Vanderpump Rules Recap: Reunion Part 1 (Season 7 Episode 22)
On Vanderpump Rules Season 7 Episode 22, “Reunion Part 1,” James goes after most of his castmates, Raquel takes a verbal beating, and the Toms discuss their business partnership with Lisa.
Bravo knows how to stir the pot. The Vanderpump Rules Season 7 finale wraps everything up with a very pretty bow during Jax and Brittany’s engagement party. The only exceptions being a sobbing Scheana and a salty James. But there’s nothing like filming a reunion to open old wounds and insert some lemon juice and salt.
While viewers may abandon the Vanderpump Rules‘ cast in favor of greener Real Housewives‘ pastures, the cast keep themselves relevant by attacking each other on social media. This provides fodder not just for a whopping three-part reunion, but bad feelings that carry over into the following season.
Reunions can be tough to cover because there’s a whole lot of he said, she said, they said going on. It’s also sometimes impossible to decipher fact from fiction when discussions devolve into screaming matches. So we’re going to hit the highlights, throw in a few quotes, and call it a day.
Let’s get some basic housekeeping out of the way first: Jax and Brittany are still getting married this summer, Kristen is no longer dating Carter (news to all of her “friends”), Lala is engaged to Randall, Scheana and Adam are still “hanging and banging,” Lisa opened the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden in Las Vegas, and nobody’s seen Stassi’s dark passenger in a good six months.
James, shut out of most of the season, takes advantage of the reunion to thrust himself back into the limelight. This is the kid’s last chance to prove he’s relevant. When you’re ostracized by most of your castmates, there’s a good precedent Bravo won’t have you back.
Katie: He [James] deserves a lot worse than just getting fired from SUR.
Andy does call out Jax for being a bit of a hypocrite, holding James to a far higher standard than he’s ever held himself. Jax admits he’s working on himself. Something fans have heard year after year.
Sandoval continues to champion James (which doesn’t make him popular with Brittany, Jax, or Katie). Sandoval points out Jax,, no matter how despicable his behavior, has never been so callously excluded. Jax argues this is because they’ve all been friends for 20 years.
Anyone with basic math skills knows this gang has not been hanging since junior high. Perhaps, the age gap between Jax and his castmates has him confused.
The repentant, self-flagellating, reformed James is never believable. James isn’t sorry for the things he says, he’s sorry for getting caught.
Raquel makes an appearance dressed in an over-the-top white frock, and she’s like a dove among wolves. If anyone thinks editing isn’t kind to Raquel, you’re wrong. She is doe-eyed and utterly clueless. She’s really too dumb to suffer the wrath of someone like Lala.
Kristen: She [Raquel] is dumb.
Raquel is the Rodney King of Vanderpump Rules: she just wants everyone to get along. Does she think James has cheated on her in the past? Yes. Is she willing to give him a pass now that they’re co-habituating? Yes.
James: They’re all just trying to take James Kennedy down, and it’s not going to happen.
Season 8 promises to be very interesting since Raquel has recently been hired to work at SUR. Sticking with James is giving her more than 15 minutes of fame, and if James keeps his wick dry, Raquel will provide a boost to his flagging reality TV career.
Raquel: I think James wasn’t completely faithful before we moved in together.
Another hot topic is the business “partnership” between the Toms and Lisa. As big as slackers as they’re portrayed on seasons 1-7, they put more into TomTom than viewers get to see. This twosome spent thousands of dollars and many months concocting their specialty cocktails.
There’s some back and forth about expectations failing to be met on both ends, and neither Tom has seen a dime back from their investment. But we all know Lisa brought these two dunces on board because you cannot manufacture better publicity.
Lisa offers to give both Toms back their money and keep them on as partners if that will make them happy. They insist it isn’t about the Benjamins. This boils down to two guys who really don’t know what it takes to open or run a successful restaurant going up against someone who does.
They love having their name in lights, but they got into the bed with the devil, and they can either bail or know they’ve sold their souls and hell awaits. One again, I can’t stress enough how much I love LVP, but she took two nobodies, turned them into solid D-List celebs, and she owes them nothing else.
More heartbreaking moments include Lala divulging the details of her father’s death, Jax’s estrangement from his mother following the passing of his father, and Lisa’s ongoing grief over her brother.
Vanderpump Rules Reunion Part 1 ends with James and Jax almost coming to blows. If there’s territory where James shouldn’t tread, it’s talking about Jax’s dad. You can insult Brittany’s dress (disco ball), call her family hillbillies, but don’t you dare tweet about “dead daddies.”
What did you think of this episode of Vanderpump Rules? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Vanderpump Rules Reunion Part 2 airs Monday, May 13 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.