S04.E01: All Star Variety Show

[OnceSane]

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Ten All Stars compete for $100,000 and a place in the Drag Race Hall of Fame! Their first challenge is a salute to LGBTQ troops in an All Star-Spangled Variety Show!

Airs December 14, 2018.

[Keywestclubkid]

Gia girl calm down it’s only episode one dial back the shady boots 

[Temperance]

I found this episode entertaining. I'm relatively new to Drag Race, but it's entertaining. 

Monique Heart; don't take off your wig!

I was impressed Monique Heart's talent otherwise. 

[lyric]

Well, I'm glad Farrah's sticking around if for no other reason than to see her clapback at Gia next week.

[ivanp91]

I did feel a little bad for Farrah when she fell over, but the tears really need to stop. Her "reading" of the queens reminded me of her roast in Season 9 that fell flat (IIRC that was the episode in which she was eliminated?)

 

On 01/12/2018 at 3:28 AM, OnceSane said:

Guest Judge's Gus Kenwhorty and the return of Santino Rice.

Ended up being Jennifer Lewis, with no Santino to be seen!

[Corgi-ears]

At this point it's not so much a "talent show" as it is a "making-vague-and-inchoate-references-to-my-'brand'-show." (I know, welcome to neoliberalism.) I rather miss the days when Raja went off on Shangela's attempts to cram in her halleloos; now catchphrases and memes make up the entirety of a queen's "talent." Get off my lawn, kids.

Did Monique really mean to say, "It's not the falling, it's how you fall"?! Insofar as it's anything like a proverb, it's "...it's how you get up." Or perhaps it's masterful shade, and deeply hilarious.

Edited December 15, 2018 by Corgi-ears

[CheetaraThunder]

Latrice, Gia, And Manila should have been the top, especially since I wanted to see alatrice vs Manila kill the lip sync to Maariahs Emotionns. Shit, they kissed a Golden opportunity there. Latrice does have the same star power quality that Alyssa Edwards has; they could honestly do anything, and their star factor just ups it.

[bobbyjoe]

Ughh, reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally disappointed Ru kept the same rules this year; I was hoping she'd genuinely shake things up and ditch the "queens vote themselves off" format that usually ends up being irritating and unfair.

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Latrice, Gia, And Manila should have been the top, especially since I wanted to see alatrice vs Manila kill the lip sync to Maariahs Emotionns. Shit, they kissed a Golden opportunity there. Latrice does have the same star power quality that Alyssa Edwards has; they could honestly do anything, and their star factor just ups it.

So true.  If this were really an All-Stars competition, they might as well have just stopped the show after Latrice's performance, handed her the crown and let everybody go home.

Instead, with these horrible rules still in place we'll probably see some of the genuine star queens kill it week after week and then in the end have somebody fine but not incredibly interesting like Farrah Moan win.

[KnotsLanding]

This was a very strong episode, but the same reason I fell out of love with the last season of All Stars and the main show is producer driven. In what way were Monique and Trinity the top two? Latrice, Manila and Gia all gave such unique and strong showings and were just safe? Huh? That already told me it's going to be a mess much like AS3. As much as I love Jasmine I know she deserved to be in the bottom. I won't begin to argue that. Jasmine is hilarious and one of the sweetest, most hard working and humble queens to grace that workroom, but she gooked herself by not preparing material. Had she scripted the exact same skit she was recreating she could've been in the top. Her wig didn't do her any favors either. The problem I had is who joined her in the bottom. Naomi is TIRED. She's shown no growth and was truly lucky to do as well as she did on her season. She is a terrible performer both on the show and when I've seen her in person. Her variety show performance did nothing to change my view of that. Farrah Moan is annoying and whines a lot, but she had a strong look and her falling shouldn't have placed her in the bottom. Naomi is more popular with the audience and was clearly given a pass for that reason. 

I'm not sure how I feel about Gia being so bitchy, but I like her. She's always Gia I'll give her that. So long as her looks stay strong I'm okay with it. At least she can be funny when she does it. Trinity was okay but I feel she's overrated. I like her less now that she's trying to mold herself into a comedy queen. I feel like she's losing what made her special, but she pulls it off mostly. I just hate when the girls of recent years change what they do so drastically to fit in that typical style that is popular now. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One of the reasons I love all star seasons is that I don't have to spend the first four weeks trying to figure out who the hell all of these people are. It's always nice to see the former contestants again (okay, maybe not always, but usually).

I totally cracked up when Valentina was trying to do a sexy striptease and Latrice just stepped right in front of her and started unzipping her puffy vest. It's no wonder that Latrice won the reading challenge. She knows how to improvise on the spot. Sadly, we saw how badly some of the other queens were at that. I had major second hand embarrassment for some of the girls who were not funny AT ALL. But then I felt sorry for myself because I had to listen to their lame attempts at comedy.

I could not believe that Jasmine Masters decided to do improvised standup with no prepared material. As Monique Heart pointed out, even Beyoncé rehearses. Monique's suggestion to at least create an outline was a good idea. Just because people tell you that you're funny doesn't mean you can just stand on a stage with no one to play off of and just riff for five minutes. Even professional comedians don't do that! And then she ended up going the opposite route and trying to just repeat something she'd already said before.

Gia's geisha girl routine was pretty, but she's lucky that they only had to prepare a one minute routine because I don't know how much longer that could have gone one before losing the audience's interest. Her costume was gorgeous. Like the judges, I was perplexed by Manila's painting until the reveal at the very end. She definitely took a risk because there was definitely a point where the audience was like "WTF does she think she's doing?" and it can be hard to win them back after that.

We had a tall flag team that performed with my high school marching band so I wasn't sure how much I would like Latrice's routine but she did enough to hold my interest for the entire routine. I wasn't impressed with Valentina's lip sync and dance. It was fine but forgettable.

Monique Heart's "Brown Cow" song and dance was fun to watch. Trinity's tuck tutorial was funny. Naomi's runway performance was fine but not particularly entertaining. They're lucky they only had one minute because any longer and I would have been bored with her walking back and forth. The best part was the wig reveal at the end. I loved that afterward she waved the top part of the wig like a pom pom. Monet X Change's sponge song was fine, but I thought the judges' critique was a bit unfair/uneven considering that they praised Monique for her brown cow bit.

Farrah Moan looked gorgeous as usual. I really felt for her when she slipped and fell because that is the kind of mishap that performers dread, but what I ALWAYS say is that what separates the professionals from the amateurs is the ability to recover. Yes, she kept going but she was clearly rattled and not giving it 100% and that's worse than falling. Shit happens. Everyone knows that. The audience will get behind you if you shake it off, but she couldn't handle knowing that she'd made a mistake. What she should have done was rolled over on her side into a pinup pose,  shaken her finger at the offending costume piece on the ground as if to say, "You naughty little bitch!" and then gotten up and finished like nothing happened.

Jasmine's sparkly suit looked great, but that was the only good thing about her act. For me the difference was that Farrah Moan slipped, which is something out of your control that can happen to anyone. Jasmine, on the other hand, CHOSE to do that bad comedy. Even worse, she's so delusional that she refused to admit that what she did wasn't funny. I respect Jasmine for taking her elimination so well and giving words of support to Farrah.

I'm with Jenifer Lewis: Leave that nervous shit at home. It's boring! All that matters to the audience is what you do on the stage.

[lyric]

5 hours ago, Mayberry said:

I am over the "queens vote themselves off" thing too. First of all, I find that deliberation part after the challenge boring. It's always the same thing- the two Bottom queens being interviewed, saying they messed up and begging to be kept in (or saying "Do what you gotta do".) Then secondly, it can become strategic when they want to vote off the strongest competition or when alliances keep someone undeserving in (like Rolaskatox- Alaska keeping Roxxxy in instead of Alyssa). Or it becomes something like when Ben De La Creme left the show because he couldn't handle voting his fellow drag queens out, which inadvertently led to Shangela not being voted into the Top 2 and Trixie winning...I guess the show likes the messy drama it creates.

Yes, and what's worse is the producers create this silly drama yet still manipulate who leaves, just less transparently. I have to watch All Stars as a variety show of sorts versus a competition. It makes it much less frustrating.

[ClareWalks]

I would have loved for Farrah to have fallen, then while still on her ass found the camera and given her signature whine. It would have been the GIF that kept on giving.

[heckkitty]

Latrice FTW. I don’t even notice Monet when she’s in the room, & I love Monet. 

Gia, Valentina, Naomi & Farrah are all filler to me. Love Manila, Monet, & Monique. I think Trinity will do well, even though I’ve always been a little lukewarm on her. 

I want to be happy for Gia that she gets to live her truth, but it’s hard since apparently her truth is a mean bitch. 

[cyberfruit]

Gia's geisha performance was so pretty and I really enjoyed it. Too bad her personality is so odious.

A part of me just adores Farrah, as whiny as she is. I was dying over her burlesque outfit (yeah, it sure did look expensive), but sad she couldn't shake off her nerves. That being said, she didn't belong in the bottom. 

Naomi...alright. I didn't watch her season because I'm one of those people who've been around since the beginnings of Cameroooooonnnnn and that purple hued set with the vaseline filter, so I got burnt out by season 6. Other than having legs for days, I didn't find her interesting at all and her makeup takes her into uncanny valley, for me. She should have been in the bottom, tbh.

Valentina's lipsync look straight out of an early 00s Latin pop music video, jerky dance moves included, so congrats. 

Give the crown to Latrice. 

[Keywestclubkid]

Gia is just to nasty to win this like there isn’t another side to her just rude 

[akr]

15 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I wasn't impressed with Valentina's lip sync and dance. It was fine but forgettable.

I think the point was to, right out of the gate, put to rest any notion that she can't lip synch (or at least pair the memory of her screwing up before with the memory of her being spot on now). Mission accomplished, reset button pushed, game on.  

[Stenbeck]

I'm tired of the queens who get a schtick and run. it. to. the. ground.

Monet, I'm looking at you. Sponge. 

Monique, I'm also looking at you. Brown cow song, brown cow outfit, second brown cow outfit in confessionals WITH a brown cow cap. Bitch, really?

I love Trinity, and she'll always be Trinity Taylor to me. Trinity the Tuck...too much of a schtick. See above.

Rooting for: Trinity, Latrice, Valentina and Manila.

I'm surprised we didn't have the past winners creeping up on the eliminated contestant, setting up a return. Also...Trixie looks way out of her fucking league in the Hall of Fame next to Alaska and Chad Michaels. Fuck, I'm still not over Shangela being robbed. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

56 minutes ago, akr said:

I think the point was to, right out of the gate, put to rest any notion that she can't lip synch (or at least pair the memory of her screwing up before with the memory of her being spot on now). Mission accomplished, reset button pushed, game on.  

But you can make a point, redeem yourself from a past mistake, AND not be boring. 

The contestants were clearly told ahead of time to prepare a one minute talent performance and that was the best she could come up? Less than 24 hours later, I remember nothing about het performance. I’m disappointed because I thought she was gorgeous in her original season. 

[Glade]

I was also hoping that we would get a new format after the disaster last year, but alas...we can only hope they don't vote on the top 2.  I agree that Latrice, Manilla, and Gia had the best performances, and was perturbed by how much the episode was highlighting Trinity Trailer-Tuck, who I find as bland as I did during S9.  I didn't think Monique/Monet had enough time since season ten to grow, and this episode only reinforced that since they showed us the same-old.  I did like Ru reading Monique on her slippery wigs.  And I'm totally cool with Farrah crying; fuck masculinity, it's perfectly fine to cry and express your emotions.   I'm not a fan of Jasmine so I'm perfectly fine with her covering her face in a gold burka for 80% of the holi-slay and then wearing that ugly wig/suit and not even bothering to prepare for her standup act.  

[bobbyjoe]

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I have to watch All Stars as a variety show of sorts versus a competition. It makes it much less frustrating.

That's a great way to look at it: kind of like the Christmas special, where the "competition" was really just an excuse to put on a silly musical.   I think I'll take your advice!

Under my breath, though, I'll still call All Stars "RuPaul's Best Friend's Race," since who likes you and who you're pals with has more to do with who ultimately wins than anything to do with actual performances or comparative talent.

Edited December 16, 2018 by bobbyjoe

[Rai]

I really wanted Farrah to go and Jasmine to stay, but I can't fault anyone for sending Jasmine home. Jesus take the wheel, here.

That said, I've been slowly re-watching season 1 because my boyfriend's never seen it before, and right after this episode, we watched the channel your inner Oprah episode. On the runway, Akosha tripped and fell straight on her hinder. She then immediately twirled it into a sitting pose, got back up, and strutted her stuff. Sure, she was upset backstage. But on that runway, she turned her fall into a pose and kept her sparkle going (which was rough for her, because girl was ROUGH. But props to her for that recovery). 

In short, if Farrah had turned her slip into something sassy, that would've been great. That's hard to do! But in the words of seasoned Ru, "That's why they call it a challenge."

Gia Gunn is still a total bitch, but as I always do in the second time around with a controversial queen, I just find her delightful. Keep that mouth running, Gia! You've got a post-graduate degree in reading!

[Lovelylv]

I don’t understand how everyone likes Monique! She’s annoying like a mothafucka. Facts are Facts America! Manila had it right when she was reading her....lmao her makeup IS shit. 

I was fine with Jasmine leaving...eh.

i like Monet a lot but I do feel bringing back the girls so early after their season is a no no let us miss them lol with that being said I hope I see miz cracker on AS5 lol 

i love Valentina! She’s perfect 

i love seing MANILA she is a Legend I would like her to Win! 

[ladle]

It annoyed me when Ru introduced Latrice with "She's large and in charge..."  I dislike when they (the show, the judges, or the contestants themselves) distill the big queens to just their size.  Like, I get if the queen herself is using it as part of a shtick for a skit or something (and it's more than just "haha I'm fat" because: boring....I'm lookin' at you, Eureka....), but Latrice is so fricking talented-- she's so much more than just a particular body shape! 

On the other hand, I was living for Jenifer Lewis's reactions to the performances.  Nothing makes me smile more than when the guest judges get really into it. 

[ClareWalks]

22 minutes ago, ladle said:

It annoyed me when Ru introduced Latrice with "She's large and in charge..."  I dislike when they (the show, the judges, or the contestants themselves) distill the big queens to just their size.  Like, I get if the queen herself is using it as part of a shtick for a skit or something (and it's more than just "haha I'm fat" because: boring....I'm lookin' at you, Eureka....), but Latrice is so fricking talented-- she's so much more than just a particular body shape! 

But that's Latrice's catchphrase, though. "I'm large and in charge, chunky yet funky, Latrice Mother-fuckin' Royale!"

[ladle]

I know, but it still annoys me when they (again, either the queens themselves or RuPaul/the show) distill them to just their size.  YMMV!

[ClareWalks]

It's funny you say that about Latrice because I think she is pretty much the only "big girl" in the show's history where I am able to forget that she's a "big girl." Unlike so many other big queens, she doesn't just go on and on about her size and make that her entire personality. Cough, Eureka, cough :-P

[ladle]

Ha, at least we agree about Eureka then! 

This is going to sound bitchy... and maybe I should just own it because it is bitchy... but I liked Monet a lot on her season, and I remember her being... better.

[Diane Mars]

16 hours ago, ladle said:

This is going to sound bitchy... and maybe I should just own it because it is bitchy... but I liked Monet a lot on her season, and I remember her being... better.

Thank you. I feel less alone.

[Not4Me]

Why was Jasmine Masters dressed as Oprah Winfrey throughout the episode with those pant suits? Gurl...this is All Stars 4, not a morning interview on The Today Show! 

[JakeyJokes]

I"ve been a quasi-professional comedian for years and Jasmine was that girl who says "My friends think I'm HILARIOUS" and bombs on Open Mic Night. Loved that the other queens understood that stand-up is an art form and you have to have SOMETHING. 

I am an unabashed Mariah stan and when that song everyone at the viewing party turned and looked at me and I can die now.

[Kaboom 2.0]

Finally back in town and caught up on this...locas, I still heart Monet and Monique but as soon as Latrila showed up, I am all in one of them being crowned. I will be wearing my Jesus is a Biscuit tee during the show as long as Latrice is on!

I don't really like Jasmine that much but wow, her exit (to me) showed a professionalism and maturity I did not think she had. Gia and Farrah are cannon fodder to me, Valentina may go far here but as polished as she is, she, and Naomi, needs more time to bake.

[Gothish520]

On 12/24/2018 at 1:33 AM, JakeyJokes said:

I am an unabashed Mariah stan and when that song everyone at the viewing party turned and looked at me and I can die now.

I'm always happy when a blast from the past pops up somewhere - I'm like ohhh yeah, this song! 

On 12/15/2018 at 10:28 PM, Stenbeck said:

I'm tired of the queens who get a schtick and run. it. to. the. ground.

Monet, I'm looking at you. Sponge. 

Monique, I'm also looking at you. Brown cow song, brown cow outfit, second brown cow outfit in confessionals WITH a brown cow cap. Bitch, really?

I love Trinity, and she'll always be Trinity Taylor to me. Trinity the Tuck...too much of a schtick. See above.

Rooting for: Trinity, Latrice, Valentina and Manila.

Yes, Monet and Monique almost seem like they are coasting - your win is not a given ladies, so stop acting like it is and step it up.

I'm rooting for the same four, though I'm not quite as sold on Latrice yet. Trinity is giving me Debra Messing which I'm loving, and Valentina is a hoot and gorgeous to boot. Manila won me over with her painting act, that was imaginative. 

[Lovelylv]

On 12/22/2018 at 10:40 PM, Not4Me said:

Why was Jasmine Masters dressed as Oprah Winfrey throughout the episode with those pant suits? Gurl...this is All Stars 4, not a morning interview on The Today Show! 

Because she’s not very good at what she does lol

[Lovelylv]

On 12/15/2018 at 7:28 PM, Stenbeck said:

I'm tired of the queens who get a schtick and run. it. to. the. ground.

Monet, I'm looking at you. Sponge. 

Monique, I'm also looking at you. Brown cow song, brown cow outfit, second brown cow outfit in confessionals WITH a brown cow cap. Bitch, really?

I love Trinity, and she'll always be Trinity Taylor to me. Trinity the Tuck...too much of a schtick. See above.

Rooting for: Trinity, Latrice, Valentina and Manila.

I'm surprised we didn't have the past winners creeping up on the eliminated contestant, setting up a return. Also...Trixie looks way out of her fucking league in the Hall of Fame next to Alaska and Chad Michaels. Fuck, I'm still not over Shangela being robbed. 

You can’t forget Monique also wore brown cow gown on the finale of her season....ugh! I hope she doesn’t win