It’s hard to believe it’s been three weeks since we learned about the affair between Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss.

The world of Vanderpump Rules has changed a lot in that time, but the new episodes that have aired on Bravo exist as a sort of time capsule.

They document the final weeks of a simpler time, in which Ariana Madix was blissfully unaware that her boyfriend of nearly a decade was banging one of her best friends.

It must be hard for Ariana to watch those episodes — especially the one that aired last night.

It’s unclear exactly when Tom and Raquel’s affair began — we’ll probably get that information during the reunion episodes — but there’s a good chance the co-stars had already entered the bone zone when Wednesday’s episode was filmed.

Sandoval recently cited the death of Ariana’s dog as one of the reasons he held off on breaking up with her, and the goal of last night’s pool party was to help Madix move on after the pooch’s passing, so …

Anyway, at the time of the pool party, tensions were still running high in the wake of the disastrous girls’ trip to Las Vegas to celebrate Katie Maloney’s divorce from Tom Schwartz.

Raquel had a guilt-induced panic attack during the trip, but she was feeling bold at the pool party, and she locked horns with Lala Kent as a result.

“[Leviss] needs to get her head checked,” Maloney said at the party, prompting Kent to call Leviss a “f–king idiot.”

“Watching Raquel try to create a thought is mesmerizing. I don’t give a f–k what she thinks about me,” Lala remarked.

Irony Alert: One of the things Lala was mad about was that Raquel had insulted her by calling her a “mistress.”

Double Irony Alert: Ariana felt the need to come to Raquel’s defense and unknowingly stick up for the woman who was banging her man!

“No, that’s mean!” Ariana objected when she heard her friends trashing Raquel.

“It’s very difficult for me to wrap my mind around the idea that Raquel is fighting people and being crazy,” Madix said in a confessional segment.

“I would think that Katie, Lala and Kristina gave the mean girl treatment to Raquel like they’ve given to other people in the past.”

At the time, of course, Ariana had no idea what was going on — or would soon be going on — between Raquel and Sandoval.

We’d say Leviss must’ve felt guilty watching Ariana defend her in last night’s episode, but remorse doesn’t seem to be in her wheelhouse.

All-in-all, the episode did much to advance Raquel’s villain arc, with the pageant queen getting on her moral high horse while spewing vitriol at Lala:

“You’re a bully, you’re f–king pathetic, I don’t need this energy in my life,” Leviss told Kent.

“I’m finally learning my lesson with you. We will never be friends. You literally give off mistress bimbo vibes, and I cannot stand it.”

In the weeks since the Scandoval broke, Lala has repeatedly insisted that she never liked Raquel or Sandoval.

After last night’s episode, we’re inclined to believe her!

Ariana Madix DEFENDS Raquel Leviss Against “Mean Girls” In Vanderpump Cast! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.