S16.E08: The Snatch Game

[davidcalgary29]

This week, Mhi'ya sasses her competitors, mines RuPaul's fondness for problematic familial stereotypes, and rides her way to a top placement. It's probably too late to save herself from a mid-season elimination, but it's an admirable turn of events!

Meanwhile, a fun reading challenge proves to be a sly misdirection, as our queens flail in a mediocre Snatch Game, and Ru shows her acting chops by pretending to enjoy Plane. Sum Ting's wrong with Nymphia (hello, UK1!) as she Attenboroughs her way to a dull performance and into the bottom three with a catatonic Xunami and Morphine before finding herself Suspiciously Safe. Congrats on finding that golden banana, Nymphia! 

Next week: the queens pay tribute to Robert Smith as they try to find The Cure to mid-season doldrums!

Edited February 24 by davidcalgary29

[Starchild]

I have to admit, it's hard to remember what happened. Things sort of blend together because I watch 3 different franchises in a row on the same night lol.

Congrats M'iyah!

Jane seemed to show some genuine emotions this week, not just in the werk room, but onstage when reacting to the results (for both herself and others). Is there a heart? This time around she seemed less mean and more garden variety shady, which I find much more tolerable.

[davidcalgary29]

I'd feel more benevolent toward Plane at this point in her "evolution" if she hadn't earlier stated that she was living her "Bitch Fantasy" when she was harassing Amanda;  that suggests that she knew very well that she was being obnoxious when she didn't have to be, which is worse to me than just being a clueless bitch. She's calculating; she's shown herself to be mean; and I still don't really know what her brand of drag might be, so I'm not terribly invested in her as a contestant. 

I'm also with Dawn here: Plasma's shtick has become stale.

[Adeejay]

So that happened. The winner should have been Sapphire and Nymphia should have been in the bottom two.

[violet and green]

I thought Plane won that fair and square. Disappointed Plasma didn't do a different diva; I think she should have saved Barbra for this. I am enjoying Mhi'ya's small wins, especially after that runway discussion a few eps back when she said no, she wasn't shy, in the voice of a small mouse.

Edited February 24 by violet and green
typo

[me5671]

Glad to see Mh’iya safe for a change, but it was more because there were so many lackluster performances than her really knocking it out of the park. Only Plane and Sapphira shined in this, honestly. I don’t know what some of these other queens were thinking. Many of them handicapped themselves right from the start with poor choices of celebrity to impersonate. Most notably, the Gold Tooth Fairy and Jane Goodall obviously. But even though they ended up being safe, the choices of Amelia Earhart and Meaghan McCain were predictably bland and unfunny. I love the snatch game, but this one seemed below average overall with just a few standouts. 

[TiffanyNichelle]

I also think Sapphire should have won based on the back and forth with Ru during the game but I think Plain's runway saved her just as Nymphia's runway saved her from being in the bottom 2. Which she should have been. I like her but she was awful in Snatch Game.

Gold Tooth Fairy could have been funny if she was able to create a fully fledged character in her head before the game and was able to come up with things to riff off. Hell just steal the character of Goldmember from that Austin Powers movies and talk about how much you love gooooold teeth. Trinity doing the devil was different because everyone has an idea of what the devil is and she just flipped it. No one knows what a gold tooth fairy is. Are you stealing gold teeth? Are you giving gold teeth? What?

I don't like Plain Jane. I understand that on a reality show everyone is calculating and playing a role but there's a way to be "wink-wink nudge nudge" about it and then there's just flat out not even hiding it and that's what Plain seems to be doing. She's too obvious about it. She's going to hit top 5 and suddenly become super soft and vulnerable and encouraging to the queens to show that's she's changed. I originally thought she was just going to make top 3 but if Nymphia doesn't get it together during the challenges and stops relying on runway to save her, I think she's going to win.

Burger fingers wasn't that funny. Ru just likes to laugh at really stupid stuff and as they as, as long as you make Ru laugh, you're good.

[belligerent]

I find it super weird that the editing made it appear as though Planned Jan said something about being distracted by “shiny breasts” specifically at Laith Ashley, who happens to be a trans man. I doubt she had any idea who he is and it was probably directed at both pit crew members but wow, editors. Nobody can make her say words she didn’t say but the editing really has been showing a good number of questionable things. 
 

Beyond that, it annoys me how much Ru can interfere with the outcome of snatch game. All she really has to do is express doubt to someone in the workroom to make them second guess or just refuse to play “yes and” to derail them fully. 
 

I also didn’t think it was totally fair in untucked that Q was getting accused of pulling out the Brick for Amelia Earhart. Ostensibly she’d practiced Amelia beforehand, so she was more spoilering her own performance in the SNL episode by choosing to use the mannerisms she had planned for Amelia. 
 

Did they change the rules for this season to allow made up characters? I think in the past, you weren’t supposed to do that, but they didn’t stop Xunami from doing it when they had the chance, and someone mentioned that they had thought Plane’s character was made up. 

[7-Zark-7]

Snatch Game

For me:

Tops - Sapphira and Plane Jane 

High Mid - Q, Mhi’ya

Mid - Plasma

Bottom - Dawn, Morphine, Xunami, Nymphia Wind

Strange - No celebrities or even judges for contestants

I would have given the win to Sapphira (though I don’t mind it going to Plane Jane). I thought Matty Rants (Youtube) made a great point in saying that Rupaul challenged Sapphira in a way she didn’t challenge Plane, and Sapphira used her wits and had clever comebacks. Plane was very good, though.  I didn’t have to know her celebrity to understand her character.  And, I do think Sapphira needed to lean into James Brown a bit more. She needed to get up and dance more, or sweat more or appear to walk off the set, then throw off the cape and come back. Her James was a little reserved. She needed to watch Kennedy Davenport's Little Richard, and tap into that energy.

To me, Q slightly edged out Mhi’ya.  She had a couple of funny lines, whereas Mhi’ya just had a fun attitude… but she made Ru laugh, so that was that.

Plasma was just there.

Dawn was terrible and I think worse than Morphine, who at times did make Anna Delvey references. Dawn had a bubbly attitude, like Mhi’ya, but unfortunately that’s not Megan McCain. McCain is famously pouty and name drops her father so much, she thinks being a nepo baby is an achievement. John McCain wasn’t mentioned once (although perhaps that was edited out).  

Gold Tooth Fairy is a decent idea. There is potential there, Xunami just didn’t find it.  

Nymphia Wind … girl … girl. 

Runway

Nymphia Wind … GIRL!  GIRL!  This was fantastic!  The best of the week by far.  However, I thought we were past the days when a great runway could save a queen from the Bottom Two. I’ll never forget seeing Kahmora Hall get sent home in that dragon gown that was one of the best looks I’ve ever seen on this show and thinking “that’s it! The runway can’t save anyone anymore.” But when they showed the girls after snatch game saying maybe the runway would save Nymphia I thought, ”it’s going to happen, she’s going to get saved”.

Sapphira also had a great runway and dance idea.

I thought Mhi’ya’s 90’s pirate mullet costume was a bit strange. She sold the dance though. Plasma's outfit was just okay. She sold the dance though.

Everyone else was fine. I get that Plane’s was expensive, but still, it was … fine.

Lip-Sync

I think Morphine and Xunami were screwed over for a few reasons:  

1) They are friends, and contestants who are close to each other are often pitted against each other in lip-syncs. 

2) Dawn was just as bad as they were, and doesn’t have a win, yet inexplicably, she still wasn’t placed in the bottom. And I think this as someone who initially picked Dawn for the Top 3. She's had a few high points but she's mostly coasted this season.

3) Nymphia Wind had the best runway.

It was a nice, bitter-sweet performance and Morphine did the better job.  Which is ironic, because Xunami has the Whitney Houston physique and projects a similar elegance. It would behoove her to have some Whitney moves in her repertoire. 

I’ll miss Xunami. I always assumed she’d go out in the middle, but still, I expected her to get to sixth place or so.

 

Edited February 25 by 7-Zark-7

[davidcalgary29]

2 hours ago, belligerent said:

Did they change the rules for this season to allow made up characters? I think in the past, you weren’t supposed to do that, but they didn’t stop Xunami from doing it when they had the chance, and someone mentioned that they had thought Plane’s character was made up. 

No, they've allowed it for years now. You can either count Kim Chi's "Kimmy Jong Un" on S8 or Gigi's "Maria the Robot" as the first made-up characters on the main franchise.

[TiffanyNichelle]

2 hours ago, 7-Zark-7 said:

It was a nice, bitter-sweet performance and Morphine did the better job.  Which is ironic, because Xunami has the Whitney Houston physique and projects a similar elegance. It would behoove her to have some Whitney moves in her repertoire. 

It felt like Xunami kept trying to have moments with Morphine during the performance and a few times it worked but Morphine was more about making sure she performed for the judges and I think that's why she pulled out the win but it could have gone either way for me.

[peachmangosteen]

15 hours ago, 7-Zark-7 said:

Dawn was terrible and I think worse than Morphine, who at times did make Anna Delvey references. Dawn had a bubbly attitude, like Mhi’ya, but unfortunately that’s not Megan McCain. McCain is famously pouty and name drops her father so much, she thinks being a nepo baby is an achievement. John McCain wasn’t mentioned once (although perhaps that was edited out).  

... Dawn was just as bad as they were, and doesn’t have a win, yet inexplicably, she still wasn’t placed in the bottom. And I think this as someone who initially picked Dawn for the Top 3. She's had a few high points but she's mostly coasted this season.

This. I was shocked Morphine was B3 over Dawn. I liked Dawn at first but I'm pretty much over her now. It seemed like she made up at least 50% of the confessionals in this episode for no reason. It's enough!

[BloggerAloud]

Dawn has a lot of opinions for someone who has not won a challenge yet, I'll say that much.

[gorgy]

More often than not, the Snatch Game is hit or miss. I wouldn't say this edition was a miss, but it sure wasn't a hit. What really annoyed was it seemed each contestant/character had their own accompanying background music that was overtly manipulative. I was so focused on the music, it became distracting. I don't know, but this season feels like it has a lot of filler queens. 

Mhi’ya’s runway ensemble reminded me of Seinfeld's pirate puffy shirt, which made me think Q should've dressed as Elaine doing her little kicks dance down the runway

 

Edited February 25 by gorgy

[belligerent]

21 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

No, they've allowed it for years now. You can either count Kim Chi's "Kimmy Jong Un" on S8 or Gigi's "Maria the Robot" as the first made-up characters on the main franchise.

Those characters are made-up in a way that’s different from what I mean. Kimmy Jong Un was based on an actual person and “Maria the Robot” was based on a real robot personality (that felt weird to type) named Sophia the Robot. These were still impersonations on some level. 

What happened this Snatch Game felt different than that, because “the gold tooth fairy” wasn’t an interpretation (however loose) of an existing personality, she told Ru that it was all from her head. Likewise, when it was mentioned by Michelle (? I think) that she thought Plain Jain’s character was someone she “made up,” it didn’t seem to matter that she had or hadn’t. They also seemed iffy about Tiffany Pollard but were fine with Mhi’ya rebranding what she was going to do as Tiffany Pollard as an original character.

I know there’s a lot of grey area here. I feel like once Trinity decided to do Lucifer, they probably decided it was fine to do whatever. However, it would be nice to hear what the parameters are so the viewers know. If the criteria for a snatch game character is “someone,” then why not just be your own drag persona? I’m sure that’s off the table. 

I guess I would rather they make up things like the Gold Tooth Fairy instead of impersonating random tiktokers, so I’m not complaining so much as I am wondering what the actual rules are. I think increasingly, snatch game is the challenge where the fourth wall has been knocked down between the viewers and production, exposing how much of the judging outcome is just whatever Ru wants it to be, regardless of the performance, which makes it feel less fun to watch for me. 

Edited February 25 by belligerent

[Lethallyfab]

Plasma’s Patti LuPone was extremely subdued, something which Patti is decidedly NOT  — she’s known for her shit-talking about folks (Madonna, Andrew Lloyd Webber) and her fiery temper (yelling at audience members for being on their cell phones.). For a so-called expert on “grande dames,” she completely missed the mark.  I’m in no way a theatre queen and even *I* know Patti’s personality.

[Starchild]

I absolutely love Plasma, but I was not impressed by her Patti, for sure.

[Mahfouz]

Mhi'yah (sp?) once again choosing to wear the hard plastic titties, complete with hole in the sternum to really cement the fact that these things aren't even close to being real.

Also, once again, Ru decides to reward somebody with absolutely zero charisma because that queen decides to turn it up to 1 (on a scale of 100).

 

 

[Kaboom 2.0]

For me Saphhira won the Snatch Game BUT I agree with the poster here that said she could've gone bigger as James Brown. That icon was always at an 11 onstage, in interviews, etc. Also I totally had flashbacks to Kennedy Davenport's Little Richard on her season's Snatch Game while watching Sapphire.

Ya'll I squealed in delight and clapped my hands the second I saw Chad Michaels but then immediately thought "Miy'ah, do NOT be goaded into doing your impersonation of Cher in front of Chad, I'm not sure if Chad won't will slap you to defend Cher's honor"! I am glad Miy'ah opened herself up to portray Shaquisha (sp?) although why couldn't she just have pivoted to portraying Trina instead? I'm shy too but girl, you're on Drag Race. 

I will miss Xunami, I thought she was so beautiful and kind and that accent! Love love love. 

Wow I just realized none of the other SG impersonations made an impression on me. Wait, Nymphia's was bad. So bad. 

[SemiCharmedLife]

Is there a thread for social media goings on?  I was on reddit yesterday and there is some major tea about Q and her tweets.  Just wondered if it is an okay subject to post about?

[Ananayel]

Meghan McCain needed a stupid, contrived, overly intricate hairdo, in addition to mentioning her father every 30 seconds.

And as much as I loved James Brown, and Little Richard, and the other male Snatch Game impersonations, I want that to be forbidden. 

Good to see Chad Michaels once more. But this whole episode seemed kind of off. Actually, this whole season has been off. Not as bad as some of the recent ones, but off nonetheless.

[peachmangosteen]

On 2/26/2024 at 6:34 PM, SemiCharmedLife said:

Is there a thread for social media goings on?  I was on reddit yesterday and there is some major tea about Q and her tweets.  Just wondered if it is an okay subject to post about?

I guess?

[butterbody]

When I heard "Gold Tooth Fairy", I thought about Evie Oddly as the Boogie Man. Now THAT is how you Snatch as a made-up character. 

[Red Bridey]

I have never noticed plastic breast plates on previous drag queen contestants as much as I have with this bunch. Seriously, WTF? I thought by now the queens would be slick enough to make them look realistic!

This was a particularly bad Snatch Game. I very much dislike queens playing male characters, no matter how flamboyant they may be. I knew Banana Queen wouldn't go home, but I would have loved seeing her LFYL. I bet she is not.very.good. I thought Xunami won the dance-off, but Ru has her reasons to keep Morphine around for another week. Both queens are marginal talents, so six of one...