S03:E02 Intervention

[AgentRXS]

Quote

When Pray Tell's alcoholism leads to expected consequences, Blanca stages a much-needed intervention. Meanwhile, Blanca nervously prepares to meet Christopher's parents.

Original Air Date: May 2, 2021

[BloggerAloud]

This episode felt strange because it felt like a retread of the season premiere in a lot of ways. Also, how we got to certain story points seems very tortured. Like they clearly wanted another dinner scene blowout but Pray Tell already agreed to go to the rehab so them reading the letters did not make sense. Also the writing of Lemar into a cartoonishly evil character was wild to me as well just to like get him to the point where Pray Tell would be justified in punching him. That's probably my main gripe is that they have certain plot points they want to hit but don't know a way to get them. And as much as I love Pose, one of its chief problems has always been the way they introduce and drop plot points at random.

[Juneau Gal]

1 hour ago, BloggerAloud said:

This episode felt strange because it felt like a retread of the season premiere in a lot of ways. Also, how we got to certain story points seems very tortured. Like they clearly wanted another dinner scene blowout but Pray Tell already agreed to go to the rehab so them reading the letters did not make sense. Also the writing of Lemar into a cartoonishly evil character was wild to me as well just to like get him to the point where Pray Tell would be justified in punching him. That's probably my main gripe is that they have certain plot points they want to hit but don't know a way to get them. And as much as I love Pose, one of its chief problems has always been the way they introduce and drop plot points at random.

I agree with everything you wrote. Just add the Castle storyline seemed to come out of nowhere. Was it ever mentioned that he had HIV before?
Christopher’s mother was ridiculous; not understanding certain realities about Blanca growing up in a project. 
At this point, Pray Tell is just tedious with his “HIV is gonna get us all” spiel while he acts foolishly with his health. 
Season Three of shows seem to be cursed: The Crown, Harlots, Mrs. Maisel, all had bad third seasons. I am very sorry to see Pose going down the same path, especially since it is also the last season. With time off due to the pandemic, the writers could have used that time to craft a better final season. 

[BingeyKohan]

I wonder if Damon will be back. I feel like they steadily minimized the character after the first season and always wondered why. Not even getting an exit scene is the ultimate in minimizing.

[BloggerAloud]

2 minutes ago, BingeyKohan said:

I wonder if Damon will be back. I feel like they steadily minimized the character after the first season and always wondered why. Not even getting an exit scene is the ultimate in minimizing.

The actor who played Damon, his sister died somewhat close to start of production so this was their admittedly clunky way of dealing with it. I don't know why they didn't say he was dancing on a tour instead.

[BingeyKohan]

3 minutes ago, BloggerAloud said:

The actor who played Damon, his sister died somewhat close to start of production so this was their admittedly clunky way of dealing with it. I don't know why they didn't say he was dancing on a tour instead.

Oh, I am sorry to hear that - I didn't know. I studied his Instagram a little to see what he appeared to be working on but didn't do a deep enough dive.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

One of the gritty truths very well depicted was just how poor most of them were.  They could barely have supper on many occasions.  Now, it never comes up day-to-day, Lil' Papi has a fab crib and Blanca just blithely coasts along wearing nice threads as needed.   What happened to being the mother to wayward young 'uns?  Did that reality go away?  Homeless teen issue eradicated, film at 11!

How did the committee come up with the cash owed to Lemar and then for future events?  Where did Pray's cash come from for all that booze and his living arrangements, not to mention his wardrobe?

If I were a competitor, I would have refused to walk anytime Evangelista did.  They never lose.  By the way, how many of the trophies have been repurposed by TPTB?  ;)

I appreciate the age-old issue of parental approval of potential in'laws.  I hated that Christopher's, for all their sophistication and their son's wokeness, they wouldn't try to make Blanca feel welcomed while gathering intel from her.  They are just not that stupid.

For all his virtues, Pray is a lousy guy.  He sure spouts nice words.  But, his selfishness, as it is for most addicts, is off the charts.  

 

[AgentRXS]

Awful. Just awful. How wonderful for Damon to go from successful backup dancer and house father to an alcoholic with no explanation whatsoever. What an awful way to write off the character.

We also get no explanation how Blanca went from a wheelchair-bound terminal AIDs patient to a healthy, happy nurse's aide banging a hot doctor. In a show that is realistically depicting the '90s AIDS pandemic, would it hurt to drop a line or two of what treatment worked for her? It's pretty glaring.

Some of the scenes seemed designed to be Billy Porter's Emmy Showcase. His acting and dialogue really was over-the-top in this episode.

I did love the scene of Blanca and Pray driving to the rehab with Mariah playing in the background. The music choices are so good on this show.

I'll continue to watch since it's the last season, but meh.

I still live for Elektra. She got me through the past two episodes.

[Crashcourse]

Blanca's boyfriend's mother looked about the same age as Blanca; in fact, Blanca even looked a bit older.  The casting of the mother was off. 

[BloggerAloud]

Lemar being a cartoonish villain to everybody, including Pray Tell after Castle had to be taken away on a stretcher, just seemed so weird. Especially with them ending last night with him and Cubby in the hospital. Like even at her worst, Elektra had a lot more stuff going on in her bitchiness. Everything about the character development seems so rushed.

[Irlandesa]

I too was disappointed with the premiere.  I feel like something is missing and I can't quite pinpoint it.  Maybe it's because almost all of the stories surrounded addiction.  Or maybe it's because all the stories felt rushed through.  Or maybe it's because their heart just isn't in this final season and they're just going through the motions.  Did they know it was the final season when it was filmed? 

 

[BloggerAloud]

Both episodes together felt like the end of story arcs we had not gotten to see.

[LittleIggy]

11 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Blanca's boyfriend's mother looked about the same age as Blanca; in fact, Blanca even looked a bit older.  The casting of the mother was off. 

I thought Blanca’s boyfriend was clearly younger than her (nothing wrong with that!).

Papi is the best! 🥰

[hoodooznoodooz]

13 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Blanca's boyfriend's mother looked about the same age as Blanca; in fact, Blanca even looked a bit older.  The casting of the mother was off. 

I agree with you. So I looked it up. The actress who plays Christopher’s mother is 20 years older than MJ!

She looks so young!

[MsTree]

1 hour ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

The actress who plays Christopher’s mother is 20 years older than MJ!

She looks so young!

As Wendy says "a good moisturizer...."

[Blakeston]

Billy Porter was great in the intervention scenes, but...we've already seen this before. I think it was season one, when they confronted him about his drinking, and he acted exactly the same way.

We've also already seen Angel pretend she doesn't have a drug problem, as the other characters become more and more aware that she's lying.

[qtpye]

Lulu is getting thicc.

There is nothing wrong with that but I think we are supposed to be seeing she is wasting away because of the crack addiction.

[Glade]

57 minutes ago, qtpye said:

Lulu is getting thicc.

There is nothing wrong with that but I think we are supposed to be seeing she is wasting away because of the crack addiction.

Yes, the dialogue about her seemingly losing weight due to the crack should probably have been cut; just focusing on how both Angel and Lulu's face/skin looked bad would have sufficed since they were able to show us that on-screen. 

It's really sad that the actor who played Damon's sister died during the time when production was suspended; it seems like what we saw in episode one was what they were able to shoot during the pandemic, and then they added lines about his alcoholism after the fact.  But yeah, having him go on tour to Europe again would have made more sense then making up a cousin out of thin air (a cousin who wasn't able to take him in when he was homeless a few years ago...)  It's too bad if that's really the last we see of him.

[SnarkEnthusiast]

Sadly, the premiere only made me wish the show had ended after S2. Most have already pointed out the obvious - Blanca and Pray’s HIV/AIDS is plot convenient to the point of almost being insulting. If we’re being honest, Blanca would definitely be dead by now and probably Pray too, given his years of alcoholism on top of what I'm assuming would be an aggressive HIV drug cocktail. Blanca could barely walk in 1991, but she is magically totally healthy and asymptomatic by 1994 to the point where she’s pursuing a nursing degree? Basically the writers needed her healthy so that she could live out a fanfiction fantasy and fuck a hot doctor. I am sure this series will end with her living in New York’s most exclusive gated community. Of course I want all the characters to succeed, but it looks like they are going the way of every single character in the cast ending rich and successful, which almost feels disrespectful to the original narratives that the show tried to highlight. It kind of sends the message that their original lives were never good enough. And yeah, what happened to those 12-year-olds Blanca took in in '91? They didn't even get a throwaway explanation. I thought they'd at least get a subplot, but I goes we needed Dr. Bangable instead.

As much as I love Billy Porter, it annoys me when a show picks a star actor and then seemingly writes the entire show around giving them Emmy submission material even if the plots are retreads and it takes focus away from the (usually more interesting) supporting cast. Ricky’s actor knocked their breakup scene out of the park though. There was so much palpable devastation and heartbreak in his face when Pray closed the door on him. To be honest I’m surprised that they stayed a couple, let alone years later. I always assumed that the relationship was more of a fling because of the eroticism of the taboo but apparently they’d been playing house for years. Alright then. It’s also weird of them to possibly be setting up another love triangle with Damon if Pray/Ricky have been together for years longer than he and Damon were. 

They even managed to turn Angel/Papi into a downer. We already did the whole “Angel dabbles in drugs” storyline last season. Hopefully her choosing outpatient rehab means that we don’t have to waste any more plot on that. It was nice to see Papi successful, but of course Angel has to immediately make it all about herself and her insecurities. And how do the two of them afford that massive loft if she hasn’t been booking any gigs? Did Papi land a job as an editor at Vogue or something? lol

I respect that the show embraces a good hammy villain, but Lemar is just...lethal levels of cheese. It's embarrassing that the writers think his monologues actually work. All he's missing is a cat to pet and a mustache to twirl.

Papi's loyalty to Blanca remains a highlight. He never disappoints and will always be the best character. The love just radiates off of him.

Edited May 5, 2021 by SnarkEnthusiast

[tennisgurl]

Meanwhile on Billy Porter's Emmy Submission...

I love Billy Porter and he was just acting his ass off this episode, but this all seems like things we have seen before. Pray's drinking has been a thing before, people confronting him has happened before, it feels like this season is all stuff that has already happened before but was done better. We have even had this revelation about Pray's self esteem issues before, done in almost the exact same way. Its the same with Angel, we already did the thing where Angel starts experimenting with drugs and then has to stop, and I guess it makes sense that some people are addicts or have addictive personalities and these things happen to them over and over but from a narrative perspective it just seems like the show spinning its wheels. 

If they were just going to write Damon off after one episode, why not just have him stay offscreen all season, say he's on tour or something. If they wrote him off so quickly due to the personal tragedy of the actor that is very understandable, but I wish they had given him something better. His character deserves better than to go through all of that to become a successful dancer only to become an alcoholic, relapse, and move away all offscreen. Also, where are the kids who Blanca adopted at the end of last season? I was hoping we would see them, but apparently we cant change the status quo too much even after a time skip. 

That's another issue I am having with this season, the whole point of a time jump is usually to change up the status quo quickly and/or leave the audience wondering what happened during the time jump and have it be revealed, but hardly anything has changed in the years we skipped over, even things you would expect to have happened. Pray, Ricky, and Blanca are all doing just fine and haven't gotten sicker in several years, even after Blanca was practically bedridden by the end of last season, Ricky and Pray are still living together, Papi and Angel are still engaged, Damon is back for about a minute doing worse than when we saw him last, it feels like it was just a few days since the end of season two, not several years. This show wants to be about the struggles of LGBTQ people of color struggling to get by and how their community was ravaged by AIDS and drugs and poverty, but they don't want to really show the main characters having to through any of that anymore because they don't want to lose any major characters or really change up the show. Now everything is going great for the main characters it seems like (except Pray) and its hard to get caught up in the struggle when they are seemingly living in a fairytale. Of course, that's always been an issue with Ryan Murphy's shows, he wants both the camp and the grit and it frequently comes off grainy.

Papi is the best, who would have thought he would have turned out to be the most responsible of Blanca's kids way back in season one? He's just so lovable, Angel is very lucky. Elektra is also still on point, I love how her letter to Pray was basically "I understand why you drink, your life has seriously gone down the toilet." Yeah that's about what I imagine Elektra at an intervention would be like. 

[mtlchick]

On 5/3/2021 at 10:43 AM, BloggerAloud said:

The actor who played Damon, his sister died somewhat close to start of production so this was their admittedly clunky way of dealing with it. I don't know why they didn't say he was dancing on a tour instead.

Steven Canals said the actor is not returning, which is more frustrating because Canals also said that Damon became an alcoholic during his touring days. Um…ok?  Considering his running away to New York was the starting point of the series, if this is his exit, that is beyond disappointing.

Lemar can’t be considered a cartoon villain despite his Beetlejuice outfit. He’s just awful. And what was that MC thinking that Lemar was giving off Rhythm Nation vibes dancing to If,  when they virtually polar opposites of each other?

I love Billy Porter, but the intervention seemed like a Emmy baiting moment from start to finish.

”I’m a narcissist who GLOWS!” Heh. Dominique Jackson is going full tilt with the quips this season.

Edited May 4, 2021 by mtlchick

[Feline Goddess]

Why is Blanca still living in that dump when Angel & Papi are in an obviously expensive place? 

[hurrrz]

I think the writing in this show is so clunky. I highly suspect, that the prize money for winning at the ball is just for plot convenience. There's no other reason to drop that in there. It's no longer about celebrating creativeness and whatnot, but only about "we need to win, to do X". 

 

[qtpye]

2 hours ago, mtlchick said:

Steven Canals said the actor is not returning, which is more frustrating because Canals also said that Damon became an alcoholic during his touring days. Um…ok?  Considering his running away to New York was the starting point of the series, if this is his exit, that is beyond disappointing.

Lemar can’t be considered a cartoon villain despite his Beetlejuice outfit. He’s just awful. And what was that MC thinking that Lemar was giving off Rhythm Nation vibes dancing to If,  when they virtually polar opposites of each other?

I love Billy Porter, but the intervention seemed like a Emmy baiting moment from start to finish.

”I’m a narcissist who GLOWS!” Heh. Dominique Jackson is going full tilt with the quips this season.

Am I supposed to see Lemar as some sort of fashion genius to justify his snooty attitude?

Both the Beetle Juice costume and those sad Valentines day outfits in the season premier were tragic.

At least Electra is one bad ass bitch...the woman always looks like she stepped off the cover of French Vogue.

Also Electra leading in the royalty category in the series premier and the "Baby Love" walk of her new house in past seasons was EVERYTHING. I was screaming YEEEESSSSS in my living room.

The House of Khan seems like some middle school students staging what they think is a ball in their mama's basement. It just looks cheap and rushed.

Edited May 4, 2021 by qtpye

[Blakeston]

The more I think about it, the more strange I find Damon's sendoff (or lack thereof).

So he's going to move to Charleston to be with his family, which the characters regarded as being the ultimate sign of him giving up. But Elektra thinks Blanca triumphed with Damon, because she taught him how to stand on his own two feet?

[SnarkEnthusiast]

5 hours ago, mtlchick said:

Steven Canals said the actor is not returning, which is more frustrating because Canals also said that Damon became an alcoholic during his touring days. Um…ok?  Considering his running away to New York was the starting point of the series, if this is his exit, that is beyond disappointing.

If that's true, it's an insult to both character and actor. He carried the show in S1 - the plot literally revolved around him from the pilot onward. Damon worked hard, graduated college, and became a professional dancer and house father. Arguably the most realistic, attainable, full-circle arc of any character. His arc was done (really everyone's arcs were which is why they should've stopped at S2 but especially his). I get that the actor apparently had a sudden family tragedy and don't blame him stepping away. His storyline was already wrapped up in a bow. Say he moved, say he's touring, say he founded his own dance program, whatever. The best they could come up with was "he's a drunk now and our biggest family shame" when Damon won't even be coming back for redemption or resolution? It's a shame that he won't bookend the series. 

[Glade]

7 hours ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

Sadly, the premiere only made my wish the show had ended after S2. 

I disagree - I still wish they had the time and budget to make additional seasons where these characters could grow and breathe.  They briefly started shooting S3 before the lockdown in NYC hit, they had scripts written for season-long storylines, and then during the long wait to resume filming, they had to modify and rewrite those scripts, abandon storylines not only to suit the pandemic (less emphasis on big ballroom scenes, busy hospitals and funerals and and act up protests and dominatrix scenes no longer allowed) but also the fact that the network suddenly cancelled the show and cut the number of episodes for season 3 nearly in half, so they had to use the footage they already shot but also frankenstein it together with the finale they always had in mind and deal with Damon's departure and everything else...  But, I'm sure if the pandemic hadn't happened, season 3 would have been better than this and we'd be on season 4 by now.

[qtpye]

49 minutes ago, Glade said:

I disagree - I still wish they had the time and budget to make additional seasons where these characters could grow and breathe.  They briefly started shooting S3 before the lockdown in NYC hit, they had scripts written for season-long storylines, and then during the long wait to resume filming, they had to modify and rewrite those scripts, abandon storylines not only to suit the pandemic (less emphasis on big ballroom scenes, busy hospitals and funerals and and act up protests and dominatrix scenes no longer allowed) but also the fact that the network suddenly cancelled the show and cut the number of episodes for season 3 nearly in half, so they had to use the footage they already shot but also frankenstein it together with the finale they always had in mind and deal with Damon's departure and everything else...  But, I'm sure if the pandemic hadn't happened, season 3 would have been better than this and we'd be on season 4 by now.

Thank you for sharing this...now the bad writing makes much more sense.

The pandemic really did ruin everything.

I think the writers were a little annoyed at the actor not returning because they could have given his character a much better wrap up that would have made better sense.

Anna Faris broke her contract and left for personal reasons that were nothing close to a death in the family, on the show Mom. The writers gave her character a triumphant send off where she got a scholarship to Georgetown law school even if it did not make any sense.

[LittleIggy]

3 hours ago, Glade said:

I disagree - I still wish they had the time and budget to make additional seasons where these characters could grow and breathe.  They briefly started shooting S3 before the lockdown in NYC hit, they had scripts written for season-long storylines, and then during the long wait to resume filming, they had to modify and rewrite those scripts, abandon storylines not only to suit the pandemic (less emphasis on big ballroom scenes, busy hospitals and funerals and and act up protests and dominatrix scenes no longer allowed) but also the fact that the network suddenly cancelled the show and cut the number of episodes for season 3 nearly in half, so they had to use the footage they already shot but also frankenstein it together with the finale they always had in mind and deal with Damon's departure and everything else...  But, I'm sure if the pandemic hadn't happened, season 3 would have been better than this and we'd be on season 4 by now.

Wow, that sucks. I would have loved more seasons of Pose, too. ☹️

[Surrealist]

11 hours ago, SnarkEnthusiast said:

Papi's loyalty to Blanca remains a highlight. He never disappoints and will always be the best character. The love just radiates off of him.

This. At this point, Papi is my favorite character. His genuine love for all of them is wonderful to watch.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

While I understand why Damon's character was written off the show abruptly, the way they did it seemed really disrespectful. Why couldn't they just have said that he was on tour again? Why make him an alcoholic?

I'm glad that Angel finally got scared enough to quit smoking crack. Kudos to the makeup people for making her and Lulu look so bad.

As always, ELektra continues to be the most lovable monster. Her letter to Pray was just awful, but she made up for it by telling him that she's a narcissist who GLOWS!

Christopher's mother clearly thought that Blanca wasn't good enough for her son and was taking every opportunity to judge Blanca and make her feel bad. I mean, seriously, you know she grew up in the projects but you're asking why her mother didn't get her a French tutor? Bitch, please. I wasn't sure whether Christopher would actually stand up to his mother so I was glad he took such a firm stand. You don't have to like Blanca, but the least you can do is not be passive aggressively rude.

Papi is as sweet and loyal as ever. He really is the best.

The striped shorts that one of the guys was wearing in this episode were so perfectly 1994. And once again, A+ for the music in this episode. "If" was inescapable during that time period (not that I'm complaining because I still love that song!).

I don't know why Lemar was demanding a recount because Pray killed that lip sync. Lemar wasn't even moving his lips half the time. And let's be real - everyone had seen the "If" video a million times so there's no reason you should ever perform to that song unless it's going to be AWESOME and Lemar's little routine was just okay. There's no shame in admitting you're not as amazing a dancer as Janet Jackson, but he did it in the most public way possible.

Edited May 5, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[sugarbaker design]

On 5/4/2021 at 4:10 PM, Feline Goddess said:

Why is Blanca still living in that dump when Angel & Papi are in an obviously expensive place? 

Papi and Angel have jobs in the modeling industry.  Blanca is a nurse's aide.

[Hiyo]

Quote

That's probably my main gripe is that they have certain plot points they want to hit but don't know a way to get them. And as much as I love Pose, one of its chief problems has always been the way they introduce and drop plot points at random.

As I said in a previous episode thread, that's a Ryan Murphy TV Show problem, not a Pose problem. The man and the people working with him have good ideas but they don't always execute those ideas well.

Edited May 8, 2021 by Hiyo

[qtpye]

17 hours ago, Hiyo said:

As I said in a previous episode thread, that's a Ryan Murphy TV Show problem, not a Pose problem. The man and the people working with him have good ideas but they don't always execute those ideas well.

I feel like Ryan Murphy shows need to be 1 season or 2 seasons at most. He either seems to run out of plausible ideas or he just stops giving a shit about the characters.

It is sad because this was such a ground breaking show.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Candy's sweet refrain:

 

[Scarlett45]

When Mariah Carey’s Anytime You Need a Friend started playing I died. Such a good song. 
 

Im glad Pray Tell went rehab. 

[aradia22]

I went back and watched the season 2 finale. I think the problem with the time jump is they felt they could just cherry pick storylines. Angel and Esteban didn't get married for 3 years but the 14-year-olds Blanca met after the ball were secure enough to go out on their own. Ricky's relationship with Pray developed enough for him to get over Damon but the balls haven't become more inclusive since the stunt with the council. Blanca had an infection somehow exacerbated by running her nail salon out of her apartment so I can hand waive that she was able to get better after that scare by maintaining healthy habits for a few years. I don't think the wheelchair was meant to be permanent. Though making her this dramatically healthy does seem a bit fairy-tale-ish. I still wish it wasn't offscreen but based on the set up from the end of season 2, I can believe that Esteban set up his business (under Ford) to be reasonably successful. Though it doesn't make much sense that Angel can't really get work since his business model was to look for unconventional clients and sell them on the jobs Ms. Ford thought were beneath her agency. But now she can get a Calvin Klein job.

Damon relapsing was a terrible way to write him off the show when he ended season 2 coming back from Europe as a successful dancer and started this season as a Buddhist in AA. 

Elektra in that monochromatic green outfit looking like a 1940's movie star with her feet in the kiddie pool... Perfection. Blanca's outfit was adorable too.

Earning money for rehab at the balls is the equivalent of saving the rec center. What happened to the writers this season? Also, I get that they wanted a montage, but there's nothing wrong with Ricky's dancing. Didn't he just get 2 callbacks?

I loved Elektra in the turban though.

It wasn't Degrassi bad but I don't know if these actors can handle all these addiction storylines. Angel and Esteban was just barely on the side of good acting.

I can't say "Who do you think you're fooling, Chunkerella? You think I don't know you've been seduced by the pipe?" is good writing, but it did make me cackle.

I'm glad the show stopped pretending that Blanca can't pass and that she isn't gorgeous. Another great Elektra outfit with that vintage-looking aqua shirtdress.

Why is Lemar a cartoon villain now? His nastiness did make that punch satisfying.

Elektra's intervention letter was hilarious. And Pray is the only character who could have read everyone that well. 

I thought Ricky leaving would be enough to get him to go to rehab but I guess the show wanted to be more dramatic?

Christopher is still a bit of a perfect boyfriend but I'm glad they included that scene of him standing up to his mother and defending Blanca and not being ashamed of their relationship.

How is Castle suddenly sicker than anyone else? They made it work with Candy but it feels like they're getting sloppy with the tertiary characters while leaving the main cast untouchable. I was still affected by the end in the hotel suite.

White Plains is upstate? They made it sound like they were shipping him to Albany or Ithaca.

[aradia22]

Quote

And yeah, what happened to those 12-year-olds Blanca took in in '91? They didn't even get a throwaway explanation.

It was in episode 1. "Chilly went back home last month, Quincy hopped houses." Not a great explanation, especially since they could still run into Quincy, but that's all they came up with.