S03.E07: Series Finale

[Glade]

Well, I realized today that there was actually a part 2 to the finale that I missed while streaming.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t that much better. This season spent so much time laboriously telling us that Pray was going to die and what the exact circumstances of his will were going to be that it just felt overdone when we had to later on watch every detail of it happen on-screen.  It would have been better if we had just learned about the Ash-lockets when Blanca pulled them out. I also find it mildly infuriating that no, his wishes weren’t even carried out to the T; like I was afraid of happening, Aunt Jada gave in to familial pressure though it didn’t lead to a worst case scenario. I also don’t think I ever saw Blanca as a mother figure to Pray; a sister yes, but they were equals.

I hate Blanca’s 1998 wig, it’s a step down. Together with that jacket she’s giving me Little Richie vibes. Meanwhile 40% of homeless youth are still LGBTQ today, and they don’t all become upper middle class by the time they reach their 30’s and 40’s. I’m glad things worked out so well for this group, but that isn’t the norm. Transgender youth are still being exploited on the streets.

How many times have we seen Evangelista get back together again and walk as a house? Having them already disband and stop going to the balls at the end of season 2 just made this a repetitive, endless exercise in forced nostalgia. 

[pasdetrois]

Billy Porter's moment, alone in front of his mirror, was transcendent.

I thought he was preparing to suicide, but I guess he was granted a peaceful death, looking beautiful.

[Ohiopirate02]

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Well everyone, I think we all learned a valuable lesson from this show...working for the mob is the best way to solve all of your problems. 

And apparently, you can brag about your mob connections to just about anyone and never face any consequences. You would think that the mobsters would frown upon Elecktra telling Hot Chocolate and random waiters she works for the mob.  

[sugarbaker design]

This show holds a special place in my heart.  At times it was heartwarming, poignant, joyful and surprising.  Other times confounding, confusing and downright disappointing.

Season one was written so well, so tight, focusing on the lead women characters like Blanca, Electra, Angel, with supporting characters such as Lulu and Candy.

I know this is an unpopular opinion but Season 2 suffered from too much Billy Porter, all of sudden the focus is on Pray Tell.  Pray Tell, the character who had no problem ripping Candy (among others) to shreds from a podium with a microphone was now espousing loooooooove?!  The producers/writers had the awful idea to kill off one of the characters who was played by an actress who could actually act?  Season 2 ended with Blanca in a wheelchair.

At least Candy and her hammer got some mentions and appearances in Season 3.  I'm a sap so I loved the wedding, the legend award, the Double Dianas in the Downpour.  But I'm glad Pray Tell left this earth so the show could focus on the women for another hour.

[mtlchick]

2 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

Billy Porter's moment, alone in front of his mirror, was transcendent.

 

Admittedly I said "he stole that from Viola Davis from How To Get Away With Murder." 

Aside: Season 1 is so long ago, I actually forgot that Kate Mara, Evan Peters James Van Der Beek were in it. 

[tennisgurl]

I think its really weird that FX was willing to give them a ten episode season but they only did seven episodes (with the two hour finale) that felt really rushed and clogged with trying to wrap up every story by the end. This wasn't a terrible ending or finale season, but I feel like it could have used a few more episodes or at least a bit more punch. As many people have said, the ending went way too far into fairytale world, with everyone getting perfect happy ending, many of which didn't really feel earned. I guess its actually really easy to quick crack, or make enough money for a huge glamourous apartment (just join the mob!) or instantly improve from AIDS related illnesses after just being on deaths door, you don't really need to struggle at all. I think I would have felt better about all of these happy endings if we saw the massive amounts of work it took to get them instead of it all being given to the characters easily with Ryan Murphy's magical wish fulfillment wand. I will miss this show and these characters, and I really appreciate how groundbreaking this show has been when its come to telling the stories of LGBTQ people, especially transwomen of color, people that are very rarely represented in media, but I was pretty let down by the writing of the last season. It was all style with little substance. This finale in particular almost seemed half finished, like they were just trying to get to the end and the perfect happy endings for everyone except Pray (and Ricky to a lesser extent) and be done with the show. This show deserved an ending that cared more. 

Damon sure has had a lot going on in offscreen world, becoming an alcoholic, getting sober, starting and losing businesses, it almost sounds like there is a more interesting season with him going on that we aren't seeing. I totally get the actor wanting to leave after a family tragedy, but I wish they had handled it on the show better instead of having all of these huge things happening to him offscreen. Just say that he is still touring and have him come back to say hi and get closure if he can come back for an episode like he did earlier, the roller coaster seems really unneeded. 

I got some serious whiplash when Blanca stormed up to the head of the hospital to insist on getting more people of color into the drug trail, including Pray and then Chris insisted on her as well and that it was racist for the study to be most white people, only for her in the very next scene to be freaking out about the Tuskegee experiments and how she doesn't want to be involved in a drug trail where people of color could be mistreated. Ummm what now? Does Blanca want people of color in the trail or not? If she thinks that the company is just going to experiment on them, why did she insist on adding more people of color, including volunteering her best friend? It really feels like sometimes there are two different writers rooms and they never talk to each other, so we get really inconsistent character motivations and plots where characterization seems to change based on the scene. Its one of the reasons this season felt a bit half assed to be, like it needed one more read through by the writers.  

There were a lot of things I did like. I am glad that Angel and Pappi are happy raising cute little Beto, Ricky being a housedad is a nice cap for his character growth, and there was great music and costumes throughout, especially Pray's grand final dance at the ball. There was a lot of good in this season, but I really wanted this season to end on a stronger note. 

[pasdetrois]

Yeah, they basically pandered to the audience, jamming in balls, weddings, wealth, fashion, choirs and churches.

Also, stop trying to make Blanca happen. Her every utterance was a wall quote.

I remember partying as a young woman in the French Quarter, looking up and seeing a wraith passing through - an emaciated young man covered with Kaposi's lesions, drifting down the sidewalk. I've never forgotten him. Rest in peace to all those we lost. FU to those who resisted and blocked efforts to learn about the disease and explore treatments.

Edited June 8, 2021 by pasdetrois

[red12]

On 6/6/2021 at 11:37 PM, Irlandesa said:

Elektra is making money in webcamming now?  I remember what the internet was like in 1998.  It wasn't very fast.  I know the technology existed but was webcamming really a thing that could be commercialized back then?

I am old enough to remember the HBO show "Real Sex" and indeed it was a thing back then. I couldn't understand the point because at the time it seemed so fake but, it existed and had what seemed to be a lot of customers.

[sugarbaker design]

1 hour ago, mtlchick said:

Admittedly I said "he stole that from Viola Davis from How To Get Away With Murder." 

Who stole it from Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons, who stole it from...

[pasdetrois]

Yes, my mind went to Glenn Close.

[Crashcourse]

44 minutes ago, pasdetrois said:

Also, stop trying to make Blanca happen. Her every utterance was a wall quote.

Thank you.  My sentiments exactly.

[Ohiopirate02]

Count me as another who had issues with the writing of this episode.  It just did not completely gel together and felt forced in places.  I was also confused by the timeline.  I assume this episode took place after Angel and Papi's wedding so it would be set in 1995.  So I was shocked to see that Pray died in 1996.  It did not feel like a year or more passed from the opening to his death, leaving out Pray's miraculous recovery and sudden decline.  I still don't see how no one noticed that Pray stopped taking the drugs.  The 1998 scenes made zero sense as well.  The scene between Blanca and Judy in the new OB ward rang false.  They went from close coworkers who supported each other in the AIDS ward to people who haven't spoken to each other in years.  I don't buy that the hospital was able to close down the AIDS ward and renovate it into the new birthing unit in less than a year, nor that Blanca and Judy stopped speaking to each other in the same timeframe.  Yes, Blanca would have been busy getting her nursing degree and that would take her into different hospitals on rotation.  And then you get the whole Sex and the City references which would not have happened in 1998.  Only the first season of the show would have aired in 98 and that season was far from the glamourous girlfriends meeting up for Cosmos phase of later seasons.  Why not push out those scenes to 2001?

[mtlchick]

2 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Who stole it from Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons, who stole it from...

Touché. 

[Surrealist]

6 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

Billy Porter's moment, alone in front of his mirror, was transcendent.

I thought he was preparing to suicide, but I guess he was granted a peaceful death, looking beautiful.

I think the manner by which he ended up dying could be construed as suicide.

He gave up prolonging his life through the clinical trial so that Ricky wouldn't die. Pray knew he would die if he gave Ricky his meds.

But I understand what you mean.

[Hiyo]

I like Lulu too and am glad she got a happy ending. But in accounting? I feel it would have made more sense to have her end up as an up and coming buyer for a major department store.

[Hiyo]

“Yes, my mind went to Glenn Close.”

Mine went to Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter. 

[Blakeston]

58 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

I like Lulu too and am glad she got a happy ending. But in accounting? I feel it would have made more sense to have her end up as an up and coming buyer for a major department store.

Yeah, I don't see Lulu as having the attention span for a 9-5 job in accounting.

I get that they don't want to reinforce the idea that trans women only belong in fields like fashion and sex work, but I think they successfully averted that with Blanca's nursing career.

[Ohiopirate02]

22 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

Yeah, I don't see Lulu as having the attention span for a 9-5 job in accounting.

I get that they don't want to reinforce the idea that trans women only belong in fields like fashion and sex work, but I think they successfully averted that with Blanca's nursing career.

Blanca's career trajectory made sense.  She finally loves herself enough to go back to school in a field where she can use her natural talents to succeed.  I will give props to the show having her reach her goal of becoming a nurse in increments.  

Lulu kept on getting the short end of the writing stick.  Her season 3 arc felt like the writers were scrambling for her to have something to do.  I guess they pulled accounting out of their idea hat and ran with it.  

[sugarbaker design]

2 hours ago, Hiyo said:

“Yes, my mind went to Glenn Close.”

Mine went to Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter. 

Great scene!

[12catcrazy]

5 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

Who stole it from Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons, who stole it from...

And there was also an Annie Lennox video that was from the late 80s or early 90s that featured her removing a face full of very fanciful makeup down to bare skin.  It was considered to be very daring of her to do that back then.  

[Hiyo]

If you are referring to the video for her song “Why”, thats actually the opposite. She starts out with nothing on but then then adds it all.

“Great scene!”

Pray and some of the others might have even appreciated her “nipple necklace” from that scene...

[12catcrazy]

This was kind of a weird ending.  It seemed that the writers wanted to wrap everything up in a nice bow (with Pray Tell being the AIDS martyr at long last).  It seemed a rather cheap trick to have him on death's door and then get into a clinical trial and appear to be doing so much better, only to have him drop dead of a heart attack after he had his big "come back".   He was gonna get his name on that AIDS quilt no matter what!

And I agree that the lunch scene at the end was lacking.  Yeah it was all exposition as someone above said.  And I guess that the only thing these women had in common was that they were all Trans and were part of the Ball Scene?   It's common for co-workers of many years who were friendly with each other, to lose touch after leaving a job, but these women were presented to us as a family; yet once they all went off to their happy endings, the bond was broken.   They all stayed in New York, so yeah, maybe they move in different circles but not to reach out with phone calls?  It just seemed odd.  

Finally, one of my pet peeves this season was all the slang and expressions that were not in use at the time.  "Bougie" "Optics" - there were more but that's what I'm thinking right now.  The set design people got the look of the era right (boy, do I remember those lacquer wall units), and the clothing was right on, but jeeze, get the era slang down please!  

16 minutes ago, Hiyo said:

If you are referring to the video for her song “Why”, thats actually the opposite. She starts out with nothing on but then then adds it all.

“Great scene!”

Pray and some of the others might have even appreciated her “nipple necklace” from that scene...

Slaps face here - thanks for the correction! 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

The one moment that got to me was when Blanca referenced Hart Island as she was getting Pray's ashes.  

The mix of political action stridency and hagiographic path to Pray's demise was too much to deal with.   Elektra could pull that off.  No other. 

We got Glee II, this time with a real choir!  ZZZZZZ

It was a gallant choice to have our last impression of Pray be that of a mentor, as Blanca was passing it on.  The ballroom community was not to last, but this was a noble end for the series.

I am less charitable that the very final image was Blanca, wait for it, walking a street!   Way too on the nose, imo.  Of course she was walking in genuine pride, for which, thank God.  Still, the streets were inhospitable, to say the least.  

Good luck to all the talent who put so much love and effort into Pose.  Thanks to the many in these forums who enhanced the show with your wisdom, and a dollop of snark.  

[Empress1]

1 hour ago, 12catcrazy said:

Finally, one of my pet peeves this season was all the slang and expressions that were not in use at the time.  "Bougie" "Optics" - there were more but that's what I'm thinking right now. 

Optics I agree with, but my Black family has always said “bougie.” I can think of a few instances in the 90s sitcom “Living Single” (my fave) where a character who WAS bougie was referred to as such.

Billy Porter has such a beautiful smile. It just breaks his face wide open.

3 hours ago, Hiyo said:

I like Lulu too and am glad she got a happy ending. But in accounting? I feel it would have made more sense to have her end up as an up and coming buyer for a major department store.

I agree. I was like “accounting? I guess.” It sounded like she got a job at a bank, maybe as a teller, and then moved up. I agree that Lulu was short-changed much of the time.

I knew it was coming but I still cried when Pray died. Seeing Blanca collapse did me in. (I’m grieving; loss hits me hard these days.)

Edited June 8, 2021 by Empress1

[theajw]

On 6/8/2021 at 1:02 AM, tennisgurl said:

Well everyone, I think we all learned a valuable lesson from this show...working for the mob is the best way to solve all of your problems. 

That's the subplot that completely took me out of Season 3, to be honest. 

[Empress1]

On 6/7/2021 at 7:34 AM, Blakeston said:

We've heard so much about how hard Angel and Lulu have struggled to maintain their sobriety, but I guess that's not a thing anymore.

I think - and I am nobody's authority on this - that there are some instances where people are addicted to hard drugs but not alcohol. Someone with more knowledge should feel free to check me if I'm wrong, though.

[JayD83]

43 minutes ago, theajw said:

That's the subplot that completely took me out of Season 3, to be honest. 

That part actually pissed me off and made me not sad to see this show go.  It was just so ridiculous. 

[Ohiopirate02]

54 minutes ago, theajw said:

That's the subplot that completely took me out of Season 3, to be honest. 

 

11 minutes ago, JayD83 said:

That part actually pissed me off and made me not sad to see this show go.  It was just so ridiculous. 

It was also completely unnecessary.  Elektra building a phone sex empire and making bank is enough.  No need to have her launder some man's money for her to become rich.  

[RealReality]

Was there a finale part II that aired Sunday? I only saw part 1.  I better check.  

Sorry, but I'll be thrilled if Elektra gets through unscathed, no matter how unrealistic  as she is my favorite.  

[RealReality]

Found the second part of the series finale....which I found disappointing. 

Whoever complained that Blanca basically speaks in wall quotes was right.  And she had so many "uplifting" monologs that it became preachy.  

A lot of it had to be said.  About sisterhood, about how these kids who are rejected will come to new York and to keep pushing.  It's what the show was all about. And how the ballrooms let trans people dream and work to make their dreams a reality. 

But in one Blanca monolouge after another.  It was old.  

Elektra looking like a whole creamsicle in a matching fur stole made me smile.

I'm super confused about why there would be some throwaway line about pray not wanting her to have a locket, psyche!

He was just playing!  Blanca just found out about the lockets five minutes ago so how would she know?

I didn't care about Blanca and Ricky's new children. We never got to know them so it was silly to waste time on the scene.  

I think them continuing the house was great.  But they could have introduced the characters or given us some tidbits so I'd care, like I did with the young woman Blanca gave the diagnosis to. 

I would have so much preferred to SEE the wonderful lives the main characters were living.  

Show me lulu moving on up to a bigger office. 

 

Show me angel and papi and their son at school assembly or at a game. 

Please show me elektra being a rich fabulous bitch while wearing something fantastic.

Show me Blanca with her new kids going through a routine.  And maybe have the other girls helping.  Lulu and angel teaching face.  Elektra teaching walk.  Even connecting the old characters with the new may have made me care.  

This series finale just wasn't it.   

[justmehere]

The writing was uneven and sometimes stilted or contradictory. They compressed a lot and told rather than showed. But, they were under a ton of restrictions due to COVID and no doubt did the best they could under highly abnormal circumstances. There were some great episodes this season: in particular, I liked seeing where a few of the characters came from. There was also a fair amount of wish fulfilment, but I don't mind too much. I cared so much about these characters, and after a year-plus of difficulty for everyone in real life, I'm glad for the happy endings and can forgive some of it being unrealistic. It would have been too depressing to leave them struggling or worse. (I'm still haunted by that image in S1 of Elektra in front of the mirror, having lost everything, so for her to be on top and be so generous toward everyone, pulling others up with her - whatever mob craziness aside - makes me happy.) For all that they did do, for all that they accomplished... I'm grateful for this amazing show that moved me, taught me, and entertained me.  

[RealReality]

6 hours ago, justmehere said:

There was also a fair amount of wish fulfilment, but I don't mind too much. I cared so much about these characters, and after a year-plus of difficulty for everyone in real life, I'm glad for the happy endings and can forgive some of it being unrealistic. It would have been too depressing to leave them struggling or worse. (I'm still haunted by that image in S1 of Elektra in front of the mirror, having lost everything, so for her to be on top and be so generous toward everyone, pulling others up with her - whatever mob craziness aside - makes me happy.) For all that they did do, for all that they accomplished... I'm grateful for this amazing show that moved me, taught me, and entertained me.  

I wish I could like this 1000x because I totally agree.  Real life has been depressing, it's nice to see characters I like get nice things.  

[Scarlett45]

I know this season had a lot of issues, Covid, actor’s real life tragedies, every dollar being spent on the music-

 

BUT- I enjoyed getting to see these characters. Seeing their struggle, pain and hearts. This show was ground breaking as far as trans representation, especially for people of color. The walk down memory lane, I kept telling my Mom “didn’t you have that sweater Electra has on ?” (They knew what black women were wearing in the 90s!)

7 hours ago, justmehere said:

The writing was uneven and sometimes stilted or contradictory. They compressed a lot and told rather than showed. But, they were under a ton of restrictions due to COVID and no doubt did the best they could under highly abnormal circumstances. There were some great episodes this season: in particular, I liked seeing where a few of the characters came from. There was also a fair amount of wish fulfilment, but I don't mind too much. I cared so much about these characters, and after a year-plus of difficulty for everyone in real life, I'm glad for the happy endings and can forgive some of it being unrealistic. It would have been too depressing to leave them struggling or worse. (I'm still haunted by that image in S1 of Elektra in front of the mirror, having lost everything, so for her to be on top and be so generous toward everyone, pulling others up with her - whatever mob craziness aside - makes me happy.) For all that they did do, for all that they accomplished... I'm grateful for this amazing show that moved me, taught me, and entertained me.  

Beautifully said. 
 

Season 2 will always be my favorite. I am looking forward to seeing where MJ Rodriguez and Dyllon Burnside go in their careers. 

[Nialla]

On the one hand, I know COVID affected what they wanted to do on many levels, but on the other hand... did it really? Season was cut short, they couldn't do the big ballroom scenes, etc., but did it really change the major plots they had planned out? I think certain things were pretty well set: Angel and Papi's wedding, Pray's death, and Blanca making it out alive and continuing to help people. The rest had to fit in around those events.

Not sure if Elektra's stuff was changed around, but I would have been fine with her making her money with phone sex and not bringing in the mob. Having the mob acting like fairy godfathers to a group of mostly trans women just seemed off, but I guess it was easier to do that instead of showing Elektra running a business day-to-day. Also easier to explain away the massive amounts of cash she was tossing around to get everyone possible a happy ending.

One thing that kept niggling at me during the bits about ACT Up was how they kept switching into "TV news mode" with a square screen and lower resolution video. I kept expecting there to be some follow up on that, such as a reveal of some of that making it into a news program or documentary. Or that some of the "news" footage was actually from the era, though much of it contained characters we know, so no, and nothing seemed to come of it.

Overall, I enjoyed the series, and as someone who was a teen and 20-something at the time the series was set, it was interesting to see a different lens into a time period I was familiar with, even when they got things wrong.

My only big issue in the first season was more about the media coverage focusing on the white actors -- Evan Peters, Kate Mara, James Van Der Beek -- who were often listed as the primary cast in a groundbreaking cast full of queer POC. That changed with season two, and I've enjoyed watching the cast's talents grow. I hope to see them in future projects, but I will miss seeing this found family together on my screen.

[RealReality]

While mobsters being overly friendly with elektra may be unrealistic, I know that mob families owned and operated gay clubs in the 50s and 60s.  

It was easy to make and launder money, the establishments could offer "protection" for patrons from police harassment and if a politician or two happened to wander in the mob could blackmail them.  

Just to say that, for all the machismo, at the end of the day it was really all about money.  So while elekras storyline may have been unrealistic, I could see that basis for it. 

[Scarlett45]

On 6/13/2021 at 9:03 PM, RealReality said:

While mobsters being overly friendly with elektra may be unrealistic, I know that mob families owned and operated gay clubs in the 50s and 60s.  

It was easy to make and launder money, the establishments could offer "protection" for patrons from police harassment and if a politician or two happened to wander in the mob could blackmail them.  

Just to say that, for all the machismo, at the end of the day it was really all about money.  So while elekras storyline may have been unrealistic, I could see that basis for it. 

Yes I was about to mention that. 

[millennium]

On 6/8/2021 at 2:41 AM, Glade said:

 Meanwhile 40% of homeless youth are still LGBTQ today, and they don’t all become upper middle class by the time they reach their 30’s and 40’s. I’m glad things worked out so well for this group, but that isn’t the norm. Transgender youth are still being exploited on the streets.

And transgender adults are still being discriminated against when it comes to employment, housing and public acceptance.   TV and media would have you believe transgender people are assimilating easily, leaving out the caveat that acceptance and acclaim are largely reserved for those who are genetically blessed (Indya Moore, etc.) or who have the money to transform and beautify themselves surgically.   Whether it meant to or not, Pose perpetuated that kind of discrimination.   I'm sure it made many trans people feel bad about themselves that they can't achieve the passability of the actresses on the show.

I remember the ball era.   I lived far from New York but I used to read about it frequently in the Village Voice.   I saw Paris Is Burning in an art house theater on the night it opened.

Pose has always seemed like a Glee-version of that time.   I don't recall reading about many happy endings back then (i.e., the women becoming supermodels, mothers, nurses, entrepreneurs, etc.) -- in fact, this has always stuck in my mind:

Venus/Angie Xtravaganza

By the time Madonna came out with "Vogue" it seemed like the world had already moved on.   One of my gripes with the series is that it consistently kept less passable trans women in the background, usually as extras in the ball audience.  The show loudly boasted about having the largest trans cast in television history but neglected to mention that only those with passing privilege were given speaking roles.  I realize that on just about any show the best roles are given to the beautiful people.  The thing is, it is only in the transgender community that society tends to acknowledge or deny one's womanhood on the basis of looks.   I don't think Pose set out to reinforce that double standard, but it sure didn't help.

 

Edited September 15, 2021 by millennium

[aradia22]

I did think Pray's line about making his panel of the quilt blindingly fabulous was a good one.

Now that I think about it, it's weird that this is the first episode that I remember Blanca and Christopher being together at the hospital (minus the flashback of them meeting in the elevator). 

I have mixed feelings about the way they tried to make a systemic issue connect to the characters with the random guy we just met with thrush and Victoria Clark. I did appreciate the point about how even if this wasn't morally outrageous, it was also scientifically dubious to not test the drug cocktail on the diverse sample of the population with the disease. But then their whole campaign was getting two spots in the trial which sort of undercut the message.

It was lovely to highlight the Gay Men's Choir but it did feel a little like they were suddenly hitting issues and talking points they've ignored (fairly) to focus on the character's actual lives. It was nice to see Jeff Blumenkrantz (the choir director) even if he didn't do much. It felt like they had to establish a lot of things very quickly to make the second half of the episode work. 

I don't know if it was because the writing was awkward this episode (e.g. scenes where Ricky and Nurse Judy had to suddenly burst into emotion, exposition scenes, speeches) but the acting seemed weaker. The actors were rarely able to connect with each other. And it was those moments that worked best when they did occur. 

It is WILD that Christopher is moving in with Blanca. A) I swear in the premiere, it was supposed to be the other way around. B) His apartment is so much nicer, even with Elektra's new furniture.

The Candy's Sweet Refrain performance was underwhelming. They're singers so they're not going to be as dynamic when they're lipsyncing and there wasn't a lot of choreography until the end.

The structure of the first half was weird. They kept trying to get us ready to say goodbye to Pray... instead of just building up momentum for that storyline. We just had multiple tearful goodbyes. Pray emotionally taking off his makeup and blowing out the candles and suddenly being dead the next morning was horrible. Worse than how they suddenly killed Candy. Was the reveal that he was giving his meds to Ricky worth the complete lack of context for the audience during the previous scenes and how Pray chose to die without connecting with everyone beyond those few goodbyes? What about all the other characters? What about Castle? I feel like they were betting on people rewatching or guessing beforehand and either was a bad bet.

I was confused how Charlene already had her locket without having met Blanca. And Jada didn't want to fulfill his wishes? WHAT? Also, then Blanca gives a locket to Elektra anyway. And more importantly, how is Lulu one of Pray's loved ones? Have they ever had a direct conversation? I felt like what Blanca read to the group was more of a sendoff from the show to these characters. Pray would have written them all individual notes. No way that was all he had to say to each of them.

I guess he had work because they met at Pray's apartment and participated in the protest during daylight hours? But it's weird that Christopher was at the concert but is otherwise absent in a lot of moments. 

So in another 2 years, Blanca became a nurse. No wedding ring so I'm assuming it wasn't a wedding anniversary they were celebrating.

Except for Lulu, those outfits were a little disco for 1998. The makeup was decent. Polished but nodding at old trends.

I did laugh at Elektra moving her business from phone sex to webcams. I did appreciate the line they included about Damon.

I guess they needed something for Ricky to do other than floating around on tours but he didn't seem like the natural choice to take over Evangelista. At least an older character... maybe Lulu. 10's across the board felt a little easy for that showing but I'm glad they ended the show back at the ballroom.

I did get me at the end. I know season two gestured at the same thing but this time they really made the continuation of the next generation and the legacy feel meaningful. And playing Whitney didn't hurt. It certainly wasn't the worst finale but while I don't know the writers well enough to know who wrote which bit of dialogue but over these two hours I could definitely hear a lot of different voices and it made it feel disjointed. Also, it could have been shorter or they could have spent more time developing the characters rather than doing more time jumps.

[aradia22]

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Elektra is making money in webcamming now?  I remember what the internet was like in 1998.  It wasn't very fast.  I know the technology existed but was webcamming really a thing that could be commercialized back then?

I'm imagining a geocities site with pixelated grayscale footage. Sexy. And isn't the point of a phone sex line that it doesn't matter what the operators look like? I guess people always lose their jobs when new technology comes along and they can't adapt.

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Yeah, Seeing Pray restored to full health bothered me too. At the very least, the cocktail can’t cure glaucoma so seeing him with 2 functioning eyes after the big deal about him losing his vision bugged.

I could not remember what virus was supposed to be causing the blindness but that did seem weird. I appreciated that at least there was one person in the choir with a visible disability. 

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I was a little taken aback when Elektra ordered hard liquor for everyone at the table. We've heard so much about how hard Angel and Lulu have struggled to maintain their sobriety, but I guess that's not a thing anymore. Maybe Angel was right about how she couldn't stay sober while raising a kid!

Oh, God. I forgot. I guess it's a magical sobriety that only counts for hard drugs. 

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I thought it was strange when Pray Tell's mother told Blanca that she was like a mother to Pray.  I never saw them that way.  If anything, I saw Pray as a parent figure to Blanca, and wasn't quite sure where Pray's mother was coming from with that comment. 

Adding to my comment above re:Pray and Blanca: THAT is a story I would have liked to have seen the show explore. How did Pray and Blanca become so close? 

Mother is definitely in the word cloud for this show to the point of parody sometimes. I don't think Pray and Blanca's relationship ever makes sense and it's never retconned like Elektra's backstory. We see them grow close over the course of the show but from what we know about their status in ballroom at the beginning, there's no reason for them to have a close relationship. It feels like the writers established the characters that way before they figured out they wanted Pray and Blanca to be close... and then just assumed if they ignored it no one would ask questions.

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I also can't believe Blanca wouldn't be carrying Pray's locket with her every day. I am so disappointed at how little thought was put in to this season. Pose deserved better.

It is a weird accessory to saddle someone with but I have to believe she'd at least have it in her purse.

[aradia22]

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I also find it mildly infuriating that no, his wishes weren’t even carried out to the T; like I was afraid of happening, Aunt Jada gave in to familial pressure though it didn’t lead to a worst case scenario.

Whose familial pressure? I am so confused by that. Was it Latrice? It just seems so strange that Charlene would have to interfere with Jada. And Pray didn't even put his final wishes in writing; he just gave Jada power of attorney. So she told the rest of the family what he wanted and then on a whim decided to cremate him and buy the lockets but not go through with sending part of the ashes to New York? Insanity. I feel like they just wanted to get Charlene and Blanca together when what we should have gotten was EVERYONE (all his family and everyone in NY) together for Pray's funeral rather than the awkward gifting of the lockets for some of the NY people.

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Admittedly I said "he stole that from Viola Davis from How To Get Away With Murder." 

100%. Which lessened the impact since I didn't know why he was even taking that moment. I get taking off the mask but Pray has always been an emcee, not a drag performer. 

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you don't really need to struggle at all. I think I would have felt better about all of these happy endings if we saw the massive amounts of work it took to get them instead of it all being given to the characters easily with Ryan Murphy's magical wish fulfillment wand.

The man is allergic to showing people working hard to achieve a goal, improve their circumstances, etc. Past a certain point, you just start blazing through regionals, sectionals, nationals, etc. People either start successful or the wish fulfillment wand starts tapping them on the head pretty quick.