S16.E02: Queen Choice Awards

[davidcalgary29]

Seven new queens attempt to enter the competition with excitement even though they can clearly see that they're the B Team on this season!

Plane Jane immediately sends herself off to the finals by blatantly acting like a complete bitch, leaving her competitors to flail and sag in the face of her audacity. It's a risky choice, though, as a mid-season pivot to showcase vulnerability and compassion will be required in order to satisfy reality television tropes and viewers' interest. Also: ditch the giant boobs, girl! Jimbo already sailed those floats out of town.

Talents talent and the runway runways, leaving viewers largely entertained and with a craving for bananas. Will we begin to remember these queens' names by next week? And WILL Amanda Tori Meating finally paint on vaguely human features for the runway next week? Shenanigans and tantrums seem assured as we prepare for the first ball of the season! We can only hope that Q (or perhaps Saffira) will give Jane a much-needed comeuppance.

Edited January 13, 2024 by davidcalgary29

[Starchild]

1 hour ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Also: ditch the giant boobs, girl! Jimbo already sailed those floats out of town.

Ha, I was thinking much the same thing. She's more attractive than Jimbo, and more outwardly bitchy, but she seemed to be copying Jimbo for sure. Unless she's been doing this since before Jimbo came to prominence about 5? years ago

[davidcalgary29]

What I primarily find attractive in Jimbo is her spontaneity. Jane feels very calculated in this episode, and I'm hoping that this is a temporary glitch. She makes me think of what might happen if Jimbo and Fiercealicious got caught in a transporter incident with Brooke Lynn's S1 Fembot persona: boobs and bitchiness without the charisma or likeability.

[Salacious Kitty]

Not enjoying Jane, especially after watching Untucked. She's utterly humorless. 

[davidcalgary29]

...but she thinks herself to be clever, winning,  and hilarious. I'm reserving judgment for now, but ugh.

Edited January 13, 2024 by davidcalgary29

[Salacious Kitty]

Jane still voted in reverse order, in spite of what Becky said about about being nice. 

I guess we've found our villain. 

[davidcalgary29]

...and still managed to insult Nymphia in the process, even though her "strategy" was to place the best last. You'd think she'd know that her time on set would last a month, but the show's contracted to be on Netflix until the 33rd century. Make us like you! Balance the mean with comedy! 

[SemiCharmedLife]

I'm enthused about what Nymphia Wind will bring to the competition.  She showed off her versatility tonight- both comedy and beautiful talent emphasizing her culture.  Her promo and Meet the Queens looks were stunning.  Can't wait for more.  

Plane Jane achieved something with this episode--- we are all talking about her.  She is definitely giving the "villain" character, especially with her rate-a-queen strategy...and this is after saying she is going to rate them by fairness/talent.  OK, girl... 

Edited January 14, 2024 by SemiCharmedLife
changed spelling of a name

[Red Bridey]

I don't like bananas and I hope we are not going to see bananas every single.week.

Rolling my eyes at Jane. You so bad. Big whoop.

Becky who?

Don't remember the others' names yet. Oh, Plasma. I like her, so far 

[davidcalgary29]

I'm not yet convinced that Plasma isn't Lucian Piane doing a sneak run to get back into Drag Race.

I also like Plasma, but I sort of rolled my eyes at her comment that she "grew up listening to Julie Andrews!". I mean, yeah, sure, when your aged parent drags you to Sing-a-Long Sound of Music, dressed up as both Fritz and Liesel (while you hide in a brown paper package wrapped up with embarrassment), but otherwise, NO. I grew up as a closeted Easy Listening fan, but I'm not going to go on national television announcing that my key cultural influences were the Starland Vocal Band, Bread, and lots of Rita Coolidge. Have some pride, Plasma! You're not ninety!

Edited January 13, 2024 by davidcalgary29

[zenithwit]

I think I'm over the split premiere format.  It's clear that Ru always stacks the first episode with the better queens leaving us disappointed when part 2 comes around.  I did like Nymphia and hope she does well.  But I'm afraid we'll be stuck with Plain Jane until the final 4.

[theatremouse]

I don't know why Ru keeps hiring Derek Berry for stuff. He's so one note and uninteresting. But he keeps showing up.

I thought Plane Jane's strategy was somewhat interesting in that her goal wasn't to try to "get rid of the competition" - which is what usually comes up when people bottom vote whoever they think is strongest. It was that she A) believed everyone who said they were going to rate based on what they really thought and B) assumed she'd be in the top. Her strategy wasn't to try to oust the competition, but to ensure herself the win. She's still a jerk, but hey at least that was a tiny variation on the usual villain business.

[Salacious Kitty]

The queens didn't know when they voted that they would be lip synching for the win. I think Jane put her best couple in the bottom to try to set up a LSFYL. 

Thankfully that failed when the other queens rated honestly. 

[theatremouse]

I agree she didn't know. That's why I thought it was interesting. Because for once it wasn't about trying to get the competition axed - which only works if other people are voting with the same thing in mind - but about trying to fix herself at the top. In other words, going into the ranking she thought the top vote-getter based on the overall rankings would automatically be the winner. So if she figured she'd be voted 1 or 2 by a few, by downvoting the other people she thought might also have 1s and 2s made her more likely to land on top, not guarantee it, but skew the math. 

It's possible when she said that it was bullshit, but it seemed real enough to me.

[Wonderlad71]

I'm enjoying Jane and Nymphia.

At least this season won't be a snoozefest i.e. Rupaul's Best Friends race.

[Kaboom 2.0]

Nymphia is Everything. Had a banana for breakfast this morning, thought of her overall loveliness and made me smile.

Was it Mhi'ya that fell asleep at the DMV? LOVE. I feel ya, gurl. 

Jane is boring and meh. 

[violet and green]

I cannot remember a single thing from this episode other than that enchanting dance by Nymphia Wind.

Well, I do remember another boob flopped out on the runway in a LSFYL. Jane is the self-styled villain of the season. And she tried to cook the top two by putting Nymphia last in her vote.

Also! Unlike others on this thread, I remember Ru did tell them the top two would be LSFYL, so Jane knew what she was doing. What was unclear to them was if there would be a bottom two LS or not.

[xander874]

Just started so I’m way behind but I definitely prefer the first set of queens. Some good ones here though. I like most of them. I decided my problem with Jane is not that she’s bitchy and mean - it’s that she’s trying to be bitchy and mean and it comes across as fake and trying to become the villain of the season. She is talented so I hope she gets some redemption arc and goes far on her talents not because she’s good TV