S05.E04: SheMZ

[OnceSane]

Quote

The stars get overexposed as they improv their way through celebrity scandals and get caught in the act by the tabloid TV team; "Modern Family's" Sarah Hyland joins the judges panel to weigh in.

Airs June 26, 2020.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Act 1:

 

[heckkitty]

OMG Juju looking back & forth between Cracker & Blair!!!  Juju sandwich between 2 slices of white bread!😂😂😂

[Ananayel]

I've lost my ability to keep up with drama after S12's delightful run, either that or the high-pressure drama hose that is real life right now has worn me out. Re: Cracker's confrontation of Blair concerning Blair scheming to get her friend Cracker out of the werkroom, as insinuated by Alexis. Did that actually happen, or is Cracker attempting to play Alexis mind games? Did I even describe that right? I will just say Shea is correct to play nice with Alexis but keep her eyes open.

But, I'm glad Cracker won, maybe this will help her get out of her own way a bit. Though, if there weren't two queens sent home tonight, that may not leave room for one to return.

 

[bobbyjoe]

Maybe it’s just that the last season of the regular show turned out to be so fun but, wow, All-Stars is not doing it for me this year.  It’s funny, ‘cause I like a lot of these queens, but these challenges are terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible.   Both this week and last week felt like a chore to sit through with these awful challenges, and they’re not giving the queens a lot to be able to do to make them better.  They feel forced because they’re forcing the queens to work with the most badly thought-out setups and premises.  Tonight just felt like I was watching some eighth rate improv group pretending to be RuPaul queens pretending to parody DMZ.  
 

At this point I’m just sticking in because I’m a RuPaul completist and again I really like some of these queens,  but I’ve seen every episode of Drag Race, of All-Stars, of Drag U, of Secret Celebrity Drag race and even the British season of Drag Race, and tonight’s episode is the first one where I literally fell asleep for fifteen minutes halfway through the challenge and when I woke up didn’t care to even go back and see what I missed.

[Aerobicidal]

This episode was approximately as watchable as a Silky Nutmeg Ganache lip sync.

[violet and green]

"Overhead lighting!"  Amen to that.

I loved seeing Morgan McMichaels, who I have a huge soft spot for, lipsync her ass off. Thought she won that, but never mind. Sad to see Mayhem go, having finally got to know her a bit more, but that was a sweet send-off with Michelle Visage and then Morgan.

Meanwhile, India Ferrah just keeps hanging on in there, I should accept that by now.

[Sugarbeetle]

Funny, I thought Cracker was the weakest. Her performance was flat to me. Telling how Mayhem as so kind about India and India ... not so much. It’s time for her to go. 

I have a soft spot for Mayhem. I’ve never met her, but we have mutual friends and I’ve heard nothing but good things about her. 

[swanpride]

Honestly, I was so worried about Cracker, because while I was laughing about her the hardest, I feared that the Jury would overlook her more subtle jokes (like her pointing to the money stuffed in her breast area) with all the screaming going on and would pull the "you faded in the background" card. So glad that they noticed how much on point she was. Also, it was great to see her lip-sync. In her own season she only had to do it once and went for a very low-key performance, so it was great to finally see what she can do when she puts her heart into it.

Morgan has a reputation as lipsync assassin? Since when?

I think Ms Cracker was the clear winner of this this one. What she did by going down into the knees, that is very difficult to do, especially if you do it on high heels. I was frankly impressed.

Honestly, I wouldn't have cared both Mayham or India had went. One way or another, it would have been a win for me. And I certainly don't blame Cracker for taking Mayham out because, let's be honest, if it had been the other way around Mayham would have gone for Cracker in a heart-beat. Or for anyone who she thought was stronger but she could push out of the competition. But honestly, Mayham was the weakest this week. India was at least on the runway a little bit better than she was. Even if it was a little bit on the tacky side, it was at least more than a boring leotard. And I guess everyone else went for Mayham partly because she wanted to push out Shea and partly because she acted so defeated.

Regarding the drama: It's hard to tell what really happened with all the editing, but my bet is on Mayham complaining to Blair about Cracker during the last challenge and Blair just nodding along, which was then told to Cracker as Blair "conspiring" with Mayham. One way or another, Cracker needs to stop worrying about stuff like this and focus on the challenges. She gets way too easy into her head on her own, she really doesn't need to allow others to push her there on top of it.

Shea is smart to not trust Alexis. I'll give it to Mayham: At least she was honest in the confessional that she wanted to push Shea out, even if she wasn't in the work room. The notion that India wasn't even a consideration for Alexis despite her getting the worst critiques in the last two episodes was some BS.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

OMG I laughed so hard at Jujubee just quietly sitting between Claire and Cracker and looking back and forth between them with that amused expression on her face. She was so clearly gleeful about being in the middle of all this drama but trying not to say anything in case her interruption stopped it from happening.

I loathe TMZ, their stupid format of everyone gathered around trading gossip, and Harvey Levin as the ringleader. But I loved how perfectly SheMZ parodied it from the contestants as dude bros in the office to the shaky camera footage. But the actual improv skits were pretty bad (which is not surprising - they usually are).

Jujubee's camo look was boring. The dress looked like something you'd find at the mall. Combined with those shoes, she looked like a college girl at her first office job. I love Jujubee so I was really disappointed in this look. She did a good job in the challenge. Overall, her group did the best.

Cracker's camo look looked like it didn't fit her well. I don't know if the skirt ruffles had too many layers or if the sleeves needed to be taken in but for an outfit that was barely there, it managed to be really unflattering. She did a good job in the challenge too. She kept throwing in lines so she was really making an effort.

I loved that Blair's camo look was a tree covered with butterflies. I was surprised that Blair was safe because she didn't do much in her skit and when she did, she kept stepping on other people's lines and interrupting them. I laughed when she said there was OVERHEAD LIGHTING at the jail.

I liked that Shea's camouflage look was blue instead of khaki. I thought she and Alexis were both really weak in their skit though.

Alexis Matteo's white winter camo look was dramatic. I loved that skirt. Unfortunately, I felt that her performance in the challenge was just okay.

Mayhem's camo leotard was just a leotard so she really had no room to get snippy with Carson when he said he wanted more look from her. I know that the girls weren't limited to the role Ru assigned them in their skits but she and India put too much extra stuff into their characters. When the judges said they deviated too far, I agreed.

India's look was not my favorite, but I liked the contrast between the black and the camo, and I liked that it was very different from her usual looks. Her funniest bit in the skit was all the vase dropping.

I wasn't surprised that Mayhem and India were in the bottom. Their skit wasn't great and their runway looks weren't standouts. Of the two, I felt Mayhem was weaker than India in both aspects.

I thought the LSFYL was pretty lackluster, but Morgan had some fun moments like when she was playing skip it over Cracker. I can't believe that this was a tie because that is the kind of thing that should be reserved for two amazing performances, not two okay performances that were equally boring.

Edited June 27, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[le bordel chaud]

8 hours ago, Aerobicidal said:

This episode was approximately as watchable as a Silky Nutmeg Ganache lip sync.

And without any unintentional comedy.

Edited June 27, 2020 by Victim Noises

[Keywestclubkid]

Cracker this is a game you play the game Girl ..... just like with the two that voted for Shea .. its how the game is played ... this isnt rupauls  best friends race... people will help their friends win like when Roxxy got carried her season she didn't deserve it but she played the game and had rolasatox alliance

[Stardancer Supreme]

That lip sync was a travesty.  Cracker was doing too much for a mid tempo Rihanna song. I guess they didn't want to give a queen $30,000 doll hairs next week. 

This season is not as much fun with the heavy producer manipulation.  We know this is a reality show, but sometimes it is much better to let the drama unfold on its own. 

[AntManBee]

Shea, in her talking heads, seems really full of herself.  I don’t mind confidence, but she is acting like she’s owed the crown, and it’s not cute.

Edited June 27, 2020 by AntManBee

[swanpride]

Quote

I loved that Blair's camo look was a tree covered with butterflies. I was surprised that Blair was safe because she didn't do much in her skit and when she did, she kept stepping on other people's lines and interrupting them. I laughed when she said there was OVERHEAD LIGHTING at the jail.

I give Blair a pass for the challenge. It was kind of hard for her to interject because Jujube and Cracker were so focussed on each other and if she hadn't done anything, they would have rightly said that "she faded in the background". As it was she got a few good zingers in. The Overhead lighting aside, her continuing to film what was happening was a pretty good way to interject without it being too irritating, and she had a pretty good timing when to do it, too, once you had to consider that she had to interject somewhere in the conversation. Plus, her runway look was easily my favourite, since she had a different take on the cameo without getting so far away that I wouldn't have recognized it as an entry to the challenge, like Alexis did. Honestly, I had a little bit the impression that Alexis just wanted to show off the cool snow dress she had, so she stretched the theme of the challenge as far as possible in order to be able to show it off.

Side-note: Cracker once said that she learned from Aquaria's performance as Melania Trump the worth of a good prop. I noted that she used a lot of props in this challenge (the pills, the money and later on they pulled out the "proof").

Regarding Mayham and India: I agree that they kind of got away from the challenge too much. Their role was supposed to be shop lifter and shop owner with a past. Turning this into both being addicted to licking basically ignored the brief. I mean, if the story had been that the theft happened due to the addiction, fine, but that connection was completely missing. It was just some random weird thing they threw in.

[Blakeston]

10 hours ago, swanpride said:

Morgan has a reputation as lipsync assassin? Since when?

I didn't even recognize her! I suspect that she was brought on for the drama of having Mayhem's best friend eliminate her.

(That said, Morgan's lip sync to "Two of Hearts" in season two really was outstanding. And she's known for being a good dancer.)

1 hour ago, AntManBee said:

Shea, in her talking heads, seems really full of herself.  I don’t mind confidence, but she is acting like she’s owed the crown, I’m and it’s not cute.

I adore Shea and I want her to win, but I have to agree.

She was the favorite going into the S9 finale, but it's not like she dominated her season the way that Bob or Bianca did. Four challenge wins doesn't mean you're owed the crown - just ask Gigi Goode. (And I'm not sure her track record of two individual wins and two shared wins was that much more impressive than Trinity's record of three individual wins.)

And then she lost her lip sync to Sasha fair and square. I hope she wins this, but she isn't dominating the first half of the All Stars season the way that Bendela did, and she isn't owed anything.

5 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Mayhem's camo leotard was just a leotard so she really had no room to get snippy with Carson when he said he wanted more look from her

Mayhem has a reputation for being a total sweetheart in real life, so I was surprised that she came across as poorly as she did here. Her performance with India was a mess, and her outfit was bland. There was absolutely no reason for her to be so "over" the whole thing. She should be thanking her lucky stars that she didn't go home first after that terrible talent show performance.

[853fisher]

I knew it couldn’t be, but when the first line of that lip sync played, as God is my witness, I thought it was the “I’ve Been Everywhere” that Lynn Anderson or Johnny Cash sang.  You know, the one with the verses where they list a couple dozen places in a row.  Now those would be lyrics to point to your mouth about!  I have to admit I didn’t care for the song we did get: very average mid-tempo pop, which got a very average performance, IMO.

 

I started to “get” some of these improv/acting challenges a bit more after moving to San Francisco, where a few promoters put on stage shows that parody movies and TV shows.  Some use local talent, but one set in particular is always headlined by three or four of Ru’s girls.  They’re very entertaining and are obviously making someone a lot of money, so I get that it’s a skill the show is prioritizing as what Ru queens do shifts.  But I have to say, I’d take the corny scripted challenges over this improv any day.

 

I think Cracker is so talented onstage, but offstage I’m more and more turned off by her.  I know others feel she is very authentic and just gets in her head.  Maybe that’s right, but she is 35 years of age and it’s time to work through some of the things that she herself has identified isolate her from others.  That whole “I heard you were conspiring against me, explain!” thing was very seventh grade.  I also know these shows are pressure cookers, but I really just want her to be quiet and cut this stuff out so I can root for her.

[swanpride]

Quote

Mayhem has a reputation for being a total sweetheart in real life, so I was surprised that she came across as poorly as she did here.

I am not. The thing with Mayham is that she is usually very quiet, which I can imagine makes her popular with the other queens (I mean, who doesn't like someone who will let you talk and go along with whatever you want without a lot of fuss?), but once she ends up in those judging situations she is pretty quick in throwing out what previously nagged on her. She did it in her own season, and she did it this season again. And in general she doesn't take criticism very well. In real life this is most likely not much of an issue because in real life queens usually are more prone to complimenting each other.

 

Quote

I think Cracker is so talented onstage, but offstage I’m more and more turned off by her.  I know others feel she is very authentic and just gets in her head.  Maybe that’s right, but she is 35 years of age and it’s time to work through some of the things that she herself has identified isolate her from others.

She might be 35 years of age, but consider her history. We know she grow up p... poor. It is implied that she picked up the name "Cracker" because others threw that word at her in the past. Then there was the whole Aquaria/Cracker drama, during which Cracker was constantly accused of copying Aquaria deliberately. Now, I have no idea what happened off the show, but the one time she did Aquaria's face style, it is kind of unlikely that she knew what face Aquaria would go for ahead of time, hence it is possible that their styles just overlapped and Cracker had the hardest time to distinguish herself from Aquaria (frankly, I have the feeling that she is kind of happy that due to her added weight they aren't quite as similar looking anymore). Then there was this moment in her own season when Asia basically said that her drag was subpar and that she didn't see a star in Cracker. Hearing something like that from a Queen as respected as Asia must have hurt badly, and she mentioned back then that this is something others have told her in the past, which is pretty harsh.

In short, if you are told you whole life that you aren't good enough and you are always second to someone else, it is no wonder that you become insecure and overcompensate one way or another. In her original season Cracker did it by trying to moderate everything she did, this time she tried to go for an more open approach, which has lead to a lot of push-back from the other queens.

Though it is also possible that Cracker tried to learn from Shangela and her strategy is to get as much screentime as possible by constantly being involved in some drama. Nevertheless, I am inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. For now. If nothing else, I want her to stay around a little bit longer since she usually slays the runway.

Regarding Shea: Yeah, she needs to take herself back a little bit. Everyone knows that Shea is a great dancer, but that alone doesn't make an overall winner. In her own season she wasn't exactly the big favourite, despite her many wins. I mean, most people were routing for Valentina and once she was eliminated, the fans were kind of split. Not that Shea isn't talented, but so are the other queens, and Jujube is crazy popular despite never winning a challenge before All-Stars, which is a talent in itself. In fact, other than India I can imagine every single one of them at the top in the end.
 

[theatremouse]

37 minutes ago, swanpride said:

She might be 35 years of age, but consider her history. We know she grow up p... poor. It is implied that she picked up the name "Cracker" because others threw that word at her in the past.

I'm pretty sure she said her original drag name was "Brianna Cracker" - punning on "brie on a cracker", but then everyone just started called her Cracker so she went with it. Meaning that experience was as an adult after she started doing drag, nothing to do with her childhood.

[Blakeston]

3 hours ago, swanpride said:

Though it is also possible that Cracker tried to learn from Shangela and her strategy is to get as much screentime as possible by constantly being involved in some drama.

I think that's exactly what it is. Everything about Cracker (including her name) seems to be calculated to cause a stir.

Before the show, I was familiar with her because of her writing. She wrote this ridiculous article for Slate defending "stealthing" - the practice of removing your condom without your partner's knowledge (or consent) in the middle of sex. 

It was a truly bizarre stance about something that's obviously evil and predatory. And I doubt even Cracker believes that it's an acceptable thing to do. 

But an easy way to get yourself published in Slate is to take a surprising, controversial stance on something so they can use it for a clickbait headline. I think she knew exactly how to get published, and ran with it.

Her totally unnecessary confrontation of Ongina didn't seem remotely genuine to me. I think both she and Ongina knew that it was just a grasp for airtime.

[gorgy]

I'm generally along for the ride on regular Drag Race (except season 11 which is the only one I gave up on five minutes into episode 3) but the producer shenanigans on All-Stars has been less and less entertaining since its pinnacle in season 2.

Recent improv challenges tend to drag - and not in a good way. I'm starting to miss the Rusicals.

• Shea/Alexis: Meh. It seemed like Alexis kept stepping over everything and it came off as basic.
• Blair/Juju/Cracker: Only chortled once to something Blair said. can't recall what it was
• Mayhem/India: I don't think I laughed but was amused throughout. I thought they were the winners. 

I  thought the camouflage theme had potential to allow some unique or innovative ideas. This did not occur. I still liked a lot of them, though.

• Jujubee: kinda basic but solid. I liked her wig.
• Blair: sorta like her 'skin your in' runway, it was a strong look that didn't necessarily fit the theme. She would be my pick for the "walking children in nature" runway. 
• Alexis: another strong look. great makeup. interesting concept in comparison
• Mayhem: a basic leotard done well. herself and jujubee are never going to be the fashion queens, but runway is a key component to All-Stars since it's expected these  now seasoned queens will spend some of their newfound coin on looks. There are expectations from the judges as well as the audience at home.
• India: I will always appreciate the queens who sew their own looks. I really liked this take as it was unexpected coming from her. She may be weak in challenges but India always brings it to the runway.
• Shea: her weakest runway look so far but fine

I continue to be baffled by Ms Cracker's appeal and that's all I'll say about that. (however, if the above post about Ms. Cracker secretly "stealthing" during sex, my professional dislike has grown into a personal disdain) Even though Morgan easily won the lip-sync, the producers did Cracker dirty. Not only did she not win the $20K, she also has the added drama attached to eliminating a well-liked queen.

They really hyped up next week's Snatch Game of Love, so I expect to be thoroughly underwhelmed.

[belligerent]

26 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

Before the show, I was familiar with her because of her writing. She wrote this ridiculous article for Slate defending "stealthing" - the practice of removing your condom without your partner's knowledge (or consent) in the middle of sex.

I read the article and that was....certainly a lot of words she wrote. Oh boy.

For some reason, it doesn't surprise me that her writing style seems more about convincing people she's intelligent than actually saying anything. I can't figure out if I like Miz Cracker or not. I want to, but she keeps giving me counterarguments why I shouldn't.

I could never be a judge on this show because not only do I not know what a good lip sync is (usually), I apparently don't know what's funny, either. I laughed the most at the last sketch just because it was the dumbest. I don't think it was very coherent. I think it's interesting that all the queens kept saying they thought that skit was going to win. Were they being genuine or was this shady? I actually thought the skit that won was the least entertaining.

How did they choose what roles the characters had? The last challenge I remember being somewhat like this (was it 11? with the COPS parody or whatever it was?), they were allowed to choose who did what so each queen kind of had a bigger hand in how successful they were. I thought Mayhem's character gave her the least room to do anything with because it was harder to be "herself" whereas all the other queens could just play themselves in that role because they were all "drag queen in situation that drag queen would plausibly be in." She was somebody who worked at a store...who happened to be a drag queen? Is this her day job? Maybe addressing this somehow would have made it funnier, I don't know. I liked her reaction to SheMZ being there and actually didn't think she did a terrible job in the role.

Oh well. So much for the India/Mayhem alliance, too.

[Sile]

7 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I knew it couldn’t be, but when the first line of that lip sync played, as God is my witness, I thought it was the “I’ve Been Everywhere” that Lynn Anderson or Johnny Cash sang.  You know, the one with the verses where they list a couple dozen places in a row.  Now those would be lyrics to point to your mouth about!  I have to admit I didn’t care for the song we did get: very average mid-tempo pop, which got a very average performance, IMO.

 

 

Hank Snow.  Also Shari Lewis and Lambchop!

[853fisher]

1 hour ago, Sile said:

Hank Snow.  Also Shari Lewis and Lambchop!

I used to be able to lip-sync it (Lynn's version, of course) as a sort of party trick when I was in college in rural Virginia.  It doesn't have quite the same punch now that I live in California, but it's in my back pocket for my audition tape should I ever take up drag. 😉

[Just Carol]

The licking thing that India started was really weird, gross and seemingly not in keeping with the TMZ theme. What does licking a donut have to do with anything? Kudos to Mayhem for going with it, though.

i liked the dude-bro bit, but Blair still looked like a girl.

The hickeys on Juju's neck are very distracting.  Will we find out who her lover is?  

 

 

[30 Helens]

All of the improvs were embarrassingly bad. The glass licking smacked of desperation. That lip sync was not a tie; Morgan definitely won. Cracker is not a good writer. Thank god for Jujubee.

This was not a good episode. 

[Glade]

Blair was super chic and Alexis was amazing as the ice queen on the runway; Cracker was one of the cliches, and I thought/hoped they were giving the win to Jujube again.  I don't think Cracker was the best, but overall the skits were bad, Alexis/Shea and Mayhem/India all bombed hard.  The licking thing was so stupid, especailly since the gags should have been about shoplifting. 

Mariah and Mayhem deserve to be here more then India, I can't effing believe she's being carried over again.   I guess the producers are just determined to revive the India/Derick drama one more time when they do the 'pair each remaining queen with an eliminated queen and make them face off against each other' challenge in 2 weeks.

Aside from '2 of hearts,' Morgan is an L.A. queen so she's around/doesn't have to be flown in to do this gig which is another reason they would choose her. 

Edited June 28, 2020 by Glade

[swanpride]

Quote

 India always brings it to the runway

I am torn...on the one hand I respect that she sews the outfit herself and she has always a strong concept in them. But she always adds one thing too much, something which takes it from "oh, great" to outright tacky. This time around it were all the gold chains she wore.

 

Okay...the stealthy thing...urgh….that just turned me off Cracker. Nope, just NOPE. There is no argument for this.

[ClareWalks]

I will say, as problematic as Cracker can be, I thought she deserved to win the challenge. She had her character down well and I laughed at some of her small moments (like the way she quickly looked back and forth like a bird or something behind that "Keep Calm and Wear a Condom" sign). Shea also did an amazing job, naturally. She has great comic timing and instincts. Between India and Mayhem, on first viewing I thought they were equally bad, but on the second viewing I realized India did a better job. Most of the stalling in the action was due to Mayhem not seeming to know how to progress the scene, so she'd just say "you stole things!" over and over.

[peachmangosteen]

13 hours ago, belligerent said:

I can't figure out if I like Miz Cracker or not. I want to, but she keeps giving me counterarguments why I shouldn't.

1 hour ago, ClareWalks said:

I laughed at some of [Cracker's] small moments (like the way she quickly looked back and forth like a bird or something behind that "Keep Calm and Wear a Condom" sign).

This takes an interesting turn now that I've seen her Slate article lol.

[swanpride]

Quote

She had her character down well and I laughed at some of her small moments (like the way she quickly looked back and forth like a bird or something behind that "Keep Calm and Wear a Condom" sign).

Yeah, I agree. The win was well-deserved because on the one hand her team came well-prepared, with props and zingers they could throw in which were clearly pre-planned but came fairly naturally, but they also played off each other well, hitting the perfect balance of not allowing awkward moments while also leaving lines the time to breath. And what she and Shea both did well was acting even when they weren't talking. Sometimes I didn't even pay attention to what was said because I paid way more attention to her mimic. Honestly, usually I would have said "oh, well, put Shea in the top" but it is a team challenge and thanks to Alexis constantly stepping on her lines, Shea's team ended up being only the second best. so I am kind of okay with how it played out.

Yeah, I think between India and Mayham, India was a little bit better. I mean, the whole licking story was still random, but the beginning when she was "discovered" by Ross was very natural. What I mean, she didn't immediately acted over the top, but did the "let's try to act innocent" gig. It was actually when Mayham joined the scene that the whole thing went downhill, with a slight pick-up when the vase fell (still not sure how she held it under her skirt the whole time.

Mayham and improp is just not a good combination. She fails at it every single time.

[Blakeston]

14 hours ago, belligerent said:

I thought Mayhem's character gave her the least room to do anything with because it was harder to be "herself" whereas all the other queens could just play themselves in that role because they were all "drag queen in situation that drag queen would plausibly be in." She was somebody who worked at a store...who happened to be a drag queen? Is this her day job? Maybe addressing this somehow would have made it funnier, I don't know.

Mayhem was supposed to be an obsessed fan of the shoplifter, wasn't she? I think she could have played up a psycho stalker angle in a way that was funny.

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

This takes an interesting turn now that I've seen her Slate article lol.

I can't believe I didn't notice that when I watched!

The thing that bothers me the most about that article is that her defense of stealthing was the exact same defense that most rapists use.

Rapists like to defend what they did by saying, "Okay, she didn't say yes, but I could tell she wanted it. That's what seduction is like."

And Cracker was arguing that stealthing isn't necessarily a violation, because sometimes it's an unspoken agreement between both partners, in which the victim actually likes it. That's just a vile take.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SheMZ

Mayhem Miller and Morgan McMichaels Lip Sync “Where Have You Been” by Rihanna

Whatcha Packin’: Mayhem Miller

The Pit Stop: Bob & Alaska Recap SheMZ

 

Edited July 7, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Tammee]

aaaahhhh Mayhem 🤣  gonna miss you gerl.  That was a sweet thing you did for India.  Though I'm not sure you did for India, or you just did...

I have to say Im really liking the new format this season for Untucked.  I like that they're showing what happens after they sashay away.  It helps to know they're ok.  I thought it was so touching w. Morgan and May.  I teared up.  And i love the visits from Michelle, she is so awesome. Marriage becomes her.  And i love that she knows May's secret. And i love that she coaches them and makes sure that they know that Ru picked them.  Still, bittersweet ending.

[Tammee]

12 hours ago, Just Carol said:

The licking thing that India started was really weird, gross and seemingly not in keeping with the TMZ theme. What does licking a donut have to do with anything? Kudos to Mayhem for going with it, though.

i liked the dude-bro bit, but Blair still looked like a girl.

The hickeys on Juju's neck are very distracting.  Will we find out who her lover is?  

 

 

I think it was a rip on the whole Ariana Grande thing.  Not diggn the Cracker vibe.  The whole Ch.Pie of it all.  shudder.

[Passing Strange]

We need to backup the train here, I think. I get that Cracker's article is a hard read but she is not defending stealthing. She calls the behavior disturbing, assault, harm, dangerous and specifically says she doesn't want to make apologies for it. What she is against is possible legislation based on ideas that ignore unique aspects of gay culture. She's proposing that we understand the problem before we propose a solution.

Cracker wrote her article because of a paper that led to calls for new laws. The problem she sees with the paper's conclusions is that they included both gay and hetero experiences, which aren't always the same, and that the paper failed to examine motivations, which might be more linked to attitudes in the gay community than actual criminal actions. To me that makes sense. If there's a way to change behavior by helping people understand it, the chances of success are higher than if you just try to legislate the behavior away.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Passing Strange

[swanpride]

Quote

Mayhem was supposed to be an obsessed fan of the shoplifter, wasn't she? I think she could have played up a psycho stalker angle in a way that was funny.

Honestly, I would have played the "heartbroken fan" angle...she could have had "fan articles" as props and eventually just destroying it, she could have revealed a "Tattoo" with the name of the celebrity...any role in those challenges is just as boring as you make them.

[akr]

16 minutes ago, Passing Strange said:

We need to backup the train here, I think. I get that Cracker's article is a hard read but she is not defending stealthing.

Absolutely agree.  It's overwritten, but it's an attempt to understand the phenomenon, not defend it.

[theatremouse]

I found myself largely responding to this episode the same way I did the previous: Where Are The Jokes?

The satire of the TMZ room was spot on, so that itself was funny. But the actual sketches I was just....left blinking in silence, much like with the "rooms" last time. Maybe I just wasn't familiar enough with the context but I kept waiting for the jokes, even jokes I might not have found funny or that I thought didn't land. There just didn't seem to be very many jokes at all, so I'm like "why am I supposed to find this funny?"

[Blakeston]

In the stealthing article, Cracker wrote, "I want to expand our definition of the act, which in practice comprises a range of situations that exist all along the spectrum of consent, many of them more complicated than an outright trick or violation."

And I'm sorry, but if you take off your condom without your partner knowing, that is a violation, period. There's no "spectrum" of consent involved.  How on earth could there be?

She never actually says that she approves of stealthing - but she's trying to pass off many instances of stealthing as something less than a violation, and using "gay culture" as an excuse.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Blakeston

[DisneyBoy]

On 6/27/2020 at 8:09 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I thought the LSFYL was pretty lackluster, but Morgan had some fun moments like when she was playing skip it over Cracker. I can't believe that this was a tie because that is the kind of thing that should be reserved for two amazing performances, not two okay performances that were equally boring

I thought it was more a case of "well...what more could they have done?" They both gave their all, they were both focused on the task at hand, Cracker was flipping and flopping and pulling out some decent moves. Neither one of them were just standing there being boring. I thought Morgan gave more character than Cracker did, but sometimes that's a trick of the editing. They both showed up, they both turned it out, and if it wasn't one of my favourite lip syncs of all time, at least they were evenly matched. I think that's why it was a tie. Definitely not one of my top 20 favourite lip syncs though.

As others have pointed out, my favourite part of the challenge was seeing them playing the dudebros in the TMZ office. Cracker did the best job with her performance in terms of maintaining a structure to the skit at helping to Pace it, but I wasn't especially entertained by her or any of them. If anything, I thought Alexis Mateo and Shea probably had the best skit just in terms of energy between them, but they also had the benefit of going first and introducing the format.

Were they given cards and told what the structure of the skit had to be? If so, who the hell thought up the idea that India would be a "licker"? That was so random and weird. If they were just given characters and told to come up with a story on their own, I would have sent her home for that twist alone. If the producers handed it to them and expected them to make it work...well nevermind.

I can completely understand why Cracker isnt winning you over, Belligerent, because I'm feeling the same way and I showed up rooting for Cracker. Stop having all these serious talks! Stop looking like you're mentally calculating algebra in your head. Lighten up, relax and have fun. It's only a game!

Back when she was competing against Aquaria, Aquaria was the colder of the two of them and Cracker was fun and approachable. I kind of feel like Alexis Mateo and some of the other queens have decided they just don't like Cracker and are going to push her into a corner and force her to defend herself and be serious. I wish she would just have fun with it. But then, we all saw that went for Shangela who was absolutely fun on All Stars 3 and then was kicked to the curb. I'm sure cracker is aware that the minute she ends up in the bottom, they're going to gang up and send her home.

 

Like some of the rest of you, I'm also not really enjoying this season very much so far. Jujube is coming off well, but the others not so much. And I'm kind of baffled as to why Shea has so much support. I'm not saying she's a bad Queen, and I liked her outfit on the runway in this episode, but I feel like I've seen her before. She and the recent season 12 winner kind of blur together for me. Kind of like Heidi and Mayhem Miller. I've confused the two of them as well, although now I think Heidi may have more personality than Mayhem.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when it comes down to Cracker, Jujube, Alexis and Shea. Hopefully they're the top four.

I do really love the lip sync assassin format though. It's so nice to see Queens come back and strut their stuff. Morgan never got enough of a chance to shine, so it was great seeing her come back and do a great job.

Edited June 28, 2020 by DisneyBoy

[Passing Strange]

2 hours ago, Blakeston said:

There's no "spectrum" of consent involved.  How on earth could there be?

Cracker explained her reasoning in detail in the next few paragraphs. Essentially, she talked about consent that was understood and explained how gay culture makes that possible.  

6 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

I do really love the lip sync assassin format though. It's so nice to see Queens come back and strut their stuff. Morgan never got enough of a chance to shine, so it was great seeing her come back and do a great job.

So far, the lip sync assassin format been my favorite part of the show. I didn't remember much about Morgan but knew others had a high opinion of her. I loved how she interacted with her competitor as part of her performance and thought she won. I'm not sure if the double win was producer influenced or just that Ru loves it when the queens bounce around and do acrobatics.

As much as I enjoy Blair St. Clair I was tired of Ru's "I do declare, it's Blair St. Clair" by the second episode of Blair's first season. Saying what is essentially the same word twice doesn't make it a rhyme, Ru.

 

[DisneyBoy]

21 hours ago, belligerent said:

For some reason, it doesn't surprise me that her writing style seems more about convincing people she's intelligent than actually saying anything.

Okay, after struggling to read that article, I completely agree. What the hell was that all about? If all she wanted to say is "the article that was published doesn't really address the full context of stealthing and I think we should, and from the gay community's perspective, before we start to legislate it," then just say that...

...but isn't the bottom line essentially that Cracker thinks stealthing shouldn't be illegal? People may enjoy sneaking into other people's houses and stealing trinkets, but that doesn't mean it's right. We have laws against that because that's stealing, no matter how much fun it may be.

Just because some guy gets a weird thrill out of yanking off a condon doesn't mean he should be safe from prosecution in the event the person he does it to gets infected. We're trying to have a bigger conversation about consent and making everything much more transparent and clear cut. It's the only way to help people moving forward with regards to their safety and the law.

... I'm sorry, why is Cracker coming out with this now? Is this really what Cracker wants to be known for?

I'm kind of baffled.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 6/27/2020 at 3:19 AM, swanpride said:

The notion that India wasn't even a consideration for Alexis despite her getting the worst critiques in the last two episodes was some BS

I was ok with that because Alexis and India had been team members in the challenge. Unless you think your partner screwed up, it seems reasonable not to vote her out after working together toward a common goal. Then, she had some personal friendship excuse for not eliminating Mariah. And it was true that Shea got harsh criticisms for both performance and costume.

As far as Mayhem's vote, she did owe India for not having eliminated her in the earlier competition, but choosing to eliminate Shea over Mariah was simply an effort to eliminate the stronger competitor. She's allowed to do that, of course, but I can't believe she thought half of the others would, too.

Edited June 29, 2020 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Glade]

Crackers article is pompous apologia.  As a gay survivor, it is my worst nightmare that someone would violate my boundaries of safe sex in this way, I don't see stealthing as some intrinsic aspect of gay culture that needs to be protected from puritan straight values; it's rape.  At best you can say he was trolling, which isn't really defensible on this matter either. 

[Passing Strange]

Once DisneyBoy asked I thought to look for the date on the article. It's from June 1, 2017. I have no idea if Cracker thinks the same way now, but I'm glad people are reading the article before forming an opinion.

 

 

[aussieinsydney]

SheMZ? What about Shade-ar Online?

[swanpride]

I am confused...if the partner knows that you will remove your condom at one point, how is it then still stealthing? I also don't see how there is much of a difference between gay and hetero people other that in one case you risk and illness and in the other case you risk and illness and pregnancy. If she thinks that it is more common for gay people to remove the condom as some sort of very specific sex play shouldn't the stance be "it is okay if your partner knows that you'll do it eventually"? and not "We have to understand the culture"? Her stance makes only sense if your give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she thought that the push to legislate this came out of some gay panicky stance. But that is really a stretch in this case because nobody knows what happens in the bedroom other than the partner in question.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

13 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

As far as Mayhem's vote, she did owe India for not having eliminated her in the earlier competition

I'm quoting myself, but is it possible that Mayhem felt that this deal not to vote out India continued for the rest of the competition, even if it meant she had to vote to eliminate herself?

[WhineandCheez]

Quote

I loathe TMZ, their stupid format of everyone gathered around trading gossip, and Harvey Levin as the ringleader. But I loved how perfectly SheMZ parodied it from the contestants as dude bros in the office to the shaky camera footage. But the actual improv skits were pretty bad (which is not surprising - they usually are).

This part of the show was awesome, and waaay more so than the actual performances.  It was fun to see them all in boy-drag.