We’ve all read the headlines: For years now, marriage rates among millennials have been declining, and many are choosing to avoid romantic partnership altogether. A 2023 Pew Research study found that a quarter of 40-year-olds have never been married, an all-time high. Experts differ on the reasons for this — Derek Thompson posited in The Atlantic earlier this year that young men’s and women’s diverging economic prospects could be to blame. Maybe! Personally, I think the answer to why women are hesitant to sign up for hetero marriage these days can be determined by simply watching The Valley on Bravo.
The show premiered last year and was initially focused on a few former Vanderpump Rules cast members and their friends getting married, having kids, and “settling down” in, you guessed it, the Valley. Now, it’s about divorce and the absolute hellfire men rain down on women in the process. It’s really upsetting!
In the second season’s premiere, which aired Tuesday night, there is not one relationship that makes marriage look like a good deal for women. The most explosive union is that of Jax Taylor and Brittany Cartwright, who are in the midst of a separation and arguing over custody of their young son. Brittany reveals to her castmate Michelle Lally, who is going through her own divorce with a different terrifying man, that Jax flipped a coffee table toward her when he discovered she was sending sexy messages to another man during their separation.
Elsewhere, Jax discusses the incident with Jesse Lally, Michelle’s ex. Jesse tells Jax he has “no emotional regulation,” which suggests he’s at least going to therapy. Jax, meanwhile, is basically unrepentant. In a talking-head interview, he says, “Show me a guy that wouldn’t handle the situation the way I handled it.”
Aah! I hope there are men out there who wouldn’t flip coffee tables at their estranged wives under any circumstances. (Jax has since admitted publicly to having a cocaine addiction.) The other men on the show are not outwardly physically threatening, but they aren’t very nice, either.
At Brittany’s rooftop white party (there has to be at least one white party per season on reality TV — these are the rules), Jesse taunts Michelle about their young daughter, saying he might take her out of school and move her to Orange County, where his new girlfriend lives. Can he do that, legally? It doesn’t matter; he just wanted to upset her.
In a talking-head interview, a producer asks Jesse, “Is there a part of you that brought that up just to get a rise out of her?”
“One hundred percent,” he responds. “Let the chaos begin.”
Michelle, meanwhile, tells producers, “He will do whatever it takes to hurt me. He said it when I left him that he will do anything to ruin my life.”
Charming.
At the end of tonight’s episode, we got a preview of the rest of the season to come, and things do not appear to get better for these couples. Brittany is seen taping over cameras in her home and accusing Jax of “watching” her and “scaring” her. Michelle is in tears, telling her friends, “I just want to fucking get divorced and never talk to him again.”
But they are not the only women in the cast being terrorized by the men they once chose to be their lifelong partners. Also in the preview, former Vanderpump Rules chaos agent Kristen Doute accuses Jason Caperna of taking off his wedding ring when he goes out even as his wife, Janet Caperna, stays home with their newborn baby. Then Janet claims Danny Booko is out “grabbing asses” while his wife, Nia Booko, is home with their 3-year-old and 1-year-old twins.
What are these women getting out of these relationships? Not one good thing that I can ascertain. But that’s not the most terrifying part.
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In the teaser, we see the one couple in the cast that has so far avoided marriage make a commitment: Kristen’s boyfriend, Luke Broderick, gets down on one knee and asks if she will be the “catch” of his life and marry him. (They were on a boat.) That Kristen and Luke looked around at their friends’ marriages and decided they wanted what they had is simply astounding. Bonus: The couple has since announced they are expecting their first child together.
At least these developments ensure there will be another season of the show, which social scientists will be studying for years to come.
