S09.E03: The Snatch Game of Love

[davidcalgary29]

In the wake of the last runway, the queens talk strategy and try to stir up good-natured drama for the viewers. Production shenanigans start early, as it's clear the some random PA feeds Nina and Shannel a talking point about the upcoming challenge, leading Nina to innocently muse that it might be time for The Snatch Game. Shannel does a half-assed job denying just this...because it is! And they've (dramatic drum roll) brought the same character! WHAT will happen??? Well, nothing, in the end, for which we can all be grateful.

Look, the Snatch Game of Love is a pretty crappy concept, because it's more constrained than its parent, and results are often pretty substandard. Happily, tonight is one of the stronger outings, leading to four good to great performances. Monet and Raven are the "bachelors", and both are pretty bad. They should have been forced to play "celebrities", too!

Shannel and Nina are both great as dueling Liberaces. I personally preferred Shannel's Method performance to Nina's manic camp, but both are excellent. Gottmik is similarly poised and smart playing a DOG -- a bonkers choice that pays off -- and Angeria is an inspired Marla Gibbs. Well, Florence, really, but she tries to claim that it's Gibbs' entire sitcom history. Spoiler: it's not.

Roxxxy reprises Tasha Salad and is fine. The other three queens tank, although Monet sows chaos with the only WTF moment in the episode by giving a wooden and unfunny Jorgeous a date. Okay, that was sort of hilarious.

The runway is pretty bad, and the garments are either Shannel-tacky (Shannel), Shannel-tacky and ugly (Nina)or miss the mark in some important way (WHERE was your tail, Mik?? Don't tell me your ponytail sufficed). The panel is infuriatingly positive with this parade of blah. Bad judges!

Nina and Gottmik win, with the special prize of earning another badge that they can gift! The queens try to make lots of dramatic commments and faces with this news, but it's really not that much of a fun twist right now, as only Shannel deserves a badge for her performance. The episode ends on a sort-of-cliffhanger, as the queens are left sort-of mulling over whether they should really care about this twist. The answer is no, because Production should really retire it for a better concept: the winner should be able to take away a badge from one of the bottom three queens of the week. That particular twist would probably encourage contestants in a non-elimination season to put a little extra oomph in their performances, and this week would have put Plastique (also terrible) and Jorgeous at risk to lose their badges, which would have been a well-deserved result.

The lipsynch is pretty bad. Mik wins because Nina is terrible here. Silver lining: it's marginally better than her S11 performance!

Next week: it's makeover time, as our intrepid queens attempt to teach firefighters how to tuck and smile while being painted like teenaged girls from 1985! One can only hope that the firefighters decide that turnabout is fair play and throw the queens in bunker gear. And I can tell you that that shit is heavy as hell, and that I almost hyperventilated putting on PPE for the first time without the aid of supplemental air. I must say the flow of challenges is much better this season, as this particular episode seems tailor-made for the talent of Ms. Andrews, who will probably be badgeless at the start of the next episode.

Edited May 25 by davidcalgary29

[SemiCharmedLife]

I agree with the queens the judges critiqued at the top:  the two Liberace's (I also preferred Shannel's version- really great), Pal the Lassie dog, and Angie's Marla Gibbs.  In the Snatch Game of Love, there is less of an opportunity for the queens to say impromptu comments to each other like they can in the regular version.  Even when the characters are good, it doesn't end up being quite as funny as the original version, in my opinion. 

I loved Plastique's runway, and enjoyed  the two scorpions.  

[Madding crowd]

I wish they would go back to original Snatch Game, this love version isn’t funny. I thought Gottmik was boring and I wasn’t fond of his  runway either . Marla Gibbs and the two Liberace’s were kind of funny and Angie had the best runway outfit and should have been on top.

[Starchild]

12 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Shannel and Nina are both great as dueling Liberaces. I personally preferred Shannel's Method performance to Nina's manic camp, but both are excellent.

I love your commentaries, @davidcalgary29 please never change.

I pulled this part out because I was surprised no one else mentioned that Nina's Liberace felt a lot more like Paul Lynde.

 

12 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said:

the winner should be able to take away a badge from one of the bottom three queens of the week. That particular twist would probably encourage contestants in a non-elimination season to put a little extra oomph in their performances, and this week would have put Plastique (also terrible) and Jorgeous at risk to lose their badges, which would have been a well-deserved result.

OMG I love this idea!

[SemiCharmedLife]

There was some tea from the Roscoe's viewing party that Plastique may have spent an estimated $250 grand on her All Stars Package.  She's got a huge presence on Social Media, so hopefully that helps cover some of the cost.  Especially, since all the money goes to charity this season.

[davidcalgary29]

1 hour ago, SemiCharmedLife said:

There was some tea from the Roscoe's viewing party that Plastique may have spent an estimated $250 grand on her All Stars Package.  She's got a huge presence on Social Media, so hopefully that helps cover some of the cost.  Especially, since all the money goes to charity this season.

250k is insane. I hope she gets it all back in booking fees...

[violet and green]

I also liked Shannel's version of Liberace more. I'm still thinking about her sparkly Christmas lights and caves of wonder from the previous episode...

Gottmik gets on my last nerve. I don't like seeing the enormous discrepancy in costume spend, with every favor on the planet called in from a swathe of connections for the designs and some mega-wealthy type allegedly bankrolling Gottmik, especially when some of them roll out looking like craft projects, just doing their best.

It is sad to hear Plastique has blown that much money, even though the effects are enchanting.

I still prefer a queen with natural charisma and warmth and a quick tongue, like Angeria. 

[Kaboom 2.0]

16 hours ago, violet and green said:

I still prefer a queen with natural charisma and warmth and a quick tongue, like Angeria. 

I feel the same way esp about Angeria. I still love Plastique tho but some past popular winners include queens that didn't have money to burn on wardrobe & accessories.

Was hoping both Liberaces would be the winners altho Nina was also giving me Grandpa Munster vibes. LOL The only runway I side eyed was Gottmik's because did I miss a tail?

Raven as David gave me serious young Burt Reynolds and I found myself saying "well hello there, David."

Unless someone steps up big time I'm picturing a crown for Gottmik. And I won't like it.

[Pallida]

Gottmik’s runway had a tale. I don’t always love their offerings but I thought this was a smart and inspired runway. 

[DisneyBoy]

I *hated* it. Gruesome and just...not the message to put out there. This is the only trans man in the show's history. That was not a particularly great way to represent that community.

 

I didn't much care for Got's Snatch Game schtick either. It was completely random. The tongue was cute and the makeup was fine, but beyond that...it was pretty laid-back. I do tend to get tired of sex jokes on RPDR though so...

I thought the dueling Liberaces should have won, honestly. They were both good in different ways and Shanel's runway was pretty clean and interesting. She usually goes way overboard but I found this pretty restrained. I thought she also sounded much more like Liberace, whereas Nina was just too relaxed.

Was disappointed in Vanjie. Could she really not do more than that? There was so many details to use, whether Liz Taylor-related or historical...

And that John Leguizamo was really bare-bones. Chichi is a great character (was that her name in the movie?) with tons of tics. Jeorgeous (how the hell do you spell that?!) didn't even go off on anyone! Or call herself a Princess! Come on...

 

Edited May 27 by DisneyBoy

[RoxiP]

Grandpa Munster!  That's it!  I couldn't figure out who I was reminded of until it was written above.

I liked both Liberace's - Shannel was a dead ringer!  

I'm over Gottmilk and I thought the runway was dreadful - carrying the two "breasts" in a bag was beyond tasteless.  Perhaps I'm overly sensitive as a person who has had breast cancer and had to have both breasts removed but I couldn't even look at that bag.  I also think Gottmilk doesn't show much range but they are beloved I guess.  Just not my cup of tea.

Angeria is hilarious but I am happy Nina won the Snatch Game of Love.

I didn't even recognize Raven...

[CB-LXX]

Thoughts on Jorgeous and that John Leguizamo impression. The look was okay, did fine with "Chi Chi's" look from 'Too Wong Foo...' But the verbal timing on everything was just off. I've seen that movie so many times, and JL was pretty much just spitting out line after line, without having to think much about what was being said. Obviously he had a script so he didn't have to actually think of responses during the movie scenes, but just seemed like Jorgeous couldn't figure out how to mix the timing between trying to be funny and sensual.

I loved Shannel's Liberace, totally had that down to a T. Could she have been a little bit funnier? Sure, but as far as making an impression went, she hit home. I've always had a soft spot for Shannel, since season 1 (IMO, there were a couple of challenges she deserved to win), and while I don't think she's going to come out the winner of the season, I hope that she at least gets acknowledged with a win (I remember in season 1, they kept praising her about how good she did this, and how good she did that, but never rewarded her for it. Sadly, I almost think it's going to turn out the same way for this season). Side note, even though I've become a grinch over the years about Christmas, I took a peek on YT for her famously decorated Christmas house, and just wow! 

Gottmik, eh. The look reminded me more of a cross between Veronica Lake and an Afghan Hound, now that I think about it. Truth be told, it was kind of a lazy way to have a character to play that you didn't really have to base anything off of, because it's a dog (also, I don't know if it matters, but Pal was a male dog portraying a female dog, so Gottmik could have went with that, rather than the glamorous starlet route). The runway look, creative, but lazy. Not much effort to draw on slash lines, sprinkle with red glitter and call it a day. At least with that, the bottom half of the outfit should have been more. But I guess the point was to draw attention to the top. I don't know.

Nina, although she definitely brought in the laughs, the impression itself, well after being served with Shannel's on-point version of Liberace, it was hard to be impressed, and well yeah, Grampa Munster as someone said. But, I can accept it as a win (though also like someone else said, it would have been nice if both LIberaces had won).

Edited May 28 by CB-LXX
fixed a typo, and I probably missed another

[Glade]

I'm all for non-eliminations, since the ones on all-stars aren't even fair either (many queens being dragged to another episode past their time,) but I'm sick of Vanjie, whatever was once there, it's not cute anymore, her drag is not very good and neither are her performances, so I'd be fine if she wasn't there anymore.  I love Gotmik, and I love the charity she's raising money for.