S11.E09: L.A.D.P.!

[OnceSane]

Quote

The queens clash with the law in the hit TV series “Los Angeles Drag Patrol”. Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll), Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story) and Fortune Feimster (The Mindy Project) guest judge.

Airs April 25, 2019.

[TheLukeP]

Oh that preview tho... y'all, we're gonna have to talk.

[Temperance]

Cheyenne Jackson's voice sounds a lot like Yvie Oddly's voice. 

Cheyenne Jackson and Fortune Feimster were both good judges.

I agreed with who won, who had to lipsync and who left. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by Temperance

[Not4Me]

Has Natasha Lyonne always sounded like the elderly Jewish lady who sells bagels at Zabar’s in New York’s Upper West Side?

[laprin]

14 minutes ago, Not4Me said:

Has Natasha Lyonne always sounded like the elderly Jewish lady who sells bagels at Zabar’s in New York’s Upper West Side?

Yes. Yes, she has. The best I’ve seen Natasha look by the way.

This season’s queens are the worst at comedy. Those reads were scandously bad.

I adore Vangie, but she is just not ready. Given time, she could be a good All Star.

The right queen went home, but I still wanted it to be Silky. 

[kicotan]

7 minutes ago, laprin said:

The right queen went home, but I still wanted it to be Silky. 

I just can’t wrap my head around why they lavish so much praise on Silky...maybe it is just me.

[Sew Sumi]

It's not just you. For me, her act was tired around week 3.

[KillahBee007]

I’m okay with who was eliminated but Silky needs to go. Her look was the least realized out of everyone.  Just over it.

The costume was just bleh. She didn’t even try. 

I loved both Brooke’s and Nina’s look. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by KillahBee007
Added some more thoughts.

[zenithwit]

30 minutes ago, laprin said:

Yes. Yes, she has. The best I’ve seen Natasha look by the way.

This season’s queens are the worst at comedy. Those reads were scandously bad.

I adore Vangie, but she is just not ready. Given time, she could be a good All Star.

The right queen went home, but I still wanted it to be Silky. 

Yeah, those reads were super disappointing.  I think there were only one or two that were decent?  And even those wouldn't make one of those "best reads of all time" supercut videos on Youtube.

I think the guest judges have been helping both Silky and Vanjie.  For each guest judge, their episode is their first exposure to Silky and Vanjie - who are genuinely entertaining queens.  But Ru and Michelle are able to see Silky's and Vanjie's weaknesses and how they are not improving at the same rate as the other queens.  Unless Shuga can pull a rabbit out of the hat next week (pun 100% intended), I think we'll have Silky and Vanjie for a couple more episodes.

At the moment, my personal top 4 are: Yvie, Brooke, A'Keira and Nina.  While I doubt Nina will make the top 4, I think the other 3 are pretty strong contenders for the crown.

[Eliza422]

These LAPD sketches were BOR...ING.

i could not wait for them to be over...oof.

[DanielleC.]

59 minutes ago, zenithwit said:

I think the guest judges have been helping both Silky and Vanjie.  For each guest judge, their episode is their first exposure to Silky and Vanjie - who are genuinely entertaining queens.  But Ru and Michelle are able to see Silky's and Vanjie's weaknesses and how they are not improving at the same rate as the other queens.  Unless Shuga can pull a rabbit out of the hat next week (pun 100% intended), I think we'll have Silky and Vanjie for a couple more episodes.

Exactly! Glad at least Ross wasnt there this week because he is another one blinded by how he is a Vangie fan. He would be fighting with Michelle like last week to keep her safe (Michelle is officially done with Vangie).

Yep, a ok episode.. The problem with the main challenge is that theses shows already are bad entertainment so... Brooke was my favorite, specially because she had this character that wasnt like the other loud ones, she used her dancing skills to make it funny, she went all for it. I will give her a pass that she probably was so in the moment that she forgot to give Nina her cue with might have hurted her, but still, yep, Nina probably helped Brooke by swaping character but she nailed in a way that It was deserved.

Akeria was good, she found a  good ballance between be that crazy character but following a script (different from Vangie, Plastique, Silky and Shuga), so yep, probably the most professional at acting. Her look tho, wasnt my favorite at all (being so close, I would have give the victory to Brooke, that IMO, had the best runway, but no one was robbed tonight). I really hope Silky´s laziness blow up on her face soon.

About Plastique, yep, could have her a couple more weeks instead of tiresome characters as Silky and sometimes Vangie but she also was having the problem on keep serving same character/runway. Even tonight, she still couldnt let go on be pretty first.

Runway best from worst IMO: Brooke - Shuga - Ivye - Nina - Vangie - Plastique - Akeria - Silky.

[Glade]

  Vanjie should have tried to do something else with her voice for this challenge, she sounded more like a barking dog incoherently shouting over her scene partner then a cat, their scene was a trainwreck.  And then Plastique came out with her standard pretty/shiny! look rather then following the challenge, and Vanjie's was pretty basic too, even if not a leotard.  Was really strange seeing the queens watch the completed skits from the work-room, as opposed to the judges viewing it on the runway as usual. 

Brooklyn nailed the runway, and Shuga looked good as well, though in terms of silhouettes I think this was the same as her purple gown last week. I liked Nina's, but there was too much plain white space in her outfit for it to be really good, and I didn't care for Akeira's.   Silky's was so basic and busted, and it looked like there was a rip at the top back of her skirt, I'm glad she was read for not being a team player and not wearing makeup, but I was hoping she'd be in the bottom finally. 

[phoenix780]

I feel like talking about Silky will only make them think she and her type are good for the show. But, I also need to ask...how does she get away with blowing off the runway like that? Not even a scare? Bad show, even if this is a build up to a big fall. At least Ru seemed unhappy with her in the (generally awful) reading challenge. Or, I'm gonna pretend she was. 

Nina was robbed of a place in the top. It's like watching Pandora again. 

I don't understand why it's not OK for Plastique to rely on stereotypes about Asians. Others get to lean into stereotypes. 

[ivanp91]

Gotta get it out there that this bothered me, especially once Natasha went gaga over it as if it was original, but Brook Lynn's "I'm a level 4 vegan, I don't eat anything that casts a shadow" is stolen directly from a 2001 episode of The Simpsons (IIRC the original line was "level 5" but the rest is identical). Not really great for an improv challenge.

I think it was Plastique's time to go - she was the worst in the main challenge and her runway, IMO, didn't meet the criteria. That was a mask, not a "facekini" like everyone else.

Silky's runway is one of the worst things I've ever seen on the RPDR mainstage. Yikes.

[Corgi-ears]

3 hours ago, KillahBee007 said:

Silky needs to go....She didn’t even try. 

But she's ready to lip-synch! She'll lip-synch against all you bitches! RIGHT NOW! ETC.

For someone who believes that "we're all born naked and the rest is drag," RuPaul sure has some deeply, deeply essentialist ideas about other aspects of identity like race, and even "personality."

[worleybird]

Worst. Library. Ever.

Other than eye-candy Cheyenne that was one waste of 90 minutes.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I rolled my eyes when Ru told Plastique that they've seen her do a character with a Vietnamese accent several times. Uh, twice. And if we're going to talk about people doing the same shit over and over, let's talk about Silky. She plays herself in every challenge.

I was really hoping that Brooke would redeem herself after her abysmal Snatch Game. Although she definitely lucked out with the scenario that was assigned to her team, she was smart enough to use her dance background/flexibility and incorporate that into the character.

Vanjie ruined her team's performance by constantly interrupting Plastique and talking over her. This isn't Jerry Springer. It's a comedy skit, so we need to be able to hear what each person is saying, not just one person constantly yelling on top of everyone else's lines. I felt so bad for Cheyenne and Fortune trying to interact with them.

Yvie and A'Keria's twerking skit was not very good. I guess I should give A'Keria some credit for continuing to incorporate twerking throughout the skit, but I didn't find anything she did to be funny. I understand why Cheyenne and Fortune praised her though because she was interacting with them and she created a character that she stuck with throughout the skit.

Silky and Shuga's skit started out well but it went downhill and devolved into me waiting for something funny to happen. I'm glad that Fortune said Silky wasn't a great scene partner because she was hogging all the attention rather than interacting with Shuga.

When Silky said she wasn't going to paint her face at all, I was really hoping that karma would bite her in the ass and force her to LSFYL. Wasn't it just last season that someone tried to get away with only painting part of their face because the rest was covered by something) and they got read by the judges? I am so glad that Michelle asked if she had any makeup on and Silky had to admit all she had on was lipstick. Although I didn't love Silky's black runway look, I'm glad she finally wore something different. I'm tired of her sparkly pageant dresses.

Shuga's My Fair Lady floral look was interesting. I liked the silhouette but I wasn't a huge fan of the floral fabric. I get why she chose it though. She was smart to have enough space cut out around her eyes to have some beautiful eye makeup.

Brooke Lynn looked great as always. I loved her zebra look and how the zebra stripes of her costume matched the zebra makeup on her face.

Nina West had my favorite face bikini. She did the best job making her covered face still look pretty and not like she was on her way to rob a bank. I also loved the polka dots which looked great on the runway. I like that Nina doesn't always default to the skintight dress/sexy look. I appreciate that she's showing how playful looks that aren't overtly sexy can still be hot.

Vanjie's latex look was a little too latex outfit 101 for me. I agreed with Michelle that some breast padding would have helped. She did a good job whipping that huge ponytail though.

I knew that Plastique was going to be in the bottom no matter what she wore on the runway, but this look didn't help matters. It wasn't necessarily bad but it wasn't memorable or interesting. It was fine.

I liked the concept of Akeria's Nip/Tuck look, but I also felt like is a brown unitard enough?

Yvie's slime monster was a fun departure from what almost everyone else did on the runway.

I was fine with Plastique going home. Ru's analogy of doing standup for the first time was a pretty accurate description of Plastique's performance. Cheyenne obviously felt it too while they were filming their scenes. I know that not every contestant is going to be a comedy queen but she was so clearly uncomfortable doing improv or creating characters or doing much besides being pretty. I mean, she was trying but it just wasn't enough. She was always holding back and that won't get you far on this show.

[Dance4Life]

4 hours ago, phoenix780 said:

I feel like talking about Silky will only make them think she and her type are good for the show. But, I also need to ask...how does she get away with blowing off the runway like that? Not even a scare? Bad show, even if this is a build up to a big fall. At least Ru seemed unhappy with her in the (generally awful) reading challenge. Or, I'm gonna pretend she was. 

Nina was robbed of a place in the top. It's like watching Pandora again. 

I don't understand why it's not OK for Plastique to rely on stereotypes about Asians. Others get to lean into stereotypes. 

Probably because even her Asian stereotype sucks. She is very pretty but boring.

I am waiting for Vanjie to bust out his ‘Papi Chulo’ ......but, I don’t think it is happening. Maybe Vanjie doesn’t speak Spanish. All Latin shows have drag ......even the news! It is all so very Tyler Perry....where the main host will do a bunch of iconic characters. 

As you get older these shows feel like a Santa Claus haze. The day you find out so and so and so....’people’......never existed because they were characters played by one person....it is a very sad moment. 🤣

Vanjie needs to go! Tragic. Last night the tucked stirrups and the most boring ‘mother of the bride’ shoes...WTH? Then when Michelle asked......where are your tits?? Hahaha!

Last night it was time for ‘gatita’.....!  Vanjie doesn’t have it.

Here is Ru Paul doing ‘gatita’......(slutty kitty-kat.. meow!)

Ru Paul is purrrfection! Those legs! 🙌🏻

[Fake Jan Brady]

4 hours ago, phoenix780 said:

Nina was robbed of a place in the top. It's like watching Pandora again. 

Ssshhhh! I was just getting over that eight seasons later!!

1 hour ago, worleybird said:

Worst. Library. Ever.

Other than eye-candy Cheyenne that was one waste of 90 minutes.

Reading is fundamental. Fundamental as in basic. 

Cheyenne Jackson was almost as bad at improv as Vanji and Plastique.

Natasha Lyonne for the win!

[ClareWalks]

I really like Plastique, she is so sweet and talented, but she had to go on this challenge. And I was tired of her never being critiqued for wearing the same thing over and over like Vangie. Her outfit in this episode looked exactly like her zodiac look. And those spangled tights, I was starting to develop a twitch from seeing those every single time.

[stormy weather]

8 hours ago, KillahBee007 said:

I’m okay with who was eliminated but Silky needs to go. Her look was the least realized out of everyone.  Just over it.

The costume was just bleh. She didn’t even try. 

I couldn't agree more. She basically did Silky again in the LADP skit (like she did in Snatch Game last week) and her runway look was basically a business suit with a balaclava that looked like a random insect. Plus, any other queen would have had to LSFHL if they showed up on the runway with zero makeup under their costume, and she didn't even end up in the bottom three! How is this possible?

8 hours ago, zenithwit said:

At the moment, my personal top 4 are: Yvie, Brooke, A'Keira and Nina.  While I doubt Nina will make the top 4, I think the other 3 are pretty strong contenders for the crown.

I love how weird and avantgarde Yvie's looks are, but lately she hasn't performed very well in the acting challenges. She was terrible in the LADP scene. If it hadn't been for A'Keria, I would have never understood what the storyline was. I agree with you on the other 3, but I actually think Nina might have a shot because she's a good performer, she's funny and her runway looks are always interesting, and most of all she is the kindest queen of the bunch (together with Shuga, whom I love and adore, but I understand she's not the strongest personality/performer out there, although I think that anyone who gets paired up with Silky in a couples challenge is penalized from the get-go, so it wasn't entirely her fault that she didn't perform so well). 

Finally, that was among the worst choices of a song for the lipsync I've ever seen on this show. Neither of them did an outstanding job with their interpretation, but there was basically no room for them to do anything more than they did. I'm happy we got to keep Vanjie instead of Plastique, but I don't think she'll be here much longer.

Edited April 26, 2019 by stormy weather

[Rosenrot]

Is Ru going blind as she's getting older? SILKY'S RUNWAY WAS TERRIBLE.

Ughhh, why am I not as excited about this show as I once was (and not even that long ago)?? I WANT to be! [whines like a baby] Can't say it's gotten worse, since it hasn't really changed. Maybe it's just me. Or an over-abundance of the show. Or this cast, that just isn't all that inspiring (which was further proved by this episode). 

[Blakeston]

Time for another list of complaints, I think:

1. Brooke Lynn didn't just steal the "level 4 vegan" line from The Simpsons. She also blatantly stole the "Isn't she precious? No, really, isn't she Precious?" line from Mimi Imfurst, who said it about Latrice at a roast of Michelle Visage.

I know a lot of the queens' reads aren't entirely original, but that's a very well-known line amongst Drag Race aficionados. (I think I've even seen a clip of it on the commercials for the Hater's Roast while watching Drag Race.)

2. Another undramatic lip sync song that doesn't give the queens a chance to do much? Plastique certainly could have done more with what she was given - but with a better song, I really think she could have turned it out. (She was very good in the six-way lip sync.)

I don't know what's going on with the song choices this season. It's like they're just turning on a radio and going with the first song that's played.

3. Silky should have been read to filth for her ugly, lazy outfit. The judges' criticisms were incredibly mild.

4. I can't believe Plastique made it to the ninth episode without once being called out on recycling the same corset look over and over.

[phoenix780]

I didn't realize Brooke was using lines from other sources. I kind of want to give her credit because she stole good ones. 

Since they aren't averse to having former queens come visit, why not have one come give them a short improv lesson before the challenge, or early in the season? I get that this show is about coming prepared, but I also want them to do better and entertain me. 

[ladle]

I find Shuga very likeable in his THs but honestly I keep forgetting he's on the show.

Plastique always did look a little scared. 

[TheLukeP]

I realize I may be spoiled by the last couple of seasons of highly polished queens.  I realize these queens are rougher around the edges and not quite ready for prime time, so to speak.... but good heavens, how do you not get what the reading challenge is?  How are you supposed to host an event if you can't read a bitch and get some damn laughs... this is the drag version of Toastmasters, and these poor unfortunate souls bombed so bad even Ursula would be "I can't help you... although you might be better off without that voice.. "

The maxi-challenge was challenging to watch... thank goodness for Cheyenne just being so hot I had something else to focus on.  I don't think that Brooke mopping those one-liners was a horrible crime, because she at least used them effectively and appropriately.

[Pallida]

I was rather disappointed during the reading that Silky thought Plastique is Japanese.

I rewatched the before-the-season interview video posted in the media thread. It's hard to reconcile something from the video with what we're seeing in the episode. I'll spoiler tag in case people don't like the outside videos.

Spoiler

Other queens, including Yvie, talk about protecting Silky and that Silky is a national treasure. I keep thinking about that and trying to figure out what will happen to make these queens supportive of someone who seems to be so dismissive of them during the show. I'm all for the queens saying not to send threats, regardless of their personal relationships, but to call her a national treasure? Huh??? 

[theatremouse]

5 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Brooke Lynn didn't just steal the "level 4 vegan" line from The Simpsons. She also blatantly stole the "Isn't she precious? No, really, isn't she Precious?" line from Mimi Imfurst, who said it about Latrice at a roast of Michelle Visage.

The vegan line though I think was just something kicking around in her head...like if you asked Brooke I don't think she'd say either that she made it up nor that she were intentionally lifting it from the Simpsons. It played to me like she knew of it as a thing and chose to say it because it's funny...which still isn't quite right but is also less nefarious.

The Precious joke I have a bigger problem with, not because it's from people related to this show, but because it is a Very Tired joke that has been made about pretty much any overweight black woman since that movie came out. This is like saying "take my wife...please". Sure, slightly less well known a clam, but a clam nonetheless.

[ladle]

1 hour ago, TheLukeP said:

I realize I may be spoiled by the last couple of seasons of highly polished queens.  I realize these queens are rougher around the edges and not quite ready for prime time, so to speak.... but good heavens, how do you not get what the reading challenge is?  How are you supposed to host an event if you can't read a bitch and get some damn laughs... this is the drag version of Toastmasters, and these poor unfortunate souls bombed so bad even Ursula would be "I can't help you... although you might be better off without that voice.. "

Right?!  And the crazy thing is that they know this is something they're going to have to do!  So even if you're not a comedy queen, start thinking of material from the minute you meet the other contestants.  Heck, even before you come on the show, you can have something in your back pocket for the various archetypes you know will be there (the fat queen, the butch queen, the no-personality queen, the pretty queen, the annoying one, etc.).  I mean, I know they're trying and all but it almost seems like... they're not trying?  

[Gothish520]

11 hours ago, Mayberry said:

What I don't like about Silky the most is that she is not very gracious. She doesn't seem concerned about any other queen. 

10 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 I'm glad that Fortune said Silky wasn't a great scene partner because she was hogging all the attention rather than interacting with Shuga.

YES and YES. That is exactly my issue with Silky. She steamrolls over everyone and couldn't care less about anyone else's feelings, issues, apologies, or what-have-you. Of course all of the queens want to win, and get a leg up any way they can, but that doesnt mean one has to be an asshole. She shows no sympathy, empathy, or consideration for others. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by Gothish520

[Not4Me]

Silky lacks emotional intelligence, she needs to GTFO my screen.

Vanjie, while overall delightful, is a creative well that went dry 2 episodes ago. She’s made her impact but she needs to go.

I thought Ru calling A’Keria the Marla Gibbs of Drag was quite apt! 

When you realize the Season 7 Reads were much better than this...oof!

[ClareWalks]

2 hours ago, ladle said:

Right?!  And the crazy thing is that they know this is something they're going to have to do!  So even if you're not a comedy queen, start thinking of material from the minute you meet the other contestants.  Heck, even before you come on the show, you can have something in your back pocket for the various archetypes you know will be there (the fat queen, the butch queen, the no-personality queen, the pretty queen, the annoying one, etc.).  I mean, I know they're trying and all but it almost seems like... they're not trying?  

As Elle Woods would say, this is a completely brilliant plan!

[Gothish520]

3 hours ago, TheLukeP said:

I realize I may be spoiled by the last couple of seasons of highly polished queens.  I realize these queens are rougher around the edges and not quite ready for prime time, so to speak.... but good heavens, how do you not get what the reading challenge is?  How are you supposed to host an event if you can't read a bitch and get some damn laughs... this is the drag version of Toastmasters, and these poor unfortunate souls bombed so bad even Ursula would be "I can't help you... although you might be better off without that voice.. "

The maxi-challenge was challenging to watch... thank goodness for Cheyenne just being so hot I had something else to focus on.  I don't think that Brooke mopping those one-liners was a horrible crime, because she at least used them effectively and appropriately.

I had to FF throught the reads - so bad.

Cheyenne is indeed a hottie. I thoroughly enjoyed Brooke and Nina, they were quite funny - I laughed out loud when Nina had her hands on Brooke's chest and said she was confused. I think Brooke was the winner here, but A'keria was also pretty funny so I'm ok with her getting a win.

[rlc]

20 hours ago, Not4Me said:

Has Natasha Lyonne always sounded like the elderly Jewish lady who sells bagels at Zabar’s in New York’s Upper West Side?

When she put her glasses on during judging, she could have been sitting in my parent’s living room playing canasta with my mother in 1981.

[rlc]

Nina’s runway was incredible this week. As she mentioned, Leigh Bowery was her inspiration.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

14 hours ago, ladle said:

Right?!  And the crazy thing is that they know this is something they're going to have to do!  So even if you're not a comedy queen, start thinking of material from the minute you meet the other contestants.  Heck, even before you come on the show, you can have something in your back pocket for the various archetypes you know will be there (the fat queen, the butch queen, the no-personality queen, the pretty queen, the annoying one, etc.).  I mean, I know they're trying and all but it almost seems like... they're not trying?  

When the queens come unprepared (without a good Snatch Game character, without some one liners, etc) it reminds me of the contestants on other shows who do the same and then act shocked when it affects their position in the competition. You decided to go on Hell's Kitchen but you don't know how to make risotto or scallops properly? You applied to be on the Amazing Race but you can't read a map/drive a stick shift/swim? You went on Top Chef and didn't have one dessert recipe memorized or a concept for restaurant wars? Sorry, you deserve to be eliminated because all of these shows have been on for multiple seasons and EVERYONE knows that these are things that come up EVERY SEASON yet you chose not to prepare for these scenarios. How did you think you would magically get past these challenges?

[Corgi-ears]

3 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

When the queens come unprepared (without a good Snatch Game character, without some one liners, etc) it reminds me of the contestants on other shows who do the same and then act shocked when it affects their position in the competition.

Viewers do say this all the time, but there are often reasons. (Not necessarily good ones, but still.)

First, there is often very little time between when contestants find out that they've been cast, and the start of filming. I think there was an interview with a TARtesant who revealed that she had two weeks' notice. That's not enough time to learn stick shift and do everything else you need to do. Second, on Drag Race in particular, queens have implicitly explained that it's one thing to prepare a character for Snatch Game (and by extension something for the reading challenge), and another to actually deliver in the heat of the moment. Indeed, Ru and the other judges have pointed out that having a character is only the start -- you also have to be in the moment, and banter, thrust and parry. Most of the time that's what the Snatch Gamers struggle with. In fact I sometimes feel like queens would do better were they less prepared; when they are overly so, we just get them plugging random lines and catchphrases into their "set," when what the situation calls for is being witty and funny on the spot. (Jinkx made this exact point this season.) Third, we've also seen lots of queens get dissuaded by Ru about their prepared characters; from what we know, sometimes queens even aren't allowed to do their first choice character ( either for real or made-up reasons: it's of course Ru's and the show's mission to get the queens all shook about what they've prepared, since it makes for better television.)

In all, I think it's easy for us viewers to Monday morning quarterback, but the reality of the situations can be more complicated.

Edited April 27, 2019 by Corgi-ears

[ElectricBoogaloo]

10 minutes ago, Corgi-ears said:

First, there is often very little time between when contestants find out that they've been cast, and the start of filming. I think there was an interview with a TARtesant who revealed that she had two weeks' notice. That's not enough time to learn stick shift and do everything else you need to do.

I personally wouldn't even bother applying to be on any of these shows until AFTER I had learned how to drive a stick shift, make risotto, prepare two Snatch Game characters, etc. but I am the kind of person who likes to be prepared/not fail on national television.

If you know you're going to be faced with these things and you choose not to prepare, well, that's on you. It's not like it was a surprise that you were going to have to do this. Anything you can do to prep and get your ducks in a row is going to help you. There are contestants on TAR who start training long before they submit their applications (I remember some team saying that they ran while wearing heavy backpacks for months beforehand to get used to it before having to actually do it on the show).

There are always curveballs that are going to be thrown at you when you're on a reality show so the more stuff you already have prepped and ready to go, the more effort you can put into dealing with the unexpected (rather than stressing about stuff you realistically could have prepared for beforehand).

[Ananayel]

I would have loved this challenge on another season. Can you imagine Katya and Ginger Minj in one of those sketches?

I don't think there is any way Silky can wine. The edit is too dire, allegations of assault have surfaced against her, and I don't think the fans will like that one bit. Since Ru does seems to take into account the public reaction (which is why more than one ending is filmed) she likely won't go there. I mean, Silky over Ginger, or Eureka? No way. 

I actually don't know who will win this one. I would think Brooke Lynn and Yvie will be top three, possibly with Nina, Silky may go out as the "shocking" fourth or fifth place boot. I also do not see Silky succeeding with the makeover challenge, so there's that. 

Since they started with so many people, and had a non-elim, maybe there won't be a returning queen this time.

[ClareWalks]

1 hour ago, Corgi-ears said:

First, there is often very little time between when contestants find out that they've been cast, and the start of filming.

This reminds me of who I personally consider one of the best reality-show contestants of all time: Benji Schwimmer, who won So You Think You Can Dance season 2. He wanted to be on that particular show, and win. So he started training before he even applied/auditioned. He took classes in every possible style of dance so that he would have no glaring weaknesses. He didn't need to cram in a bunch of training or preparation right before filming started because he'd already started the process. That's how these queens should look at it. If your goal is to do well on this show, you should practice the skills required to do well on the show.

[2727]

FWIW, people on social media have reported that Drag Race auditions currently include two snatch game characters. I don't know if that means just photos or live presentation, though.

Filming different winners is intended to help deter spoilers. If Ru and the producers actually do decide the winner after the fact based partially on viewer reactions, that would be super shitty and likely violate game show regulations.

Ru has already shown that she doesn't much care about the contestants, but to outright cheat one of them in order to curry better PR for the show would be shocking.

[zenithwit]

I think one of the issues with both Silky/Shuga's and Brooke/Nina's skits was that they started off with the cops meeting the more outlandish character (i.e. Silky & Brooke) first.  It almost feels like you could apply the complaint for Vanjie (that she starts at 10 and has nowhere to go) to both of these scenes.  By having Fortune & Cheyenne meet the "crazier" character first, the scene didn't have much room for growth.  And then by inducing the more "straight" uptight character mid-scene, the tempo dropped slightly.

They should have started with Fortune & Cheyenne meeting the more "straight" character (i.e. the person who registered the complaint) first and then introduced the other character.  This would have helped build the scene and overall storytelling.

Then again maybe those scenes didn't need a conservative/uptight character at all?  For example: what if both Nina and Brooke were the nudist neighbors?  Not sure how much control the queens have over their characterizations but perhaps Nina/Shuga would have benefited if their roles were defined differently?

[belligerent]

1 hour ago, zenithwit said:

I think one of the issues with both Silky/Shuga's and Brooke/Nina's skits was that they started off with the cops meeting the more outlandish character (i.e. Silky & Brooke) first.  It almost feels like you could apply the complaint for Vanjie (that she starts at 10 and has nowhere to go) to both of these scenes.  By having Fortune & Cheyenne meet the "crazier" character first, the scene didn't have much room for growth.  And then by inducing the more "straight" uptight character mid-scene, the tempo dropped slightly.

They should have started with Fortune & Cheyenne meeting the more "straight" character (i.e. the person who registered the complaint) first and then introduced the other character.  This would have helped build the scene and overall storytelling.

Then again maybe those scenes didn't need a conservative/uptight character at all?  For example: what if both Nina and Brooke were the nudist neighbors?  Not sure how much control the queens have over their characterizations but perhaps Nina/Shuga would have benefited if their roles were defined differently?

Yeah, I definitely agree with this. Like, what if the "weird" character actually ended up being the less weird of the two? Like you think that the nudist (for example) is weird, but then the "straight man" ends up being even weirder?

It seems like everyone who lobbied for the weird role ended up doing better except that in the skit that won, it just happened to be two of the same character? I don't know, some of the skits seemed to be worse premises than others. I'll admit that the skit that won I actually tuned out for somewhere in the first half and I need to rewatch it.

Silky does well at challenges like this because she literally approaches life as an improv where she happens to be the star. When she came into the work room, she immediately started trying to do call and response things with all the other queens, setting herself up as the central fixture that others will "yes and" to. Someone needs to be setting up the scenarios for her to be saying "yes" to or they're not going to stop her. Her reads were atrocious, so it's not because she's funny, it's because her comedy is based on her aggressively pushing herself into situations and onto people and those people not knowing what to do. When people clapped back at her reads and said they weren't funny, she was exposed as not funny at all. Her act is 100% about her and she can't shift focus to anybody else for even a second.

[Blakeston]

7 hours ago, 2727 said:

FWIW, people on social media have reported that Drag Race auditions currently include two snatch game characters. I don't know if that means just photos or live presentation, though.

Filming different winners is intended to help deter spoilers. If Ru and the producers actually do decide the winner after the fact based partially on viewer reactions, that would be super shitty and likely violate game show regulations.

Ru has already shown that she doesn't much care about the contestants, but to outright cheat one of them in order to curry better PR for the show would be shocking.

I don't think there's any law against someone running a talent competition taking public opinion into consideration. Back in season 4 Ru began asking the public to weigh in on who should win to help her decide, and I'm sure the lawyers for the show and network wouldn't allow that if it were against the law.

If this was a show like Jeopardy, which is just about who gets the answers right and isn't supposed to be based on anyone's opinion, it would be a different story.

Re: Snatch Game, I'm sure it's possible to go to great lengths to prepare and still bomb horribly, but there are some contestants who couldn't possibly have done much preparing (looking at you, Brooke Lynn).

[Kaboom 2.0]

The library may have been open but it's clear this group of queens need extra tutoring in reading. These were the worst reads I have ever heard! And Silky continuing to skate by on everything is beyond annoying. 

I'm surprised it took this long for the show to knockoff Reno 911, one of my fave half hour shows ever. The other best things about this ep were the fantastic Fortune Feister and Brook's reveal on the runway. Plastique is a sweetie but it was her time to go. 

[belligerent]

On 5/2/2019 at 4:42 AM, Kaboom 2.0 said:

The library may have been open but it's clear this group of queens need extra tutoring in reading. These were the worst reads I have ever heard!

Well, we already knew that most of them were somewhat illiterate after that teleprompter challenge.