We’ve all learned about the sheer darkness that lurks under Tom Sandoval’s “good guy” game and Raquel Leviss’ “sweet bitch” stunt over the past two months. But on Wednesday night Vanderpump Rules The season finale, an addition to Scandoval, revealed a deeper level of ugliness among these cursed (and apparently now obsolete) budgies—even uglier than the grumpy, Wite-Out manicure Sandoval wore all season.
Before we move on to this gripping finale, let’s start with an update on Sandoval and Leviss. After tons of questions about their relationship status since March, the two are supposedly dunzo, according to today’s news. Reporter. Embarrassing for Leviss, the breakup apparently took place at Sandoval’s behest. “Right now, her relationships with everyone are in the background and she focuses on her music,” a source said. “She’s about to turn 40 and she’s doing her best to get away from it all, but sometimes she struggles.”
This piece of gossip seems true, given that Sandoval uttered the words “Raquel is not for me” during an awkward rendition of “Jessie’s Girl” at the cover band’s concert last week. (Disgusting.) The timing of this announcement is fitting, considering how brutal Sandoval and Leviss were during their brief but jarring scene together. Chances are, they’ll both look even worse in the upcoming three-episode reunion. At least no one can say he’s still banging, I guess!
But let’s move on to this dramatic conclusion of Season 10, simply titled “#Scandoval”. The episode opens with the return of that fate. Watch What Happened Live The episode on March 1 where Leviss curiously calls Sandoval the hotter Tom between himself and Tom Schwartz during a match. At the time, those words seemed innocent, most likely an attempt to distance himself from Schwartz after all the drama they’ve caused this season. But at the same time on the West Coast, Madix discovered a screen recording on Leviss’ phone while performing at the Sandoval restaurant TomTom. And the rest is reality-TV history.
“I know what I did really sucks,” Sandoval says, holding back tears in a confession. “And there’s no excuse for that.” Oddly, Sandoval makes up about 1,001 excuses throughout this episode as to why his longtime partner is having an affair with his best friend. Obviously, every action, whether justified or not, has a motivation. Unfortunately, all of Sandoval’s statements about sleeping with Leviss were written “midlife crisis” in big, bold letters.
For most of this episode, Sandoval goes to different cast members’ homes to cry dramatically, explain his side of the story (mostly Leviss made him feel good), and get scolded. First, he goes to his and Madix’s Valley Village home after claiming to have spent the night at Schwartz’s (but possibly Leviss) apartment. At this point, Madix looks more exhausted than angry but still manages to call out all her ex-boyfriend’s bullshit.
It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Sandoval came up with all the excuses he made on Howie Mandel’s podcast about why he betrayed his partner. He and Madix weren’t having sex. He felt alone. Madix threatened to hurt herself when she tried to break up with him. (She aptly reminds us that she already slept with Leviss before she tried to cancel their relationship.) Overall, Sandoval seems to mostly regret extending the relationship for a few months, not having a relationship in the first place.
But Madix is smart enough not to let any of Sandoval’s bad motives fly away. At one point, he calls out his and Leviss’ escape exactly as it seems to the rest of the world. “She looks for her identity in men,” he says. “It has no identity of its own. [She’s] willing to bend over to fuck one of her best friend’s partners. And is this someone you think is a good person to be with?
But apparently the answer is yes, because Sandoval visits Leviss’s house to check on him. If that scene wasn’t pathetic enough, Leviss illuminated his apartment with galaxy lights, as if to remind Sandoval that he’s now dating. The two chuckle about being the most hated people on TV and give each other a long hug. The most ridiculous (and saddest) part of all of this is when Sandoval accidentally laughs at Leviss and calls him “Ariana”. They both say “I love you” to each other.
A statement shows that Leviss apparently disappeared after filming this scene. Still, a few minutes of screen time manages to invoke tons of outrage.
The most shocking part is how dizzy Leviss is both confessing and chatting with Sandoval. We’ve seen how strangely unaffected by conflict this season. In certain contexts, especially reality TV, this feature can be admirable. But it turns out that this woman may not have been born with any emotions – the two main ones being empathy and regret.
Likewise, it can be assumed that Leviss would at least pretend to regret the optics in his scene with Sandoval and not want to offend Madix further. But she talks about sleeping with her best friend’s boyfriend as if she accidentally stepped on Madix’s toe. “I was so curious about what it would be like to be physical with someone you love,” she said, grinning from ear to ear as she confessed.
He also complains to Sandoval about the allegations that Scheana Shay punched him after he told him about the affair. “Is this my karma?” she asks, still smiling. She also says it’s “eye-opening” that people in her life don’t want to be around her right now.
Presumably, a producer told these two how bad they looked in this episode because Sandoval spends the next scene having a complete panic attack in front of Lisa Vanderpump. Before then, she mostly collapses in front of Schwartz, who worries she’s “cancelled” because she’s now associated with him.
However, Schwartz, who had spent the previous months hiding Sandoval’s dirty little secret, is also on trial in this episode. Madix says Schwartz said earlier this season that Sandoval and Leviss had sex in their car while their daughter was parked outside their house right after their outing. In another scene, Katie tells Maloney that Sandoval told her only a month ago before admitting she knew in September. Maloney also mentions that Schwartz made a cryptic statement about Leviss and Sandoval’s relationship at BravoCon last October, suggesting that Leviss wasn’t hanging around TomTom for him.
Likewise, the episode ends with Madix telling Schwartz that she can no longer be friends with him. This coincides with an equally devastating scene in which Shay ends her friendship with Sandoval right after she tells Madix that she cheated on him with someone else they know. I didn’t expect to mourn over the relationship of anyone other than Sandoval and Madix in this episode, but considering how long Shay and Sandoval have been friends and how long this show has been on the air, their breakup was surprisingly emotional.
I’d be negligent of me not to mention Kristen Doute’s very short appearance when she shows up to comfort Madix. The portion of Sandoval and Madix that burned his memories could perhaps have been used to get more audio quotes from Leviss before he became a fugitive. Still, we love bonding with shitty guys. See you next week!
Keep being obsessed! Sign up for Daily Beast’s Obsessed newsletter and follow us Facebook, twitter, instagram And TikTok.