davidcalgary29

I certainly respect that perspective, but on this show, drag is almost never about reality; it's about "realness": an exaggeration of an ideal; a fantasy. I personally am indifferent to the use of breastplates except when done exceptionally poorly, as seen in India Ferrah's mutiple runway titty disasters.

I don't think that Production is invested on anyone on that team, so they were doomed from the start. Doomed, I tell you!

I agree with the critiques...but I still really liked LaLa's third look, and thought she looked great in it. I've also heard (and read) of a number of criticisms of Jimbos' Tossed Salad Extravaganza, and just do not agree with them. It was stunning! She created different textures, and made a hard bodice out of artichokes! And it was edible! That could have been on Project Runway.

SEE? She's won!

I think that the simplest explanation may be that Jimbo regards herself as an entertainer, first and foremost, and is careful to always produce herself to an audience in the most compelling fashion. Lots of queens on this show have jostled for the title for the best lipsyncer -- but what about the worst? That's unmined territory, and is ripe for the picking, and it also fits well in her "drag clown" persona. She's also taken great care to transport her narrative across all of various appearances (including her "cruise aesthetic"), and I wouldn't be surprised at all if this was another instance of that. That confessional that she gave in this episode about "wanting to show RuPaul that she can do this (lipsynch)" seems more than a little calculated. Don't get me wrong -- I love Jimbo, and this is one of the reasons why: she's always thinking about the audience. To answer your questions: 1. No. Yes. Boobs! 2. Not as much as gaining notoriety. 3. No; she knew that this would be more entertaining. You could tell that she was delighted to see Pangina. 4. Bad lipsynching is the gag. 5. Indeed. 6. Because she'd turn it around on them and just make it more chaotic. There are a number of anecdotes floating around where Jimbo's basically screwed around with Production's demands, played the moment, and then immediately backed down by saying "kidding!". Ru's in the joke, as she knows that Jimbo isn't coming for her gig. I get the feeling that she'd rather spread the love around by giving birth to deli meats than by becoming a multi-millionaire by building a Drag Ponzi scheme and becoming a fracking tycoon. Jimbo's one of the few queens who have made Drag Race work on her own terms, and I just love that.

I think that she discovered that she wasn't good at it on her first season, and then decided to play that up and make it a thing. And it's working: people are now tuning in to see how badly she'll be trounced by her opponent. Why would she change that tactic if it's bringing in the eyeballs? She's just as shrewd as RuPaul in many ways.

And yet she knew all of the words and, as we saw in the first episode, can dance and perform choreography adequately. I'm still not convinced that this isn't part of Jimbo's "persona" and part of a deliberate and planned strategy.

Shannel hand-delivers her application for All Stars 9! In other news, the remaining queens flail their way through a fitfully entertaining "comedy" challenge, and a high-ranking team finds success by ignoring the trap of originality and expertly mining the judges' weakness for exciting cliches and trite movie tropes. Next week: the long-awaited intervention finally arrives as the queens gather round to confront and comfort Jimbo about her total lack of dance moves that do not involve prostheses! Heidi threatens to shake up the race by revealing to the other queens that Jimbo cannot lipsynch. RuPaul looked like she just farted when the camera panned toward her for her reaction shot at elimination. What was that?

Remember, though: AS rules, so it's the winner of the episode who has the opportunity to win the cash "tip" -- not the loser.

The judges were equally impressed by MIB's terrible paint on S15, which continually made her look like an overexposed clown in a deteriorating polaroid, ca. 1978. Maybe it's a different experience in person on the Main Stage.

The Fame Game looks have been pretty bad, too. Both of the looks from Monica and Naysha tonight would have been right in the bottom with Kasha's.

LaLa really stepped it up this episode, so I'll respectfully disagree. it's clear that she has taste, but not necessarily the budget and skill to always follow through on her vision. And I quite liked Kandy's first look, although it was too reminiscent of Trinity's "bubblegum" lewk from the "Plastique Fantastique" runway on AS4. Bitch stole her look! I was also maddeningly distracted by the clear plastic armbands that held her garment together.

Especially because she finally gave us the answer to who, exactly, gave birth to Jiggly Caliente's "Baked Potato Couture look"! That creation was a disaster. Kasha is not going to win The Fame Games. Jimbo was the clear winner of the ball and should have been given extra points for creating a design made out of unconventional materials and not fabric. It makes narrative sense to have Jessica win the episode, but they should have switched the order of the wins.

Well, yes, but Naysha was pretty bad at Drag Race on Season 8, and the fundamentals haven't really changed. This is true for most returning queens: it's really rare for someone who had a bad original run to really transform themselves into someone new and unexpected on All Stars. Kylie and TKB did it on AS6; Aja sort of did it on AS3; few others have managed. Don't get me wrong: Naysha's an amazing host, and really livens up those viewing parties, but she's not a particularly good Drag Race contestant.

It's just a variation of the "She Already Done Had Herses" event from AS7, rebranded from a lipsynch challenge to a runway battle. It's an overdue change, although, from the hype, you'd think that they'd feature the runway from the eliminated queen(s) more prominently in each episode. Monica's "net" look flashed by so quickly that you'd think that Production was trying to implant some type of subliminal message in our brains.

Alexis is also the winner of the "That's a Lot of Emotions for Safe!" award for this episode's Untucked. Let's all give her a big round of applause! Biggest surprise: Jimbo. I was actually shocked that she wasn't considered for a high placement for her performance, which was one of the best of her group. And that only makes her subsequent dance performance in S2 that much more suspect...but that's another story.

The queens break into two teams to perform original lyrics to a forgettable track to which the show already owns all IP! Tragically, Miss Fame is not the lipsynch assassin. And the song is not the theme to the movie Fame, which is simply unconscionable.

A questionable surprising win and stunt-casted lipsynch shows that All Stars Riggory Rules are now in full effect! I'm just going to say this: Heidi won that motherf**king challenge. And both of the lipsynching queens sucked. This is the first time -- right? -- that Ru has stated that she's made "some decisions", based on the challenge and the runway, outside of a finale. If that's the case, then the runway must have counted for 90% of the score. I mean, the winner's challenge performance was fine, but in no way was in the top.

I think it's just the paint. Jimbo's makeup has graduated from "busted" to "disturbing". I love the fact that she's taken her glam glowup in a direction that is scarier than most dedicated horror queens could ever achieve.

Aw, I don't hate anyone, and certainly not in this cast. I'd love to see what Darienne has been up to in the decade since she's been on the show, and she looked great in her entrance look. As did, I might add, Alexis and Monica. And Jessica -- wow! I loved/hated/was puzzled by Jimbo's entrance look, which is probably the correct response and the one that she was seeking. She's without a doubt one of the smartest people to have walked on to that set, and I sort of loved the way she's taking her "I'm on a cruise!" narrative after UKvsW right onto this show. Forget about Kandy -- that is pure chaos right there, and in the best way possible. I'm glad that Jaymes was in on the joke.

Almost all of this season's problems are structural, though, and stem from the fact that initial cast interactions crucial in building up interest in the queens were left on the cutting-room floor. No other season has suffered that greatly from post-editing choices -- production really did get off lightly with S12 -- and the lack of contestants' backstory at the beginning of the season made it hard to care about anyone who made it to the end of it. S13 wasn't the best, and S14 went on for far too long, but choppy editing drained a lot of the fun out of those early episodes in S15, and momentum was never really regained. That's a pity, and it has nothing to do with the queens.

Jinkx is a bona fide superstar -- she's going to appear on Doctor Who in a major story arc! -- so Ru's going to hitch herself to that rocket. More Jinkx!

I'm sure it's done to maximize profits. Why pay a third party royalties to use a first-rate song when you can just pay yourself to create a crappy one? And c'mon, now: Ru went to high school.

Ha! The sentence of the week.

Mistress has little to do with the season's problems, though, and S15 is not going to be "saved" by a Sasha or Anetra win. Editing, pacing, narrative, and storytelling have all been something of a disaster, and none of that is any of the contestants' faults. The only way that Mistress will win is if production can milk more out of her win than with her loss. Loosey, Luxx, and Mistress are surely at the top of production's pick for an upcoming AS season, and it will only make sense to award Mistress the win if production of that show thinks it'll make juicier drama to have one of the trio a winner so that she can lord it over the others. Possible, but still unlikely.