Vanderpump Rules Scandoval: Rachel as Eve

It dawned on me as I was washing the dishes last night that Raquel (Rachel) Leviss one of the principal Scandoval participants has a similar arc to that of Eve in the 1950 film All About Eve. 

All About Eve follows Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) as she worms her way into the life of the great theater actress Margo Channing (Bette Davis.) Eve haunts the theater of Margo's latest smash play, until she is invited to meet the star. Soon she is working as Margo's assistant. Eve is seemingly sweet and innocent. Only Margo's maid Birdie (Thelma Ritter) sees through her act. Eve tries to steal Margo's fiancé Bill (Gary Merrill) and plots with Margo's best friend Karen (Celeste Holm) to make Margo miss a performance. Understudy Eve takes her place to rave reviews. Later Eve almost breaks up Karen's marriage. 

Then there's Raquel. She begins dating James Kennedy and first appears on Vanderpump Rules in Season Five. (The show is currently in Season Ten.) She volunteered at Vanderpump Dogs and became more involved with the cast. She starts working at SUR and becomes a series regular in Season Nine.

Becoming a cast member by dating one is nothing new. Exhibit one is Tom Schwartz. James apparently admitted that he dated Kristen to get more time on the show. Then Brittany Cartwright dated Jax Taylor and became a series regular, and Beau Clark dated Stassi Schroeder and became a series regular. 

Maybe Raquel realized that James wasn't the right choice. She tells of a horrible Thanksgiving; after James trashes her parents, she predicts spending holidays choosing between her family and James. He was definitely verbally abusive to her at times. It apparently continued after he quit drinking.

Or maybe Raquel had another idea. James' rages threatened to keep him out of cast trips and parties, and even dj jobs. A series regular gig can end at any time or be edited out. Raquel had to do something to keep her job. 

Did Raquel pull an Eve and go after Sandoval after seeming to befriend Ariana and study her like a book?  Sandoval is vain enough to fall for something like that. Even if Raquel is a femme fatale, Sandoval doesn't get a pass on this. In All About Eve, Bill rejects Eve's advances; Sandoval didn't (if he didn't initiate things himself.)

It's been surreal to watch Vanderpump Rules episodes filmed months ago, knowing what we do now. I wonder if Tom and Raquel realize how horrible they appear to us: Tom smirking as he lies about Raquel, Raquel pretending to care about Ariana, while probing into her sex life, the whole Tom Schwartz/Raquel "hook-up" at Scheana Shay's and Brock Davies's wedding.

This is what can happen if a peacock thinks more of his brand than his partner.