Did Raquel Leviss Eat Enough Humble Pie in the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Reunion to Save Her Image?

Vanderpump Rules' most explosive season yet has (sort of) come to a close, and the show will never be the same. The definition of the word "revelation" also might have been altered, because the things that were "revealed" in those last five minutes weren't exactly shocking. They were all things many fans assumed, or even knew as fact because of the internet. Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss had hooked up more often during production than they had previously admitted, including at Scheana Shay's wedding in Cancun. They also had sex in Tom and Ariana Madix's house while Ariana was out of town at her grandmother's funeral, and Tom also took Raquel home to St. Louis for the holidays. None of these things are any more shocking than any other reveals about their affair, but what was surprising was the way that Raquel chose to share them. 

Six days after the reunion filmed, during her final interviews for the season, Raquel decided she was tired of lying. With prompting from a producer, she admitted she and Tom had agreed to make it sound like they had less of an affair than they did, and she even confirmed the story that Tom most wanted to hide. They knew it would look bad if they admitted to sleeping together in Ariana's house while Ariana was at her grandmother's funeral, so they simply tried to not talk about that part, even though we then got a whole scene in which Ken Todd said, "I can't believe Tom Sandoval had Raquel over while Ariana is away." Sorry Tom, Ken spilled your beans.

This final hour of the reunion was complicated for Raquel. While she didn't manage to come up with an explanation or answer that improved her image, and she tried to throw past, unrelated events in her former friends' faces, she did walk away from this whole thing on what could be described as high ground. She accepted every insult Ariana could throw at her, and she owned up to every horrible thing she had done. She agreed with Lala Kent that she needed to be "mentally evaluated" and said she planned to make that happen. She recognized that her actions were inexcusable, and agreed that Ariana didn't deserve any of the things that had been done to her. She took in everyone's criticisms with little argument, and admitted she had come to terms with the fact that she had destroyed all of the friendships she had built. She even quietly agreed when Ariana called her "ugly" and "hideous." She claimed she fell in love with Tom, and so she believed all the things he said to her. 

Tom, meanwhile, cried, and complained that once, when he went home to have sex with Ariana, she kept her T-shirt on. He was clearly focused on his carefully crafted timeline and spent a lot of his screen time correcting people about how many times he and Raquel had actually slept together. Little did he know, Raquel would be blowing all that up just a few days later.

Surprisingly, Raquel's image might have actually improved over the course of this portion of the reunion. She wasn't able to save any of her friendships or her position on the show, and it still appears she can't show real emotion in her face, but she took accountability and, without explicitly saying it, made it clear she felt manipulated by her affair partner. It's not a situation anyone can come out of looking good, but Raquel at least looked…less bad. It feels like maybe Raquel could recover from this someday, while Tom's prospects seem a whole lot less optimistic. 

Raquel was also given a chance to explain the fact that her name is actually Rachel. She said "Raquel" was a choice she made in elementary school when there were multiple other Rachels, and it's what her friends all call her, while her family members still call her Rachel. According to Ariana, Raquel has no friends, so she no longer has anyone to call her Raquel. Raquel tried to compare it to the fact that Lala's real name is Lauren, but Lala then had to yell the definition of a nickname, which is not a name you give yourself. 

In the end, it was clear that what we once knew as Vanderpump Rules has been irreparably broken. Ariana, Lala, DJ James Kennedy, Scheana and Katie will never talk to Rachel/Raquel or Tom Sandoval again, Lisa Vanderpump is finally properly scandalized by the whole affair, and Tom Schwartz is trapped between a rock and a hard place.

A "Secrets Revealed" special episode of Vanderpump Rules will air on Wednesday, June 14 at 9 p.m. on Bravo.