S15.08: Lipsync Lalaparuza Smackdown

[theatremouse]

Strategy and alliances emerge as the queens face off in a series of lip syncs, all leading to a final sudden death elimination round.

[Keywestclubkid]

Wow they just cut right to it didn’t they lol 7 mins in Ru’s welcoming everyone to the main stage I feel like we missed half an episode already 

[KenyaJ]

I can only assume Ru wanted to see Anetra lip synch as many times as I did, because there was no other justification for her being in the final LSFYL. But I was so excited to see a LSFYL to "Finally" and Anetra slayed it.

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by KenyaJ

[CraftyHazel]

I thought going up against Marcia Marcia Marcia was a bad move on Malaysia’s part.  M3 is a theatre kid, her talent show performance was hysterical, and really the only criticism she receives is that her drag is too subtle.  Her talent has really not been questioned at all, and I would never choose to go against her.

Won’t miss Jax one way or the other, and kind of felt like this was her time to go anyway.  But we could have lost Spice and it wouldn’t have hurt a bit.

So we get 90-minute episodes starting March 10th, huh?  There will only be 7 queens left out of the original 16 by then, and only about three episodes left until the finale.  Too little, too late in my opinion.  I really think a lot of the queens this season got shortchanged by the move to MTV.

[davidcalgary29]

Well, at least we got to see Production's plans for the rest of the season:

Final three:

Mistress, Sasha, Luxx

Whatever Territory:

Marcia, Salina, Anetra, Malaysia. Loosey was previously destined for the top four, but is now getting the Bitter Betty Bitch Edit, so will probably drift around here unless she can create better drama.

Who?

Spice.

Get that Bitch Away from My Face!:

Jax. Poor, poor Jax. 

 

[davidcalgary29]

1 hour ago, CraftyHazel said:

 

Won’t miss Jax one way or the other, and kind of felt like this was her time to go anyway.  But we could have lost Spice and it wouldn’t have hurt a bit.

 

It's clear that RuPaul wanted her off the show -- three episodes ago -- but there were many better, and kinder,  ways to engineer her exit. Given the fact that the other queens thought that she won her first lipsync (hint: she did), and that it even looked that way to the audience even after post-editing shenanigans worked their magic, this was not particularly satisfying. And then they kicked her off without even some kind words from the other contestants to send her on her way! Boo.

This reminds me of Alyssa's burial last season. 

[PhoneCop]

2 hours ago, CraftyHazel said:

I thought going up against Marcia Marcia Marcia was a bad move on Malaysia’s part.  M3 is a theatre kid, her talent show performance was hysterical, and really the only criticism she receives is that her drag is too subtle.  Her talent has really not been questioned at all, and I would never choose to go against her.

I'm glad Untucked clarified how much they knew about Marcia's skill set at that point. They were aware she was a dancer, but I imagine Malaysia might've chosen differently if she knew Marcia was also a competitive gymnast.

[Ms.Lulu]

I hate these lips sync battles. They are so manipulated.

• Mistress should have lost her first round
• Anetra was robbed several times
• Jax wasn't going to be allowed to win

Spice is a filler queen

I hate this on MTV

• I am thinking about canceling WOW and just supporting my local queens
• I will wait to see Sweden, first though
• RuPaul just isn't fun anymore either

When did Drag Race jump the shark?

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by Ms.Lulu

[davidcalgary29]

3 minutes ago, Ms.Lulu said:

I hate these lips sync battles. They are so manipulated.

• Mistress should have lost her first round
• Anetra was robbed several times
• Jax wasn't going to be allowed to win
• Spice is a filler queen

But it's such a plus for production, as they can determine who will likely succeed in a lipsync finale, and cut out tenacious contestants in a relatively painless fashion, and with minimal blowback! And the "twist" is great for the show -- any fans likely to carp about Jax's very unfair elimination are likely to direct their ire at Anetra and not at production itself, where it very properly belongs.

At least we were spared a week of "improv".

[7-Zark-7]

The moment Ru entered in that Versace linebacker shoulder padded top, I should have known some shenanigans were afoot:

- Anetra not getting to walk off with Sasha in a double shantay (even though that is what happens when you turn it out like Tatianna v. Alyssa or Brooke Lynn v. Yvie)

- Anetra not only, not winning her flawless second lip sync, but losing to the least interesting performer of the three.

- Malaysia and Spice not being sent to the back together for not knowing the words to their song.

- Jax being sent home on a lip sync episode - an area where she clearly excels. 

Oooh. I was angry.  But thank goodness, Anetra has confidence, because she could have said, "Okay, y'all have been playing with me all day. I'm tired. Just gimme Spice and let's get this over with" but no, she said "Fuck you! I know I'm good. I know what I'm doing. Don't pretend you haven't seen that by now. Let me show you... again. Give me Jax. She's not sending me home. You're not sending me home. You can't handle the truth and this whole court is out of order!" 

Honestly, Anetra made some good tv out of this rigga morris of an episode.

 

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by 7-Zark-7

[violet and green]

On the plus side, we got two extra minutes of show. I also enjoyed most of the lipsyncs, and the backstage responses to them, but so many wrong "winners". Dear little Jax, I wish it had been Spice instead.

[Starchild]

Yeah I liked Jax.

[littlebennysmom]

4 hours ago, 7-Zark-7 said:

Oooh. I was angry.  But thank goodness, Anetra has confidence, because she could have said, "Okay, y'all have been playing with me all day. I'm tired. Just gimme Spice and let's get this over with" but no, she said "Fuck you! I know I'm good. I know what I'm doing. Don't pretend you haven't seen that by now. Let me show you... again. Give me Jax. She's not sending me home. You're not sending me home. You can't handle the truth and this whole court is out of order!" 

 

 

The way I saw it, she looked like it was killing her to send Spice to the safe zone.  We all knew Onion Salt didn't deserve that pass, Anetra knew she didn't, Jax knew, Bruno knew, etc.

[davidcalgary29]

1 hour ago, littlebennysmom said:

The way I saw it, she looked like it was killing her to send Spice to the safe zone.  We all knew Onion Salt didn't deserve that pass, Anetra knew she didn't, Jax knew, Bruno knew, etc.

She really played it the only way that she could. If she wasn't directly told to "save" Spice -- and I'm pretty sure she was -- going after a "social influencer" (I will always refuse to admit that this is a thing) with thousands of followers would be a disastrous idea for Anetra's short-term career. We've all seen how this has played out in the past; at least this way, Jax can get a Robbed Edit, Anetra can bask in her halo, and all of Spice's tween fanbase can watch her for another week.

[SemiCharmedLife]

43 minutes ago, davidcalgary29 said:

She really played it the only way that she could. If she wasn't directly told to "save" Spice -- and I'm pretty sure she was -- going after a "social influencer" (I will always refuse to admit that this is a thing) with thousands of followers would be a disastrous idea for Anetra's short-term career. We've all seen how this has played out in the past; at least this way, Jax can get a Robbed Edit, Anetra can bask in her halo, and all of Spice's tween fanbase can watch her for another week.

This makes a lot of sense.  I couldn't figure out why Anetra wouldn't save Jax, since Jax did a much better job at the lip syncs.  I feel for Jax, but I think she can take some time to improve the fashion aspect of her drag and come back for an All Stars run.  

[Glade]

That 'twist' was 100% a producer driven way to undeservedly save Spice from elimination - otherwise the most rational choice would have been for Anetra to save Jax in order to give her an easy, guaranteed win.  But a number of the decisions were off tonight, and a double win for Sasha/Anetra wasn't given when it should have been.  Those lipsyncs were brutally cut down; like they couldn't even give us the whole song of 'It's All Coming Back to Me Now' but had to random cut out pivotal lines?

Spice was the worst lipsyncer, and should have gone home after recycling her non-moves a third time; Jax wasn't even the second weakest... Meanwhile Ross wore the jacket again that drives me crazy because it gives him the illusion of a glitter neckbeard. 

Edited February 19, 2023 by Glade

[violet and green]

8 hours ago, Glade said:

Meanwhile Ross wore the jacket again that drives me crazy because it gives him the illusion of a glitter neckbeard. 

He reminds me of one of the Golden Girls out on the razzle. So much sparkle!

[peachmangosteen]

I personally thought Spice should have won against Loosey, Jax should have won against Mistress (I will never understand the hard on the judges have for her lol), Anetra should have beaten Sasha or at the least a tie, and then Spice should have definitely won over Malaysia. And there is no way in ever loving hell that Luxx should have beaten both Jax and Anetra in the last one.

[theatremouse]

15 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

She really played it the only way that she could. If she wasn't directly told to "save" Spice -- and I'm pretty sure she was -- going after a "social influencer" (I will always refuse to admit that this is a thing) with thousands of followers would be a disastrous idea for Anetra's short-term career. We've all seen how this has played out in the past; at least this way, Jax can get a Robbed Edit, Anetra can bask in her halo, and all of Spice's tween fanbase can watch her for another week.

I think it's simpler than that. They all know Jax was sucking at the main challenges but doing well in the lip-syncs. They also all basically feel like they can beat Spice. So Anetra takes out Jax, and the easy-to-beat Spice remains to lose another day. Probably soon.

[SemiCharmedLife]

It seemed like the editing was off when Ru didn't announce the winner between Sasha and Anetra.  It just cut to Sasha entering the Werk Room.  Kind of strange.  I thought my feed went out.

I think there were producers shenanigans working here, to keep Spice around longer, since the twins were the big draw this season.  But, it rubs me the wrong way when it is supposed to be a lip sync battle and then the worst one doesn't go home and someone who did better has to sashay away.  Didn't that happen last season with Jasmine, too?

[ruffy666]

Luxx winning the three-way lip synch was enough for me to throw in the towel.  Aggressively flailing your arms isn't (or shouldn't be!) winning choreography.  

Also, unrelated to the lip synch, her nose contour is very strange :)

[Kaboom 2.0]

I'm in for the lip sync-paloozas but this episode's was just off. Jax got the shaft & Nutmeg just skates into another ep. I read what others above have posited about the shenanigans but I still don't like it.

Definitely should've been a double win for Anetra vs Sasha.

Bruno just makes everything better. 

[belligerent]

The editing made this feel like a clip show.

[sugarbaker design]

That Jax is off the show, and Spice is still on the show, is a crime against humanity.

[hatchetgirl]

On 2/17/2023 at 8:43 PM, davidcalgary29 said:

Final three:

Mistress, Sasha, Luxx

Whatever Territory:

Marcia, Salina, Anetra, Malaysia. Loosey was previously destined for the top four, but is now getting the Bitter Betty Bitch Edit, so will probably drift around here unless she can create better drama.

Ugh - please not a final 3 of Mistress and Luxx.  Both are not nice and are far too green.  But then, i can't remember most of these queen anyway because the show is almost unwatchable.  

I'm watching Drag Race France and enjoying the camaraderie and serious french goofiness.  I'm going to start Belgique soon because Rita is MY FAVORITE!