S09.E08: Make Your Own (Ru)sic

[davidcalgary29]

Back in the Werkroom, viewers' eyes glaze over and attention wanes as the queens tread familiar waters...AGAIN. Ru arrives to stage an intervention when she realizes the engine on this ship is sputtering, and pivots to a familiar, but sort of fun photobombing mini challenge, and randomly throws a win to Nina, as she knows that this is probably the only money she's going to get for her charity this week. Or IS it?! Dun dun dun...!

It's time for another design challenge! The queens are barely able to pretend enthusiasm for this challenge as they stare at acres of shiny, non-stretch fabric that act as a poorly themed advertisement to some of RuPaul's worst tracks. Okay, with the exception of "Lady Cowboy"; I sort of like that one. Nina is sour at being the default "winner" of "Cha-cha, Bitch!", but all the fabric choices look hard to sew and/or are ugly, so she shouldn't be. Clearly, WoW did not have the budget for a trip to Mood West this season. Or maybe even Wal-Mart, but we'll never know, as the Fabric Wall has been silenced by WoW's NDA, and is refusing to talk.

The Werkroom is fairly subdued: we've been here before, and know the queens' various strengths, so there's really not much to see here, although Ru does spend her time in the walkthrough trolling a lot of our contestants. Fun!

After some time, we move to the runway, where Carson is replaced by TS Madison, and the panel is completed by a waxwork mannequin styled by a misanthropic AI. While I don't know who he is, and am not particularly interested in finding out, he adds absolutely nothing to any of the resulting discussions, so we can safely ignore him and move on.

The queens enthusiastically walk the stage, and results are definitely less impressive than what we got the first time this season. Plastique is highly praised for her complicated star look, but she has construction issues and it's frankly kind of ugly. Shannel presents Shannel, which is exactly what we've come to expect, and yet both less and more than what good taste requires. Jorgeous trots out a simple, fun bar look and looks good. Roxxxy parades a beautifully-constructed, and yet somehow unlikeable, small-town rodeo barrel racer meet 'n greet look, and Angeria is surprisingly squeezed into a pink mess that makes her look like a hot dog. But the true standout is Nina, who truly presents her season's best look in a vampy, sexy lace gown. Well done, Nina! After telling her that her normal taste level is atrocious, Ru then penalizes Nina for subverting her expectations and hands out top placements to Plastique and Roxxxy. You know she just did that to save us from another terrible Nina lipsynch, though.

The lipsynch begins with the biggest question on everyone's lips: WILL Plastique actually know the words this time? The answer, happily, is yes, and she does pretty well until Roxxxy seals her win with some fun comedy bits and impeccable Diana-isms. Since this is the last week for blocking, she then fulfills her contract by blocking Angeria. Yay.

Next week: it's a musical! And if Nina doesn't make the top, you know the entire cast of Hairspray is going to fly out to Wyoming to protest the continued environmental degradation of Ru's PetroRanch.

Edited June 29 by davidcalgary29

[Starchild]

None of the looks really wowed me this week. I have to ask, why is Roxxxy's face so artificially bronze in every runway?

[davidcalgary29]

15 minutes ago, Starchild said:

None of the looks really wowed me this week. I have to ask, why is Roxxxy's face so artificially bronze in every runway?

Why, I'm glad you asked! Roxxxy has been forced chosen this season to model Anastasia Cosmetics' "I'm That Bitch" Bronzer, now available on iTunes, which has been chosen along with Lydia Deetz's Blended Corpse Powder, which Gottmik has modelled on almost every runway, as this season's featured products. WoW kindly asks all viewers to pay more attention to their carefully-chosen product placements hawking all sorts of shit. In case you missed it, Roxxxy told the other queens in the Werkroom that she really likes Anastasia cosmetics. She really, really likes it. Thanks for tuning in to RuVC!

Edited June 29 by davidcalgary29

[Glade]

I have lost all interest and enthusiasm for this season.  Even fast-forwarding to the runway was a letdown this week. 

[Madding crowd]

This was another boring episode. The photo bomb thing is alright although we have seen it several times now. The runway challenge was only a bit tied to the song and none of the outfits wowed me.

[Kaboom 2.0]

We've all come to expect how truly baffling (and rage inducing) some of the decisions made by Ru & the judges have been over the many years of this show but putting Roxxxy's lady cowboy look on top over Nina's is beyond ridiculous. The only thing I liked about Roxxxy's look was that she happened to be wearing it as she slayed that Miss Diana Ross song, along with her emory board prop.

This week's Pit Stop was just what I needed after watching this episode. 

[davidcalgary29]

2 hours ago, Kaboom 2.0 said:

We've all come to expect how truly baffling (and rage inducing) some of the decisions made by Ru & the judges have been over the many years of this show but putting Roxxxy's lady cowboy look on top over Nina's is beyond ridiculous. The only thing I liked about Roxxxy's look was that she happened to be wearing it as she slayed that Miss Diana Ross song, along with her emory board prop.

This week's Pit Stop was just what I needed after watching this episode. 

Roxxxy actually changed into an olive pantsuit for the lipsynch.

[Starchild]

Underlining how forgettable these looks were, even with the great fabrics.

[RoxiP]

I am annoyed because when I try to sign into Paramount Plus I am instructed to sign up for Showtime, which I am not interested at all.  Guess I am out of RuPaul All Stars this year.

[davidcalgary29]

19 hours ago, RoxiP said:

I am annoyed because when I try to sign into Paramount Plus I am instructed to sign up for Showtime, which I am not interested at all.  Guess I am out of RuPaul All Stars this year.

Just go back and rewatch seasons six and seven -- you'll probably be much happier in the end.

[TVbitch]

I am also really bored this season. Donating to charity is great, but having that be the prize and not having any eliminations has turned it into a snoozy sort of revue show where no one seems to be trying that hard. That, plus the OTT praise of some of the lackluster performances/fashion, the meaningless retread of the queens conversations, and the protracted non-drama of the scissor exercise just makes the whole show a slog to get through. 

[7-Zark-7]

Lip sync: The moment Roxxy turned to the back of the stage and swirled her finger in the air, I said "Uh oh". I could tell she'd won this already. Then the nail file. Angeria's "not the filing the nail" had me cackling. Then the "back off".  Oh, this was good. And I don't know what Trixie was talking about on the Pit Stop about Roxxy's outfit. It is the perfect choice for the song. She should look like an old school Real Housewife for this one. This is my favorite lip sync this season.