S02.E03: HERstory Of The World

[Arwen Evenstar]

Ginger Minj was my favorite queen from that season, even though statistically, it belonged to Violet.  Her portrayal of Edie the Egg Lady was pure gold! I still go to that vid whenever I need a good laugh

At that time, I didn't know anything about this  Pink Flamingos film. But, like someone posted, if someone makes it funny, prior knowledge isn't required. 

Sad to see my Glamour Toad go, but I feel the elimination was fair because she wasn't bringing the runway, even though her skit participation was worthy. That runway outfit was a disaster all around! 

Detox was brilliant as Marie Antoinette. That jaw movement of hers makes me stabby though! Detox is amazing all on her own; she doesn't need any gimmicks to shine.

[Glaadrial]

On 9/9/2016 at 1:11 PM, zulualpha said:

And Ben DeLaCreme as Dame Maggie was amazingly funny because Ben made her that way.  The woman's not known for being hilarious. 

Ah, to be so young...The Great Dame happened to win an Oscar for being funny. 

Nevertheless, the point that Katya did not do as much with Princess Di as she could have is not without merit. I won't go so far as to actually call "Shenanigans!" on the season thus far, but I do recognize the watermelon sized machinations at play. If what Katya said in her talking head is true about having been assigned a different character, then there's really no blame on her for this performance. While everyone else merely had to execute what they had prepared, Katya had to come up with something on the spot.  Given her talent, even this most vanilla of characters could have been spiced up if she'd had time to prepare (What immediately comes to mind for "this English Rose has thorns," would be to hold up photos of the Ginger Prince and Diana's rumored Ginger Lover).

In any case, I agree with what someone said upthread is that the machinations robbed us of a polished performance from definite front-runner in the competition. 

A couple of head-scratchers from this episode: 

• Why did we get only a bottom two this week instead of three that we've gotten from the beginning?
• Why did Ru wait until after critiques to announce the top and bottom two. It felt like she needed some kind of support from the peanut gallery to justify the mystifying selection this week...which kind of back-fired a bit because of the abundant praise of Ginger's performance which should have landed her in clearly "safe" territory regardless of the runway.

Moreover, has anybody else noticed that with Ginger gone,  everyone remaining has had an opportunity to Lipsync for her Leagcy, except PhiPhi? Leave it to Ayssa, boldly and likely unwittingly, to FU the script by saving Katya, who was probably being setup to be the star of whatever "to be continued" means. Unless, the TBC happens next week, then we'll have our first repeat queen in the top 2.

[editorgrrl]

55 minutes ago, Glaadrial said:

Why did we get only a bottom two this week instead of three that we've gotten from the beginning?

I assumed it was because there are fewer queens now.

[Arwen Evenstar]

Just not feeling PhiPhi.  Even though she's matured a lot, I'm having a hard time warming up to her. Though I felt really sad for the fact that her coming out had her beaten within an inch of her life by her abusive father, she was very mean to some of the other girls, particularly poor Jiggly, who she thought she could bully and did. Still don't care for her shady ways, but that said, I believe with all my heart that there ought to be a special place in hell for those who abused their kids for being gay.

[phoenix780]

I hated this episode, maybe in part because I watched back to back with the previous episode. All Stars seasons of reality shows are always contrived, all the tops/bottoms so far have seemed slightly off to me, this was just the sloppiest, imho. Alyssa had to get the win to shake up their elimination pact. Katya vs. Ginger was the most dramatic bottom 2 possible at this point.  If the show itself were more entertaining I probably wouldn't care, but I hated the challenge (long and random) so it was annoying.

I think this show has some of the best editors around, and I have no doubt they could make Phi Phi a villain with very little effort. That said, I do think there's some basis for it, not that she's some awful person. She just seems to take this seriously and she gets noticeably annoyed with those who she thinks aren't. Not villainy, maybe a little uptight and...narrow-minded, I guess you could say. 

 I don't think she should complain about a villain edit, though, because it's what's keeping her around, imho. And if she's bothered, she should address the queens who reinforce the story with their comments. Ginger in particular gave a quote that sounded pretty unedited, like it was one complete thought. Those comments are where Phi Phi really gets screwed, depending on how much you buy the editing defense. 

[Ruby Gillis]

3 hours ago, phoenix780 said:

I think this show has some of the best editors around, and I have no doubt they could make Phi Phi a villain with very little effort. That said, I do think there's some basis for it, not that she's some awful person. She just seems to take this seriously and she gets noticeably annoyed with those who she thinks aren't. Not villainy, maybe a little uptight and...narrow-minded, I guess you could say. 

 I don't think she should complain about a villain edit, though, because it's what's keeping her around, imho. And if she's bothered, she should address the queens who reinforce the story with their comments. Ginger in particular gave a quote that sounded pretty unedited, like it was one complete thought. Those comments are where Phi Phi really gets screwed, depending on how much you buy the editing defense. 

I think Phi Phi also doesn't know how to throw shade very well.  The other girls say bitchy things in their talking heads, but they do it with a bit of a smile and sass.  Phi Phi just gives a straight-forward interview about how Alyssa is annoying her, so she doesn't come off as charming as the other girls.  

[Arwen Evenstar]

Alyssa SLAYED Annie Oakley with her Texas charm and schtik! Though I'm not her biggest fan, I do like her.  My memory fails me, but was she the creative force behind L'il Pound Cake? That was some seriously funny shit! 

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Which Queens WANT IT On RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars?

Passion and commitment, darling. Serve them, and serve them well.

[ClareWalks]

31 minutes ago, Arwen Evenstar said:

My memory fails me, but was she the creative force behind L'il Pound Cake? That was some seriously funny shit! 

That was Alaska :)

[Watermelon]

4 hours ago, Ruby Gillis said:

I think Phi Phi also doesn't know how to throw shade very well.  The other girls say bitchy things in their talking heads, but they do it with a bit of a smile and sass.  Phi Phi just gives a straight-forward interview about how Alyssa is annoying her, so she doesn't come off as charming as the other girls.  

I think that's exactly Phi Phi's problem. She's just not charming. Even when she's not being actively bitchy there's nothing about her that would make me want to be around her.

[ClareWalks]

PhiPhi's C.U.N.T is lacking in C. And T. (And U.)

Edited September 12, 2016 by ClareWalks

[AKA...CJ86]

I've been waiting for Tell It To My Heart to be used in a lip sync, and while Detox and Alyssa aren't my cup of tea...they did it justice...mostly.  A sign of a good lip sync is the judges having fun and they certainly were...loved Carson singing to Ru's boob and Ru's following reaction...made the episode to me.

[Nena]

I'm feeling like Alaska doesn't really want to be there so much as feels like she has to be there.  I loved her in her season, this year, I forget she's even there half the time.  

Not a big Alyssa fan, but I'll give her credit for bucking the "we all agreed" mantra, because, at least from what we saw, they didn't all agree.  Tatianna was the one saying they don't always agree with the judges critiques, so it's not fair to base everything on them, and we saw th's from others speculating about alliances and things changing.   Sticking to that standard best serves the middle of the pack types, and those seemed to be the ones most in favor of it.  It's a risky plan, anyway.  They know the audience doesn't see the full critiques, so it leaves them wide open for a bad edit.  

My biggest issue with the Diana thing is there really wasn't a lot to work with.  Evita's "iconic" moment is standing still at a mic, but she got to move around the stage, so why couldn't Diana?  And the lyrics weren't much help.  All the other roles had props, some of them multiple.  Diana's job was to stand center stage, drop a tiara, and do a little bump and grind in place.  Even if she had gone ott with the dress, she still would've been standing center stage in a dress with big sleeves.  When she was backup, it was a lot of choreography with her back to the stage or out of frame, and a few moments where she had a chance to ham it up (which Katya did).  No matter who ended up with that part, they were destined for the bottom unless they pulled out some Raja-level runway.  

They could've done so much more with someone else, Margaret Thatcher, Amelia Earhart, Marilyn Monroe.

[Ananayel]

1 hour ago, Nena said:

They could've done so much more with someone else, Margaret Thatcher, Amelia Earhart, Marilyn Monroe.

I was wracking my brain trying to think of 20th century women who a) would fit the theme better than Diana, b) not be still alive, and c) be somewhat iconic. I came up with Thatcher, but also thought maybe Mata Hari. Didn't think of Marilyn Monroe or Amelia Earhart, but they would have been great too.

Ginger's runway was terrible, and while I like her a lot, I prefer Katya - largely because I know what I'm getting with Ginger, and have no idea what to expect from Katya. I do want Phi Phi to go next, I'm just tired of her shenanigans. And then Roxxy. After that, I'll be very sad no matter who goes.

[DollEyes]

The HERstory musical challenge was a mixed bag. Some did great on the runway, but their performances were mediocre, at best. Case in point: Alaska, whose "Future of Drag" look was clever, but her take on Eve was a Britney Spears rip-off and a bad one, at that. Phi Phi's cosplay look was the only thing that saved her from the B2 IMO because her heavy-metal Helen Of Troy made me cringe. Phi Phi's latest head games were also cringe-worthy, this time with Alyssa and Ginger as the targets. Phi Phi's claim that Alyssa's comedy skills wouldn't work in this challenge backfired big-time, as Alyssa's Annie Oakley stole the show. Ditto Detox's Marie Antoinette, which belonged in the Top 2 and her Fifth Element-inspired runway look was fierce. 

 Roxxy's runway look was meh, but her Evita was hilarious. Ginger's runway look was a snooze but her Catherine the great was a scream. As for Katya, she tried her best with princess Diana, but as much as I hate to agree with Michelle (especially lately), I agreed with her that the sleeves on the wedding gown and her hair should have been much bigger, proving that even a broken clock can be right twice a day. Alyssa's runway look was editorial, in a good way. The song choice for the LSFYL was good, but I was suprised that Ru didn't pick a Beyonce' song. Since the theme was royalty I was expecting the song to be by musical royalty, aka Queen Bey; otoh, maybe Ru's saving it for another episode or TPTB just don't have the rights to any of her songs yet. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 9/9/2016 at 9:14 AM, JakeyJokes said:

I think Phi Phi spelled out GIFS because she hadn't figured out how to pronounce it.

Ha, I thought the same thing!

I was totally fine with Alyssa's decision for several reasons. First, this whole "we're going to eliminate whoever the judges said was the worst" is not 100% foolproof, which is what I thought in the first episode when this idea was initially brought up. What if the judges were split? There isn't always a consensus, so what if one of the bottom queens has Michelle hating on her, Carsson loving her, and Todrick neutral? And since the queens are judged on both the challenge and the runway, what if one of the bottom queens is awesome in the challenge but bombs the runway (or vice versa)? I get why some of the queens thought that having the judges' critiques determine who would be eliminated seemed like the best method, I don't think that they considered that it's not always as cut and dry as they would like to believe and that they might sometimes have to make their own judgment calls.

I'm still undecided on whether reality show eliminations should be based solely upon that particular week's performance or if past performance should also be taken into account. But in the case of Ginger vs. Katya, I think they both give funny talking heads but that their performances in the challenges and on the runway are not always up to par. But between the two, I feel like I get a lot less variety and wow factor from Ginger while I never know what to expect from Katya, and for that reason I would rather see Katya for another week.

[buttercupia]

past performance absolutely should be taken into account. no way should one off week get an otherwise great queen sent home.

[OnceSane]

45 minutes ago, buttercupia said:

past performance absolutely should be taken into account. no way should one off week get an otherwise great queen sent home.

Agreed.  Plus, Ginger just bored me this season.  Katya deserved to stay.

[Arwen Evenstar]

WTF was up with PhiPhi's runway? Though it was better than Ginger's runway all day long, all I could think of was how she looked like the love child of a Sleestak and a Cyborg.

[Zuleikha]

Ditto Detox's Marie Antoinette, which belonged in the Top 2 and her Fifth Element-inspired runway look was fierce.

I didn't like Detox's Marie Antoinette, but I think I may just not like Detox's approach to drag. The only look of hers I've ever truly loved was her black-and-white look that a professional bodypainter did for her. 

Ginger's runway look was a snooze

I think Ginger's runway look would have worked a lot better if she'd realized that the EL wire wouldn't show at all and been able to have the lights dimmed at either the start or end (probably better the end) of her runway walk. This is why LED-and-lightpipe is almost always better than EL wire for light up costuming. EL wire is just not bright enough unless you have a fair degree of darkness. The brief moment at the end when Ginger was backstage and we could see the glow was neat.

[Halo]

On 9/9/2016 at 1:25 AM, AntManBee said:

On 9/16/2016 at 7:48 PM, Arwen Evenstar said:

WTF was up with PhiPhi's runway? Though it was better than Ginger's runway all day long, all I could think of was how she looked like the love child of a Sleestak and a Cyborg.

Word. I thought it was kinda boring and typical of cosplay stuff--it could have been a rented costume--and I can't understand why the judges loved it. Also, her padding gave her a dumpy butt, emphasized by the gold accents.