Lala Kent returned to Vanderpump Rules last night for episode one of the show’s three-part (?!) reunion special.
The rest of the cast was clearly taken off guard by the surprise cameo, with Scheana Marie (one of the few ladies on the cast who doesn’t have active beef with Ms. Kent) remarking that she thought Lala was in New York.
Well, as it turned out, Lala was in La La Land, and she had one final message for the Tequila Katie-led chick clique that led her to quit the series:
“We’re grown adults,” Lala told Bravo cameras before taking the stage.
“Stop bullying people. Stop being mean. Like enough with the mean girl stuff. It’s played out. Your mom should have told you that.”
It was a move that called to mind Stassi Schroeder returning to the show (“crawling back,” in James Kennedy’s words) after a brief sojourn in New York, and while she didn’t pound any mini-liquor bottles backstage, Lala did come equipped to take on a tough crowd:
“I wanted my look today to be like ‘don’t mess with me b–ch’ but like kind of soft as well,” she said as she arrived at the studio.
Once she took her seat alongside her former co-workers, Lala was more “soft” than bad b–tch, explaining that she’s not proud of her behavior on the show last season, and that her harshest comments were products of deep-seated insecurity.
Though Stassi and Lala have feuded on social media several times since the latter stepped down from her post at SUR, it was Lala and Katie who went head-to-head last night.
We expected a bloodbath.
What we got was something truly rare in the world of reality television – two people making progress through genuine empathy and compassion.
Yes, Lala may have arrived with the intention of burning her rivals to the ground, but she wound up forging an actual connection with Katie.
That said, we doubt that Kent regrets quitting Vanderpump, and there were still some deeply awkward moments that no amount of justification could ameliorate.
Asked about her dire predictions regarding the marriage of Katie and Tom Schwartz, for example, Lala had this to say:
“Because I think [they will get divorced. I think marriage is a really long-term commitment. I probably don’t think that I could make it in marriage [either].”
Solid effort, but you’re still sitting there telling a couple newlyweds you don’t think they’ll make it.
Suffice it to say, Lala probably won’t be getting invited to game night at Casa de Schwartz any time soon.
Which is a shame, because with Jax and Brittany living right next door, it’s probably really easy to dominate at Trivial Pursuit.
