Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

S07.E11: Hello, Kitty Girls!


  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

(edited)

 

On other websites Ging is universally disliked while Pearl is the fan favorite so everyone is thinking that Pearl is gonna win (dear God NO) because of Ru playing to audience and not repeating a Tyra mistake.

Pearl's base is by no means universal - and the fans that count are the ones who buy tickets. Also, Ru seems rather put off by the tactics of her supporters. The thing is many of her fans are very vocal and, to put it bluntly, complete shits to anyone who isn't a fan. Plus there is apparently a "Pearl was Robbed" button on all of their phones and laptops.

 

They hate Ginger because Ginger has thrown off a couple of zingers at Pearl's expense and they expend considerable effort on the internet spreading that hate. And while Trixie and Katya have actively tried to tame their angry stans, Pearl seems content to let it happen. So I don't think Pearl will win.

 

Ru really does value a queen with a sense of "herstory" and Pearl comes off as almost aggressively incurious about it. Pearl is generically retro, while Violet is retro and seems to understand what she's referencing with her looks. So if it's not Ginger, it will likely be Violet. Violet also has the best won/lost record going into the final episode that's already been taped, and that is usually who prevails.

Edited by SteveAC10
  • Love 6
Link to comment
(edited)

There is definatly something rotten in the Alamo with this Ging can't sew bit.  Last season Bianca came across as near perfect even though her outfits on the runway where mediocre at best (and I luv queen B).  If she did have insecurities (which I'm sure she did) it simply wasn't shown.  So I guess the producers needed to give Ginger some sort of weakness so it wouldn't be so obvious who the winner will be like last season. 

 

On other websites Ging is universally disliked while Pearl is the fan favorite so everyone is thinking that Pearl is gonna win (dear God NO) because of Ru playing to audience and not repeating a Tyra mistake.  I personally Ginger is my favorite of the ones remaining and I would LUV to see her win this season--and not just b/c she's plus size but out of everyone she has the most talent IMO.

 

Agreed. The producers of RPDR, in the last few seasons, have tended to respond to the predominant criticism of one season in the next. After the surplus of teary Untucked moments and the tiring drama between Coco and Alyssa and the uncomfortable nastiness of Roxxxy to Jinkx in S5, the producers reduced the cry-ins in Untucked and eliminated the villains very early in the season in S6. The only consistent criticism of last season was that the competition aspect was unexciting, because Bianca was so clearly the frontrunner from early on. Her costumes were always very well-constructed, even if unexciting at times, but there wasn't a high fashion queen in S6 like Raja or Sharon or Detox to call attention to her repetitive silhouettes. The only time we saw a crack in Bianca, IMO, is when she overreacted to Ben's comment on the mainstage in the Glitter Ball episode, after Bob Mackie (her idol) read her jewel eleganza look, much to her chagrin. I could imagine production told Ginger to suppress her dance and costume design skills - or at the very least complain about their purported absence - in order to create a dramatic storyline for the likely eventual winner and evade the inevitability complaint. Producer manipulation is the name of the game on this show, but it's a bit sloppy of Ruduction to force the "Ginger-can't-sew-or-dance" song and dance when there's evidence to the contrary at the click of a button. It doesn't make me like Ginger any less and I still think she ought to win, although I would understand if Ru gave the prize to Violet to shake things up after two comedy queens in a row winning. Pearl, just no. I've always been able to excuse the producer shenanigans on this show because the top half of the contestants are actually typically quite talented and get a great career boost from the show, but a Pearl win would reduce this to the level of Project Runway (or what it's become in recent years, rather.)

Edited by vrocotamy
  • Love 3
Link to comment

I've come to (mostly) enjoy Violet now that she's showing emotions - things like her guffaw laughs.  At this point, I think I want her to win - and that's only because the people I'd like to see win are already gone. Her HK look made me think of Trixie though.

 

I'm going to miss Katya.  She showed genuine vulnerability (none of this "I can't sewwwwwwwwww" crap), shone when she allowed herself to shine and was highly entertaining.  And I loved that hideous blazer.

  • Love 6
Link to comment

I would be ok with Violet winning, too, at this point, Pallida. She isn't especially talented that we've seen, although she could grow into a great performer, but like you said, the people I'd like to have won have already gone home. She'll do for this years winner. 

 

I really like that there isn't a villain, or any nasty personalities this season. I know snarky things have been said, but no one is unpleasant.

 

I wonder if the places that usually host the top four queens will want these four? Or if they'll make the money they usually make. I wouldn't pay to see any of the top four, and I'm ok with three of them. But just ok. Can they lipsync? Are they funny? Can they be entertaining? Who knows, but I think it's doubtful.

  • Love 4
Link to comment

I could see Pearl or Violet as warm up acts, they're still underbaked so I can't really see them as strong headliners(especially with their limited comedy and lip sync skills, since despite what RPDR lets people think actual drag business is 99% those two with comedy being the biggest one). Kennedy is not likely to expand much out of her current circuit, but her popularity will likely sharply increase within it and her booking fees accordingly. Ginger though will likely go on to be really big she was already a skilled performer with a lot of experience before the show and she'll likely become a new fixture of the WoW tours.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

Either Ginger is the rare choreographer who can't dance or the rare costume designer who can't sew, or I smell something fishy and it isn't Gia Gunn.

I don't know Ginger so I have no idea what her sewing skills are really like but I just wanted to point out that design and sewing are completely different skills. On reality shows, we are sometimes led to believe that dancers should know how to choreograph, singers should be composers, etc. and in reality that often is not true. There are lots of great dancers who can't choreograph for shit (witness many of the lackluster solos on So You Think You Can Dance). There are lots of talented musicians who play in orchestras who have never written a symphony. I also knew a girl who was a really great choreographer but was actually not a good dancer. I also know someone who has a small but successful clothing line who can't sew. She said one of the first thing she did before she started her label was deciding to focus on design, which was her strength, and hiring a seamstress (rather than learning to sew before launching her company). For that reason, I am willing to believe that Ginger can be an award winning designer and a terrible sewer.

With all that said, however, if drag queens are anything like the other performers I know, it's often necessary to learn some basic sewing, especially in the early days because you just can't afford to buy costumes, so it's likely that at the very least Ginger can do some rudimentary sewing.

One reason that I have warmed slightly to Violet but not Pearl is that now when someone reads Violet, she laughs about it. Pearl just stands there with a sour look on her face. I get that laughing at yourself can be hard but if you are going to be on this show, at least give one of those fake Britney Spears laughs for the camera.

  • Love 7
Link to comment
(edited)

And, as evidenced by every season of Project Runway ever, designers get little/no schooling on designing & sewing for anything more than three inches bigger than their mannequin. Ginger has to work for it to hot glue something flattering to a Buddha belly. In contrast, Violet can envelop herself in pink saran wrap, and as long as she's corseted to the gods, the judges will gag for it. 

 

Oh, Katya. I thought she and Kennedy both had bomb lip syncs, they were just very different styles. Butttttttt, I don't think there have been a lot of acrobatic lip syncers who actually dance with the song. There's always some smell of desperation, and usually a lost wig, involved. Even Katya's 'oh what the hell' cartwheel/deathdrop just seemed fun. The Old Lady Brigade have navigated the line between passion for saving themselves and acting a hot mess very well, imo. 

 

It's probably better to be a controversial early cut, than to finish 3rd/4th as those people always seem to fade into the background by the time the show is over. I will certainly be looking eagerly for Katya to appear in my city!

Edited by rozen
  • Love 1
Link to comment

I don't know Ginger so I have no idea what her sewing skills are really like but I just wanted to point out that design and sewing are completely different skills. On reality shows, we are sometimes led to believe that dancers should know how to choreograph, singers should be composers, etc. and in reality that often is not true. There are lots of great dancers who can't choreograph for shit (witness many of the lackluster solos on So You Think You Can Dance). There are lots of talented musicians who play in orchestras who have never written a symphony. I also knew a girl who was a really great choreographer but was actually not a good dancer. I also know someone who has a small but successful clothing line who can't sew. She said one of the first thing she did before she started her label was deciding to focus on design, which was her strength, and hiring a seamstress (rather than learning to sew before launching her company). For that reason, I am willing to believe that Ginger can be an award winning designer and a terrible sewer.

With all that said, however, if drag queens are anything like the other performers I know, it's often necessary to learn some basic sewing, especially in the early days because you just can't afford to buy costumes, so it's likely that at the very least Ginger can do some rudimentary sewing.

One reason that I have warmed slightly to Violet but not Pearl is that now when someone reads Violet, she laughs about it. Pearl just stands there with a sour look on her face. I get that laughing at yourself can be hard but if you are going to be on this show, at least give one of those fake Britney Spears laughs for the camera.

 

All true, all true. I shouldn't be so quick to jump to producer conspiracy theories (although I never put the conspiracy on Ginger's back or thought of her negatively for it), but I do think Ginger is at the very least exaggerating her inability to sew or dance for dramatic effect. Kennedy said Ginger was exaggerating about being completely unable to sew in the Conjoined Queens, and that she could sew to some degree (paraphrasing.) It's also possible Ginger can design for other people's bodies (including knowing measurements and whatnot), but lacks confidence to design for her own body.

 

I'm a little more skeptical about the dancing. I've done theater with a low budget and most choreographers, can at least rehearse, memorize, and break down steps well, even if they're not as good dancers as those they're teaching. I can buy that Ginger has anxiety about dancing herself (again, body issues), but virtually all choreographers I've encountered can dance in order to teach the choreographed.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

 

I'm a little more skeptical about the dancing. I've done theater with a low budget and most choreographers, can at least rehearse, memorize, and break down steps well, even if they're not as good dancers as those they're teaching. I can buy that Ginger has anxiety about dancing herself (again, body issues), but virtually all choreographers I've encountered can dance in order to teach the choreographed.

This is where I land on it. I can buy someone who can design costumes but doesn't have the sewing skills to make them well, but the choreographer who can't dance is a little harder for me to brush away. Even if you dismiss the choreographer part, someone with that much stage experience should have the basics of movement down pretty pat. If she's gained weight since her heyday in the stage, I can understand some discomfort or awkwardness, but she shouldn't be totally lost.

I like Ginger, but this is just...weird. I'd still be down with a Ginger or Violet win. As someone else said, Violet may not be the most amazing talent, but she's learned how to be a good contestant. Pearl has improved, but if she wins I call shenanigans. And bitchy side note, I don't care for the way she paints herself. I don't know why people go ga-ga for it.

  • Love 3
Link to comment

Trixie seemed to support that Ginger's discomfort and insecurities with both dancing and sewing were real. Trixie does also seem to talk herself up, but she claimed to have given Ginger a lot of help in making her look and in working the choreography. Ginger can clearly do some basic sewing, but she also hasn't shown anything at Violet's level of complexity (assuming Violet makes her outfits, which I believe it's said she does). When she broke down about the dancing last ep, it was all size related, so I think that's what it is. She put on weight, lost confidence in her dancing, and then got in her own head. I hope someone asks her about her awards in an interview because I'm curious.

 

. Butttttttt, I don't think there have been a lot of acrobatic lip syncers who actually dance with the song.
I will challenge this on Kennedy. I thought Kennedy's lip sync was basically a master class on how to match movement and face to music. Roar has a slow/fast pattern and the chorus part has a driving beat and with the strong emotion of finding confidence. Kennedy matched it all and kept up with the actual lip sync part as well. Kennedy started slow, but then escalated her energy as the song built and brought it up with her high kick exactly as the chorus kicked into gear. Then she continued high energy dance movements to match the music, held still with an amazing face expression during the musical pause, and then did her drop split to the lower stage so that she landed perfectly on the last beat of the Roar. 

 

I thought she slew Katya, to be honest, and I love Katya. But Katya was slow and kind of slinky, which doesn't fit Roar at all, and while her cartwheel-to-split timed nicely with the "eye of the tiger," it didn't come as organically out of her movements as Kennedy's did because Katya didn't change the emotional tone of her movements with the music the way that Kennedy did.

 

I also watched for this, and I don't think Kennedy left the stage area. I'm not sure how the "stage" is demarcated for sake of following the rules, but the lower space that Kennedy dropped down to and danced to was still bordered with something (lights, perhaps). She stayed within that border. It was a risky move because she literally ceded the higher ground to Katya, and I think it was a sign of how strong Kennedy's lip sync was that she still won.

  • Love 3
Link to comment

We've had people go off the stage and survive before - Sahara Davenport did it in season two, and Carmen Carrera did it to make out with Johnny Weir in season three (though granted, the latter was a non-elimination).

  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)
 
Impairment is the only explanation for Katya's elimination.  It's Ginger's season, but clearly Katya is a few levels above Pearl and Kennedy.

 

Katya was eliminated because they needed a shocking elimination and an easy choice for M.C.  If they were judging simply on runway looks Pearl would have been in the bottom with Kennedy for that snuggie inspired dress and the noncreative Hello Kitty companion.  I thought Katya's Russian Hello Kitty look was clever with her yellow teeth.  But I take comfort knowing that Miss Cong. is being handed to her on a silver platter.  Hope you enjoy your gift certificate at Overstock or whatever lame prize they give out this year.

 

I really like that there isn't a villain, or any nasty personalities this season. I know snarky things have been said, but no one is unpleasant.

I do NOT understand this Ginger hate I've been reading on other sites.  Why, because she's been shady during Untucked??  She's a DRAG QUEEN--reading is just part of the game.  And you can be shady and read someone and still be funny about it, which I think she is.  I haven't seen all the Untucked ep. but I can't imagine her saying or doing anything on the levels of PhiPhi or Tyra.  This reminds me of the stupid hate Darienne got last year. 

 

I agree with previous posters that I would be ok with a Violet win as well.  As much as I'd like to see a plus size queen win I can see Ru giving it to the "most improved" queen this year.  To quote TLo Mama Ru loves a Too Wong Foo story.  Enh 6 in 1 half a dozen in the other when it comes to Violet vs. Ginger--both are going to have amazing careers no matter if it's performance or just stomping the runway in killer looks.

 

Oh and LOL! to the idea of Pearl being the warmup act to the top 2.  Tee hee hee

 

 

 

Edited by Dirtybubble
  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

I think another possibility with Ginger's claims that she's bad at sewing and dancing is that she understands the benefits of low expectations. If she convinces everyone that she can't dance at all, or that she doesn't know how to sew, then if she manages to do decently, it will seem like a success if she manages to be decent.

Case in point re: low expectations - how Pearl is congratulated just for being competent.

I have no idea if that's what Ginger was doing, but it wouldn't surprise me. She sure seems crafty.

 

We've had people go off the stage and survive before - Sahara Davenport did it in season two, and Carmen Carrera did it to make out with Johnny Weir in season three (though granted, the latter was a non-elimination).

It sounds like they added the rule after those performances. I'm not sure exactly when, though. Edited by Blakeston
  • Love 4
Link to comment
(edited)

I think another possibility with Ginger's claims that she's bad at sewing and dancing is that she understands the benefits of low expectations. If she convinces everyone that she can't dance at all, or that she doesn't know how to sew, then if she manages to do decently, it will seem like a success if she manages to be decent.

Case in point re: low expectations - how Pearl is congratulated just for being competent.

I have no idea if that's what Ginger was doing, but it wouldn't surprise me. She sure seems crafty.

 

It sounds like they added the rule after those performances. I'm not sure exactly when, though.

 

I'm linking it in my head to the Mimi Imfurst shenanigans, but I can't remember if she left the stage or just acted like an insane person.

 

Either way I believe the rule was season 4 and beyond. 

 

I guess this season they need to throw 'rules' to the wind in search of anything interesting to show. 

Edited by kieyra
  • Love 3
Link to comment

 

I'm linking it in my head to the Mimi Imfurst shenanigans, but I can't remember if she left the stage or just acted like an insane person.

It was both! She and India Ferrah were both off the stage, and then Mimi grabbed India and carried her back up to the stage on her shoulders.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
 
It was both! She and India Ferrah were both off the stage, and then Mimi grabbed India and carried her back up to the stage on her shoulders.

 

I was just about to say this!  During the special Top 20 Things That Made Us Gag Ru said after that incident queens weren't allowed to come off stage and approach the judges table.  I think Kennedy maybe just came off the stage and danced on the floor.  Not sure but because it wasn't in an aggressive manner, like what Mimi did, I think it's ok.

 

Enh either way it was a killer L.S. the best this season I think so it can be overlooked I guess.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

 

I do NOT understand this Ginger hate I've been reading on other sites.  Why, because she's been shady during Untucked??  She's a DRAG QUEEN--reading is just part of the game.

Ginger is hated because she dared to throw some minor shade on Pearl, Max, Trixie and Violet. In other venues of the net the Bitter old lady brigade (except Katya) is held to different standards of behavior than the baby queens. They are not permitted to question the style or make-up choices of the pretty girls or have even minor insecurities about challenges or their outcomes. In reality, Ginger and Kennedy are pretty mild mannered as seasoned pageant vets go. A little shady and prone to poking for a reaction. Frankly, I get the feeling on Untucked that the producers have used Ginger as a tool to get conversations going. She always seems to be the one that asks the "how does everyone think they did" questions. Challenges to the prevailing wisdom that Ginger is a shady bitch are met with....but, but fashion! I am fairly certain "fashion" is nothing more than a code word for tall, thin, pretty (and under 30). The same crew that hates Ginger also thinks RPDR should really be a Project Runway clone in which the designers are their own models and should look the part.

Edited by SteveAC10
  • Love 5
Link to comment

 

I will challenge this on Kennedy. I thought Kennedy's lip sync was basically a master class on how to match movement and face to music. Roar has a slow/fast pattern and the chorus part has a driving beat and with the strong emotion of finding confidence. Kennedy matched it all and kept up with the actual lip sync part as well. Kennedy started slow, but then escalated her energy as the song built and brought it up with her high kick exactly as the chorus kicked into gear. Then she continued high energy dance movements to match the music, held still with an amazing face expression during the musical pause, and then did her drop split to the lower stage so that she landed perfectly on the last beat of the Roar. 

 

I thought she slew Katya, to be honest, and I love Katya. But Katya was slow and kind of slinky, which doesn't fit Roar at all, and while her cartwheel-to-split timed nicely with the "eye of the tiger," it didn't come as organically out of her movements as Kennedy's did because Katya didn't change the emotional tone of her movements with the music the way that Kennedy did.

 

I also watched for this, and I don't think Kennedy left the stage area. I'm not sure how the "stage" is demarcated for sake of following the rules, but the lower space that Kennedy dropped down to and danced to was still bordered with something (lights, perhaps). She stayed within that border. It was a risky move because she literally ceded the higher ground to Katya, and I think it was a sign of how strong Kennedy's lip sync was that she still won.

 

i'm sorry I have to completely disagree. When she was head-banging, I thought it was completely noticeable that she didn't even try to lip-sync.

 

  • Love 3
Link to comment

i'm sorry I have to completely disagree. When she was head-banging, I thought it was completely noticeable that she didn't even try to lip-sync.

 

I'm with you, 100%.  I thought it was ridiculous, and she wasn't even trying to lip sync.  It was desperate and frenetic, it was hilariously bad.

  • Love 5
Link to comment
When she was head-banging, I thought it was completely noticeable that she didn't even try to lip-sync.
I thought she was actually, but her hair was flying front of her face so I wouldn't swear to that very specific moment. However, throughout the parts of the lip sync where her face was clearly visible, she was lip syncing (and IMHO, very well). 
Link to comment
(edited)

I'm with you, 100%. I thought it was ridiculous, and she wasn't even trying to lip sync. It was desperate and frenetic, it was hilariously bad.

I thought her performance was mostly awful, especially how she opened her mouth really wide and held up her nails during the Rooooaaaaarrrr!!! part.

Usually when a queen whines in front at the panel they get a "snap out of it" reply from the judges and I don't recall Ginger getting put in her place about whining this week or last week.

I agree with the above poster who said Michelle looked reeeally pissed off. Perhaps it is because her hair looked awful?

Does anyone know why Santino is not a judge anymore?

Edited by jellywager
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Michelle has seemed pissed off this season in both cases when former permanent members of the judging panel - Merle Ginsberg and Santino Rice - are brought back. I'm not sure if that's a coincidence.

 

 

Trixie seemed to support that Ginger's discomfort and insecurities with both dancing and sewing were real. Trixie does also seem to talk herself up, but she claimed to have given Ginger a lot of help in making her look and in working the choreography. Ginger can clearly do some basic sewing, but she also hasn't shown anything at Violet's level of complexity (assuming Violet makes her outfits, which I believe it's said she does). When she broke down about the dancing last ep, it was all size related, so I think that's what it is. She put on weight, lost confidence in her dancing, and then got in her own head. I hope someone asks her about her awards in an interview because I'm curious.

 

I'd also be curious about what she'll answer when she's inevitably posed the question in an interview. I could buy that Ginger's anxiety around dancing and sewing - even if she's not incapable of doing either and even capable of quite good choreography or design for others - stems around a lack of confidence around her own dancing or sewing for her own body. That said, this is a reality TV "competition" (a.k.a. a highly constructed representation of a competition), and Ginger is smart and a good actress, and I do think exaggeration for dramatic effect or fostering low expectations (as Blakeston said) play a part in how she presented her anxieties.

 

If you're curious to see what the final four are like on stage, watch the videos from the Orlando Parliament House White Party of Pearl, Kennedy, Violet, and Ginger. Pearl slinks around to very low-energy club music in a robotic and repetitive, albeit occasionally sexy way. Violet does a fairly decent high-energy sensual lip-sync. Kennedy is an acrobatic lip-syncer (almost like a figure skater) who also does spoken word, and Ginger does a complicated and very humorous lip-sync to a mix and I believe sings live to a Broadway number. If I were choosing a final four for variety, I'd much rather have Katya in there than Pearl, since Violet (and Kennedy) in a different way cover sexy - and Katya can combine physically intense lip-sync spectacle with humor.

 

I think what dashes Pearl's hopes of winning, even more than her (literally) debatable talent as an entertainer (since it's been debated here and elsewhere), is that she most likely broke her confidentiality contract with WoW and Logo by offering an alternate story about her altercation with Ru on social media to make herself look better. However many Instagram followers she has, that wouldn't endear her to the powers-that-be at WoW, Logo/Viacom, and Producers Entertainment, since they not only want a winner who will be popular, make them money, and increase the prestige of the brand, but not engage in unprofessional conduct - especially making the brand look bad. For all of Sharon's shenanigans and controversies, she never broke her confidentiality contract or painted her bosses in an unflattering light. I'd understand a Violet win, even if she's less of a talented entertainer than Ginger, to shake up expectations and keep things interesting after comedy queens of different varieties have won for three seasons. Violet is extremely charismatic and dedicated, has a strong sense of design and not simply styling (unlike Pearl, Fame, and Trixie) as proven by the last challenge, and knows how to hold an audience's attention. It would be Ru repeating the win of Tyra Sanchez - another cocky Southern baby queen with a sense of (her)story (albeit in a different sense than Violet) and clever competitor - but doing it better.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
(edited)

I do NOT understand this Ginger hate I've been reading on other sites.  Why, because she's been shady during Untucked??  She's a DRAG QUEEN--reading is just part of the game.  And you can be shady and read someone and still be funny about it, which I think she is.  I haven't seen all the Untucked ep. but I can't imagine her saying or doing anything on the levels of PhiPhi or Tyra.  This reminds me of the stupid hate Darienne got last year. 

 

 After 7 seasons and people still dont get Drag (drags in a television competition in particular). Ginger is great on deliverying some FUNNY snarky comments, even AT HERSELF. She throw some shade here and there, again, mostly with some fun, without go for other queens jugular/ or being the one that throw shade ate every minute and can´t take it back. As far being shade/sadistic, shes doing the same way Bianca did last year and everyone loved it *me included*... Yes, I think tho that she needs to loose the poor of me act (that like mentioned above, is probably a strategy from producers .. a overconfident sadistic big queen trying to win? That she would be surrounded (starting by Michelle) with: Who are you as a human? Why can´t you be vulnerable?!, words that usually paint the history for a future runner-up at most. 

Anyway, really liked the Untucked, once again, way more real, nice to see Ginger declaring that even she loving every other queen, that Katya became her number 1 sister, Than hearing it from Pearl that probably every queen felt like this about Katya, because of her free soul. And you really can seem Kennedy gave her some props when they prepared for the Lip Sync/ let a letter for her with some nice words. Violet totally fangirling that Lip Sync, probably for both but some extra love for Katya. Shes just a queen that managed to get the love of the queens (since shes so open about her feelings) plus the admiration on how a fierce, unexpected, hilarious character she is. On her last RuGRETS of the season (hilarious as well) she share some thought about how she wish she had connected more with the judges as the same way she connected to the queens.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m0xzcEPWLw

Edited by Guiaoshi
  • Love 1
Link to comment

I'll line  up with the Kennedy Believers.  I thought her lip synch performance was great.  I've been anxiously awaiting the chance to see her dance and I was not disappointed.  I'd definitely pay to see her perform.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Yeah, I thought she did quite well, too. The 'put my mouth to the words and portray them' is really meaningful with a strong song with a lot of power to it.. but Roar is pure mediocre mush with a good beat. Dancing to the beat and playing up her dancer schtick was really the only good way to approach it.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

 After 7 seasons and people still dont get Drag (drags in a television competition in particular). Ginger is great on deliverying some FUNNY snarky comments, even AT HERSELF. She throw some shade here and there, again, mostly with some fun, without go for other queens jugular/ or being the one that throw shade ate every minute and can´t take it back. As far being shade/sadistic, shes doing the same way Bianca did last year and everyone loved it *me included*... Yes, I think tho that she needs to loose the poor of me act (that like mentioned above, is probably a strategy from producers .. a overconfident sadistic big queen trying to win? That she would be surrounded (starting by Michelle) with: Who are you as a human? Why can´t you be vulnerable?!, words that usually paint the history for a future runner-up at most. 

Anyway, really liked the Untucked, once again, way more real, nice to see Ginger declaring that even she loving every other queen, that Katya became her number 1 sister, Than hearing it from Pearl that probably every queen felt like this about Katya, because of her free soul. And you really can seem Kennedy gave her some props when they prepared for the Lip Sync/ let a letter for her with some nice words. Violet totally fangirling that Lip Sync, probably for both but some extra love for Katya. Shes just a queen that managed to get the love of the queens (since shes so open about her feelings) plus the admiration on how a fierce, unexpected, hilarious character she is. On her last RuGRETS of the season (hilarious as well) she share some thought about how she wish she had connected more with the judges as the same way she connected to the queens.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m0xzcEPWLw

 

I wish I could fully explain it, but the way Kennedy and Ginger go on about the other queens rubs me very differently than the shade we saw from Bianca.

 

I'm certainly not saying that Ginger and Kennedy are vicious bullies like Phi Phi and Roxxxy were. But there's something very off-putting about the way they go on and on. They seem like desperate, cackling harpies grasping at straws to find fault with their younger competition. And it doesn't help that they're so often passive-aggressive.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
(edited)

 

I'm certainly not saying that Ginger and Kennedy are vicious bullies like Phi Phi and Roxxxy were. But there's something very off-putting about the way they go on and on. They seem like desperate, cackling harpies grasping at straws to find fault with their younger competition. And it doesn't help that they're so often passive-aggressive.

I don't see it that way, but many do. I think it might be that the bulk of these queens couldn't throw shade if given a shovelful to work with, so the few with sharp tongues come of a bit more tart than they might otherwise. I also think it's partly because many of the younger queens (Pearl and Max in particular) have no sense of humor about themselves so it might seem like shooting fish in a barrel. Ginger, in particular, is also more willing to play the game, so it comes off as aggressive. If you watch some of her You-Tube clips (the drag bingo in particular), you will see her persona is quite salty and sharp. Compared to Violet's eye rolls and Pearl's fla-zay-dah, I suppose it can seem mean. Lastly, it gets magnified because much of Ginger's shade is quick and witty - so I'm sure it was more appealing to the editors when putting together an episode. I mean how many times can they show us Pearl flutter her eyelids and shrug, or Violet say "whatever bitch"?

Edited by SteveAC10
  • Love 2
Link to comment

 

I'm certainly not saying that Ginger and Kennedy are vicious bullies like Phi Phi and Roxxxy were. But there's something very off-putting about the way they go on and on. They seem like desperate, cackling harpies grasping at straws to find fault with their younger competition. And it doesn't help that they're so often passive-aggressive.

I don't really see it, they seem pretty standard of the more experienced and draggedy queens the show has had. Like I could see most of their shade coming out of the mouth of Raja or Raven or Alexis or Sharon or Alaska or Willam or Alyssa etc. Heck, even some of the queens known for being nice were pretty damn shady when they felt like it, like Latrice. It's part of the character of the culture.

 

Now admittedly this is the first season where reading and throwing shade seem foreign to most of the contestants, but i'd call that a weakness in their drag resume rather than a indictment of those who can perform.

  • Love 3
Link to comment

Pearl, not Katya should have been in the bottom two.

Kennedy is there for I don't know what reason.

Pearl is there to be the quirky one, I mean how could she, who cannot walk be picked the winner.

This season has clearly been orchestrated to have Ginger be the first big girl who wins. However, in a season this mediocre, will anyone truly consider her a real winner. She'll be like Hosea or Kevin (more like Kevin because he was not hated by pretty much all, like Hosea) from Top Chef, when people talk about past winners, they just don't get mentioned.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

I don't really see it, they seem pretty standard of the more experienced and draggedy queens the show has had. Like I could see most of their shade coming out of the mouth of Raja or Raven or Alexis or Sharon or Alaska or Willam or Alyssa etc. Heck, even some of the queens known for being nice were pretty damn shady when they felt like it, like Latrice. It's part of the character of the culture.

 

Now admittedly this is the first season where reading and throwing shade seem foreign to most of the contestants, but i'd call that a weakness in their drag resume rather than a indictment of those who can perform.

 

That's what I'm saying, though - the actual comments they make aren't any worse than the shade that Willam threw. It's just the way they throw their shade. It doesn't seem like it's coming from a place of "Let's have a laugh," it seems like it's coming from a place of bitterness  like they're just looking for an excuse to bitch about the younger, prettier girls.

 

(Also, I hated it when Ginger was playing the "poor me" card about there being another design challenge, and whined about how she was going to do badly, and then started up with the "There's no long and flowing fabric in this challenge, so bye bye Pearl!" crap. If you're sucking at it yourself, you don't get to be smug.) 

 

I think I'd put Raven's comments about Tatianna and Mystique in that category of bitter smugness, too. Raven is talented and funny, but she crossed a line into nastiness in season 2 that I don't think Ginger or Kennedy have even come close to.

Edited by Blakeston
  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

That's what I'm saying, though - the actual comments they make aren't any worse than the shade that Willam threw. It's just the way they throw their shade. It doesn't seem like it's coming from a place of "Let's have a laugh," it seems like it's coming from a place of bitterness like they're just looking for an excuse to bitch about the younger, prettier girls.

(Also, I hated it when Ginger was playing the "poor me" card about there being another design challenge, and whined about how she was going to do badly, and then started up with the "There's no long and flowing fabric in this challenge, so bye bye Pearl!" crap. If you're sucking at it yourself, you don't get to be smug.)

I think I'd put Raven's comments about Tatianna and Mystique in that category of bitter smugness, too. Raven is talented and funny, but she crossed a line into nastiness in season 2 that I don't think Ginger or Kennedy have even come close to.

I'm somewhere in between your perspective on Ginger/Kennedy and that of steveac10 and snakenax. On one hand, I think that the overreaction to the fairly standard and often funny shade Ginger/Kennedy throw - particularly on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter on Reddit - stems from their hero worship of the younger or more fashion-centered queens they skew (Pearl, Violet, Max, Miss Fame) and their bias against Ginger/Kennedy. The "runway queens" are themselves not terribly apt at the time-honored drag tradition of shade, and so they can't respond adequately in kind. Not to mention that, in the rare instance one of these queens gets a read or shade in, the peanut gallery resoundingly approves of their efforts, in an egregious application of a double-standard. Kennedy/Ginger aren't villains or even particularly nasty in their reads and shade, by any means, in comparison to many queens of past seasons who didn't get such a hard time. Their main sin, to a large portion of the fandom - is shading and reading while being fat and/or black and/or balding and/or 30 and up. I'm not accusing any posters here of it, since I don't think anyone is vilifying Ginger and Kennedy, but I think that to many so-called Drag Race fans, there's a double standard for queens who aren't young, conventionally attractive, or white or white-looking. Katya talked about this at length in her recent Feast of Fun interview.

I really feel the need to defend Kennedy and Ginger since the hate thrown at them is so over the top, often clearly originates from racism or lookism, and they are often hilarious (and are quite talented to boot.) That said, I do find there's a certain bitterness or resentment (if not smugness, at least in Ginger's case) to some of what they say. Some of it comes from editing, no doubt, since I think Ginger and Kennedy were simply more interesting in confessionals or whatnot than the majority of the queens this season. In Ginger's case, I at times feel like she's trying very hard to play the role of the loveable bitch a la Bianca, but that it comes off as too calculated or staged (like her interaction with Pearl about "finding validity in her drag.") More significantly, I think she's clearly not as confident or secure in herself and her capabilities as Bianca was - or as far along and established in her drag career - so some of the bitchiness comes off as bitter, and not just fun. It became pretty clear that Ginger still harbors more insecurity about her weight than, say, Darienne, when she was very hurt by Ross Matthews' "white meat" comment during the leather and lace runway.

I do think a comparison between say, Raven and Tatianna with Ginger or Kennedy and the fashion queens has some validity - although Raven was gratuitously nasty and cold to Tati (who was pretty bitchy herself), whereas Ginger and Kennedy just seem slightly bitter and they don't seem to personally dislike the queens personally they're a bit bitter about. I would probably be too if I were one of them and I were thrust into a competition with a number of half-formed, presumptuous young queens who don't have great bona fides but who the judges grade on a curve (and who, much to the chagrin of a more experienced competitor, occasionally do better at a challenge than their resume would suggest.) If I were a full-time drag entertainer threatened with irrelevance by queens who look good (or at the very least interesting) but are only questionable professional drag queens, I would be miffed, especially in a high stakes, high pressure atmosphere. As a mere viewer, I'm a bit miffed that judges (and fans) "lived" for the ultimately repetitive '20s-'50s Hollywood-cum-lingerie-and-corsetry schtick Violet, Fame, Max, and Pearl often served on the runway in different variations. I can't imagine what it would be like if I were a contestant who had more experience in drag than all of them put together. Raven's problems with Tatianna came from a similar place - she resented that the judges ate up Tati's rather effortless "mall fish" drag (a trend from the '00s that seems to have disappeared) even though Tati had very slim credentials as a real life queen. The difference is that Raven took it into a place of being really, truly mean and completely personally and professionally dismissive, where Ginger and Kennedy do not. What Ginger and Kennedy do is also very different from what Roxxxy and Coco did to Jinkx and Alaska in S5 or what Phi Phi did to Sharon in S4. Phi Phi, Coco, and Roxxxy preposterouly and offensively dismissed the entire careers of Sharon, Jinkx, and Alaska, who were very experienced (and in Jinkx's case, precociously experienced) drag entertainers working in established schools of drag very different from their own.

Edited by vrocotamy
  • Love 6
Link to comment
(edited)

 

If I were a full-time drag entertainer threatened with irrelevance by queens who look good but are only questionable professional drag queens, I would be miffed, especially in a high stakes, high pressure atmosphere. Raven's problems with Tatianna came from a similar place - she resented that the judges ate up Tati's rather effortless "mall fish" drag (a trend from the '00s that seems to have disappeared) even though Tati had very slim credentials as a real life queen. The difference is that Raven took it into a place of being really mean and completely dismissive, where Ginger and Kennedy do not.

This is the dynamic that this season's casting set up - all you need do is sub social media for "mall fish", reduce the intensity significantly - but then multiply by 4 or 5. The dynamic solidified in week two with the way the Glamazon teams formed and the more traditional queens overheard the lookist titters from the other team during rehearsals. I'd be pissed to after things like the fuckery in the Shakesqueer challenge and watching one of the baby queens have confront Ru and "walk out" only to make it to the final four.

 

I also completely agree that the real shade this year has been from the Johnny come lately fans who stanned on the "look queens" - and the racist and lookist undertones to their hatred of Ginger, Kennedy and Jasmine are hard to ignore. In weeks where any of them triumphed over the likes of Pearl or Trixie, the Reddit mods spent the evening swiffering some pretty horrid comments from the board - and twitter became a cesspool on Monday nights. It wasn't even subtext - it was blatant. Particularly galling were comments about Ginger's runways - she had no "fashion" and wasn't a quality queen because she wasn't capable of looking like Violet or Fame, but refusing to admit her size was a limiting factor in what she could wear. Just imagine if Ginger had walked out in that fleece Hello Kitty "gown", or nothing but a black/beige corset, panties and stockings (which when you're a sylph is apparently high fashion).

Edited by SteveAC10
  • Love 4
Link to comment

It is interesting how things change when it comes to 'look drag'. Just two seasons ago it was all about being fishy, that is looking like a real women with as few of the telltale signs of drag as possible, and even last season spent a lot of time crowing on about fish. Now the look queens pancake on huge amounts of obvious make up, to Milk levels in the case of Pearl, and draw on breasts. Actually this might be the first season with no fishy queens at all.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

I haven't really commented this season. Like many I think it has been subpar but I had to say how much I disagreed with Katya's elimination. Hopefully her exposure on this show will open up many opportunities to show off her talent.

Pearl Meh!

Edited by bluvelvet
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Can I get a definition of what "fishiness" is? Is it just about being feminine-looking enough to be able to pass for an actual woman? Or does it mean "concerned only with passing for female, and being conventionally pretty?" If it's the first one, then I'd say Violet qualifies as very fishy.

 

I think Violet identifying as gender-fluid and having such a feminine body may have played a role in Jasmine's hatred of her - what with Jasmine being notorious in real life for going on an anti-trans rant. Even though Jasmine was only around for three episodes, I think she did a lot to establish the "young vs. old" mentality in Ginger and Kennedy.

 

I can certainly understand the older queens feeling like Pearl has been getting lots of free passes throughout the competition - and up until the John Waters episode, Miss Fame was being allowed to skate by. But the reason Violet has never been in the bottom two is because she's never belonged there. (And Kennedy has no business complaining about the judges going too easy on anyone.)

  • Love 2
Link to comment

 

Can I get a definition of what "fishiness" is?

Fishiness is realism - up to and including the ability to pass. Chapstick and mascara queens as they say.  Courtney Act, Tatiana and before her transition, Carmen are fishy queens. Conventional beauty is not really a criteria though as a queen like Stacy Lane Matthews would be considered fishy as well.

 

I also agree, that given the elimination order, Violet has not earned a bottom 2 placement, but had Pearl and Fame not lasted well past their sell by dates she probably would have. The likes of Mrs. Kasha Davis would have had her as a snack in something like the John Waters challenge.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

 Delurking to say that Katya was robbed, to say the least. However, I don't think that this will be the last we'll see of her, by a long shot. ITA that Miss Congeniality is Katya's to lose at this point.

 

  News flash, Kennedy-it's called "Lip Sync For Your Life," not "'Death Drop' For Your Life."

  • Love 3
Link to comment
News flash, Kennedy-it's called "Lip Sync For Your Life," not "'Death Drop' For Your Life."
Kennedy did lip sync. She did not death drop. A death drop is a specific move. Laganja and Shangela both used death drops a lot. I don't believe Kennedy has ever performed one. Kennedy and Katya both did an acrobatic move that landed in split (cartwheel I think in both cases, but may have been an aerial... I don't remember and don't feel like rewatching it).

 

I don't think Katya was robbed any more than Max was robbed. Both had performed well and seemed to be front runners entering their elimination episode, but messed up, earned a bottom two placement, and lost their lip sync. 

 

And in my continuing defense of Pearl, she didn't simply wrap a blanket around her, belt it, and call it a day. She made exactly what she said she would make: a minimalist silhouette out of a heavily patterned fabric featuring a hobble skirt and a cowl. If you look at the bottom part of it, you can see that the bottom part was finished with a large ruffled hem in a fairly common hobble skirt design. She also did the cowl with the Hello Kitty head perched on it. I also think Michelle Visage was wrong to say that it only looked good because Pearl's slender. IMHO, hobble skirts are quite flattering to curvier women, and I think if the dress was properly tailored, a curvy queen would have looked good in Pearl's outfit. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment

IMHO, hobble skirts are quite flattering to curvier women, and I think if the dress was properly tailored, a curvy queen would have looked good in Pearl's outfit.

Even Trixie would have looked like an amorphous blob in that thing - poor Ginger would have looked like a pink smurf. Michelle's point was that it's easier for a sylph to look glamorous. If that weren't the case, we wouldn't live in a world where "plus sized" models are a size six. Pearl certainly cuts a striking figure most of the time, but there's no denying that she, Violet and Max wore an awful lot of corsets, garter belts and other assorted lingerie this season. and Pearl's wig game is really no more varied than Max's or Ginger's (the only two who were called on it).

 

and Pearl shows up in yet another all beige corseted number on Monday night.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

It is interesting how things change when it comes to 'look drag'. Just two seasons ago it was all about being fishy, that is looking like a real women with as few of the telltale signs of drag as possible, and even last season spent a lot of time crowing on about fish. Now the look queens pancake on huge amounts of obvious make up, to Milk levels in the case of Pearl, and draw on breasts. Actually this might be the first season with no fishy queens at all.

Yeah, the aquarium - the assemblage of different varieties of fish - really has dissipated this season, hasn't it? One commonality between all the queens this season (with Kandy Ho perhaps excepted, it being difficult to tell because we saw so little from her) is that they aren't trying to look like "real women" in any register. Both the "Bitter Old Lady Brigade" and the young runway queens wear highly constructed, artificial garments and don't wear naturalistic makeup, meaning they're not trying to hide the fact they're wearing makeup. Max had very light paint, but it gave him an androgynous look, not a feminine look. In previous seasons, queens have constantly said they're serving fish, even if fish meant slightly different things to each of them. There's the "chapstick and mascara" or "mall fish" look steveac10 referenced (which Tatianna, Courtney Act in her simpler looks, and Jiggly's ballgowns exemplified, and Dida Ritz, Rebecca Glasscock, Mystique and others tried to pull off.) This season, the only time we saw an attempt at "mall fish" was Kandy Ho's look when walking into the dressing room. Then there's "showgirl fish" or "pop princess fish", which to me comprises the queens who are trying to look like "real", non-campy female pop stars or Vegas showgirls (Courtney Act in her more elaborate looks, Gia Gunn, Joslyn Fox, Phi Phi O'Hara, Jade Jolie, Kenya Michaels, etc.) Then there are more ballroom fishy queens like Mariah or fishy "rich bitch" or body queens like Carmen Carrera or Willam. It's more of an aesthetic attitude about drag - in which the goal of costume, makeup, and hair is to look like a woman, not an exaggerated drag entertainer - than something that defines a queen's capacities as a performer. Both queens at the "high camp" and "low camp" end of the spectrum - think India Ferrah or Coco Montrese versus Sharon Needles and Milk - are not into appearing fishy. There are also queens, like Manila or Alyssa Edwards, who look very feminine in terms of facial structure but who don't go for a "fish" aesthetic in their makeup, hair, or costume. In response to blakeston also, I think Violet falls into the category of Manila or Alyssa. She's very naturally feminine looking - and genderfluid/genderqueer offstage to boot - but she's not trying to look like she stepped out of the Beverly Center or Rodeo Drive or like Nicki Minaj stepping off the stage at the Staples Center. Like Manila or Alyssa, she could pass as a conventionally attractive woman if she wanted to, but it's not her schtick as a drag performer.

I also agree with blakeston that Violet has always ranged from slightly subpar to excellent in her performances on the runway and in challenges, and has deserved her placement. However, like you, I would probably feel Pearl and Miss Fame got a lot of breaks from the judges. Miss Fame has gotten more breaks from the judges, probably, than any queen in Drag Race history; I'm sure the producers knew she can't lip-sync and didn't want to give one to her until they were ready to cut her loose. I feel bad that I'm hard on Pearl - since she seems like a nice enough person in real life - but she's been graded on a steep curve by the judges in order to fulfill her storyline of "coming out of her shell." She's commended for showing enthusiasm and appearing to want to be there - or being moderately witty - when other queens are expected to actually give excellent performances. Based on what we saw of her stage performances, I don't think she and Max deserved the DESPY Awards win (Jaidynn and Kennedy did), and I think Trixie really overshadowed her in the Conjoined Queens challenge. I'll give Pearl her very good (but not great) performance as Big Ang in the Snatch Game.

Honestly, if I were judging this past episode, I would have had a hard time deciding between putting Pearl and Katya in the bottom with Kennedy. Pearl's Madonna-esque Hello Kitty character was good, but it didn't do as good a job of taking an irreverent approach to the task as Katya's (which was hilarious.) Katya's second costume was an overdecorated, confused conceptual disaster (with terrible styling), but Pearl's second outfit - whatever the construction skills in the cowl-neck or hemline - looked faintly ridiculous on her, in my opinion, and would have looked even worse on anyone who didn't have her figure. Katya's outfit also demonstrated her skills as a seamstress, and it wasn't (and shouldn't have been) enough to save her. It isn't that hobble-skirts look bad on curvier or larger figures, it's that the whole silhouette could only not look ridiculous on a tall, lanky, slightly underweight frame like Pearl's. Arguably, you could apply my last statement to the great majority of avant-garde designer looks that appear in fashion editorials in Vogue, but it applies particularly egregiously to Pearl's outfit last week. As a fellow Jersey girl (or feminine gay boy), I appreciated Michelle Visage for keeping it real last episode. Santino's role for production last week was to give a haute couture justification for Pearl's outfit, which reminds me why I grew tired of him as a judge.

I do, however, agree with zuleikha that Kennedy gave a great lip-sync and beat Katya (and would certainly have crushed Pearl to shreds had she been in the bottom two with her). I just think the problem is that "Roar" by Katy Perry is a vaguely crappy song, especially for a high energy, acrobatic lip-sync, and so any lip-sync a drag queen gave to it might seem a bit off. I wish they had reversed this week and last week's songs and given Kennedy and Katya - the season's strongest lip-sync artists - "Show Me Love" by Robin S. instead.

Edited by vrocotamy
  • Love 4
Link to comment
(edited)

As a fellow Jersey girl (or feminine gay boy), I appreciated Michelle Visage for keeping it real last episode.

Santino's role for production last week was to give a haute couture justification for Pearl's outfit, which reminds me why I grew tired of him as a judge.

Yes, Santino was there to namedrop Giorgio di Sant’Angelo and Veruschka. But he was also the awkward object of Violet's affection—and flooded Ginger's basement.

PS. How did TPTB land a Sanrio tie-in, when they couldn't even hold on to Absolut?

Edited by editorgrrl
Link to comment

This was a rough one for me because Katya was my favorite. I'm also high-anxiety, and we're similar in age and body type. It's the closest thing I'll ever be to watching myself on TV (except for when I'm on TV, but I've only done local television). That being said, there was no way in hell Kennedy was gonna go home after that lip-sync. Katya went on her Facebook and wrote a very sweet (and long) letter being thankful of her time on the show, and encouraging fans to not be talking shit about Kennedy. I thought it was a classy move.

 

I have no idea how the Sanrio tie-in worked, either, but when RuPaul yelled "Silence!" and Hello Kitty put a hand to her mouth, I (and everyone at the bar watching) died. I find it interesting that the first half of this season was an absolute train wreck, and toward the end we got challenges that were actually fun and innovative.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
. It isn't that hobble-skirts look bad on curvier or larger figures, it's that the whole silhouette could only not look ridiculous on a tall, lanky, slightly underweight frame like Pearl's.
I don't understand that as a critique. I do think a modified version sans cowl would look fine on a curvier woman with proper tailoring and supportive undergarments, but I also think it's irrelevant. Pearl's costuming herself, not anyone else. She doesn't have to come up with the a look that would look great on Ginger. She needs to come up with a look that looks good on her.

 

Visage's criticism was that Pearl used her body type to take a lazy way out by belting a blanket around herself. That's the key part that I think is BS. Pearl's look was as completely conceptualized as Violet's, and I think it was executed well.  It didn't deserve to win both because Violet's Hello Kitty BFF was (IMHO) better and also because Violet's concept of harajuku mod was simply more eye catching, but it wasn't lazy.

Link to comment

 

I feel bad that I'm hard on Pearl - since she seems like a nice enough person in real life - but she's been graded on a steep curve by the judges in order to fulfill her storyline of "coming out of her shell.

Though that really isn't uncommon, IMO. Most seasons have had a baby queen getting graded on a curve because of 'improvement', deliberately to keep them in the game against stronger queens. Just off the top of my head you have Tatiana, PhiPhi, Shangela and Adore as well. Though admittedly, Pearl doesn't have the strong personality of any of them or the reserves of talent Shangela and Adore had. She isn't totally psycho like PhiPhi which is a nice benefit though.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

Though that really isn't uncommon, IMO. Most seasons have had a baby queen getting graded on a curve because of 'improvement', deliberately to keep them in the game against stronger queens. Just off the top of my head you have Tatiana, PhiPhi, Shangela and Adore as well. Though admittedly, Pearl doesn't have the strong personality of any of them or the reserves of talent Shangela and Adore had. She isn't totally psycho like PhiPhi which is a nice benefit though.

 

True. I have different opinions on each case that it's happened. Tatianna is, in my mind, the case that's the most similar to Pearl, if you replace "mall fish" with "'30s Hollywood-cum-1983 rocker." They each had certain spurts of wit and creativity (both Tatianna and Pearl did well in the Snatch Game), but didn't have the drag bona fides (or personal maturity) to make their instances of exceeding their limitations truly meaningful. Phi Phi, as the "baby queens" on the show have gone, was polished. That said, she was mostly an mostly unimaginative, rather run-of-the-mill urban bar queen of ca. 2011, emulating pop princesses of the time like Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga. Phi Phi had a big personality in terms of being, as you say, periodically psychotic and a cutthroat competitor, but she wasn't particularly intelligent and didn't have much (if any) appreciable humor or wit. Shangela was quite intelligent and clever, but had the most deficient "Drag 101" skills of any queen beginning S2 to make it as far as she did (yes, beating out Adore). TBC.

Edited by vrocotamy
  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)
News flash, Kennedy-it's called "Lip Sync For Your Life," not "'Death Drop' For Your Life."

 

 

Kennedy did lip sync. She did not death drop. A death drop is a specific move. Laganja and Shangela both used death drops a lot. I don't believe Kennedy has ever performed one. Kennedy and Katya both did an acrobatic move that landed in split (cartwheel I think in both cases, but may have been an aerial... I don't remember and don't feel like rewatching it).

In drag performances, a death drop is falling to the floor, usually with the back leg bent so it's not a full split, and leaning back so that the head and torso are parallel to the floor. But I remember in high school there were several moves taught in dance studios and used in competitions involving the splits that people referred to as death drops (there are also some moves in partner dancing .

 

This is Shangela teaching someone how to do the death drop:

 

In this week's LSFYL, the splits make an appearance three times:

 

Kennedy does a cartwheel and slides into the splits at the 0:36 mark. Around the 0:59 mark, she jumps off the stage and then lands in the splits, followed by Katya doing a cartwheel, jumping into the air, and landing in the splits. For what it's worth, what Katya did is more difficult and her splits are much better. Heh, and I don't think I have ever seen ANY of the queens on this show do an aerial.

Edited by ElectricBoogaloo
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Fishiness is realism - up to and including the ability to pass. Chapstick and mascara queens as they say.  Courtney Act, Tatiana and before her transition, Carmen are fishy queens. Conventional beauty is not really a criteria though as a queen like Stacy Lane Matthews would be considered fishy as well.

 

With that definition, I'd say Violet is quite fishy. On the runway, she reads as a woman to me just as much as Courtney did (what with Courtney having that boyish build). 

 

Unless you only qualify as fishy if you dress like an everyday woman - but plenty of queens who are described as fishy wear elaborate, glitzy costumes that real-life women almost never wear.

 

I don't understand that as a critique. I do think a modified version sans cowl would look fine on a curvier woman with proper tailoring and supportive undergarments, but I also think it's irrelevant. Pearl's costuming herself, not anyone else. She doesn't have to come up with the a look that would look great on Ginger. She needs to come up with a look that looks good on her.

 

Visage's criticism was that Pearl used her body type to take a lazy way out by belting a blanket around herself. That's the key part that I think is BS. Pearl's look was as completely conceptualized as Violet's, and I think it was executed well.  It didn't deserve to win both because Violet's Hello Kitty BFF was (IMHO) better and also because Violet's concept of harajuku mod was simply more eye catching, but it wasn't lazy.

 

I have to disagree there. Violet's outfit looked to me like she had thought through every detail, whereas Pearl's looked like something she threw together when time was running out.

Link to comment

  While Kennedy may not have done a conventional death drop, I still think that Katya's LSFYL was better than Kennedy's because she not only stayed onstage, her splits were better and she didn't head-bang. There are many songs where head-banging is appropriate and "Roar" is not one of them.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
(edited)

 

For what it's worth, what Katya did is more difficult and her splits are much better. Heh, and I don't think I have ever seen ANY of the queens on this show do an aerial.

I also think she did it in a better part of the song, it was right on a big beat, I also prefer how she got up from the splits and all of her movements matched the song.  I watched the video again and I still think Katya did a better job for LSFYL. JMHO. 

Edited by jellywager
  • Love 5
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...