friends? We shall see.
Brittany, Kristen, Katie, Stassi, and Ariana get all dolled up and hit a local watering hole. It must be said that they all look fantastic, particularly Ariana whose red lace dress is cut down to her bellybutton and see through.
What the other girls don’t realize is that Brittany has invited Raquel along. Why would Raquel want to hang out with this den of vipers; women her own boyfriend has verbally abused time and time again is unfathomable (and the handiwork of producers).
Every single one of these women has been involved in some truly dysfunctional relationships, and, yet, they feel qualified to offer Raquel unsolicited advice about James. Why would she want to be with such an a**h**e? How can she support such a misogynistic piece of crap?
With the exception of Tom Schwartz, who may very well have a vagina, all of the men on this show are horrible to women. James just does it with a British accent.
Raquel defends her man, claiming that he may be a jerk to everyone else, but he treats her like a queen. Does he have a drinking problem? Uh, yeah. Does he sometimes turn his abusive behavior on her? Uh, yeah. Oh, wait, James sometimes says mean things to his girlfriend? Uh, yeah.
This revelation really makes us wonder why Raquel would stick around. It isn’t for the money, or James’ winning personality, and now everyone knows he turns on Raquel after a few too many shots.
But there’s a bell ringing, and it tolls for thee, James Kennedy. Tired of James’ antics, and still stinging from being called fat (in what world is this girl even remotely overweight?), Katie decides she’s had enough.
Katie pays a visit to the Godmother herself, Lisa Vanderpump. Katie throws down the gauntlet and proclaims either James goes, or she does.
To be continued …
What did you think of this episode of Vanderpump Rules? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Vanderpump Rules airs Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.
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Jennifer Lind-Westbrook
Jennifer has been working as a freelance writer for six years, contributing to BuddyTV, Screen Rant, TVRage, Hidden Remote, Gossip On This, and PopMatters. She prefers binge-watching old episodes of The Office (British and American versions) to long walks on the beach. She's still holding out hope that Happy Endings will get a revival.