davidcalgary29 July 13 Share July 13 (edited) The queens return to the Werkroom to engage in some moderately engaging banter about the maxi-challenge and state of the current "race". They -- and the audience -- have pretty much exhausted every facet of this particular topic, so Ru steps in to pivot to tonight's main theme: it's time for a lipsync showdown! Ru claims that the queens will be lipsyncing to killer tracks that cost a mint to license. Lies! The format remains simple, but the Main Show has frustratingly refused to adopt Canada's fun and innovative changes, so we're left with this: queens choose an opponent, who then chooses a song. The winner then moves on to the next round. Tonight, the queens are given a list of fun but dated songs that everyone knows, but that also offers no real surprises. Clearly, Ru did not want to hear more Yma Sumac or spoken-word monologues, and that's frankly a shame. Seeing Vangie and Jorgeous battle with a scene from All About Eve (or even something like Showgirls) with Nina and Shannel would have injected fresh fun into a familiar premise. The first round proceeds pretty much as expected, with only Gottmik -- who tries to strategize by picking Angeria -- providing some surprise here. No one but Mik is surprised when she loses. The rest of the picks are expected -- a little too expected, and a surprisingly candid confessional from Jorgeous leads me to suspect that the heavy hand of Production was involved in setting up these pairings. Angeria, Vangie, Roxxxy, and Shannel move on. I think that Vangie is lucky to do, although her robotic, kinetic interpretation of "When I Grow Up" is as blank and wooden as the original Pussycat Dolls hit, so perhaps she really did accurately convey the emotional core of the song. Nina looks the best she has in all of this season's lipsyncs, and is okay in her performance, but Shannel's a clear winner. Nina looks a little sad at her loss. Never give up hope, Nina! The second round completes the list of okay tracks. Seriously, did anyone look at this list and think "wow, I can't wait to hear this one again?" Drag Race has featured some truly killer tracks in the past, but has increasingly settled for safe hits that serve as mnemonic aids for Gen Xers to relive their clubbing days. And yes, I'm in that demographic, but I'm still going to complain. This time, Shannel is a clear winner by channeling the spirit of Chaka Khan -- emotion is important! -- and is joined by Roxxxy, who wins by proving again that she really is That Bitch. She really does hit every emotional beat that Bonnie Tyler belted out, and proves to Ru that you don't need tricks to find the heart of a song. The queens pretend to ponder over the possible winner of the final match, but even Shannel concedes before she starts that she has no chance here. The Ariana Grande track isn't a particularly great pick -- how great would it have been to see "Holding Out For a Hero" here? -- and Shannel looks tentative while Roxxxy flips her hair around. Roxxxy wins, earning her a fifth can of spray tan, and some cash for her charity. Jorgeous is told by Production to marvel that Shannel's gone from zero to three badges in two episodes, and she does an adequate job in doing this. Hey, she actually is a pretty good actress! The queens are told to look excited as Ru lies that there's a path to the finale for everyone. She then ruins everyone's day by revealing the upcoming twist: it's going to be a popularity contest! Viewers will cast their votes for the finalists, and the queens will apparently do the same next episode. Boo! It's an extremely low-stakes move for a low-stakes season, guaranteeing that the queens with the highest social media presence will have an outsized advantage. WoW has increasingly moved to abrogate the powers of the panel to the audience in recent seasons, and while it's easy to understand why -- picking a queen unpopular with viewers would be disastrous for queens in this day and age -- it is disappointing. Next week: part one of the Finale! The show promises to show us something fresh and unexpected! Really? I mean really? Edited July 13 by davidcalgary29 3 Link to comment
SemiCharmedLife July 13 Share July 13 Actually they promised that the viewers would get a say in the decision a few seasons ago - when they showed the eliminated queens and their runways (which I thought was a great idea at first) and it didn't happen. Ru twisted that up and took the popular vote away again. I guess we get to vote with our cash when we go to the performances post Drag Race. 😉 2 Link to comment
Starchild July 13 Share July 13 Poor Vanjie. I love her but she just isn't top tier. She's hella entertaining though. 3 Link to comment
MsJamieDornan July 13 Share July 13 6 hours ago, davidcalgary29 said: The rest of the picks are expected -- a little too expected, and a surprisingly candid confessional from Jorgeous leads me to suspect that the heavy hand of Production was involved in setting up these pairings Correct. 1 Link to comment
SemiCharmedLife July 14 Share July 14 18 hours ago, Starchild said: Poor Vanjie. I love her but she just isn't top tier. She's hella entertaining though. I've been impressed with many of her runways this season, though. The last few, especially. And, she did turn it out during the Rusical, though everyone did so well. I do enjoy her talking heads. So funny! 2 Link to comment
TiffanyNichelle July 14 Share July 14 This was entertaining but predictable as hell. The whole season feels like even more of a set up for Roxxy win than the first one with Chad Michaels. 1 Link to comment
MsJamieDornan July 14 Share July 14 6 hours ago, TiffanyNichelle said: The whole season feels like even more of a set up for Roxxy win than the first one with Chad Michaels. You're right. It's the Roxxy redemtion tour. Trying to undo some of the crappy behavior she showed on her other appearances. 4 Link to comment
Starchild July 14 Share July 14 4 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said: You're right. It's the Roxxy redemtion tour. Trying to undo some of the crappy behavior she showed on her other appearances. It's not going to work for some of us. 5 Link to comment
Kaboom 2.0 July 14 Share July 14 1 hour ago, Ms.Lulu said: Angeria is my favorite and I'd like to see her win. I would too, if not her then Plastique just to see Roxxxy's head explode. I do love Roxxx but I think Angeria is more an all around champ, excelling in many things, again imho. The right queens advanced but I thought Plastique was better in her lip sync & should've advanced. When Ru announces "it's just family" at the judges table but then Bruno takes the fourth chair (like in last season's Lalaparuza), it gives me the warm fuzzies. Speaking of last year's Lalaparuza champ, Trixie Mattel's longed-for daughter Morphine Love Dion is the guest on this week's Pit Stop. I love that girl even more now. 3 Link to comment
violet and green July 15 Share July 15 On 7/13/2024 at 11:39 AM, davidcalgary29 said: No one but Mik is surprised when she loses. I did enjoy her super-sour face. 1 Link to comment
CraftyHazel July 16 Share July 16 On 7/14/2024 at 9:14 AM, Starchild said: It's not going to work for some of us. It’s never going to work for me. I just find her thoroughly false and unappealing. Nina just oozes kindness, Vanjie is a force, Shannel a legend, etc. Roxxxy is just a bitch who can whip her wig around. 3 1 Link to comment
zenithwit July 17 Share July 17 Lalaparuza episodes are typically my least favorite each season. I don't think this episode was an exception. Overall, I found the episode lukewarm but I did enjoy that we got an old school Drag performance for the final lip sync. So many of the lip sync battles in recent years have been about tricks and death drops whether it makes sense with the song or not. So it was nice (and dare I say refreshing) to see queens just connect with the song in a way that makes sense to them. You could really tell the difference in the Roxxxy/Jorgeous and Shannel/Vanjie lip syncs where both Jorgeous and Vanjie had kinda blank facial expressions and Roxxy/Shannel were truly emoting. Also for anyone who's interested, here's a performance of "Holding out for a hero" by Roxxxy's Drag grandmother Tandi Andrews: 3 Link to comment
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