Vanderpump Rules: Is it time to say goodbye to the show?

Vanderpump Rules has been anything but entertaining this season.  In fact, it has been downright hard to watch.  Is it time to say goodbye?

Vanderpump Rules used to be a funny show about a group of messy friends who drank a lot, yelled a lot, and were generally fun to watch.  The last few seasons have been dark and far from entertaining.  The cast seems to be getting married one by one to force the rest of the group to participate in their wedding activities or they don’t get screen time.

But last night’s episode, “Prank Wars,” was one of the darkest episodes on television in a while.  Perhaps it is just a bad time for such an episode with everything going on around us, but there was nothing funny about the prank wars.

Raquel Leviss and James Kennedy have had an interesting dynamic on the show.  While Raquel has been able to make friends with the group, James frequently breaks his sobriety and “rage texts” Raquel.  One of the exchanges she read out loud when prompted by production said, “F*** you. Where are you?  I’m breaking up with you.  W****.  S****.  W****.  F*** you.”  I would venture to say this isn’t entertaining to watch anymore.

Then Lala Kent decided to bully Raquel some more and call her stupid before telling her she “forgot her place.”  Lala has become completely insufferable in the last two years and even compared herself to a Michael Vick fighting dog last night.

During last night’s wine night, Katie Malone Schwartz invited half of the employees of SUR and excluded one of her best friends, Kristen Doute, just to be mean.  Then as part of one of the pranks, Tom Sandoval was fake arrested and thrown into a cop car.  Katie didn’t find the prank funny and Tom didn’t respond well to that.  He called her a moron, an idiot, and said he wasn’t attracted to her.

The show no longer evokes feelings of entertainment and happiness.  It feels dark and like something we shouldn’t be watching, and something I feel guilty of watching for entertainment’s sake.

No part of this episode was entertaining, and it was bordering on abusive across the board.  At what point do we say goodbye to a show we once loved?  I think it might be time.

Vanderpump Rules is on Bravo every Tuesday at 9 PM.