Glaadrial

It's easier to understand when one considers that this is not a pageant. There are other venues to do well as a pageant queen, namely pageants. Raja's win changed the game, if not forever, then at least since season 3. If Sharon, for example, had shown up at a pageant she would have been read for filth, and that's even if she could have managed to work her way through the pageant system to even get to a national platform. Even PhiPhi managed growth that has extended her relevance post RDR. A couple of other pageant queen standouts that immediately come to mind are Alyssa Edwards (who's just so quirky that she reads as unique) and, most recently, Trinity Taylor, have managed to claim their stake in the RDR lore. Each has an overwhelming amount of Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent to spare as does Trixie. Kennedy's talent is undeniable, I especially enjoy what she brings to the stage when she's on because I first encountered drag in a small club in Texas while coming of age in the mid 80's so I get her and what she brings to the stage. She does lack in the other categories, though, and that's a deficit that can't be overcome without work. Moreover, it also appears that she lacks any level of self-awareness. For her to think that getting into the RDRHoF is a free ride to adoration from the fans...well, I think she would have been disappointed had she won. Ironically, judging from the hate that Trixie is getting (I'm assuming it's okay to hate on her because she's half-white, right?), by losing, Kennedy may have actually picked up some care-bear fans to darken her cubicle at future meet and greets. So in that way she really is a winner.

I'm not convinced that Ru would have been against Shangela winning. Ru has always been very supportive of Shangela, beyond just bringing her back for S3. To me, it seems like she's a particular favorite of the producers. It doesn't make sense to me that this was a conspiracy by the producers to keep her from winning. Logo is re-running previous seasons and I happened upon the episode in S3 where they had a cake challenge that involved sewing. During the workroom chat with Shangela, Ru specifically asked if any of the other girls were helping her through the challenge and Shangela replied that she understood that this is a competition and she didn't expect to receive help (it was a particularly raw emotional response from Shangela; a very poignant moment). Ru pointed out that Shangela had been helpful to other contestants in previous challenges and she should consider asking for help. This was the nasty Heathers vs. Boogers season and Manilla offered up a dismissive talking head about Shangela's exchange with Ru. I hadn't watched previous episodes, and I switched channels after the scene, but at that moment, it seemed clear that Shangela may not be respected as anything more than a punchline by anyone outside the House of Edwards. Interestingly, it also seems like Alyssa and LaGanga are also treated as punchlines despite their respective obvious talent. Shangela getting 1 point when even Bebe was able to manage 2, smells more like cliquish behavior than producer manipulation to me. For me, based on what I've seen on the show: Bendela>Shangela>Trixie>Bebe>Kennedy. Ben eliminated himself; nobody (except the fans) likes Shangela; Bebe had won before and wasn't particularly friendly; that leaves Kennedy vs Trixie, and in that battle it's a no brainer. I generally liked the show and I really liked Ben, Shangela, and Trixie, so, I'm okay with the outcome.

When I was watching Jenna perform, I was reminded of the line in A Chorus Line during the One Rehearsal number where the choreographer (Zach) instructs Cassie to "don't pop the hip" (i.e., dance like everybody else). I happen to like Jenna a lot. Over on DWTS, she does really well with Max and Val, in particular, who have their own power and strength to direct the mountains of energy she brings to all her performances. Kiki, to my eye, was a bit tentative in his lead. Ballroom is a tricky genre for a female All-Star pairing. IMO, the best dances are designed for the woman to shine. That said, it certainly is possible for a female to back-lead a male partner who is not dancing in his comfort zone. This pairing is not a good example of that, however, because he's dancing in his own genre and should be able to lead her properly. I'm torn, though. On the one hand, Jenna should be willing to be led as Kiki is used to leading or there will be missed connections and such given the amount of time they are given to master the routine; at the same time, it would serve him better for Kiki to aspire to the wild abandon that Jenna brings to the partnership because a neat and precise ballroom routine cannot compete with what can be accomplished in the other flashier genres highlighted on the show.

My opinion is that the sabotaging on Heather on Disney week was not Maks; it was TPTB assigning that song to be choreographed as a Jazz routine. I'm pretty familiar with the Jazz/Broadway genre and I would be incredibly surprised were there to be anything more than basic choreography for that song and more than one person on stage (and that's assuming it even makes it into the Stage version). It's a solo song describing the character's feelings with no possibility for interaction between actors. Maks' choreography was certainly a more than adequate representation of what could actually end up happening on stage; the one big difference is that the character would actually be singing the song so it wouldn't come off as so basic. IMO, the only thing that could possibly have been workable given the song choice would have been to assign the appropriate ballroom genre (Foxtrot, maybe?) and have the dancers ignore the lyrics and just use the music as background music. There's a perfectly good song (the next track?) that has plenty of interaction between the Princess and one of the main guy roles. I never expected her to win, but I'll miss some of the spectacular stuff I could have been watching instead of what I'll be FFing from most of the remaining guys.

I'm not quoting anything in particular because my intention is not to call anybody out...especially not on a topic so personal as an eating disorder. Everyone's situation is different and I respect and appreciate people sharing their own experience. I do, however, want to address the wanton disregard that the girls on the show displayed toward Eureka's "joke" on the previous episode. We got pretty good closure on this episode, but only "pretty good" because no one seemed to even consider that a bunch of skinny girls talking about how hard it is for them to be so skinny, in the presence of a larger girl, is beyond insensitive and that was not acknowledged. Eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes and Eureka's outburst was perfectly understandable to me. I knew exactly where she was coming from. It really was a missed opportunity for the skinny girls to point out shape shaming comes in all sizes and to invite Eureka to share in the conversation to compare notes on the feedback they all get from their relative perspectives. I put the onus on the skinny girls because, clearly, there were more of them; at least one of them should have recognized the comment as a defense mechanism. What I saw last episode was a huge gang up on Eureka. She was classy in this episode and took an opportunity to apologize and let the skinny girls have their moment (producer intervention?). Still, even then, they never considered that Eureka is also dealing with issues in regards to her size. As Kim Chi reminded us so vividly last season: "No fats, fems or Asians." has been a common refrain at least since I've been around (and I'm about the same age as Charlie), I can't speak to what came before. I'm assuming it's still around since it was Kim Chi's watch cry and she's pretty young. In any case, we've seen some stellar big girls on RPDR and yet none has won the prize. Violet was/is very accomplished on and off the show, but so was/is Ginger (albeit less so on AS2). I do think that their race, in particular, could have gone to either; it went to the ultra-skinny one. There are never a pack of big girls who make the show in the same season, so, obviously there are few opportunities for the token to make it all the way to the end. This is a race and endurance matters. Perhaps, unintentionally, the show itself makes a contribution to the pressure of needing to be skinny. It's a conversation that I, for one, would have liked to hear. It's often said that humor masks great pain. Someone, anyone, should recognized it and come to Eureka's defense last episode. It is what it is, though, and in this episode, I think that the big girl came out and slayed the competition as the bigger person, despite also dealing with actual debilitating physical pain. It'll be interesting to see what she brings back to the competition next time around, should she choose to return.

I'll take "arrogant" for the win.

The show has changed a LOT since that season. I'm actually very excited by the prospect of watching a bunch of what have traditionally been called ringers going at it. It's nice seeing the talent spread among many different pros. I'm looking forward to some very good routines from Maks this season, I like him best when he's able to dance full out like he did with Meryl.

This made me chuckle because her spiral was one of her signature moves. From Wiki:

This. I'd only add that Laurie Hernandez is also an Olympic Gold Medalist from the just completed Olympic Games who has obligations associated with that accomplishment that are separate from her obligations to this show. Her family also have to deal with their own grief. I can only imagine that having someone as caring and protective as Val around at this time to help them navigate the maze created by a voracious media, was considered a blessing. Mix in the judgement expressed viciously on Social Media which is different from anything they've ever experienced before when they were enveloped in the protective bubble of the USA Gymnastics machine, and you get to a place where they did a fantastic job protecting their daughter.

I was thinking about hopping on board the Wé express when she first started singing. I was delighted to hear the smooth and powerful quality of her lower register. I've found her rehearsal packages to be more annoying than endearing, especially when they cut to her backstage a couple of weeks ago and she spoke normally without affectation, so this fast-paced format worked to her advantage as far as I was concerned. But then...oh, dear...when she went into her higher register with no transition, well, it seemed that even if she'd managed to land in the right key, she'd still just be ordinary. Whoever butchered the arrangement, really did her a disservice. Without the transition that is built into the song, the two parts just don't make sense together. For me it was the same with the arrangement of Crying, which also has an incredibly well written heart-wrenching build that can't really be conveyed in the time allotted for each performer. Although Billy, at least, managed a credible rendition, though it was no where near as successful as most of his other performances.

I'm fairly certain that I'm older than Bianca, but you'd have to explain it to me also. I refuse to Google it because not knowing that it even happened makes me feel young--if stupid. I'm can't decide if Alaska was being ironic with her choice of attire or really just not self aware. She was way more Amber than she was Tracy all season, right down to the temper tantrum. Normally, I'd hesitate to question her self-awareness, because she's always excelled in that category, but I just don't see the point of the irony, if, indeed it was irony. Anyway, didn't Roxxy have roaches on her Evita dress? I guess in a who wore it better contest, Alaska would come out on top (it's all about the accessories) but why bother?

I don't hope to never see Alaska ever again, as I accept her contrived, overworked schtick to be her brand that's served her well for a while, but I agree that it really let her down in the latter stages of the competition; whereas Tatiana, Katya and Alyssa really brought it in the end (now THAT's a final four I could get behind, especially when considering what the final challenge ended up being!). Those four in the end could have made it a real competition, IMO. Still, it's Ru's show and this is the product he wanted to deliver, so there's not much to quibble about on that front. For me, it seemed that neither Tati nor Alyssa belonged in the bottom (whatever random number Ru has in his head) in their respective final rounds. My guess is that Alyssa landed in the bottom three because Ru couldn't risk Detox sending Alaska home instead of Roxxy (that's assuming he didn't know which lipstick case Detox/Katya chose before the lip-sync)--there's no way, to my mind, that she could have been in the bottom 2 based on the challenge that week. Katya losing all three? of her lip sync battles is also unbelievable, except in the context that Rolaskatox would not have remained intact for the final episode. Is WOW trying to make Rolaskatox happen; l suspect that will go the way of Fetch, because although Roxxy and Detox gained some ground, it wasn't nearly as much as what Alaska lost, imo. As for Ru in the reunion, it didn't seem like there were multiple endings taped, but if there were, I have to wonder why Ru would ask for input from the fans if he's not going to bother listening to them at all. That's a kind of disrespect of her fans that I don't ever expect to see from her, whom I perceive to be very savvy and shrewd in the way she presents her public persona. Showcasing the Emmy in the way she did, was also a little off-putting because it seemed to say, "Now that I've got tangible respect from the industry, I no longer need the respect from all the little people who are my fans." I think she could have pulled off her Emmy moment had the blatant disregard of the fan vote (which was so overwhelmingly skewed toward a different choice than the one she made) not occurred. I mean, why even ask for input in the first place, it's not necessary for the show--unless there's some kind of monetary reward for getting people to vote on Twitter (I admit, I don't know how those things work)?

Her point as it was described above, I think, suggests that online "bullying" is self-induced (i.e., you can't be bullied this way unless you choose to read the posts and allow them to affect you). IMO, that's the healthiest attitude to have about social media. Not so much in this forum, but in other forums on this board, the "ignore" feature has been a godsend. At first, I was tempted to have a look at some of the posts by people whom I'd tagged to ignore, but that doesn't happen anymore because I was consistently reminded why I chose to ignore them in the first place. But then again, I'm an old fart who learned at an early age that "sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me" unless I let them. I imagine that for some, however, the idea of not being able to read their social media is a fate worse than death.

I wrote in last week's episode thread that if Kati had chosen Roxxy's lipstick case that there could be the possibility of scripting being involved in the choices that were made with regards to who won that lip-sync. Building on that, if ever there was a week where having a bottom two instead of a bottom three really makes sense, then this is that week. Not only did Alyssa challenge for being in the top two, but also, we bore witness to putting the Real into Reality TV. The tears she shed, IMO, were arguably the most sincere ever recorded in DR Herstory! I'm not a fan of tears on reality TV, but Alyssa's grief was heartfelt and very moving. Moreover, her interaction with her sister was also possibly the most real of anything we've ever seen on a Reality TV show. I mean, we all know the girl can't act her way out of paper bag, but this season for Alyssa Edwards, as far as I'm concerned, is worthy of an Emmy (like the one Bette Midler got for being Johnny Carson's last guest). I can only conclude that RuPaul has another script in mind for the outcome of this race. I outright reject the notion that Ru wanted to "fix" season 5 by having Rolaskatox in the top three and giving the crown to Alaska. I may be proven wrong next week, but there is no way that I can believe that Kati would have sent my beloved Alyssa home this week. This suggests to me that, while she may have legitimately lost her first LSFYL, Katya's subsequent defeats were more likely a function of whom she chose to eliminate. Detox was interesting, but her actual lip-syncing was not tight, Kati's most certainly was. It's a testament to her performance that even with favorable editing for Detox, Katya still came off looking like the winner. As to the script that Ru may have in mind, I can only hope that the season she does want to fix is S7. This season was put in the can shortly after Ru broke our hearts by calling out Kati when preparing to announce the winner that season. Since Ru is asking for viewer's opinions, I assume that the ending is not in the can. In the past two weeks, Kati's stock has risen exponentially. Having Tati and Alyssa still in the mix would complicate matters greatly, because those two came to play. Alyssa, more so even than Tati, really surprised me with her performances in the challenges, on the runway and even in the workroom. She rammed her way through every single stumbling block from her season. I think she may have a real shot at getting Miss Congeniality, although that's more Tati's thing...perhaps another tie! In any case Alyssa did manage to do better than fifth alternate, so it's all good. After tonight's show, I'm predicting that if Ru chooses to listen to the fans, then this thing is in the bag for Katya...by a lot!

From what I saw on the show, the comment was not made to Amber, it was made behind her back (so to speak) in a moment when Julianne was speaking candidly to Bruno during the dance. The dance was not good, but uncomfortable? Really? This dance, IMO, was no worse than the Salsa that Val and Max came up with for Danika and Meryl (also to an awful JLo song) which was also lackluster. It was no where near as bad as some of the stuff we've seen on the show that's been truly unconformable to watch. Since the comment was not intended for Amber's ears, Julianne really came off badly to me, much like a mean girl talking smack with a buddy about an unpopular girl. An apology from Julianne would have gone a long way to neutralize or, perhaps, sway some who are not inclined to like her. People who already like her or possibly her brother (since, I think I read a headline where he chimed in on her defense) are gonna be on her side anyway. In the end, Amber (who I know nothing about) came off of the incident on the plus side for me, while Julianne gave me yet another reason to want her off my TV screen. I doubt she cares. It helped that I really enjoyed Amber's AT. And speaking of really enjoying something, I really loved Terra's (sp?) Samba! I was pleasantly surprised that she received a 9 because, although I did catch some missteps, I really felt that she embodied the spirit of the dance in a way that I don't remember any other contestant has ever been able to do. Coming off of watching the Rio Olympics and getting to see how everybody in Rio, regardless of size or shape, just seems to throw themselves into the moment, this dance, I think, really captured that feel. Also, poor Val. He actually thought that he was portraying Michael Jackson, when in fact, that honor went to Laurie and she handled it like a pro! Were there really five people on that stage? I only saw the one.