AJ And The Queen - General Discussion

[screengem]

According to Netflix, the premise of AJ and the Queen chronicles a cross country adventure, about the bonding of an "heart of gold" drag queen and a 10 year old stowaway.  To me, it borrows some of its plot from the cult Aussie classic, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

The title character, Ruby Red, decides to hit the road in a run-down RV, to perform in drag bars along the way, after her partner steals her savings.  Early on, while traveling across the country, she discovers an unlikely sidekick in AJ: a tough-talking  young stowaway.  Situations develop and laughter ensues.  Bring on the muscle boys!!

The series drops on Netflix on January 10

Starring :RuPaul Charles, Izzy G., Michael-Leon Wooley

Creators: RuPaul Charles, Michael Patrick King

[luckyroll3]

I'm only on episode 2.  I like everything about this, except for the kid.  The kid is not cute or precocious, just really annoying.  

[leighdear]

Yeah, they could have dialed down the vicious, screeching and hysterical scenery chewing with the kid.  And no matter the realism, I don't like a pre-teen spewing out all the obscenities.  

I do LOVE having so many of my faves from the Race on though.  Bianca and Chad will always have my heart!!

[leighdear]

Ok, it gets a lot better.  I thought the dialogue in the first episode was so sophomoric and cheesy, but I'm at episode 5 & getting carried along happily. 

Make no mistake though, it is a cheesy storyline throughout, but Ru as always is just so damn lovable!  *LOL*

Edited January 11, 2020 by leighdear

[luckyroll3]

I'm on episode 4.  They only time I liked the kid is when they jumped into the pool with the breast plate.  That was something that I could see a kid in real life actually thinking would work.

I'm really enjoying all of Ru's performances.  She still got some moves in her old age!  😃

[leighdear]

Just finished & loved it, cornball tropes and all. 

And they definitely leave the door wiiiiiide open for a season 2!  *LOL*

[Stiggs]

Enjoying the heck out of this. I love RuPaul and adore seeing a lot of the Drag Race queens, but this is definitely just not for fans of the show. 
I am enjoying AJ - she and Ru have great chemistry. 
Great balance of comedy and sweetness. Good fun. 

[giovannif7]

On 1/2/2020 at 11:10 AM, screengem said:

According to Netflix, the premise of AJ and the Queen chronicles a cross country adventure, about the bonding of an "heart of gold" drag queen and a 10 year old stowaway.  To me, it borrows some of its plot from the cult Aussie classic, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

I think you may be confusing two mid-90s drag classics - "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" is the cult Aussie classic from 1994 that starred Hugo Weaving, Terence Stamp and Guy Pearce in drag on a road trip though the Outback. 1995's "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar" had Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo taking their drag on the road through middle America. I enjoyed both of the films, but can see how the many similarities between the two could lead to confusion 25 years later.

Just finished bingeing all the episodes, and really enjoyed a lot of it, although it did get off to a rocky start, as it took me a few episodes to warm up to AJ. While it did often feel like a cross between Drag Race and an ABC Afterschool Special, RuPaul injected enough sauciness and charm to balance out the 'message' scenes.

Otherwise, what really held my interest (aside from Josh Segarra, wonderful as a hot, mostly-evil bastard) was the numerous cameos sprinkled throughout the 10 episodes. I especially enjoyed Tim Bagley as the proprietor of the Bob Mackie Museum, and the combination of Marc Singer and Adrienne Barbeau as a married couple running a repair shop.

 

[screengem]

Right you are @giovannif7   Yep I got the two flicks intertwined in a time warp.  My faux pas.  Thanks for the correction!!!

[TrininisaScorp]

I was running around all weekend and I needed something fun to watch to relax.  It was cheesy, but I enjoyed this quite a bit.  Ru was delightful.  What a damn national treasure!

The kid worked sometimes, and was grating at other times.  Really cute kid though.

Hot, bad boyfriend was pretty interesting (he's from Orlando! He's a hometown guys!), and I LOVED Louis.  Tia Carrerra was a bit odd, but it was nice to see her. 

 

[EastCoast4Life]

It started a bit slow for me, but I'm on episode 4 and I'm loving this! Ru's flashback to the Tina Turner stand off with the other queen had me laughing hysterically. I also loved the wet t-shirt lip sync, it was so campy, 80's/90's, and fun. 

As a fan of Drag Race, I'm enjoying all the fun cameos from the contestants on the show. 

The kid... well she's a good little actor, I'll give her that. She's got the whole rough around the edges thing down pat. She falls a little one note with the screeching and swearing, but I'm not finished with the entire run of the show yet. 

Edited January 13, 2020 by EastCoast4Life

[iMonrey]

I'm about halfway through this. It's not great but it's addictive. I've never seen a single episode of Drag Race but I certainly know who RuPaul is. He's not the greatest actor in the world, I must say, and that's part of the problem with the show. A lot of the dialogue and acting feel very amateurish. 

I also would have thrown that kid out on the road when she started her screaming hissy fit in the car about her phone. 

[Meedis]

I just finished watching all the episodes.    I saw the previews and told myself only one episode but oddly enough found myself hooked.   The little actor was annoying at first but she grew on me.    And even if RuPaul isn't the greatest actor, the role wasn't a big stretch for his real life so I found him believable.

Overall I thought it was a "cute" series.    Looking forward to a Season 2 if it gets renewed.

[luckyroll3]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I also would have thrown that kid out on the road when she started her screaming hissy fit in the car about her phone. 

Same.  Every time I start enjoying the show, the kid starts throwing a tantrum and screeching and just ruins it for me.  

I am enjoying the heck outta all the performances.  

[TvGeek]

On 1/10/2020 at 3:01 PM, luckyroll3 said:

I'm only on episode 2.  I like everything about this, except for the kid.  The kid is not cute or precocious, just really annoying.  

I suffer from anxiety and this kids screeching and attitude is giving me chest pains seriously. Kudos to the actress I wanna strangle the kid. 

[leighdear]

Use your mute button often when the kid has scenes.  You can usually get a glimpse of her deep inhale in preparation for the screeching to come.  

I've watched every season of "Drag Race" except for 11, so I loved the familiarity of Ru's kindness and compassion throughout.  Some serious real realness there.  

Although, I did keep waiting for him to say to somebody "Don't F___ it up"!  I also kept waiting to hear the song "Cover Girl".  But I sang it the whole time he was walking down the road to the wet t-shirt contest.  *LOL*

[janie jones]

Okay, here's a question I had the whole time.  In the first episode, they said Damien maxed out the credit card.  And then they kept saying that Robert basically doesn't have a dime to his name.  But did Damien clear out Ruby's bank account, too?  Because what happened to the money he had saved up?  Based on what I got from the explanation of what Damien did, Robert should be $100,000 in debt, but not penniless.

[iMonrey]

janie jones I'm a little confused about this as well. In a later episode he says he owes 100K. The card he handed Damien looked like an Amex. I'm assuming it had a 100K limit and that's how much he had saved up in the bank. So he had to pay them the 100K to cover the charges because he shared the card with Damien (put his name on it . . . although that wasn't his real name so . . . ?) Also, Damien has said the money is gone. So I'm guessing he took a 100K cash advance with the card. Didn't know you could do that but whatever.

[janie jones]

I've never maxed out a $100,000 credit card, but I would assume that if you did so, you'd only be required to pay the minimum payment each month, not repay the entire amount immediately.

[leighdear]

American Express Gold & Platinum cards have to be paid off in full each month.  Unless they've changed the rules recently.  

[janie jones]

Then that explains it.  They should have made that clearer for people who aren't familiar with those cards.

[iMonrey]

I still don't get it though. He says he saved up all this money, but he gave Damien a credit card. If Damien took a $100K cash advance then Robert is on the hook to pay Amex $100K. I would guess he'd fork over the $100K he'd saved up, then be broke. But in Episode 7 he's on the phone with the credit card company and they're telling him he still owes $85K, meaning he's paid only $15K of it. Did he have money saved up or not? 

The only thing I can think of is that he saved up enough to get a credit card with a $100K limit, and planned to use the card to start the new club. In other words, he didn't have $100K in the bank. 

Or . . . maybe it wasn't an AMEX card after all (although it looked like one). Maybe it was a debit card directly linked to his bank account. That could explain how Damien took all his money, but not why Robert still owes the credit card company $85K. 

So . . . I don't get it.

[janie jones]

Oh good catch.  I knew he said in a later episode that he still owed money, but didn't hear that it was $85,000.

In the first episode, when he was bragging to the club owner, didn't he say he had saved up $100,000?  It's also what he told Lady Danger.  I can't imagine someone would say that if they had simply saved enough to get a card with a $100,000 limit.  And anyway, I thought your credit limit was based on your credit rating and income.

It may not have been an American Express, but they did specifically say what kind of card it was in the scene where the card was declined.  It was definitely a credit card.

Something that irritated me throughout (and a lot of shows do this) is how they never knew how to answer the question about the nature of their relationship.  Just say it's the kid of your neighbor and you arranged with her to bring her to Pop Pop's since you were headed in that direction.  The only time that wouldn't have been sufficient was at the hospital.  They at the very least should have worked out their story after they got pulled over. 

Edited January 16, 2020 by janie jones

[hatchetgirl]

Oh goodness this was awful. I'll sit through anything for Rupaul but Damon this it's just painful. The writing is awful. Ru is better when he's "off the cuff". I can't believe this came from one of the sex and the city writers. The kid is written so poorly too. She's not anyone i care about and i would have dumped her ass at the police immediately.

[joanne3482]

On 1/2/2020 at 1:10 PM, screengem said:

According to Netflix, the premise of AJ and the Queen chronicles a cross country adventure, about the bonding of an "heart of gold" drag queen and a 10 year old stowaway.  To me, it borrows some of its plot from the cult Aussie classic, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

It's kind of a hybrid of the 2. Priscilla has the trek across country with a kid, but To Wong Foo has the trek across the country to a big drag pageant at the end. 

[iMonrey]

Just finished the season. It was cute. Is it going to win any Emmy's? Probably not, except maybe for costume design. But it was cute. There's a strange teacher-like quality to it, like an after-school special as noted above, only with a lot more swear words. 

I do however think that AJ was a miscast. Either that or the director needed to tell her to dial it back. The incessant screaming fits were really over the top. I thought they would stop after the first couple of episodes but she got in a couple of them towards the end too.

Also? Terrible wig on that kid. They should have either really cut her hair or just left it under a hat. It was distracting. 

[ESS]

I really loved this show! it's really cute. 

loved Ru's characters Ruby and Robert, love how he was so compassionate and understanding with AJ If it were me I couldn't have that kind of patience with a kid like that. I loved the relationship AJ & Robert had together as well the chemistry was so awesome. I really was hoping Robert would adopt AJ in the end there, but I'm hoping we'll get at least another season to see what happens with AJ & Robert because I think AJ is better off with Robert even though her mother wasn't uncaring, but she doesn't really have her life together. I have to agree about AJ & the yelling/screaming that was a bit too much, but I still liked her. I'm glad the ending was left open, but at the same time I hate cliffhangers like that so I'm hoping it'll get renewed.

We need a season 2 hoping we'll get it.  

[janie jones]

22 hours ago, joanne3482 said:

It's kind of a hybrid of the 2. Priscilla has the trek across country with a kid, but To Wong Foo has the trek across the country to a big drag pageant at the end. 

Priscilla had a trek across country to meet a kid.  They never showed the trek back east with him.  I think what this show had in common with Priscilla was the large vehicle full of costumes and costume-making supplies.  I don't remember To Wong Foo having that.

Speaking of which, when Robert was first leaving, the RV was crammed full of stuff and then once they got underway they had all kinds of room in there.

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Just finished the season. It was cute. Is it going to win any Emmy's? Probably not, except maybe for costume design. But it was cute. There's a strange teacher-like quality to it, like an after-school special as noted above, only with a lot more swear words. 

I do however think that AJ was a miscast. Either that or the director needed to tell her to dial it back. The incessant screaming fits were really over the top. I thought they would stop after the first couple of episodes but she got in a couple of them towards the end too.

Also? Terrible wig on that kid. They should have either really cut her hair or just left it under a hat. It was distracting. 

I don't know what they were intending, but AJ was throwing some toddler tantrums there.  I can't imagine her mom did a good job of disciplining her, so it wouldn't be so surprising if she kept it up way after she should have outgrown it.  Plus the first tantrum over the phone wasn't just anger, it was panic.  Not to mention the screaming fit Brianna herself threw when Louis told her he knew all along where AJ was.  Doesn't mean it wasn't annoying to watch (although it didn't bother me as much as it seems to have bothered others), but I think it does make sense.

The short hair was fake-looking, but the long hair needed to be brushed.  I hated seeing it.

Edited January 21, 2020 by janie jones

[DietCokeJunkie]

I just finished watching the 5th episode, Little Rock, and I loved it! The positive, uplifting vibe of this show is a nice change of pace from what you usually see, and AJ is growing on me. 
 

The best moment was when Robert went to talk to Brick’s dad about letting him be “too much” and comparing how wearing dresses made his son feel happy to how guns make the dad happy. I thought this whole episode was really well done. And why am I feeling sympathetic for Damien? He and Robert can’t get back together after the breach of trust. I wonder where this is going. 

[Juneau Gal]

I know I am woefully behind and this thread is no longer getting attention, but for whatever reason I feel the need to say a few things. 
Just finished the final episode. In general, I enjoyed the show despite all of its many flaws and Afterschool Special tone, it was light, mindless fluff and sometimes that is just what I want to watch. 
I immensely disliked the AJ character, did not find her cute, charming, or funny. I cringed every time she was doing something supposedly funny and Robert laughed at her, it seemed so forced. The only times I felt any warmth towards her was in the flashbacks. When Robert expressed he wanted to keep AJ, all I could think was “Who in their right mind, other than the child’s mother, would want this wretched, smart ass?” AJ, in her own way, used Robert as much as Hector did. 

Robert and Louis were charming and endearing characters. Dr. Danger and Hector  were repulsive and repellant, their whole storylines were given much too much attention. 

The last episode, wow what a mess. Totally dissatisfying. Clearly they are hoping for a season two, but seriously now, where would they go with it? Robert is going to move Brianna and AJ in with him? Then what? Wacky hijinks ensue as they all work at Robert’s new club? They should have tied up everyone’s stories in the last episode and called it good. 
One last thing: I was surprised that RuPaul allowed himself to be filmed in such unflattering light; girl looked rough most of the series. I guess I am just used to the super flattering camera work he employs for himself on Drag Race. 

[Meedis]

AJ and the Queen Cancelled After One Season

Honestly can't say I'm surprised.     It was a cute series but couldn't see it going beyond a season despite the cliffhanger.

[AgentRXS]

It was a cute series. I would have enjoyed it alot more if they found a better young actress to play AJ. Also, Tia Carrere was just plain annoying. 

I was kind of looking forward to a Season 2 though. 

[Nozycat]

Late to the party - just finished watching this.  I liked it despite some of the dodgy acting.  Personally I thought the AJ character was great and loved the actress.  The temper tantrums made total sense to me for an abandoned child in trauma and terror.  She wasn't like that before.  I didn't like the storyline of the grifter and Lady Danger apart from the setup, the rest of it was uneccessary, not funny and way too much for me - could have totally done without that.